It's almost impossible to answer what album you would want if you were trapped on an island. When I've contemplated it, one of my scenarios is that I take comps and soundtracks because it would give me a broad spectrum of music on a few albums. Two of my desert island albums are soundtracks; This is England, and Can't Hardly Wait. These soundtracks are at the top of my list for 2 reasons; 1 - they both have killer music, 2 - the movies are stellar.
If you haven't seen This is England; it's set in, as you might have guessed, England, in 1983. It follows a group of ska/punk skinheads and the the National Front trying to pull said punks/skins into their fascist political agenda. Being set in '83 UK and following a group of skins, the soundtrack is full of Jamaican (Toots & The Mytals have 3 songs [and this is actually the first time I was introduced to Toots music]) and 2tone ska, with some soul, new wave (this is how I found about Strawberry Switchblade), a dash of punk (UK Subs), and score and dialogue snippets interspersed throughout between the songs. You can connect the dots between all the music, however the styles are still very varied and when the score tracks come on it gives it that much more depth and feeling (fantastic instrumental pieces). Go watch the movie, listen to the soundtrack...then watch the mini series sequels This is England 86, 88, and 90. Some of the most gut wrenching, and funny, drama that I've had the chance to take in, I can't recommend it highly enough.
Can't Hardly Wait is a classic 90's teen movie. If you haven't seen it, it's a graduation afterparty movie that stars Ethen Embry, enough said. Since it's a party, the soundtrack full of the best pop-punk/alt-rock/rap/rock that 1997 had to offer mixed with party classics. I want to say it was a mix of mainstream and somewhat underground, however, I was too young at this time (maybe some of the bands I don't think of as being main stream were and I just wasn't aware of them) to confidently make this statement without a caveat. This is the movie that introduced me to Blink 182 by way of Dammit. There was Third Eye Blind, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, and The Replacements just to name a few...and I believe (one hit(?) wonders?) Dog's Eye View with Umbrella, and Brougham with I Walked In. The mix of rap and rock (and the music that's adjacent to those root genres) is perfect and transitions perfectly within the soundtrack. It could be that it's one of those, it takes you back to your happy place, type things for me..and maybe that's why it ranks so high on my list, but damn does it hit for me. My only complaint is that it wasn't a double disc, there's so much good music in the movie that didn't make the cut (Eve 6 - Open Road Song, Yaz - Only You!!, G Love and Special Sauce - Cold Beverage, More Human than Human.......just to name a few). Man I love this movie and soundtrack.
A month ago or so I picked up a bag of Orville Redenbacher popcorn gourmet (I don't know why it says popcorn gourmet (then popcorn in french) on the bag [maybe it makes grammatical sense to put the french words for popcorn after gourmet..but it doesn't make sense to put popcorn before gourmet in english..and the bag's primary language is english, why not make the english reading be proper?]). Movie Theatre Butter Flavour. No artificial colours or flavours, 100% whole grain popcorn (how is any popcorn not 100% whole grain? Are other popcorn manufacturers Pringles'ing their stuff?), source of fibre, GF Gluten Free. (I find the advertising/branding on chip [in this case popcorn] bags funny. A lot of it didn't need to be said, it's junk food, stop fronting like you're better than your neighbour). Now to cracking the bag, it smelt like a popcorn, however not a movie theatre. The popcorn pieces are relatively crunchy. The seasoning is somewhat grainy. The flavour is..table salty with a hint of sweetness..I guess there's some "butter" aftertaste. Honestly, quite disappointing. I actually prefer popcorn from the theatre that's been sitting around for a day or 2 and this does not simulate that flavour experience (it should go without saying that it doesn't simulate the flavour of fresh theatre popcorn either). So I threw it in the oven for a bit..maybe a bit of a heat up will get it's flavour particles cranking...it was slightly better...so I baked it for a bit longer almost to the point of browning it..slightly better again...but still a resounding meh overall. Pass on this 'movie theatre' popcorn, unless it's free..cause, like, free is free...it's not as though it's disgusting, I still ate almost the entire bag in one sitting.
Stay hydrated,
marc
If you haven't seen This is England; it's set in, as you might have guessed, England, in 1983. It follows a group of ska/punk skinheads and the the National Front trying to pull said punks/skins into their fascist political agenda. Being set in '83 UK and following a group of skins, the soundtrack is full of Jamaican (Toots & The Mytals have 3 songs [and this is actually the first time I was introduced to Toots music]) and 2tone ska, with some soul, new wave (this is how I found about Strawberry Switchblade), a dash of punk (UK Subs), and score and dialogue snippets interspersed throughout between the songs. You can connect the dots between all the music, however the styles are still very varied and when the score tracks come on it gives it that much more depth and feeling (fantastic instrumental pieces). Go watch the movie, listen to the soundtrack...then watch the mini series sequels This is England 86, 88, and 90. Some of the most gut wrenching, and funny, drama that I've had the chance to take in, I can't recommend it highly enough.
Can't Hardly Wait is a classic 90's teen movie. If you haven't seen it, it's a graduation afterparty movie that stars Ethen Embry, enough said. Since it's a party, the soundtrack full of the best pop-punk/alt-rock/rap/rock that 1997 had to offer mixed with party classics. I want to say it was a mix of mainstream and somewhat underground, however, I was too young at this time (maybe some of the bands I don't think of as being main stream were and I just wasn't aware of them) to confidently make this statement without a caveat. This is the movie that introduced me to Blink 182 by way of Dammit. There was Third Eye Blind, Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, and The Replacements just to name a few...and I believe (one hit(?) wonders?) Dog's Eye View with Umbrella, and Brougham with I Walked In. The mix of rap and rock (and the music that's adjacent to those root genres) is perfect and transitions perfectly within the soundtrack. It could be that it's one of those, it takes you back to your happy place, type things for me..and maybe that's why it ranks so high on my list, but damn does it hit for me. My only complaint is that it wasn't a double disc, there's so much good music in the movie that didn't make the cut (Eve 6 - Open Road Song, Yaz - Only You!!, G Love and Special Sauce - Cold Beverage, More Human than Human.......just to name a few). Man I love this movie and soundtrack.
A month ago or so I picked up a bag of Orville Redenbacher popcorn gourmet (I don't know why it says popcorn gourmet (then popcorn in french) on the bag [maybe it makes grammatical sense to put the french words for popcorn after gourmet..but it doesn't make sense to put popcorn before gourmet in english..and the bag's primary language is english, why not make the english reading be proper?]). Movie Theatre Butter Flavour. No artificial colours or flavours, 100% whole grain popcorn (how is any popcorn not 100% whole grain? Are other popcorn manufacturers Pringles'ing their stuff?), source of fibre, GF Gluten Free. (I find the advertising/branding on chip [in this case popcorn] bags funny. A lot of it didn't need to be said, it's junk food, stop fronting like you're better than your neighbour). Now to cracking the bag, it smelt like a popcorn, however not a movie theatre. The popcorn pieces are relatively crunchy. The seasoning is somewhat grainy. The flavour is..table salty with a hint of sweetness..I guess there's some "butter" aftertaste. Honestly, quite disappointing. I actually prefer popcorn from the theatre that's been sitting around for a day or 2 and this does not simulate that flavour experience (it should go without saying that it doesn't simulate the flavour of fresh theatre popcorn either). So I threw it in the oven for a bit..maybe a bit of a heat up will get it's flavour particles cranking...it was slightly better...so I baked it for a bit longer almost to the point of browning it..slightly better again...but still a resounding meh overall. Pass on this 'movie theatre' popcorn, unless it's free..cause, like, free is free...it's not as though it's disgusting, I still ate almost the entire bag in one sitting.
Stay hydrated,
marc
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