Straight Out of the Cave

Holy Jeapers, Batman! While yes, you probably think this entry is about Nick Cave (might I add I'm seeing him in October at the 9:30 Club...go ahead be jealous) or about music that is all dark and gothic, this entry is all about one thing... Batman. Tonight, I'm hoping to go see The Dark Knight at a midnight showing. If all else fails, I'll go tomorrow or Saturday. Let's be honest, the matinée is much cheaper and I'll still get to have all the thrills. (I told my friends that if anyone emailed me or told me any spoilers, that I'd not have them over for dinner anymore...)

So how about we get the funk up?

As a child of the 1980s (Yes I was born in 1985...I'll be 23 in less than a week *cough*), I grew up listening to Prince and well I also grew up watching the cheesy Batman movies that Adam West did. Obviously, Prince grew up watching those films too. For the first modern Batman movie (way back in 1989), Prince actually did a good chunk of the Batman soundtrack. I guess Tim Burtin was a fan of Prince or maybe Danny Elfman was like "I want to work with Prince for the film's score." Either way, "Batdance" by Prince is rather cheesy, but awesome. Not to mention, it's pretty fun to play around Halloween. Plus, you can't beat Prince at possibly his weirdest with a bunch of Kim Basinger look-a-likes...or maybe you can?



For the 1992 Batman Returns, Elfman teamed up with Siouxsie and the Banshees. Okay so maybe I lied about this entry not featuring "gothic" music, but it does make sense that Siouxsie would be used for a Batman movie of some sort. So here's "Face to Face" by Siouxsie and the Banshees. (Notice how there's some keyboard lick that sounds similar to their other hit at the time, which was "Kiss Them for Me")



In 1995, Joel Schumacher took over the Batman series and well started to create crap. Not that Batman Forever was totally terrible. It was awesome, cheesy, and fun. (Oh but Batman and Robin was awful! More about that in a few moments) One thing I don't get is how with Burton the movies were like dark graphic novels, but the soundtracks were more like a film's score, which can be boring. And Yet with Schumacher, the movies were like the terrible cartoon that was on Fox after school, yet the soundtracks had some pretty great choice moments. (In terms of comic books and cartoons, the only cartoon that was close to their own comic book was X-men. Just for the record!)

As a kid, I remembered U2 being on the BF soundtrack (review of "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me") but aside from that seriously overplayed Seal song, I had little interest. A few years ago, my friend was talking about the movie and the soundtrack and to my surprise the soundtrack is quite awesome. I actually picked myself up a copy back in 2006 for a dollar. Who knew Nick Cave (okay so he's actually in this entry for real), The Offspring, U2, PJ Harvey, Michael Hutchence, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Flamming Lips, Mazzy Star, Method Man, and Massive Attack (featuring Tracey Thorn from Everything But The Girl) would all be on the same soundtrack for a Batman movie? Not to mention, there were some good moments from two unknowns - the Devlins and Eddie Reader. In terms of pop music, yes Brandy is on there, but the track was written and produced by Lenny Kravitz. It's rare that a movie soundtrack is half decent, so as you can tell, this soundtrack is one of those stranger than fiction kind of moments.

And now for the song, you've been waiting for...



U2 + Val Kilmer = even better than the real thing. oh yes.

Here's a bonus: Nick Cave - There is a Light



Fast forward to 11 years ago, summer of 1997...George Clooney as Batman, which seemed okay. Chris O'Donnell as Robin again, cool. The Governator as Mr. Freeze...um... terrible! This movie resembled the awful cartoon the worst probably. At least the soundtrack, though not as fantastic as BF, was half decent. Loads of Batman fans hated Batman and Robin, and with good purpose, just look at Arnold's lines as Mr. Freeze. Not to mention, people weren't too keen on the idea of Batgirl let alone Alicia Silverstone playing Batgirl. Though I'm sure there are some people out there who would admit Uma Thurman did make a good Poison Ivy.

Enough about the film, how about that soundtrack. Just like the AMG review said, this movie soundtrack only has a few good moments. The rest is rather skippable, especially that terrible R. Kelly song "Gotham City". (I'm not even going to post a link to the music video for that one.) So you got a cool track from the Smashing Pumpkins that would in retrospect be viewed as a taste towards Ava Adore, a good solid track from REM's Monster leftovers, a surprising track from Underworld (it's no Born Slippy, but hey Underworld are great anyway), a good trip hop track from Moloko, and Jewel's "Foolish Games" which was a huge hit - very beautiful song the first few times you heard it, but soon it got overplayed. Then there's tracks from the Goo Goo Dolls and Soul Coughing, as for the rest of the soundtrack, it's rather forgettable.

Because I am a good sport, here's the Smashing Pumpkins:



Since 1997, we've been blessed with the directing talents of Christopher Nolan. Thank God! I actually just saw Memento for the first time a few weeks ago and was totally blown away by it. I now see why everyone made such a huge deal about him directing the new Batman movies. I really enjoyed Batman Begins a lot. It was like how Batman was suppose to be (which is what Burton even did as a director). Yet I'll admit the whole time I was watching the movie, I wanted to hear U2's "Thrill Me..." I guess my only compliant about the newest films is that they don't have much modern music in them. (I could totally see Gnarls Barkley, Interpol, MIA, David Bowie, She Wants Revenge, OutKast, The Alkaline Trio, and AFI being a part of a Batman movie soundtrack!) Then again, there is this wonderful, classic, timeless appeal to just having an orchestra doing the film's score.

I am hoping that The Dark Knight lives up to the hype. But here's a good question, is it possible that Heath Ledger might get an Oscar for his performance as the Joker? I'm saying this not because he's now unfortunately dead, but because the first time I saw him in costume, which was this past November, I got scared. I'm not one to get scared of clowns either! When I saw the previews and trailers, I thought "No way could that be Heath. It doesn't sound or look like him!" Needless to say, I will be not getting any sleep tonight, because 1. I'll be watching the movie very late, 2. I'll have nightmares about clowns (just kidding...maybe) or 3. I won't be able to sleep because I haven't seen the movie yet. Either way, I plan on giving a review once I see it and I promise, not to spoil anything.

In the mean time, here are two good reviews:

The Toronto Star

The Times (London England I do Believe)

ps- For those who need to get a batman fix right away, FX is showing Batman Begins tonight. TNT is showing Batman Forever tonight. and for Tim Burton's Batman ABC Family is showing that one this weekend.