“There was never any doubt that we were going to be songless, and, trust me, we were flooded with requests from every band in the world. I actually had to say no to some really interesting people,” Oscar winning composer Hans Zimmer explains to the BBC why there were no hit songs in the new Batman movies. Once upon a time many a blockbuster movie – comics-based flicks included – boasted big name stadium fillers warbling on the soundtrack and the song appearing in the charts; Prince bringing the concept of a dancing Batman to a new generation or, Lord help us, Bono in his alien bug sunglasses, all accompanied by expensive videos to run on MTV. Its strange, at the time, back in those pre-web days, that seemed okay to me, perhaps even a bit fun, a little slice of the movie regularly popping up on the music channels and radio back when we our only other source of a fix on a big new film was a monthly movie magazine (which being monthly was always partly out of touch by the time it hit the stands) and Barry Norman. Now I look back on them and shudder; they’re so obviously a piece of blatant marketing aimed at a youth audience to pimp both music and movie to us shamelessly, shoved into a movie usually more to accomodate a big name performer (and the marketing department) than because it worked well for the film. Up there now with fashion nightmares from days of youth, things you once thought achingly cool but now you burn the photos.
Apparently the Spider-Man 3 team who did want an old-fashioned big song in the movie found that not only is it no longer fashionable, its damned difficult because the artists involved see a big-budget production and therefore expect a large amount of money in return for their services (nice to see its still about the music, eh?). Jordin Tappis of Record Collection Music describes how using Snow Patrol on the Spidey album was a major headache because it involved three major recording labels to negotiate with, all of whom wanted a slice. Mmmm, perhaps all things considered it is as well most of these sorts of movies aren’t looking to force a hit song in there now; as Hans Zimmer concludes of all those Prince songs shoe-horned into the Burton-era Batman “I remember thinking at the time, ‘Oooh, this is going to bite them’ and, yes, those songs really date the movie.”
Mon, Jul 28, 2008
Comics and cartoons, Film, TV and radio