The year is 2017, but you sure as hell wouldn't know it from the track listing for the soundtrack to the big-budget "007-as-femme-fatale" flick "Atomic Blonde", starring the ageless Charlize Theron. The film, of course, is set in the late '80s. Theron is an agent sent to Berlin as the wall falls.
Track Listing
1. David Bowie - Cat People (Putting Out the Fire)
Is it weird when other films use songs that were initially written for a film, especially when the song has the name of the original movie in its title? Guess not.
2. Peter Schilling - Major Tom (Völlig Losgelöst)
It was perhaps a decade or three overdue, but we finally heard the rest of that Peter Schilling album that had this song on it. It isn't that we don't like the song, it's just that, for the past thirty years, hearing it makes us want to listen to Bowie instead. Seeing it here, well, kinda makes us wanna listen to Bowie instead.
3. Health - Blue Monday
The predictable "get a noisy indie band to cover New Order" bit.
4. Tyler Bates - C*Cks*Cker
Marlyn Manson guitarist and edgy movie soundtrack composer Tyler Bates contributes a lovely original composition.
5. Nena - 99 Luftballons
Hey, if anybody's gonna get a nice paycheck out of the blue for having their song used on the soundtrack to a global box office smash, why not Nena?
6. George Michael - Father Figure
...And the estate of George Michael, too. Those who take the time to revisit Michael's Faith album will probably be shocked to see that not only did he sing the shit out of the tunes, he also wrote the songs, played guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, AND produced the album. That its such a trendy, in-your-face album at times and, at others, seductive yet wise behind Michael's years.
7. After the Fire - Der Kommissar
Are you kidding me? Falco's estate gets a check, too? Nice. Shame that they didn't go with Falco's version, which is just better. In fact, if you are starved for that early, brittle '80's synth-pop sound, his whole Einzelhaft album is pretty enlightening.
8. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Cities in Dust
An undeniable chorus, this one. All I have to do is read the song title and I already know I'll be quietly going full-Banshee in my brain for the next two days. Thanks 'Atomic Blonde'.
9. Re-Flex - the Politics of Dancing
Loved this song as a kid, but not enough to buy the album. To this day, I have still never heard a second Re-Flex song and this is after spending many hours at the palatial San Fernando Valley home of former Re-Flex singer Baxter back in the early 2000's when the label I was briefly signed to recommended him as a producer for my next album.
Oddly enough, he didn't write this song.
10. Marilyn Manson & Tyler Bates - Stigmata
MM covering Ministry? How clever.
11. Tyler Bates - Demonstration
Seems we've reached the "bathroom break" section of the soundtrack.
12. A Flock of Seagulls - I Ran (So Far Away)
Ugh. I mean, we love the song, but does it have to be on EVERY '80s-themed soundtrack? Would we feel ripped off if it were somehow missing from the list? NO!
13. Kaleida - 99 Luftballons
Kaleida's "Think" appears on the first "John Wick" soundtrack, which Tyler Bates also had a hand in overseeing. It's a small world, Hollywood. Having said this, Kaleida is a supreme talent worth checking out and their full-length Tear The Roots just came out.
14. Til Tuesday - Voices Carry
Alrighty, Christmas comes early for all members of Til Tuesday not named Aimee Mann (although she gets a check, too). I never get tired of this one. Exploit it all you want, Hollywood.
15. The Clash - London Calling
The only up-side to this song being used EVERYWHERE, it seems, is that the suits and faux-hipsters remain largely oblivious to all the other kick-ass songs in this iconic punk band's DEEP catalog and only this one gets marginalized by Hollywood and Madison Ave.
16. Tyler Bates - Finding the UHF Device
And we're out.
Tags:
atomic blonde