The movie that predicted the 90s
In an effort to fill in the one gaping hole in my Cameron Crowe fandom, I just got done watching Singles, and I loved it for a number of reasons. The one I want to talk about is probably what it's most famous for: its unintended foresight regarding the world of music that was just about to take the world by storm.
Example numero uno: in the first ten minutes, the two main characters meet at a club in Seattle. The song they were dancing to sounded vaguely familiar. Then the camera panned up to the lead singer of the band they were listening to, and I recognized a very young Layne Staley standing next to a just-as-young Jerry Cantrell. That's right, the band was Alice in Chains, then unknown outside of the northwest.
A little later, we meet Matt Dillon as the talentless lead singer of a hopeful band. He is backed by a lead guitarist named Stone, a bass player named Jeff, and drummer named Eddie - or, as they were just beginning to be known on the national stage at the time of release, Pearl Jam.
Later on, P.J. songs Breath and State of Love and Trust make soundtrack appearances, along with a song called Drown I didn't recognize, but I knew who sang it as soon as the extremely recognizable voice of William Corgan drifted up above the guitars. I also recognized a ten-second demo-sounding snippet of Spoonman, which wouldn't even appear on a Soundgarden album for two years after the movie's release. If that's not clairvoyance, I don't know what is. (Chris Cornell's random appearance at the end, along with a totally-not-music-related-but-still-cool cameo by a young unknown Paul Giamatti, was just the icing on the cake.)
Of course, if I'd been just a little older when the movie came out, I probably would have been aware of this a long time ago, but hey, I found out about it now, so I'm enthused about it now. So there.
Anyway, in addition to all that, it's just a really enjoyable movie that captures a lot of the complexities of being single. Admittedly, there are a lot of contrivances (it is Cameron Crowe), but I was willing to forgive most of them. It ends with an oddly poignant chorus of single voices sharing a variety of sentiments (including one that echoed almost directly something I said earlier today, which may have aided the poignancy). I'm inclined to recommend it to my readership, though even now I reflect that none of my readership is single. Still, great movie, great music. It's no Almost Famous, (what is?), but see it anyway.
And now, another song that popped up in the film, from a band that was sadly on the outs at the time:
"There is this old man who spent so much of his life sleeping
That he is able to keep awake for the rest of his years"
- Pixies, Dig for Fire
Example numero uno: in the first ten minutes, the two main characters meet at a club in Seattle. The song they were dancing to sounded vaguely familiar. Then the camera panned up to the lead singer of the band they were listening to, and I recognized a very young Layne Staley standing next to a just-as-young Jerry Cantrell. That's right, the band was Alice in Chains, then unknown outside of the northwest.
A little later, we meet Matt Dillon as the talentless lead singer of a hopeful band. He is backed by a lead guitarist named Stone, a bass player named Jeff, and drummer named Eddie - or, as they were just beginning to be known on the national stage at the time of release, Pearl Jam.
Later on, P.J. songs Breath and State of Love and Trust make soundtrack appearances, along with a song called Drown I didn't recognize, but I knew who sang it as soon as the extremely recognizable voice of William Corgan drifted up above the guitars. I also recognized a ten-second demo-sounding snippet of Spoonman, which wouldn't even appear on a Soundgarden album for two years after the movie's release. If that's not clairvoyance, I don't know what is. (Chris Cornell's random appearance at the end, along with a totally-not-music-related-but-still-cool cameo by a young unknown Paul Giamatti, was just the icing on the cake.)
Of course, if I'd been just a little older when the movie came out, I probably would have been aware of this a long time ago, but hey, I found out about it now, so I'm enthused about it now. So there.
Anyway, in addition to all that, it's just a really enjoyable movie that captures a lot of the complexities of being single. Admittedly, there are a lot of contrivances (it is Cameron Crowe), but I was willing to forgive most of them. It ends with an oddly poignant chorus of single voices sharing a variety of sentiments (including one that echoed almost directly something I said earlier today, which may have aided the poignancy). I'm inclined to recommend it to my readership, though even now I reflect that none of my readership is single. Still, great movie, great music. It's no Almost Famous, (what is?), but see it anyway.
And now, another song that popped up in the film, from a band that was sadly on the outs at the time:
"There is this old man who spent so much of his life sleeping
That he is able to keep awake for the rest of his years"
- Pixies, Dig for Fire
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