Know The Score: Rock Stars-Turned-Composers The rockers now scoring your favourite movies
Rock stars are a versatile bunch. They can write tunes, reduce mild-mannered crowds to baying, moshing masses, trot the globe for months on end and go triple platinum, all while wearing improbably tight trousers. And as Trent Reznor and Attica Ross prove this week with their terrific work on The Social Network, they can also knock out a highly accomplished movie scores when they set their minds to it. So if you’re looking for a composer to provide a full whack of tuneful ditties for a major Hollywood release, you could do a lot worse than head to Glastonbury. Or just have a read of our guide to some of the best rock-star/director collaborations of recent years…
Movie: The Social Network (2010) Director: David Fincher
Nine Inch Nailer Trent Reznor was David Fincher’s first and only pick to score The Social Network. While Fincher had used a remix of NIN’s Closer for Seven’s opening and directed the promo for Only, the pair hadn’t worked together on film. Reznor had initial misgivings about the subject matter. “Is it just going to be a bunch of people on Facebook? Facebook sucks, so it just felt like, ‘Ugh’,” he told Pitchfork. A quick glimpse at Aaron Sorkin’s script, though, changed his mind. “When I realized what he was up to, I said goodbye to that free time I had planned.” Enlisting Atticus Ross, a regular collaborator of NIN and too-secret-to-mention-here side project How To Destroy, Reznor set to work. Tangerine Dream was a strong reference point, as was Moog master (and A Clockwork Orange scorer) Wendy Carlos, the touchstone for the crazed re-edit of Edward Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King which accompanied The Social Network’s Henley Regatta scene. The result is a fraying, electronic mood piece that perfectly captures the movie’s creeping sense of mistrust and acrimony. Expect Reznor and Fincher to work together again – just don’t expect them to poke each other.
Standout track: The Gentle Hum Of Anxiety
Further listening: Nine Inch Nail’s Pretty Hate Machine (1989), Year Zero (2007)
Posted on Monday October 18, 2010, 18:11 by zombie mastermind
Where have all the comments gone? There was a page full the other day.
My posts are always disapearing from this site. It's not as if I post anything controversial.
Ho-hum. Read More
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RE:
Posted on Friday October 15, 2010, 21:08 by Mulumper
...and in addition to that, something more criminal: Joe Strummer for his work on Grosse Point Blank soundtrack! There are plenty more to harp on about but that's the top choice you forgot for me. Go ahead recommend some Clash albums already. ;)
P.S - Recommending Amnesiac over Kid A or the Bends?.. Unusual but interesting choice.
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RE: Nick Cave....
Posted on Friday October 15, 2010, 16:11 by Tristan
I indeed also miss Cave (together with his Bad Seed, Warren Ellis)
As for the futher listening suggestions on Reznor's page, I think The Downward Spiral and The Fragile are better NIN albums Read More
Nine Inch Nailer Trent Reznor was David Fincher’s first and only pick to score The Social Network. While Fincher had used a remix of NIN’s Closer for Seven’s opening and directed the promo for