A little [light] night music

The last post reminded me that I've been meaning to do a post or two on movies that deal specifically with musical acts or artists--from semi-factual biopics (obvious ones like The Doors or Backbeat, or slightly more subtle ones like Velvet Goldmine* and Dreamgirls) to mockumentaries (which Christopher Guest's movies pretty much have a lock on) to fictional biopics to just general ones that have a little of bit of each angle (Almost Famous, The Commitments). Doing it all in one fell swoop takes more time than I have at present, though. Seeing how it was the Billy Mack video that reminded me, I figured a lighthearted post about some of my favorite videos from these types of movies--usually included as extras on the DVDs or seen as the end credits--would be an easy and fast way to get the ball rolling.

*Hah, I wrote this as Velvet Undermine the first time.

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I have to admit to having a weakness for Hugh Grant movies; I'll pretty much watch anything he's been in at least once. It doesn't hurt that a lot of his movies in the last ten years have had some sort of a musical undercurrent, which makes even the not so terribly good ones fairly palatable. Music and Lyrics was one of those movies, although the at times plodding plot didn't get much help from the fact that you had two stars who have such a definitive look and mannerisms that it is almost impossible to reliably dispel reality and see them for their role and not themselves. It's just not really possible to look at the screen and not think that that is Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore up there on the screen. The only time I could push out my awareness of Hugh Grant as his own self was in the video that was supposedly made by his character's group in the 80s, and that's because as a video from that time, it's actually quite believable. Mostly thanks to the George Michael look-alike lead singer who had perfected the 80s side to side arm swing dance!

PoP! Goes My Heart - PoP! (Music and Lyrics)



This snippet from the movie is also a nice little riff on all the Britney and Britney wannabes songs and videos. Pretty funny, especially the comments at the end.

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I'd say the movie That Thing You Do! was a guilty pleasure, except that I feel no guilt about it at all. It's a fun movie, Tom Everett Scott and Jonathan Schaech are spot on in their respective roles, and Steve Zahn is in top form. Besides which you have Liv Tyler, who does doe eyed better than most actresses (and there's a little Charlize Theron, too, if blonde floats your boat more than brunette.) You've also got some memorable one-liners that are sort of like a private joke between the viewer and the movie. ("I.Am.Spartacus." is an often quoted line in our house.)

Of course, there is also the matter of that little catchy tune (written by Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne, by the way, who also sang backup vocals on the actual track):

That Thing You Do - The Wonders



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MTV productions are usually not something that I would get behind; their obvious catering to their target audience and no one else is off-putting to anyone who is not of the TRL age group (Huh. Can't really use that term anymore, though, now, can I?!). With the Josie and The Pussycats they pulled off a nice little backhanded dig at themselves and that very TRL group, somehow managing to still reel them in and at the same time, be smart and funny enough for a larger audience. It's really a great little satiric piece--which, given the presence of Alan Cummings and Parker Posey shouldn't come as a surprise. It's almost like a sellout indie, if such an oxymoron was to exist, and of all my [guilty pleasure] band movies, it's hands down my favorite. (And, again, the eye candy is plenty here--my particular one being Rosario Dawson.)

The songs are quite catchy, which is to expected as they're performed by Letters to Cleo, who also appeared in and provided upbeat songs to a number of other teen flicks around the same time. This one has all the makings of a great earworm:

Pretend to Be Nice - Josie and The Pussycats



The best thing about this movie, though, is the perfectly parodied boy band Du Jour. Seriously, this is some funny shit. I included the song Backdoor Lover twice, by the way, once as it appears in the opening credits and then again as the video extra, because they're both equally funny (and the dialog following the open credits is hysterical). I especially think Seth Green and Breckin Myer missed their calling in life, personally!

Back Door Lover - Du Jour (Josie and the Pussycats opening credits)



Back Door Lover - Du Jour




Around The World - Du Jour