So last night the wife and I rented Sky High. We had wanted to see it when it came out, but never managed to make it to the local cine-mega-plexopolis in time. The young'n had seen it with her grandparents, and really liked 'the girl that turns into a purple hamster'(for the sake of accuracy the girl turns into a purple guinea pig, but we need not quibble about speciation here)so we knew it wasn't totally crappy. And it wasn't. It was nice...not thrilling, but nice. The story is pretty formulaic: Son wants to follow in dad's footsteps at same high school dad went to. He faces shame when he can't, and gets lumped in with the unpopular crowd, then later finds he really is as good as dad, and the misfits are all heroes in their own ways. Add the trappings of a universe filled with superheroes and it all falls into place. The adults all seemed a little too 'nudge nudge, wink wink' for my tastes, but the kids did a fine job and seemed to be having a good time. I especially liked the cameos by Linda Carter, Cloris Leachman, Dave Foley, Kevin McDonald, and Bruce Campbell, but there was one thing that bugged me through the entire film. The music.
At first, when the They Might Be Giants cover of Devo's 'We're Through Being Cool' played I rather enjoyed it. But it soon became evident that the entire soundtrack consists of some of my favorite 80's tunes being covered by modern bands. Bowling for Soup did 'Melt with You', Steven Straight did the Fixx's 'One Thing Leads To Another', Vitamin C did 'Til Tuesday's 'Voices Carry', etc. Friends had told me about this, though I had forgotten, but for some reason with each successive song I grew more irritated. I can't figure this out. I love They Might Be Giants, and Bowling for Soup, and I think it's great that these songs are getting a new life, but for some reason I can't put my finger on the whole thing is bugging the crap out of me. Maybe I'm just getting sick of the 'see how cool we are to be using classic rock in our movie' mentality. Maybe I'm just annoyed that the songs of my youth are now fodder for lame covers in a mediocre kids movie. Maybe I'm just pissed about something else and this is where it's leaking out. I really don't know. Is anyone else out there upset by this? Does anyone really know what time it is? Does anyone really care?
Peace, man.
Marius
2 comments:
Thank the Gods it's not just me. I'm so sick of these mass produced whiney lil uber popular bands going back and resting on the laurels of ROCK GODS by doing thier washed out, apathetic, gimme the money so I can go home, versions of true classics.
Today I was in my work area waiting a true 80's rock marathon so I could get some real work done and what do I hear?.. Rock you like a Hurricane that sounds like its been dragged through a a bowl of bubble bath surrounded by scented candles..
gotta go was my soul.. I feel dirty
Ld T
We actually saw Sky High in the theatre and went right out to buy the soundtrack. At first, we liked it a lot because it's the 80s music we like done by bands the kids like. A sort of win/win situation.
I had many requests to play the album in the car, and over time, the songs started annoying me. My problem is not with the quality of the remakes but Disney "sanitizing" the lyrics.
We aren't dealing with gangsta rap here. Changing "Making love to you was never second best" (from "Melt With You") to "Being friends with you..." was downright silly. Altering "Re-arrange their face" in "Through Being Cool" is even stupider. And "Voices Carry" was totally butchered.
Some of the remakes downright suck, others are not too bad and a few are almost identical to the original. Except for the lyrics. Damn you Disney!
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