Soundtrack to Your Life

Scott Hardie | November 16, 2006
Miah introduced me to an interesting fad circulating on MySpace: Fill out the following form by going through your music collection on shuffle-all and paste in whatever song comes up next for each item, without cheating by skipping any. The result is supposed to be what the soundtrack would be if a movie was made of your life. Some songs won't be appropriate, but you should wind up with a few surprisingly serendipitous matches.

Opening Credits:

Waking Up Scene:

Car Driving Scene:

High School Flashback Scene:

Nostalgic Scene:

Bitter, Angry Scene:

Break-up Scene:

Regret Scene:

Nightclub/Bar Scene:

Fight/Action Scene:

Lawn Mowing Scene:

Sad, breakdown scene:

Death Scene:

Funeral Scene:

Mellow/Pot-smoking Scene:

Dreaming About Someone Scene:

Sex Scene:

Contemplation Scene:

Chase Scene:

Happy Love Scene:

Happy Friend Scene:

Closing Credits:

When you're done, share the results with us, and put in boldface the items that you think are especially good matches.

I used a few house rules with my list that you may wish to copy: 1) If a skit came on, I skipped to the next musical track on the same disc. 2) No using the same artist twice. 3) Free pass to skip one artist of my choice. I chose Nobuo Uematsu; sorry FF fans.

Scott Hardie | November 16, 2006
My list:

Opening Credits: A3, "Woke Up This Morning" - Very cool. It happens to be the song over the opening credits of The Sopranos.

Waking Up Scene: Pearl Jam, "Hey Foxymophandlemama, That's Me" - I don't like this song because it's Pearl Jam at their most pretentious, but it's just weird enough to fit, like I'm waking up from bizarre dreams.

Car Driving Scene: Violent Femmes, "Color Me Once" - What a downer.

High School Flashback Scene: Southern Culture on the Skids, "Fire of Love" - It's a cover of an old Christian song, done as a Patsy Cline style rock song. Good song in the wrong place.

Nostalgic Scene: Black Sabbath, "Wheels of Confusion" - An absolutely perfect fit: It's a dreamlike, bittersweet song about memories being false fantasies.

Bitter, Angry Scene: Dan Zanes, "Moon Over Green Country" - Low-key, mellow blues song, no fit.

Break-up Scene: Blitzspeer, "City Boy" - Nah. It's an angry acoustic song from a metal band. It has an edge but it's too low-key.

Regret Scene: Galactic Cowboys, "My School" - Nostalgic song about years wasted in boring, uninformative public education.

Nightclub/Bar Scene: White Stripes, "Why Can't You Be Nicer to Me" - Slow, bitter, and most importantly, loud as hell. Good for a smoky bar near closing time.

Fight/Action Scene: Metallica, "Sweet Amber" - It's fast enough I guess, but it had to land on one of the mellowest songs on an otherwise hard-rocking album, didn't it?

Lawn Mowing Scene: nine inch nails, "The Becoming" - Yes, because I always mow my lawn listening to creepy goth-techno.

Sad, breakdown scene: Smashing Pumpkins, "Raindrops + Sunshowers" - Maybe. It's an upbeat pop song, but it IS about raindrops falling on all of us.

Death Scene: Offspring, "Vultures" - So-so. It's a sad song, but too busy.

Funeral Scene: Outkast, "Prototype" - Could work, as a funeral for a lover. It's about one perfect love making you want to forsake all others.

Mellow/Pot-smoking Scene: Bob Dylan, "Return to Me" - Great match! It's super-mellow and happy and goofy. Hurry back, hurry back, hurry back...

Dreaming About Someone Scene: Shivaree, "Wagers" - Very appropriate. Bizarre, haunting, dream-like song. Sends tingles up your spine.

Sex Scene: For Love Not Lisa, "Slip Slide Melting" - Boo. It's upbeat but kinda lame.

Contemplation Scene: Izzy Stradlin, "How Will It Go" - Not bad. It's the sort of thoughtful soft-rock song you expect to hear over The Sopranos closing credits.

Chase Scene: Aimee Mann, "Just Like Anyone" - Ha! Laughably inappropriate! It's an apologetic, weepy, accordion-tinged song about being a lousy friend. Worst chase scene ever!

Happy Love Scene: Candy Dulfer, "Pick Up the Pieces" - An upbeat cover of a jazz classic. Fine if we're, say, making up at a friend's party after an argument.

Happy Friend Scene: Garbage, "Til the Day I Die" - Romantic rock song. Kinda weird subtext, but I guess it works.

Closing Credits: Iron Maiden, "The Educated Fool" - Yep, that about says it.

Jackie Mason | November 18, 2006
[hidden by request]

Tony Peters | November 19, 2006
reshuffle......1st time was a shuffle run in a playlist not in my whole music library

Opening Credits: Stay on…Sugar Ray

Waking Up Scene: Spaceman…Bif Naked

Motorcycle Riding Scene: Girl on the wing…the shins

High School Flashback Scene: Le roi est mort, vive le roi…enigma

Nostalgic Scene: Black eyed…Placebo

Bitter, Angry Scene: Christian says…Tones on Tail…OK that’s wierd

Break-up Scene: a million miles away by London …3rd eye blind

Regret Scene: Glider Music from Thomas Crown affair

Nightclub/Bar Scene: Well that was easy…Franz Ferdinand

Fight/Action Scene: Just like this…Limp Biscuit

Lawn Mowing Scene: Sweet Dreams

Sad, breakdown scene: Ryan Adams

Death Scene: Tear Jerker…red hot chilli peppers

Funeral Scene: Silence…..[DJ Tiesto's in Search of Sunrise Remix of Sarah McLachlan]

Mellow/Pot-smoking Scene: Wish you were here…Incubus

Dreaming About Someone Scene: Freeze…K-OS

Sex Scene: I’ll remember April…Sunny Clark…Again Itunes is weird here

Contemplation Scene: Extradidtion…Pavement not a bad song to think too

Chase Scene: Carry the zero…built to spill

Happy Love Scene: The She Lived here…Antigone Rising

Happy Friend Scene: Trip…Hammer Box

Closing Credits: Slow Ride…Beastie Boys

Kris Weberg | November 19, 2006
Opening Credits: "Autonomy" by the Buzzcocks. A really roaring song, but one that seems more like an intermezzo piece in movie terms than an opening credits song. I suppose the lyrics could be useful as some kind of character sketch.

Waking Up Scene: "Dumb" by Nirvana. Apparently my iTunes has chosen to ignore the many genres of music I enjoy besides Punk/Alterna-rock. Or it thinks I'm stupid. Bu the last laugh will be on iTunes, the wily little bastard.

Car Driving Scene: "One More Murder" by Better than Ezra. It had better be raining during this scene if this song is gonna worki. And night. It does mention "driv[ing] around in the second line, however, so I guess it's vaguely apropos.

High School Flashback Scene: "A Well Respected Man" by the Kinks. An envy-laden song about a complacent British man in the 1960s. It is from an earlier decade than the other songs.

Nostalgic Scene: "The Father Who Must Be Killed" by Morrissey. Well, we knew a Morrissey song would come up, but I'm not really nostalgic for the Oedipal stage and I've never been a stepchild.

Bitter, Angry Scene: "Zombie Zoo" by Tom Petty. See now, this song is actually fit for a bitter scene, being little more than a sarcastic description of nihilistic youth. Also, it's by Tom Petty, and the worst person in the world.

Break-up Scene: "This Charming Man," by the Smiths, It's a song about breaking an engagement after realizing you're gay. Is my iTunes trying to tell me something?

Regret Scene: "Mr. Tambourine Man," by the Byrds. Nothing is more regret-laden than a cheery cover of a Bob Dylan song about scoring pot at 3am.

Nightclub/Bar Scene: "Blue Monday," by Orgy. You might actually hear this song in a nightclub.

Fight/Action Scene: "Stewball," by Peter, Paul, and Mary. Quite possibly the slowest, gentlest folk-pop song imaginable. Do we get do-overs on this?

Lawn Mowing Scene: "Sunshine of Your Love," by Cream. Erm...yes, then.

Sad, breakdown scene: "If I Were a Carpenter," by Johnny and June Carter Cash. iTunes is crazy, dumb, or vicious.

Death Scene: "When My Boy Walks Down the Street" by the Magnetic Fields. No comment, as I am strangling my iPod with its own earbud cord.

Funeral Scene: "Autobahn," by Kraftwerk. The soft, building, but ultimately sterile song seems like it fits the washed-out emotion one gets driving to and leaving a funeral for an acquaintance.

Mellow/Pot-smoking Scene: "I Like You," Morrissey. I suppose I have no one to blame but myself now that the iPod has been throttled.

Dreaming About Someone Scene: "More Than This," by Roxy Music. Damn! And then I get something absolutely, 100% dead on. This song is perfect, soaring but wistful, and on top of that it's the song Bill Murray performs karaoke-style in Lost in Translation
.

Sex Scene: "32 Flavors," by Alanna Davis. More of a foreplay song than a full-on sex song, really. C'mon, iTunes, I've got "Bolero" on here!

Contemplation Scene: "Violet," by Hole. It's good for a contemplative scene, if you suffer from violent rages while engaged in contemplation.

Chase Scene: "Sleepwalk," by Johnny and Santo. I can just about imagine the world's slowest instrumental track backing a full-on rampage through the streets of Tokyo. I think the movie of my life will use a lot of Brechtian alienation effects.

Happy Love Scene: "Good Looking Man About Town," by Morrissey. An ironic choice, I suppose, but it could work.

Happy Friend Scene: "Star Me Kitten," performed by R.E.M. and William S. Burroughs. The backing vocals say "bad lounge music," but the lyrics say "Fuck me, kitten." And those lyrics are being said by a walking corpse propped up by heroin and fame. I guess what I'm trying to say is that this song reflects almost every friendship I've ever been a part of.

Closing Credits: 'A Pair of Brown Eyes," by the Pogues. My eyes are brown, and this slow-paced Celtic-punk ballad does feel like a closer, albeit more a bar's final jukebox pick for the night than a biographical (?) film's finish.

If I really were generating a soundtrack for a biopic, I'd likely go with the "one artist" approach, using their back catalogue to fit the moods and themes as things go. It'd be easy with Elvis Costello, Dylan, Bowie, or the Beatles; difficult but fun with an act like the Smiths, R.E.M., or Radiohead; and challenging and quirky with musicians like Blondie, the Who, or the Jefferson Airplane (no Starship need apply).

Amy Austin | November 20, 2006
Tony, you seem to have missed the whole RANDOM part of the assignment!

Tony Peters | November 20, 2006
Not really Amy...I just ran Shuffle in the wrong place (in a playlist)...with my Playlists its quite easy to get what you really want if you use shuffle in the right place. But for you I'll run shuffle in my main library of 9000+ songs and post that...SEE ABOVE

Denise Sawicki | November 20, 2006
I wish I could do this, but my MP3 library is mostly a bunch of random stuff I downloaded that I don't necessarily even know or like.

Lori Lancaster | November 20, 2006
[hidden by request]

Erik Bates | December 14, 2006
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