Music in the movies: Cameron Crowe

Cameron Crowe’s musical obsession runs much deeper than most other directors, and this is evident throughout his career as a filmmaker. His films make brilliant use of music, often with a blend of excellent tracks from underground artists sitting alongside inclusions from revered ones.

For more in-depth looks at Crowe’s back catalogue, check out Carley’s looking back series. Below are my musical highlights...

Say Anything

After penning two reasonably successful screenplays, Crowe was encouraged to try his hand at directing. For his directorial debut Say Anything, Crowe tackled slightly more mature themes than his previous cinematic adventures.

Sure, Say Anything focuses on the experiences of people in their late teens, but the fact that it has such warmth to it and clearly cares about its subjects is what makes the film stand out amongst its peers. Even to this day, Say Anything remains one of the finest films of its kind.

Given Crowe’s enthusiasm for music, it’s little surprise that the film has a great soundtrack to support it. Initially famous for the scene with John Cusack’s Lloyd holding a stereo above his arms with Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes playing, it remains the film’s most iconic scene.

The soundtrack appears to be a much more considered affair than any of its contemporaries at the time. It’s packed from top to bottom with songs that are far from obvious inclusions, yet fit the film perfectly.

Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Taste The Pain features, at a time before the band were a household name, and any soundtrack that includes The Replacements never fails to win me over. A strong debut for both a film and a soundtrack.

Singles

For Singles, Crowe really captured the zeitgeist. Released in the summer of 1992, his homage to his hometown of Seattle and its burgeoning couldn’t have been timed any better. This was the time where the bands from that scene, and many other alternative scenes across America, broke through into the mainstream.

I owned the soundtrack for Singles long before I saw the film. The main draw was the unreleased Pearl Jam tracks State Of Love And Trust, Breath, and Drown by the Smashing Pumpkins. After listening to the album steadily for some months, I ended up purchasing albums by nearly all of the artists featured on it.

There's more Replacements action here as well, with the first two solo tracks from their front man Paul Westerberg, Dyslexic Heart and Waiting For Somebody. Lyrically, it’s not a million miles away from much of the material he produced with his former band, but musically it's more overtly reminiscent of the Beatles than much of his previous material.

This really is one of the finest soundtracks, not only of the 90s, but of all time. There’s not a wasted track here and the material perfectly complements each other. Even now the material stands up, even if the same can’t be said for the material as a whole for many of the bands featured.

Jerry Maguire

Jerry Maguire is Crowe’s biggest commercial hit to date. The story of a sports agent looking to turn his fortunes around after being fired suffers from being overly sentimental at times, but is still a solid film and, as usual with Crowe’s films, boasts an excellent soundtrack.

Whilst it might not stand up to some of the best of his soundtracks, there are still some excellent moments, including another Replacements track with I’ll Be You, as well as inclusions by Nirvana, Bob Dylan and Neil Young.

Two pieces that are perhaps the most notable are Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’, as sung along to by Tom Cruise’s titular character, and Bruce Springsteen’s Secret Garden.

Other notable musical connections include a score by Heart guitarist and Crowe’s wife Nancy Wilson, and Jerry Cantrell, guitarist of Alice In Chains, makes an appearance as a photocopier clerk.

Almost Famous

Crowe's semi-autobiographical account of his experiences as a young writer on the road with the Allman Brothers for Rolling Stone magazine is widely regarded as his finest work. Throughout, there's a sense that this was a highly personal project for the director. All aspects of the film are handled incredibly well, and it boasts his most expansive soundtrack.

The soundtrack was awarded a Grammy in 2001, and it's easy to see why. Boasting in excess of fifty tracks throughout the movie, Crowe balances quality and quantity superbly, with no track seeming out of place. The music used is very much of the period in which its set, which gives the film a great sense of time and place.

The sheer excitement over music is something that many people can relate to, and it's perfectly captured here as the film's protagonist goes on the road with his favourite band, Stillwater.

There are so many musical highlights throughout the film and in particular the Tiny Dancer scene is the one that is the recipient of the majority of praise, and is the film's most iconic scene. It's a scene that, through a cynic's eyes, could be seen as being overly cheesy, but it's handled with great taste, and never fails to raise a smile when I watch the film.

Vanilla Sky

Vanilla Sky boasts one of my favourite soundtracks in recent years, partly because so many of my favourite bands and artists feature throughout. Not only is it a great listen without the film, the songs all work amazingly well within the context of the film itself.

The highlights for me are Radiohead’s Everything In Its Right Place towards the start of the film, the use of Sigur Rós’ Untitled IV, and Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space by Spiritualized at the film's finale, as mentioned in my closing songs article.

There are overt musical references throughout the film, most evident when Cruise and Cruz’s characters morph into the cover of Bob Dylan’s The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.The eclectic soundtrack also features original material from Nancy Wilson and Paul McCartney.

Elizabethtown

Crowe’s most recent and weakest film also features his weakest soundtrack. Heavily focussed on alt country and Americana, with a few little-heard tracks from revered artists, it’s consistent in terms of mood, but it’s a downbeat affair that lacks the appeal of the other soundtracks that accompany his filmography.

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