The first one was mostly about the jazz, the swing, the blues. You had The Ink Spots (they started it all with the first game’s intro song – “Maybe”, it was a haunting ouvre), The Andrews Sisters, Roy Brown(you actually could hack people to “Butcher Pete”), Cole Porter and Billie Holiday. New Vegas went chronologically further with more swing and a bit of country. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Marty Robbins and Bing Crosby can be heard while wandering through the wastes of the Mojave.

The interesting thing is this: how exactly does a video game aimed at people between 16-30 (I’m guessing that’s their target audience) manage to sell them on the idea of oldies (and I do mean old, not like some who throw that word in front of everything older than 10 years)? My answer would be that they don’t even try to sell the idea, it just mixes rather well. I realized about 2 hours in, that the music actually builds atmosphere. It’s ironic, funny, and anachronic at the same time to shoot raiders in the head while Dean Martin swaggers to the beat of “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head”. Or to beat someone to a pulp while a love ballad like Nat King Cole’s “Love Me as Though There Were No Tomorrow” plays on. And I’m guessing that’s what brings the hipster approval. Then again, there’s also the fact that this is good music that today’s youth hasn’t been introduced to(and in some ways I’d rather it not become some DJ’s mixing fodder).

Evidence of these songs’ popularity outside the confines of the game can be found all over Youtube’s boards.
If you look at the comments section, you’ll notice most people recognize that the game brought them there. The funniest part is realizing there’s actually a conflict between the ones who haven’t played Fallout, and the ones that did. Focusing solely on the matter of how the song was discovered. I call it funny because there’s two sides that fight over something both of them like.

As for me, I just feel Sinatra’s low-key “Blue Moon” is perfect for stretching your legs in a desert after the end of the world.

I recently read a review for the Lady Gaga themed Glee episode. It mentioned the singer as being still too outre and avant-garde to the get the treatment Glee did on Madonna. I beg to disagree. Lady Gaga is actually pretty mainstream. The 224 million views “Bad Romance” has on Youtube suggest it. The thing is, musically, we’re in a post decadence, shock value, indie, alternative, everything period. There is no “new”, or “shocking”, or “original”. Well, there’s still originality, but it’s not reinventing the wheel. What Lady Gaga is doing today, Madonna had done it before her, and it had a way bigger impact back then.

Let’s just have a look at the Billboard Hot 100. You’ve got Katy Perry there, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Pink, Nikki Minaj in some small part on a Ludacris song and, of course, Lady Gaga. These are all female singers who put a lot of thought (or they don’t, they’re just a product of years of pushing boundaries) in what they act like and look like. They’ve got unique styles (which are not set in stone), and from a certain point that’s good. Katy Perry’s retro, Ke$ha’s party glam, Pink is rebel couture and Lady Gaga is somehow all of the above and more. What’s so avant-garde and outre about incorporating haute couture in music? They’re not the first (not thinking too far back, we’ve got “Vogue” and George Michael’s “Freedom” – that had supermodels in it, it was more than a blatant mix of fashion and music). Also, shocking, outrageous, atypical? I can think of at least two performers who did it before Lady Gaga and not too long ago: Kelis and Christina Aguilera.

All in all, we’re in the haute couture era of music (every rapper has a designer clothing line – think P. Diddy). And that’s not either a bad thing, or something out of the ordinary. Just as with every art form, the direction is toward synergy and syncretism.

  Well, it’s new, it’s a lot of fun, and totally unexpected: Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder. Once Flo Rida’s “Low” starts playing, I dare you not to laugh. G5..playa!!!

  One more for Tom Cruise, this time along side Danny DeVito and Kevin Spacey in Austin Powers: Goldmember, as the movie versions of Austin Powers, Dr. Evil and Mini Me. Funnier than the rest of movie, and totally worth it.”Yeah baby, yeah!!!”

  Keith Richards in Pirates of The Carribean 3: At World’s End. What can I say it’s Jack Sparrow and the original model for him, and Richards actually manages to upstage Johnny Depp. Depp needs to snort a lot of coke if he ever decides to play Richards in some kind of Stones biopic.

  Will Ferrell as Chazz Reinhold in Wedding Crashers. He’s like your worst nightmare come true: a 40 year old man living with his mother, slouching around in a bathrobe. Considering the movie builds him up as a wedding crasher legend it’s just about as sad as seeing Pacino in The Godfather then in 88 Minutes. “HEY MOM! CAN WE GET SOME MEATLOAF? ”

  David Hasselhoff as the coach of the German team in Dodgeball. You have to love a man willing to poke fun at himself. The part where the Germans look extremely ashamed to have disappointed him while he’s barking German at them is priceless (then again so is “Fuckin’ Chuck Norris!” ) No Hasselhoff video, but here’s some Chuck Norris.

  Probably the best cameo ever comes from Neil Patrick Harris in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, playing himself, or rather a coked up, totally insane version of himself, NPH. “Come on, dudes, let’s pick up some trim at a strip club. The Doogie line always works on strippers.”

I remember when the musical scene in the U.S. was diverse. Back in 1999, for example, Eminem had just started out, Britney as well, there were the Offspring, Cher was having one last blast, there were the TLC (now that was RnB), Ricky Martin was reaching his peek, Shania Twain had released her most popular album to date, Mariah Carey hadn’t yet settled for whatever she’s singing now, Blink182 was making people laugh, Madonna wasn’t as hated as she is now, Fatboy Slim was at the top of his game, and oh, yeah, there were the New Radicals (whatever happened to them?).
That was diversity. Nowadays what do we get? Tokio Hotel and the Timbaland brand? I liked Timbaland, I thought he did good stuff when he first broke out (I even liked what he did with Missy), but now I’ve come to hate him. Just because nowadays everyone wants to work with him that every song ends up sounding just a bit the same.
There’s too much RnB and Hip Hop on the market. Too many crossovers, too many attempts at combining what’s hot with everyone’s personal style. It doesn’t work. Went through the Billboard top singles a couple of days back, heard almost nothing special. Had to turn to MTV UK’s charts. Not that those were extremely great either. Where’s the rock? Coldplay? Viva La Vida’s as pop as it will ever get. Sure there are some bands out there, but really, as a parallel, do they compare with The Offspring, Blink182, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Bush, The Cranberries as far as 1999 goes? And that wasn’t exactly the best of all year for music.
I mean, Chris Brown? “I need you boo, I gotta see you boo”? How does that make it to No.1? “i bet there’s hearts all over the world tonight”? I bet that too, please hand me my winnings.

So what?

  Does that mean that I’m influenced today by those songs?I honestly don’t know.But, fact it, even though the following were hits during that year, I’m not “Dancing on the Ceiling”, I’m not even trying to “Walk Like an Egyptian”, I’m not waiting for “The Final Countdown”, I definitely don’t use a “Sledgehammer”(though i fantasize about it often), I’m not “Notorious”, and I’m not “Living in America”.Though from time to time, I do “Kiss”, and sometimes my head turns for a “Lady in Red”, and just call me crazy, but I sometimes find myself screaming “Rock Me Amadeus”.

  So yes, sometimes I am the music, but not necessarily the music from the year I was born.And I may or may not have been influenced by it, but a lot of today’s music sure has.

I once read an article from an IMDB link, about the evolution of soundtracks in the film industry.Everyone can remember hits like “My Heart Will Go On“, “I Will Always Love You“, or “Take My Breath Away“.Songs written specifically for the movies they appeared in.Songs that you’d here everywhere at the time.Songs that would haunt you to the point you’d hate them.

You won’t see this happening nowadays.Apart from your usual soundtracks, like the ones by John Williams(I can remember a funny joke from a “Family Guy” episode, in which Williams, who holds several Academy Awards, also won the porn industry soundtrack award), Howard Shore, Hans Zimmer or Danny Elfman(who can also sing), there are no singles being written for soundtracks(at least not like the megahits of yore).Instead, rights are being bought for songs already recorded.Because it’s safer.

I, for one, have yet to decide on whether this is a good thing.On one side, those songs were an integral part of the movies they accompanied.I can’t imagine a “Titanic” without Dion’s ballad.On the other hand, a truly passionate director will always know how to create a score for his movies(e.g. Quentin Tarantino, Cameron Crowe).Names like these broke the rules, and the trends(though not only-Kubrick used to do it also;we can all recall the infamous, in “A Clockwork Orange“, “Singin’ in the rain“).Today, I can’t imagine the classic “Stuck in the Middle with You” without seeing Michael Madsen dancing with axe in front of the tied up cop(hint:if you have no idea what I’m talking about, go see “Reservoir Dogs“).Anyone who saw “Elizabeth Town” will understand how much a colourful soundtrack, full of hits from the ’50s and up to present, for an otherwise mediocre movie.

Come to think of it, maybe this is better.It certainly gives a new meaning to the already existing syncretism in music and film.Also, how else would we get to discover old unpolished gems?