Videodrome

Scream Edition

In retrospect, I suppose the Scream soundtracks weren't all that I thought that they were when I was 15. Well, let me rephrase that. The first one's soundtrack still stands up. A little (perhaps this is due to the bands in question having been mostly independent acts, who knows). In particular, Gus's acoustic cover of Don't Fear the Reaper retains the same haunting power it did in '96. The inclusion of Julee Cruise (David Lynch's forgotten muse) on any soundtrack is cool beyond the telling of it. Alice Cooper needs no excuses. The Connell's Bitter Pill still remains somewhat enjoyable and Birdbrain's Youth of America (the video is below) follows suit. The masterstroke though, is obviously Nick Cave and the Bad Seed's amazing Red Right Hand, which went on to become the franchise's anthem of sorts, reworked versions of it subsequently appearing in the next two sequels.

However, the soundtrack to Scream 2 is rather annoying. Truth, it was rather annoying back in the day, but it is even more so now. What with the producers attempting to fill (or overfill, there are no less than three bands that play throughout the closing credits if I remember correctly) the movie with "hot acts" to "hip up" their film. I choose to believe that the inclusion of The Dave Matthews Band's (irritating voice of yuppies everywhere) Help Myself, which played at sorority sisters' Lois (Rebecca Gayheart)and Murphy's (Portia de Rossi) party, is meant to be an indicator of how grating those two characters were (sometimes you have to tell yourself lies). The Eels is a bright spot, but their song Your Lucky Day In Hell was never one of my favorites. Less Than Jake's cover of I Think I Love You is to this day is as energetic as ever. Everclear = blah Republican rockers. Kottonmouth Kings = no, just no. Followed by a no, no, no and no to just about every remaining act on the album, with special attention being paid to Collective Soul's She Said, which simultaneously is akin to an entire classroom of rambunctious kindergarteners collectively dragging their nails down a chalkboard while making me feel as though I am being horribly violated and molested as it plays and lastly, leaves me in such a mood that drop-kicking infants into roaring a furnace could only free me of it. I really hate that song. Oddly, the one track that no longer bothers me (though it use to) is Master P.'s Scream (whose video is also below). It's definitely grown on me since I started revisiting these songs in preparation for Scream 4. But this is where I end it because as far as Scream 3's soundtrack is concerned, not then, not now, not ever.

Birdbrain - Youth of America



Master P. (featuring Silkk the Shocker) - Scream


My apologies for the less than stellar qualities of these two videos. They are the best that I could find.