Thursday, July 6, 2017

Riske Business: Songs I Love from Summer Movies

by Adam Riske
Listen to these at your next beach volleyball game!

Title: “Touch Me, Tease Me”
Artist: Case featuring Foxy Brown and Mary J. Blige
From: The Nutty Professor


This is the perfect song to listen to when your boo is on their way over and you just popped a Viagra. Damn, it sexy! And it’s from The Nutty Professor? Haha, that’s funny. They must have screwed up so many takes of this song due to horniness. It’s like a sex tape that’s entirely audio. Where’s my fainting couch?

Title: “Gold Dust Woman”
Artist: Hole
From: The Crow: City of Angels


Have you ever had a song you love so much that you’ll just stop and lay down to listen to it on your phone? That’s me and the Hole cover version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman.” This song rocks the hardest, especially at 1:15-1:27. That’s the part where I run through glass doors because it makes me invincible. I also have a huge crush on Courtney Love in this video because she went brunette and has control of her life; both qualities which I find very attractive. I like my blondes out of control, though. Anyways, I don’t appreciate how Vincent Perez keeps popping up in the video like he’s Captain Howdy. He’s such a bad Crow. The Crow: City of Angels is not a good movie (though it does have Mia Kirshner, who is my goth dream woman…and she’s Jewish, which makes me want to take her to my deli while the older ladies are all “Do you see how she’s dressed?” #Sinagogue #BlackChanukkah #GothMitzvah) but the soundtrack still rules. The Iggy Pop and PJ Harvey songs on it are also really good. Take it from me; it is great music to listen to when playing previously used games on Sega CD.

Title: “Back in Time”
Artist: Pitbull
From: Men in Black 3


Pitbull is the type of artist where I’ll tell you to your face I don’t like him but then have his Sirius XM station as one of my presets. I would lie under oath if asked whether I own any of his music. I can just picture Pitbull being on set for this video like “Mr. 305/Mr. Worldwide is now Agent P/MiB/Mr. Neuralyzer!” while everyone else is all “Yeah, no one cares. Would you stand on your mark please?”

Title: “Vindicated”
Artist: Dashboard Confessional
From: Spider-Man 2


I don’t like Dashboard Confessional (spare me your emo), but I do like this one song they did for Spider-Man 2. I listened to it a lot in 2004 because I was 98 percent raw feelings that summer. I had just gotten dumped by the love of my life (up to that point) and I would blast this song in my car when I drove to the batting cages to hit baseballs out of frustration. I was all “So let me slip away” (swing and hit a grounder), “So let me slip away” (swing and foul tip), “So let me slip awwwwwaaaaaaaayyyyy! (swing and hit a homer equivalent). I remember I told my ex after we broke up that I was going to the cages to let out frustration and she asked me if I imagined the baseballs were her. I said no and she scolded me anyways. We had that kind of relationship.

Title: “End of the Road”
Artist: Boyz II Men
From: Boomerang


Just one of the best love songs from one of the greatest R&B bands of all-time. Ugh! So good. My favorite guy from Boyz II Men has always been Wanya Morris, because he looks a little like my all-time favorite baseball player, Chicago White Sox Hall of Famer (1st Ballot, I might add) the “Big Hurt” Frank Thomas. Also, Wanya gets all the good whiny stuff to sing. Many of the times I’ve been in Las Vegas for work Boyz II Men is playing somewhere and I have a moment where I think about how I can sneak out of my career to see them perform. #BucketList.

Title: “Walk”
Artist: Foo Fighters
From: Thor


It’s so weird to me that the MCU doesn’t have pop songs on their soundtracks, except there’s this one Foo Fighters (they rule!) single from Thor. Whatever, I love it anyways. Whenever Dave Grohl sings the part (e.g. 0:40 mark) “Learnin’ to walk again,” he sounds like he’s negotiating a poo, though. Nevertheless, the 2:30 to 3:12 stretch in this song is among the greatest music in existence. Omg…that build! After I hear it I’m all like Hemsworth at the 3:52 mark.

Title: “Sleeping Awake”
Artist: P.O.D.
From: The Matrix Reloaded


I never thought I’d be recommending a P.O.D. song, but here we are. This song rules! I love all of the Matrix code stuff at the beginning. It makes me want to drink a Sprite. This is about as good as you can get for a song with the lyric “Dreaming of Zion awake.” Also worth checking out is “When the World Ends” by Dave Matthews Band on this film’s soundtrack, which is pretty great and the movie is somewhat underrated imho, too.

Title: “Time Won’t Let Me”
Artist: The Smithereens
From: Timecop


This might be a cheat because Timecop came out in early September, but it was still before September 21, so I’m counting it as a summer song. Where do I begin with this video? Van Damme must have done so much cocaine before shooting it and he’s totally on the set of Street Fighter, right? I mean he has to be in M. Bison’s lab, correct? I just imagine JCVD being all “Smidereens…you play de music…I will toucha de buttons and servers.” This video might break a world record for edits, too. Good lord.

Title: “Are You That Somebody?”
Artist: Aaliyah
From: Doctor Dolittle


Eddie Murphy movies have the best songs! And I miss Aaliyah. She was a real bright spot in hip-hop/R&B gone way too soon. On a lighter note, on more than one occasion Pomaro and I have re-enacted all of the dance moves from this video. It took three Scary Movie Months but I’m pretty sure we perfected it. Next time I go to a hockey game (which will be never because I don’t give a puck) I just want to yell out “Is it my goal or is it your goal?” whenever someone scores.

Title: “God Gave Rock and Roll to You II”
Artist: KISS
From: Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey


Omg. This is just the greatest thing ever. The clips. The KISS. If you only have one second to watch this video, skip to 1:49 – Station! Sometimes rock and roll just seems like it can save the world and this song is a textbook example of where we begin to do that. I remember hearing this song over the end credits of Bogus Journey back in ’91 and being genuinely moved.

Your turn! What are some other songs you love from summer movies?

12 comments:

  1. I love "Walk"! The entirety of the Wasting Light album is excellent. But of course, I love all of Foo Fighters' work. I like the Beatles-esque(?) black-and-white footage of the band in this video as well. If there's any band that I regret never taking the opportunity to attend any of their concerts yet, it's Foo Fighters. Great choice there!

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    1. I will also point out that Boyz II Men are going to be among the artists performing here at Epcot during the 2017 Food and Wine Festival. You just need to find a way to make a quick pit stop in Orlando around November 6-8. :)

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  2. You paint a very vivid picture of the batting cages moment and that song hahahaha. I can see it. Been there.

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    1. I had to fight my way back to life one swing at a time.

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  3. I totally second the respect for "Sleeping Awake" and Pitbull's "Back in Time"! If I might make two nominations of my own: Metallica's "I Disappear", from the masterpiece Mission: Impossible II, and "Iridescent", the shockingly good Linkin Park credits song from Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

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    1. The MI2 soundtrack has some good ones. Seconded on "Iridescent".

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  4. "Moving" is exactly how to describe the finale of Bogus Journey. It was the first time I heard "God Gave Rock n Roll..." and I was at the drive-in. Oh great now I'm crying.

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    1. I love hard rock when it reveals its huge heart

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    2. I second that emotion - I knew the song from that soundtrack before I knew KISS and I was pretty surprised when I first connected the band to the song. A lot more makeup and tongue than I imagined.

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  5. Not sure if there is criteria here besides summer releases - but I'll make my own. Here 4 best of's with a "Power" theme:
    "Fight the Power" - Do the Right Thing
    "Power of Love" - Back to the Future
    "The Touch" (You've got the Power) - Transformers: The Movie
    "Some Like it Hot" by Power Station - National Lampoon's European Vacation

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    1. The number 5 that came into my head was "The Power" by Snap (used in Coyote Ugly) but I hate that song so I stuck to 4 I like.

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