My soundtrack

I love music and I love movies. Nothing blends these two loves as well as a good movie soundtrack. The first album I remember buying was the GREASE movie soundtrack, and I have had a love affair with movie soundtracks ever since. FLASHDANCE, FOOTLOOSE, TOP GUN, PRETTY IN PINK, TWO OF A KIND, PURPLE RAIN, WHO'S THAT GIRL, LOVE ACTUALLY, JUNO, BOOMERANG, GARDEN STATE....I have purchased a lot movie soundtracks over the years.

So the other day while listening to music during my commute into work, my mind started to wander, as it often does. I started to think - if I could score the soundtrack to the bio film of my life, what songs would be on it? And I kept thinking about it - tough choices would have to be made. Because it would have to be songs that I not only love, but that would match a particular period of my life, or would work for particular scenes. Many of my all-time favorite songs would not make the cut. My weakness for pop music would probably make this an impossibly expensive album to put together in terms of licensing. But I put some thought into it, and I pared it down to this: the soundtrack to my life, so far.

1. Mecano – Maquillaje – Not my favorite Mecano song, not by a long shot, but it's a fun one, that would work in a montage scene of getting ready for work or school. It's a way to include a song by one of my all-time favorite bands. Plus, hello, it's a song about makeup. 
2. Depeche Mode – Enjoy the Silence. Because it's one of my favorite songs, have listened to it countless times, and it works in a variety of contexts. (Karaoke night, road trip, montage...)
3. The Cure – There are so many I would include! Robert Smith makes some great moody atmospheric music, as well as some catchy tunes, and basically provided a big chunk of the soundtrack to my teens. Plus, you know, the band name matches mine and all that. I have narrowed it down to: A Thousand Hours, for a moody montage, Catch, because I've always thought it sounds like it could be about me, and In Between Days, because it’s musically peppy but lyrically not.
4. Barenaked Ladies – Who Needs Sleep - I've had many, many a sleepless night, and this song just perfectly encapsulates that. Good montage song - which is why I think it's been used in film on several occasions. 
5. ABBA – Chuiquitita. I've loved ABBA since I was a wee one, and kind of thought they were singing this to me when I was little. Plus I love that this song was recorded for UNICEF, an organization I have raised money and volunteered for - maybe the royalties still raise money for them? (I've linked to the version in Spanish, since that's the one I remember from my youth.)
6. Prince – Let’s Go Crazy. Can't seem to find it to link it because that man has got a lockdown on his licensing. Which means he probably wouldn't let me use this song, from his own PURPLE RAIN soundtrack, in my movie, but I'd have to try. That song never fails to put me in a better mood. 
7. Madonna Crazy for You - The second song from a soundtrack I want to re-purpose. I've said it before and I'll say it again: this song transports me back to middle school, and that ridiculous crush. Who apparently never did feel the weight of my stare, or, if he did, didn't give a shit. 
8. New Edition - Candy Girl. I like New Edition, but I have to include a song by them not due to my fandom, but because they remind me of my childhood friend Marsha, who loved them. She was my best friend when I lived in New York in the early 80s, and when I moved away, became the best pen pal ever. Finding out she passed away during my junior year in high school was devastating. This song still reminds me of her, in a good way.
9. Raffaella Carra – Fiesta. Ok, so....I may have been slightly obsessed with Raffaella Carra when I was a kid. I loved her blond bob, and the fact that she would whip around her head and it would always fall right back into place. My hair never did that. I also loved that she would always get carried out on stage by a bunch of fabulous-looking men. Plus, most of her songs were fun, catchy, and easy to dance along to. I wanted to grow up to be her. If not some sort of fantasy sequence, this song has to be playing in the background in some scene.
10. Janet Jackson – Escapade. Not my favorite JJ song, but one with a very specific memory attached - to the one and only time I ditched school with my best friend to go to the mall. Seemed serendipitous that this song started playing in the middle of our own escapade. I still think of those two geeky young girls feeling like such rebels for leaving school early - never mind that we basically ditched study hall, and not one person gave a damn.
11. INXS - Need You Tonight. Not just because it marked a period of my life, but because I still love this song. A lot.
12. Tony Toni Tone - House Party (I Don't Know What You Come To Do). Yeap, another song from a soundtrack. OK, I don't remember the plot of the movie HOUSE PARTY 2 at all - I assume Kid N Play had another party, hijinks ensued. But I do remember loving the soundtrack, which I swear played in the background for at least a full year of my college life. I'm still pissed at the housemate who borrowed and never returned it - and that was almost 20 years ago! (We haven't kept in touch.) Maybe my bitterness would be assuaged if the album was easily replaced, but I've never found it at a used music store, and it's not available digitally. So I have to put at least one song from it on my life soundtrack, for fun, and because I just equate it with college.
13. Bryan Adams - Heaven. So, back in the day I played the RECKLESS album (which I owned on cassette) so much that I wore out the tape. I mean, yes, it got warped and I had to fix it with a pen and tape more than once, but also, I played it so much I wore out the recording. I kept having to put the volume on the player up, and eventually you couldn't hear the voice track on certain songs. This song was a big reason why that tape wore out. 
14. Live - Dance With You. So....for a brief period in the late 90s, I might have been slightly borderline stalker-ish obsessed with Ed Kowalczyk, lead singer of Live. So it feels dishonest not to include at least one song, even if my passion has dissipated. (This post has some rather embarrassing confessions.)
15. Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen. My soundtrack cannot consist exclusively of songs that are over 20 years old. And this is a recent favorite that would work well on screen, maybe end credits.
16. Tegan and Sara - Now I'm All Messed Up. Another recent fav that I think would work cinematically. "Now I'm all messed up, sick inside, wondering where, where you're leaving your makeup" - I mean, out of context, I totally I relate. (Don't leave your makeup in the bathroom, it will get ruined!)
17. Bruno Mars - The Lazy Song. Because "Today I don't feel like doing anything, I just wanna lay in my bed."

So there is my first stab at my soundtrack. I think it may need more work. And an experienced musical supervisor. It could still be an entertaining flick though. Now to get cracking on that screenplay. ;)