Episode #102: Delivered with composer Ben Lovett

In the May Mother's Day installment of Blumhouse Television and Hulu's anthology event series, Into the Dark, Delivered, a pregnant woman’s life is upended when she realizes someone close to her has darker plans for her and the baby.

Directed by Emma Tammi, who did The Wind, and starring Tina Majorino, Natalie Paul, Michael Cassidy, and Micah Parker, the episode is creepy as hell, thanks to a really dark turn from Majorino, but also thanks to the score by composer Ben Lovett. Lovett had previously worked with director Tammi on The Wind, but has also done a slew of work with director David Bruckner, such The Ritual and The Signal. We talk about Delivered and Lovett's work with Bruckner, as well the recently-released The Dark Red, out now from Dark Sky Films. There may also be AJ Bowen content.

Tracklist:

Ben Lovett, "Four Tents" (The Ritual OST)

Ben Lovett, "The Wind" (The Wind OST)

Episode #73: Record Store Day Black Friday 2018

On this bonus episode, we’re running down all the soundtrack-related Record Store Day Black Friday releases. You can find a complete list of everything coming out on Friday, November 23 at the RSD site.

We also mentioned Fathom Events’ Jim Henson’s Holiday Special featuring Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas and The Bells of Fraggle Rock. It’s happening on December 10 and 16 (not December 14 and 16 as mentioned in the episode). You can buy tickets here.

Tracklist:

Cheap Trick, "Spring Break" (Spring Break OST)

Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein, "Turn On the Lights" (Stranger Things Halloween Sounds Of The Upside Down)

Duke Ellington, "Chim Chim Cheree" (Duke Ellington Plays With The Original Motion Picture Score Mary Poppins)

Perry Serpa, "And You Are?" ft. Scott McCaughey (Wherefore Art Thou)

Joan Jett, "Fresh Start" (Bad Reputation OST)

U2, "Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me" (Batman Forever OST)

Cal Tjader, "Mamblues" (Fritz the Cat OST)

Syd Dale, "The Hell Raisers" (The Sounds of Syd Dale)

Paul Williams, "Riverbottom Nightmare Band" (Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas)

Paul Williams, "Ain't No Hole in the Washtub" (Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas)

From the Stereo to Your Screen #17, Metric & Scott Pilgrim Vs The World

On this episode, we're running down “Black Sheep," by Metric, from 2010's Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World. You can read the original column and watch the music video at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #16, Annie Lennox & Al Green & Scrooged

On this episode, we're running down “Put A Little Love in Your Heart," by Annie Lennox and Al Green, from 1988's Scrooged, which always seems to get shunted to the side when we’re talking Christmas genre movies. Black Christmas and Gremlins always get the horror nods, in addition to Santa slashers like Silent Night, Deadly Night and Christmas Evil. The action advent selections are always Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, with maybe I Come In Peace for the heads. Romantic and family movies abound, obviously.

However, with the exception of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, comedies with an acknowledgement of how awfully stressful the holidays can be — and that manage to be funny — are sparse. Somehow, Scrooged always seems to get left aside when lists get put together or people make their marathons.

Read the original column and watch the music video at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #15, John Williams & The Phantom Menace

On this episode of From the Stereo to Your Screen, we're running down “Duel of the Fates” by John Williams from 1999's Star Wars: Episode One – The Phantom Menace.

For whatever its flaws — and yes, there are many — the John Williams score for the film was stellar. The video for “Duel of the Fates” debuted on MTV’s Total Request Live on May 3, the first video of a week of premieres that included both “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears’ “Sometimes.” A cut from a film score getting a video is a pretty big deal: I mean, despite the fact that Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” was an international number 1 hit in 1985, it never had a video, and you can dance to that sucker. But the fact that the video for "Duel of the Fates" was on the same level as the Backstreet Boys and Britney in 1999 is astonishing.

You can read the original column and watch the music video at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #14, U2 & Batman Forever

On this episode of From the Stereo to Your Screen, we're running down the music video for U2's “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me,” from 1995's Batman Forever. The animated music video is absolutely bonkers -- basically an anime nightmare -- and this sentence from the Wikipedia entry on the song sums it up nicely:

“It features the band performing in Gotham City, with Bono battling between two of his alter-egos from the Zoo TV Tour: ‘The Fly’ and ‘MacPhisto.’ The band also chases the Batwing, using a yellow supercar and their guitars as flamethrowers.”

You can read the original column and watch the music video at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #13, Goo Goo Dolls & Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

On this episode, we continue our Halloween series, and we're running down “I’m Awake Now” by Goo Goo Dolls, from Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

Back when I discussed Phunk Junkeez and their contribution to the Tommy Boy soundtrack, I mentioned offhand that Goo Goo Dolls’ cover of The Damned’s “Wait for the Blackout” wasn’t bad. Being as how I’m always trying to track down weird-ass music videos for this column as well as look for bands to come on my soundtrack podcast and talk about how weird it was to have their song in a movie, I come across quite a few surprises.

Thus, we come to the fact that Goo Goo Dolls’ first soundtrack contribution was all the way back in 1991, when they had not one, not two, but three songs on the soundtrack to Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare. And they were alongside songs by Chubb Rock and Iggy Pop. And and Fates Warning. And, and, and the soundtrack was on Metal Blade.

You can read the original column and watch the video at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #12, The Fat Boys & ANOES 4: The Dream Master

On this episode, we continue our Halloween series, and we're running down “Are You Ready For Freddy” by the Fat Boys, from A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.

You can check out the music video and the original column at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #11, Tom Hanks & Dan Aykroyd & Dragnet

On this episode, we're running down “City of Crime” by Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd, from 1987's Dragnet, which represents the pinnacle — or nadir, depending on how you look at it — of the "terrible end credits rap song" trend. The film — starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks — was a filmic reworking of the popular 1960s television show, which was itself a reworking of the popular 1950s radio program. It’s very tongue-in-cheek, yet managed to be a fairly faithful homage to the show, which had been running in reruns for years by the time the film came out.

You can check out the video and the original column at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #10, Class of '99 & The Faculty

On this episode of From the Stereo to Your Screen, we're running down “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2” by Class of '99, from 1998's The Faculty.

When I re-watched The Faculty a while back, I came to the conclusion that it’s basically the epitome of the late ‘90s: an angsty film which focuses on the underdog kids, directed by Robert Rodriguez, and featuring an alt rock soundtrack. It’s most similar to the likes of Disturbing Behavior, but could also fall in line with The Craft. It’s weird to revisit a movie like this, which is essentially one of those things that brings up memories for those who saw it when it was a thing, but it falls in a sort of gap, where it never really made it into the rotation of pay-cable repeats, and also ended up at the tag end of VHS, right before the advent of DVD.

You can find the column, as well as the music videos, at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #9, "Phunk Junkeez & Tommy Boy"

Once upon a time, rap-rock act Phunk Junkeez had covered KISS’ “I Love It Loud.” It wasn't until I tracked down the video to troll my uncle with it on Facebook that I discovered that the song had been on the soundtrack to the 1995 Chris Farley / David Spade comedy, Tommy Boy. The video’s not only loaded with clips from the film, but Chris Farley is on stage thrashing around with the band. The movie’s full of pretty memorable musical moments — the car singalong, most notably — but I’d pretty much spaced on this particular jawn.

You can find the video for the song, as well as the original column behind this podcast at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #8, "The Coupe de Villes & Big Trouble in Little China"

This song’s rough. Carpenter’s a great musician, an excellent director, and interesting cat, but he sings like Jim Morrison fronting an ’80s skinny tie bar band. Like Huey Lewis and the News, but without the edge. The Coupe De Villes were basically this band that Carpenter put together in the ’80s as a way to have some fun. The band also featured director Tommy Lee Wallace and actor Nick Castle, and their one and only LP, Waiting Out the Eighties, was never commercially released. It wasn’t even supposed to be much more than a lark, but somehow, they’ve become this weird obsession for record collecting movie fans.

You can find the video for the song, as well as the original column behind this podcast at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #7, "The Dickies & Killer Klowns From Outer Space"

This is, quite honestly, one of my favorite songs of all time. Any chance I have to work it onto a compilation, mix tape, radio show, podcast, or otherwise, I will foist it upon those listening. Not only is it the theme to an excellently underrated movie, but it’s probably the best punk song to ever use “Entry of the Gladiators” as its backbone.

Granted, it’s probably the only punk song to use the circus calliope as its backbone, but still — fantastically catchy song. The Dickies have always existed as this strange bunch of circus freaks playing rapid-fire covers of classic rock songs, but their originals are at once ridiculously simple pop confections, as well as intricately-worded blasts of punk.

You can find the video for the song, as well as the original column behind this podcast at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #6, "Ramones & Pet Sematary"

It’s only taken half a dozen videos and a couple of months, but here we are finally marrying punk rock and movies in this podcast. Granted, late ‘80s Ramones is probably about as punk as a Clash t-shirt you bought at Urban Outfitters, but we do what we can.

“Pet Sematary” was written for the movie adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name — which I didn’t even know until I started watching the video for this column. It’s weird to think that the Ramones — punk rock progenitors — made a proper music video. There are plenty of live clips and things out there, but this is just about the only Ramones music video that’s not made up of a bunch of previously-shot footage.

You can find the music video for "Pet Sematary" and the original column for this episode at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #5, "Bobby Brown & Ghostbusters II"

The video for Bobby Brown’s “On Our Own” is a textbook case of how music videos from films sometimes use the slimmest of connections in order to sell a movie. Watching the video, it seems like the director shot two different ideas for the song — one for the song before it was attached to the film, and the other afterward — and then stitched them together as best he could.

On this episode of From the Stereo to Your Screen, we discuss Bobby Brown's video for "On Our Own," from the film Ghostbusters II. You can read the original column and see the video at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #4, "Oingo Boingo & Weird Science"

It only seems natural that Danny Elfman would end up doing film scores, given the number of times his Los Angeles psychotic cabaret act, Oingo Boingo, had their music appear in films during the ‘80s. Their appearance in Back to School doing “Dead Man’s Party” is one of that movie’s more iconic scenes, and they’re all over the soundtrack to 1984’s Bachelor Party, also appearing in the film itself.

However, it’s the title track for the 1985 sci-fi comedy, Weird Science, with which I identify the band cinematically. The film’s a John Hughes joint that manages to simultaneously revisit the themes for which the director’s best known — such as finding the strength within yourself — while also being a film wherein a computer-created woman can summon mutant bikers to a party.

On this episode of From the Stereo to Your Screen, we discuss Oingo Boingo's video for "Weird Science," from the film Weird Science. You can read the original column and see the video at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #3, "Last Action Hero & AC/DC"

1993's Last Action Hero bombed so hard, people were baffled at how good and successful the following year’s True Lies ended up being. That, however, was basically a last gasp, and with the exception of Schwarzenegger’s appearances in the Expendables films, his ability to make a film make bank with his name above the title essentially ended with Last Action Hero.

Watching the video for AC/DC's "Big Gun," one can easily start to parse out why. Whereas the video for the prior year’s “You Could Be Mine” by Guns ‘n’ Roses saw Arnold being a cold, calculating badass, this one is precisely the opposite.

On this episode of From the Stereo to Your Screen, we discuss AC/DC's video for "Big Gun," from the film Last Action Hero. You can read the original column and see the video at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #2, "Addams Family & MC Hammer"

The brightest stars burn briefest, as the saying goes. MC Hammer’s Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em and Too Legit to Quit were released back-to-back in 1990 and 1991, and by the time The Funky Headhunter dropped three years later, hip-hop had moved from the pop-friendly jams of Hammer, Young MC, and Vanilla Ice to the likes of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac.

On this episode of From the Stereo to Your Screen, we discuss Hammer's video for "Addams Groove," from the film The Addams Family. You can read the original column and see the video at Cinepunx.

From the Stereo to Your Screen #1, "Clerks & Soul Asylum"

We talk the video for Soul Asylum's "Can't Even Tell" from the soundtrack to Clerks for the inaugural episode of From and Inspired By the Stereo to Your Screen. These podcasts will be short mini-episodes focusing on music videos for various films, and will run in the weeks where there aren't new episodes of From & Inspired By. Episodes are audio versions of the From the Stereo to Your Screen columns I write over at Cinepunx.

Podcast #16.5, Record Store Day UK

Well, we managed to snake in TWO episodes this week, and our bonus episode is actually twice as long as the actual one we dropped on Monday. It's how things work.

Anyhow. We realized that we forgot to talk about all the UK releases for Record Store Day, so we reached out via Twitter and got Tony Giles, co-host of The Damn Fine Cast and owner of Shipping Records, to help us run down some gems for our listeners overseas. There are some gems we will likely be importing at great expense.

Tracklisting:

Clint Mansell & Kronos Quartet, "Party" (Requiem for a Dream)
Gerhard Heinz, "All You Ever Need is Beat" (Schamlos)
Goblin, "Seq. 01 - Main Titles" (La Villa Della Droga)
The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, "Omens Of Nosferatu" (Nosferatu)