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 #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.

Episode #44, Your Favorite Soundtrack with Justin Lore & Liam O'Donnell

On this episode, we kick off our summer series, Your Favorite Soundtrack, where we talk to our favorite podcasters about the soundtracks they love. We start with Justin Lore, creator of Horror Business, a podcast where he and co-host Liam O'Donnell watch and talk about two related horror films. We also talk with Liam, who, in addition to co-hosting Horror Business, is -- along with Joshua Alvarez -- one of the co-founders of Cinepunx.

Tracklist:
The Misfits, "Horror Business" (Collection I)
Brad Fiedel, "Terminator Main Titles" (Terminator OST)
Brad Fiedel, "Reese & Sarah in Garage" (Terminator OST)
Patti Labelle, "New Attitude" (Beverly Hills Cop OST)
The Pointer Sisters, "Neutron Dance" (Beverly Hills Cop OST)
Harold Faltermyer, "Axel F" (Beverly Hills Cop OST)

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 #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.