Soundtrack Your Life

Damon Gross returns to the podcast to talk about the soundtrack to the 2001 Richard Kelly film, Donnie Darko, which Damon saw in its original theatrical run! We chat about the 80s songs that Kelly and soundtrack composer/supervisor, Michael Andrews chose for the film including “The Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen. We talk about how Echo and the Bunnymen has influenced bands like Pavement an...

MJ from the Menage with the MariJayne Maven Podcast is our guest this week as we talk about the soundtrack to the classic 1993 Richard Linklater film, Dazed and Confused, which launched a bunch of acting careers and is known for having one of the best film soundtracks of all time. We talk about some of our favorite songs from the soundtrack, a controversial cover that Linklater vetoed, and we pond...

It’s Part 2 of our breakdown of the soundtrack to the hit 2001 Baz Luhrmann film, Moulin Rouge, with Brandice Wilson and Nicole Barlow. In this half of the episode, we break down the film’s mashup of songs like Smells Like Teen Spirit and Lady Marmalade, some other singing roles that Ewan MacGregor and Nicole Kidman have taken in their careers, and the legacy of Moulin Rouge. We also have some hot...

Brandice Wilson and Nicole Barlow are back to talk to Ryan Pak about the hit soundtrack to the 2001 Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge, which happens to star Nicole's favorite actor, Ewan McGregor. We talk about how the film has aged 20 years later and we discuss whether all the "jukebox" medleys in this film still hold up. We talk about how the production of the the film seemed cursed and other tidbi...

Hannah and Lily from Society Owes Me a Gen X Podcast join Ryan Pak to talk about the soundtrack to the Alan Moyle 1995 film, Empire Records, which initially overshadowed the film. We talk about the Gin Blossoms and Edwyn Collins’ massive hits from the soundtrack, Renee Zellweger’s quick transition in film from teen turbo slut to a proper adult, and how strange it is that Liv Tyler’s stepdad is cas...

Dr. Rebecca L. Solois, of the Why Do We Read This? podcast, joins Ryan Pak to talk about the soundtrack to 1970 Ronald Neame film, Scrooge, for our SPECIAL HOLIDAY EPISODE. We talk about why this 4 time Oscar nominated film resonates with Rebecca over any other adaptation of the Dickens classic, we cover some of the differences between the book and the film, and we talk about how the lessons of A...

Brandice Wilson and Nicole Barlow join Ryan Pak for one of the last episodes of the season. We talk about the soundtrack to Danny Boyle’s 1996 groundbreaking film, Trainspotting, a fim/soundtrack so beloved that it spawned a companion soundtrack. This is one of Nicole’s favorite films and it’s one that Brandice has just watched for the 1st time, so there are definitely some differences in opinion...

Soundtrack Your Life's music composer, and member of Chicago bands, Percolator and Rubber Spaniel, Phil Bertulfo, returns to the podcast to talk to Ryan about the cult favorite soundtrack to the 1996 film Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy. Phils talks about how he discovered Kids in the Hall in the pre-internet era and how excited he was for the movie and the accompanying Matador Records soundtrack. W...

Dr. Alaina Rajagopal, one of the hosts of the Emergency Docs Podcast, joins Ryan Pak to discuss the 2000 Grammy Album of the Year recipient, the soundtrack to the film, O Brother, Where Are Thou? We discuss how the soundtrack connected us to bluegrass music for the first time and the songs that we connect with. We also discuss how the music is used in the film and how the Coen Brothers started wor...

Advertising copywriter Nicole Barlow joins Ryan Pak to discuss the soundtrack to the 2004 Wes Anderson film, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, a film that initially received mixed reviews but has gone on to garner a greater appreciation as time has gone on. One aspect of the movie that was praised from the outset was the soundtrack to the film, the Seu Jeorge covers of David Bowie, in particular...

Reverend Kevin Doi joins Ryan Pak to talk about the best selling soundtrack to Albert Magnoli’s 1984 film, Purple Rain. Kevin, who was a big Prince fan back in 1984, talks about his skepticism over Prince crossing over into film, how he originally discovered Prince’s music and how the film / soundtrack brought Prince to an audience he had previously not been able to reach. We discuss how the movie...

Advertising copywriter and hardcore Nine Inch Nails/Trent Reznor fan, Brandice Wilson, joins Ryan Pak  to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2010 David Fincher directed film, The Social Network, which is the first film that Trent Reznor (and Atticus Ross) scored (officially).  We talk about the film and it's Oscar winning soundtrack, which became the first of many collaborations between Reznor/...

Guilty Hearts guitarist Edgar Rodriguez returns to the podcast to talk about the soundtrack to Michael Lehmann’s 1994 comedy Airheads, which has become a cult classic 26 years after it debuted in theaters. We talk about the cast, the infamous ransom list, and many of the music reference heavy jokes of the film, which were probably lost on film critics back in 1994. We chat about the hard rock heav...

Tracy Lane, owner of the Roots and Blues Festival in Columbia, MO and writer of the The Listening Gallery blog, is our guest this week to discuss the hit soundtrack to the 1980 Robert Greenwald film, Xanadu, which is considered by some to be one of the worst films of all time. Tracy discusses falling in love with the soundtrack and film at an early age, especially since it literally paired two of...

Fellow Paul Westerberg super fan, and creative director at the Mighty Roar agency in Atlanta, GA, Christian Durrett joins Ryan Pak to talk about the soundtrack to the 2006 animated film Open Season, which Paul Westerberg wrote 8 songs for, and how that started rumors of a possible Replacements reunion until Westerberg ended up injuring himself in his basement months after the soundtrack was releas...

Creator of Dietrich's Car Channel on  YouTube , and Ryan Pak's former roommate, Dietrich Seney stops by the podcast to talk about the hit soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. He talks about how the film and his interest in the soundtrack helped him better understand Shakespeare as a freshmen in high school and how many of the songs continue to con...

Guilty Hearts guitarist Edgar Rodriguez joins the podcast to talk about the soundtrack to the 1986 film Dogs In Space, which stars the late Michael Hutchence (of INXS) and is directed by music video director Richard Lowenstein (best known for his work with INXS). Though the film has strong INXS ties, the soundtrack actually skews more punk and lo-fi, highlighting bands from the late 1970s Australi...

Beverly Encina joins Ryan Pak to talk about the soundtrack to Michel Gondry's 2006 concert film, Dave Chappelle's Block Party. Even though we didn't know each other back in 2006, we are linked by many of the artists featured in the film such as The Roots, Kanye, Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def and more. We reflect on how we got into hip hop and how we ended up finding out about these artists. We also...

Phil Bertulfo (Rubber Spaniel, Percolator) joins the podcast to talk about the soundtrack to the 2017 Edgar Wright film, Baby Driver. For a movie set in present day, we sure spend a lot of time talking about 90s bands like The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Handsome Boy Modeling School, REM and Beck, which leads us to talking about how we met in college. Phil also shares about how the film's Jon Spe...

Joy Luck Division members Long Nguyen and Damon Gross join the podcast to talk about the soundtrack to Amy Heckerling’s 1995 classic film Clueless, which is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary! We chat about Alicia Silverstone’s career before she became a star, the running gag of the song “Fake Plastic Trees” and some parallels between Clueless and Amy Heckerling’s other iconic teen film, Fast Times...

Damon Gross stops by the podcast again to talk about soundtrack to the 1983 cult classic film, Valley Girl, which famously launched Nicholas Cage's career.  We talk about it's popular but never officially released soundtrack and how the movie helped make Modern English's "Melt With You" the huge iconic 80s hit that we now know it as. Damon also has some choice words for the 2020 Valley Girl remake...

Stand up comedian and voice actor, Amber Aviles drops by to talk about how she almost chose Randy Newman’s “You’ve Always Got a Friend in Me” as the first dance song for her wedding, and how Randy Newman has a special place in her heart as a Los Angeles Dodgers fan with his iconic song “I Love LA” soundtracking every Dodgers home win. We also discuss songs that “soundtrack” different baseball stad...

Ryan Pak and Damon Gross (Joy Luck Division, The Visitors Q) discuss the soundtrack to the 1995 Larry Clarke film, Kids. It produced the surprise Billboard Top 40 Hit, "Natural One" by The Folk Implosion, Lou Barlow's 3rd most famous band. Lou Barlow also contributes songs from his other bands, Sebadoh, and Deluxx Fold Implosion. Ryan and Damon discuss the influence of the soundtrack on their live...