So I recently saw Guardians of the Galaxy right? And I loved every minute of it! I could write a review about how fantastic the movie was, talk about how it has the perfect blend of action and comedy, a thrilling plot and instantly likable characters, but you could read that anywhere. It would just be my opinion anyway, but as a friend and a fan of comic books and especially good movies, GO SEE THIS MOVIE. Now, with that out of the way, I can explain in my opinion on what I think is the most impressive and important element of the movie, the use of the music. Not the orchestra score that is basically required every big budget movie but the classic rock/blues songs that are randomly featured. These songs continuously reflected the tone of the movie. Ok, briefly without royally spoiling movie, I’ll explain what I mean. In the movie, the main protagonist, Peter Quil (Chris Pratt), is abducted from earth at a young age. The only thing from his home planet that he is able to take with him is an old walkman that housed an “awesome” mixtape his mother created for him. The songs that feature on the mixtape, serve as the in- movie soundtrack. So in other words, whatever Peter Quil is listening to within his headphones or on his makeshift stereo, becomes the theme song to whatever moment he is in.
Whether he is escaping from a band of space pirates, exploring a moon’s dark crater or charming an extraterrestrial hottie, his music serves as the theme of the moment. Not only was this a clever way to display human attributes within the title character (that spends the entire movie among people that aren’t from earth); it explained that he is still tethered to earth in some form. Music was still a major influence to his mood and personality. It also gave the audience a chance to listen and appreciate music from decades ago. The audience got to hear some awesome cuts from Davie Bowie, The Runaways and Elvin Bishop. It was also a smart way for director James Gunn to use a recycled trick in movies. If you were watch a movie from two decades ago, every time there was a some sort of scene that suppose to exhibit emotion with the characters on screen (ideally a love scene), title music was used. For it’s time, it was the standard in all movies, that’s why you have all these awesome theme songs that remind you of classic movies, think Rocky with “eye of the tiger” or Top Gun “Take my breathe away”.
As I said before, most of songs featured are older classic songs, so most likely you’ve heard them before. Maybe you might have heard it in a commercial, the supermarket or from an older relative. But overall the use of music was another brilliant part to an already breathtaking movie. And through the graces of the Marvel gods, Peter Quil’s “awesome” mixtape is available for download on Itunes, so you too can be a dancing fool. Check out of the track listing below…
| Title | Artist(s) | Length | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | “Hooked on a Feeling” | Blue Swede | 2:52 | |
| 2. | “Go All the Way” | Raspberries | 3:21 | |
| 3. | “Spirit in the Sky” | Norman Greenbaum | 4:02 | |
| 4. | “Moonage Daydream” | David Bowie | 4:41 | |
| 5. | “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” | Elvin Bishop | 4:35 | |
| 6. | “I’m Not in Love” | 10cc | 6:03 | |
| 7. | “I Want You Back” | The Jackson 5 | 2:58 | |
| 8. | “Come and Get Your Love” | Redbone | 3:26 | |
| 9. | “Cherry Bomb” | The Runaways | 2:17 | |
| 10. | “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” | Rupert Holmes | 4:37 | |
| 11. | “O-o-h Child” | Five Stairsteps | 3:13 | |
| 12. | “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” | Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell | 2:29 |
