The 10 best music moments in Richard Linklater movies
Richard Linklater’s career as a director began in the late 1980s after a keen interest in cinema led him to purchase a Super 8 camera and some filmmaking equipment. He began making many short films as a creative outlet, expressing a desire to experiment with unconventional filmmaking techniques.
By 1988, Linklater had completed his first feature-length film, It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow by Reading Books, shot entirely on Super 8 and featuring a cameo from outsider music legend Daniel Johnston. The film establishes many of the tropes and themes that define Linklater’s oeuvre – the exploration of time and travelling aimlessly, no solid narrative and minimal camera movement.
After establishing Detour Filmproduction, the filmmaker created Slacker on a minuscule budget of $23,000. Astonishingly, Linklater’s film, centred around a cast of drifting misfits in Texas, grossed over $1.25million, gaining him recognition as an important independent filmmaker.
From there, he created one of his most famous films, Dazed and Confused, which was a critical and commercial success. Another of his greatest works followed this as Before Sunrise arrived to critical acclaim. It formed the beginning of the Before trilogy, chronicling the relationship between a couple after a chance meeting on a train, which Linklater filmed every nine years.
Linklater also experimented with the passage of time in his monumental Boyhood, which used the same cast to chart the life of a young boy from age six until he prepares to leave for college. Production began in 2002 and wrapped in 2013, with Linklater writing the script as the years progressed. Meanwhile, Linklater also released successful films such as School of Rock, Fast Food Nation, and the remaining instalments of the Before trilogy.
Vital to most of Linklater’s work is a solid soundtrack; he always seems to perfectly choose music to convey the atmosphere or emotions of a scene. From the 1970s classic rock-fuelled soundtrack of Dazed and Confused to the tender musical moments of the Before trilogy, here are ten of Linklater’s greatest uses of music.
The 10 best music moments in Richard Linklater movies:
10. ‘Come Here’ – Kath Bloom (Before Sunrise)
The Before trilogy is arguably one of the greatest trilogies in existence. In Before Sunrise, we follow Ethan Hawke’s Jesse and Julie Delpy’s Celine as they meet on a train and instantly connect, leading them to spend the night roaming around Vienna together.
In one vital scene, the pair visit a record store and use a listening booth to play the gentle sounds of Kath Bloom’s ‘Come Here’. The soft folk piece soundtracks a moment of silence between the two. As Celine listens intently, Jesse is entirely focused on watching her. The romantic tension is palpable, and it remains one of the greatest scenes in the entire film.
In an interview with the New York Times, Delpy revealed: “It was like magic — each time I felt Ethan looking away, I would look at him and vice versa. I almost fell in love with him right there, but then Rick said cut”.
9. ‘School’s Out’ – Alice Cooper (Dazed and Confused)
Linklater’s coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused, named after the Led Zeppelin track, is remembered for its array of oddball characters and memorable dialogue. Yet another unforgettable component of the slacker comedy is its soundtrack. Almost entirely consisting of classic 1970s rock, the soundtrack creates the perfect musical backdrop for the inaugural freshman initiation on the last day of school before summer.
As soon as the bell rings, the students are shown pouring out of their classrooms, tossing books and loose papers as they prepare to celebrate the beginning of summer. And what could be a better soundtrack to this moment than Alice Cooper’s cheesy 1972 hit ‘School’s Out’? It perfectly encapsulates the excitement of the teenagers whilst also acting as an aural representation of the film’s classic 1970s American backdrop.
8. ‘Black Swan’ – Thom Yorke (A Scanner Darkly)
For Linklater’s second animated feature, he decided to adapt Philip K. Dick’s novel A Scanner Darkly. By using interpolated rotoscope, the digitally shot film appears to be hand-drawn. Set in a dystopia where intense police surveillance dominates, the haunting soundtrack is used to emphasise the instability of the film’s world.
Most of the soundtrack is composed of a score created by Graham Reynolds, recorded in his bedroom. However, four Radiohead tracks can be heard on the soundtrack and one solo Thom Yorke song. The Radiohead lead singer’s ‘Black Swan’ from his 2006 album The Eraser is a perfect fit for the film with its moody electronic beats.
7. ‘A Waltz for a Night’ – Julie Delpy (Before Sunset)
The second instalment of the Before trilogy sees Jesse and Celine reunite in Paris. As they wander the streets of the French capital, the connection between the pair is still there, despite the nine-year absence they’ve had from each other.
The film culminates in Jesse and Celine hanging out in the latter’s flat as they continue catching up. Jesse convinces Celine to sing him one of her songs on an acoustic guitar, and she chooses ‘A Waltz for a Night’, a track that details their first meeting. Jesse watches her with mesmerisation in his eyes, and the bittersweet moment is enough to bring a tear to your eye.
6. ‘Rapper’s Delight’ – Sugarhill Gang (Everybody Wants Some!!)
Following in similar suit to Dazed and Confused, the 2016 teen comedy –Everybody Wants Some!! – is a time capsule of a film, also set in Texas. However, this time Linklater transports us to the 1980s. The film follows a group of college baseball players as they navigate adult life, with the likes of Patti Smith, DEVO, and Blondie soundtracking the events.
However, one of the most important musical moments takes place when the boys are all piled in the car together, singing along to ‘Rapper’s Delight’ by Sugarhill Gang. The scene captures the carefree joy of singing in unison with your friends, perfectly encapsulating the feeling of being young and finally experiencing freedom for the first time.
5. ‘School of Rock’ – School of Rock (School of Rock)
One of Linklater’s most well-known films is the family-friendly School of Rock, starring Jack Black as the struggling slacker guitarist who forms a band with a group of school kids in an attempt to win the local Battle of the Bands event. Unsurprisingly, the film is filled with musical numbers, with tracks featured from the likes of AC/DC, The Clash, David Bowie and The Velvet Underground.
But it’s the School of Rock’s performance of ‘School of Rock’, which was co-written by screenwriter Mike White that is a particularly memorable scene. Jack Black’s energy, paired with the enthusiasm of the kids, makes it a show-stopping performance.
4. ‘Band on the Run’ – Paul McCartney and Wings (Boyhood)
In Linklater’s epic coming of age Boyhood, the director took inspiration from the cast members’ real lives and incorporated their experiences into the script. An example is when Ethan Hawke’s Mason Sr. gives Ellar Coltrane’s Mason a compilation album called The Black Album for his 15th birthday. Intended to be a gateway into The Beatles’ solo work, the album is actually a real compilation made by Hawke himself.
According to Hawke, he made the album for his daughter Maya as a 13th birthday present upon the divorce of Hawke and Uma Thurman, complete with personalised liner notes. In the film, we hear the father and son play the beginning of the album, which starts with ‘Band on the Run’ by Paul McCartney and Wings.
3. ‘Bee-Bee’s Song’ – Sonic Youth (SubUrbia)
Alongside the likes of Slacker and Kevin Smith’s Clerks, SubUrbia encapsulates the 1990’s slacker generation who were at the forefront of many independent movies of the decade. The soundtrack for SubUrbia contains some of the ’90s greatest alternative acts, from Butthole Surfers to UNKLE, to Beck.
However, Linklater got the legendary experimental noise-rockers Sonic Youth on board to compose tracks specifically for the film. The result was three entirely new songs, including ‘Bee-Bee’s Song’, and providing an early demo of ‘Sunday’ and Thurston Moore’s solo track ‘Psychic Hearts’.
2. ‘Sweet Emotion’ – Aerosmith (Dazed and Confused)
Yes, Aerosmith might be a pretty lousy excuse of a band, but we can’t deny that their 1975 song ‘Sweet Emotion’ works well as an opener to Dazed and Confused. As the high-schoolers get ready for the last day of school, the song immediately sets the tone for the events ahead.
With lyrics such as “I can’t say, baby, where I’ll be in a year,” the song sums up the characters well. The laid-back, almost sleazy guitar riffs that are immensely 1970s-sounding tell us everything we need to know about the film.
1. ‘Hero’ – Family of the Year (Boyhood)
Linklater demonstrates his skills of capturing bittersweet moments exceptionally well in Boyhood. When Mason finally leaves for college following his mother’s breakdown, he is seen driving across the wide-open road, which seems to welcome many possibilities in front of him.
This scene is soundtracked by indie-rockers Family of Year, whose song ‘Hero’ fits excellently, especially its lyrics, “So let me go/ I don’t want to be your hero”. The gentle guitars are melancholic and optimistic, evoking a feeling many can relate to when watching Mason eventually leave home.
