“I get involved”: Cillian Murphy on the anachronistic brilliance of the ‘Peaky Blinders’ soundtrack
Cillian Murphy was by no means a stranger to the screen when he landed his role as Tommy Shelby in Peaky Blinders, which first aired in 2013, but it cemented his status in the industry, which is quite unusual for a TV show, when you think about it.
He’d already starred in the likes of 28 Days Later and the Dark Knight trilogy, playing the supervillain the Scarecrow, but if you ask anyone to name Murphy’s most iconic role, they’d probably say Shelby, with his iconic undercut hairstyle and newsboy cap. Sure, he’s since gone on to win an Oscar for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, but it’ll always be Peaky Blinders that changed everything for him.
The show – which ran for six seasons and has recently spawned a movie, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man – is known for its soundtrack, which features many modern indie and rock songs that obviously stand out as anachronistic choices for a series set in the 1920s. Most notably, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ ‘Red Right Hand’ serves as the theme song, bringing the perfect level of tension to every episode. In fact, the song, which was released back in 1994, is now inseparable from the show.
Besides Cave’s classic track, the show has also used songs from the likes of Joy Division, Arctic Monkeys, Gilla Band, Anna Calvi, The Kills, PJ Harvey, The White Stripes, Royal Blood, IDLES, and Radiohead. Essentially, the Peaky Blinders soundtrack is a who’s-who of British and Irish guitar music from the past few decades.
Anachronistic music choices can go either way – either falling flat and feeling wholly out of place, or providing an interesting contrast that bridges the past and the present. It worked well in Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette, with songs from the likes of Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Strokes, Aphex Twin, and Gang of Four emphasising the youthful relatability of the young queen. Likewise, Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby was arguably made better by its soundtrack, which featured the likes of Lana Del Rey, The XX, and Jay-Z.
For Peaky Blinders, these bold musical choices pull the characters out of the past, connecting the 100 years between them and the audience. By centring on familiar guitar-driven tracks, we’re thrown into a world that doesn’t feel all that far removed from us, and there’s something so epic, almost, about watching a fight scene while something like Black Sabbath plays.
“It was very anachronistic at the beginning, and nobody quite thought it would work. You know, this show that was set in 1919, then, and all of a sudden Nick Cave comes on. And then we have Arctic Monkeys. But it just works,” Murphy told Track Star*. Asked if he has any say in the music used in the show, Murphy replied, “I get involved,” adding, “It’s a lovely experience to be able to audition songs to picture. You can play loads and loads and loads of tracks, and some just won’t work, and then some just pop.”
Considering that Murphy has previously expressed his love for Fontaines DC, it’s no surprise that members of the band, predominantly lead vocalist Grian Chatten, are all over The Immortal Man soundtrack. Murphy definitely had something to do with that.
