“Music that would make me wet my pants”: the first song Quentin Tarantino fell in love with
The defining characteristic of all Quentin Tarantino movies, uniting them regardless of genre, is his use of music. Few directors have become so closely associated with a certain set of songs simply because Tarantino knows how to use music perfectly. Ask anyone what comes to mind when they hear Stealers Wheel’s ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’ – it’s likely going to be Michael Madsen dancing in front of a bound Kirk Baltz in Reservoir Dogs.
The movie, which introduced Tarantino to the world as a new force in indie cinema, used many iconic songs alongside ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’, such as ‘Little Green Bag’ by George Baker Selection and ‘Coconut’ by Harry Nilsson. The music, most of which was taken from the late 1960s and early ‘70s, helped to give Reservoir Dogs a distinctive atmosphere, with each needle drop bringing the vivid world of the film to life.
In his next film, Pulp Fiction, Tarantino helped to solidify ‘Misirlou’ by Dick Dale as an even more popular piece of music than it already was, allowing a new audience to discover the classic surf rock track. It couldn’t have been more perfect for the opening scene, kicking off the action with an exhilarating sense of excitement.
From ‘Bang Bang (He Shot Me Down)’ by Nancy Sinatra in Kill Bill to ‘Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)’ by David Bowie in Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino has given us some of the greatest musical moments in modern cinema. The filmmaker often envisions the songs he wants to use in a scene while writing it, and rarely has he used music written specifically for his films.
He once told The Wrap, “I’ve always just used existing tracks. And the basic reason is… that’s just too much power to give someone who’s not me over my movie. I just assume that I’m not gonna like it.”
Evidently, Tarantino is a massive music fanatic, trawling through an extensively large record collection to find the perfect songs for his movies. This passion for music started when he was young, as it does for many of us, but it seemed as though certain songs elicited very strong reactions in Tarantino from the very beginning.
Talking to Yesterdayland, he explained, “My first favourite piece of music was probably the Batman theme. When I was a little kid, it was probably, like, the music that would make me wet my pants.” Clearly, Tarantino was a big fan. There have been various Batman theme songs over the years, but the filmmaker appears to be referring to the one by Neal Hefti, which was released in 1966.
Used for the television series, the theme brings to mind spy soundtracks (a genre that was popular at the time) and surf rock. It is clear that this kind of music has stuck with Tarantino throughout his life, leading him to use the surf rock numbers ‘Misirlou’ by Dick Dale and ‘Bustin’ Surfboards’ by The Tornadoes in Pulp Fiction.
He once claimed, via The Spectator, “I don’t understand the surfer connection to surf music. To me, surf music just seems like rock n’ roll Ennio Morricone music, rock n’ roll spaghetti western music, that’s what it sounds like.” Clearly, it’s the perfect genre for Tarantino’s cinematic world.
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