The “greatest soundtrack” in cinema history, according to Judy Greer
In the magical world of the internet, or at least the slightly less magical world of online fan forums, there are few more lusted after women than Judy Greer.
Thanks to her work for many years voicing Cheryl Tunt on animated spy hit Archer, a guest spot on The Big Bang Theory and appearances in Jurassic World and Marvel’s Ant Man, she’s got the nerdy, steamed-up glasses Comic Con brigade vote sewn up.
As if Greer, who, aside from being aesthetically very pleasing and by all accounts a lovely person to boot, couldn’t be more alluring, she also appears to have absolutely fantastic taste in music too, as her recent Instagram uploads capturing her reaction to being at the recent Oasis reunion shows at Wembley will attest to.
The Detroit-born actor has been working consistently since the late 1990s with more than 150 projects under her belt, a mix of television and movies, and most recently she’s been seen alongside Owen Wilson and Marc Maron in the well-reviewed golfing comedy Stick on Apple TV+.
Her love of music has certainly had an impact on her life, as she revealed to Rotten Tomatoes when picking her favourite films. One movie in particular that she chose is an early ‘90s paean to popular guitar bands by director Cameron Crowe, as Greer explained: “I think I’m going to go with Singles, and it’s because of a very specific time in my life. The soundtrack is really important to me, and I’m a child of ’90s grunge. That movie was Seattle, Nirvana, Pearl Jam — it’s the greatest soundtrack.”
Released in 1992, Singles was a romantic comedy starring Matt Dillon and Bridget Fonda that told the tale of a set of twentysomethings looking for love in the land of Starbucks coffee. While the movie was a success on release with critics and audiences, bringing in around double its budget, it was the original soundtrack that marked a cultural milestone, featuring almost every grunge band of note, some of whom appeared in the movie itself.
Crowe is well known as a music obsessive who views the soundtracks to his films almost as importantly as the visuals. Aside from his major movie successes with the likes of Tom Cruise’s Jerry Maguire and the love story to rock and roll lifestyle Almost Famous, he has directed music documentaries for artists including Pearl Jam and David Crosby.
Cleverly released a few months before the film in order to drum up interest, the Singles OST was a double-platinum-selling collection of songs that is widely credited as being a driving reason for Seattle becoming the centre of grunge, a rock genre that swept the world in the early ‘90s.
Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Screaming Trees were all present, together with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant and the late Seattle native Jimi Hendrix.
Greer continued: “My favorite band was Smashing Pumpkins and my favorite song by Smashing Pumpkins is ‘Drown’ and that’s on there. Plus, I loved all the different storylines being woven together. I love Cameron Crowe, and the idea of these people living in Seattle and looking for love.”
Just the day after Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell’s death in 2017 a new version of the album was released which featured six extra songs by the singer who also had a cameo in the movie.
Greer, meanwhile, is about to be seen in the long-awaited big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s short story The Long Walk; a Hunger Games-esque tale of a group of adolescents forced to keep walking until only one survives in a deathly annual contest. Greer is joined in the cast by Star Wars legend Mark Hamill on the film, which comes as another King adaptation – this time a remake of 1987’s action thriller The Running Man – also hits cinemas starring Glen Powell.
