How Paul Thomas Anderson convinced Jeff Lynne to approve of Electric Light Orchestra in ‘Boogie Nights’
The music choices were vital to the success of Boogie Nights. Paul Thomas Anderson’s love letter to the golden age of porn had numerous elements that brought its late-1970s setting to life, including some amazing costume choices and wild hairstyles. But it was the disco, funk, and rock songs of that era that audiences truly connected with, from The Emotions’ ‘Best of My Love’ kicking off the film to Eric Burdon and War’s ‘Spill the Wine’ soundtracking the classic pool party scene.
Hilariously, Anderson wasn’t able to secure the song that gave Boogie Nights its title. ‘Boogie Nights’ was a number two hit for Anglo-American disco band Heatwave in 1977 and would have been perfectly representative of the era. The only problem was that the group’s lead singer, Johnnie Wilder Jr, was a devout born-again Christian. When Anderson looked to use the song for a movie centred on the porn industry, Wilder objected, so Anderson had to be content with only using the song’s title.
As for the film’s score and original music, Anderson called on singer-songwriter Michael Penn. While most pre-existing songs were either disco tracks or early 1980s new wave tunes, Anderson wanted the film’s score to be completely different.
“The original music needed to establish a tone that contrasted the escapist disco vibe, and the first thing that I was talking about was just the notion of this dysfunctional family, this sort of cobbled-together family that in a slightly altered reality would have been almost circus folk,” Penn told Grantland for their Boogie Nights oral history ‘Livin’ Thing’. “So I allowed that to be my little germ, sort of, to create the theme — almost a circusy kind of a piece of music. I wanted it to be sad, but I wanted it to be odd.”
As the final edits were being done, Anderson decided that he wanted a unique rock song from the disco era to conclude the film. He eventually landed on the 1976 Electric Light Orchestra hit ‘Livin’ Thing’. Band leader Jeff Lynne wasn’t enthusiastic about lending his song to the film and initially refused. However, Anderson organised a screening of the in-progress edit featuring ‘Livin’ Thing’ at the conclusion to convince him.
“Paul really wanted ‘Livin’ Thing’ as the song at the end of the movie,” Penn added. “He was really, really nervous to show the film to Jeff Lynne, but Jeff came down to a screening, and Paul was just sort of watching the back of his head while he was watching the movie. Then the film ends, and ‘Livin’ Thing’ comes on, and Paul just sees both Jeff Lynne’s arms shoot up triumphantly.”
Check out ‘Livin’ Thing’ down below.
