The Quentin Tarantino movie that revived a band’s career
Every great Quentin Tarantino film has thrived off great music added to the soundtrack. Although his taste in music may be a touch on the retro side for some fans’ taste, Tarantino’s knowledge of how a song factors into a scene is teetering on the edge of brilliance most of the time, like the iconic sounds of Chuck Berry soundtracking John Travolta cutting a rug with Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. While Tarantino can make his movies more enjoyable with music, one of his inclusions boosted a 1970s classic.
Then again, Tarantino has to go the extra mile to get the music he hears onto the movie screen. Since publishing rights have to deal with a hefty amount, the director will have to spend money to get the rights to use a song, which could be taken out of the movie’s budget.
Although Tarantino may have had to pay a significant amount for songs, his ability to pick tracks has helped him avoid any significant royalty checks. Rather than pick the obvious songs from the likes of giants like The Beatles or The Rolling Stones, the director will often use tracks that aren’t as high-profile, with the surf classic ‘Misirlou’ becoming more associated with its use as the opening to Pulp Fiction than any surfer riding a half-pipe.
Tarantino has also found a wave to weave the music that he loves into original compositions. When working on his western-themed movies like The Hateful Eight, the director asked Ennio Morricone to compose the soundtrack, who has been known as one of the primary composers behind western classics like The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. Instead of using the original scores, securing the services of the man who wrote the original is the next best thing.
When working on the movie Reservoir Dogs, though, Tarantino thought one torture scene needed something extra. Instead of having a sinister soundtrack for the scene of a man getting his ear cut off, the director decided to use the song ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’ by Stealers Wheel as the background music.
Featuring the future superstar Gerry Rafferty of ‘Baker Street’ fame, the song chugs along at an insistent pace, sounding like a golden leftover from a forgotten Bob Dylan album. Although the tone of what’s happening onscreen is quite sinister, the music is dictating the scene, letting the audience know that such gory behaviour is just another day at the office in this world.
While the song may have played its role as musical accompaniment just fine, the success of Reservoir Dogs was enough to bring the song back into the public consciousness. Shortly after the film took off, Stealers Wheel faced a career resurgence, with a dance remix getting released in 2001 and various artists covering the song because of its use in the movie.
Inspired by their new brush with fame, the band eventually reformed in the 2000s, touring off the strength of their hit and gaining traction once again. Although Quentin Tarantino may only claim to be an avid music fan, this is one of the few instances where his knowledge of a good hook rubbed off on the band he loved.
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