Shakespearean Sounds: The brilliance of the ’10 Things I Hate About You’ soundtrack
“You’re just too good to be true…” there are few images quite as symbolic of 1990s cinema, or the rom-com genre as a whole, as Heath Ledger descending the bleachers while Frankie Valli’s ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You’ booms onto a football field in 10 Things I Hate About You. Worldwide and for decades to come, it remains the perfect blush-inducing moment that has millions kicking their feet, smiling and asking, “When is it my turn?”
The magic of the moment really all comes down to the song choice. The outward and obvious cheesiness is only carried off by the delicious contrast with the cool character of Patrick Verona. Throughout the film, he and Julia Stiles’ character, Kat Stratford, perfectly play out the ‘Black Cat Girlfriend vs Golden Retriever Boyfriend’ tropes as his optimism and extroversion coaxes her out of her moody shell and chisels away at her hard exterior.
This moment, the grand gesture, and this corny song make a scene that everyone, both on screen and watching at home, can’t help but smile over. Who can resist Valli’s swinging style? And who can resist Ledger singing it? In the play between a guilty pleasure and a cool, charismatic crush, the film’s music team absolutely nailed it.
It could be said that the antithesis of this moment is Kat Stratford’s big musical moment as she dances on a table to The Notorious B.I.G’s ‘Hypnotize’. Opting to pick something more left-field, less radio-friendly, and typically cooler, her role as the cold cool girl is split open slightly as she dances but is still somewhat maintained by the song choice. It suggests that, at that point in the film, she’s only willing to sacrifice that so much, while Patrick is willing to throw it all away and be embarrassed.
Travelling down this train of thought, the two parts meet gloriously in the middle in the prom scene as Letters To Cleo appears to sing a cover of Nick Lowe’s ‘Cruel To Be Kind’ directly to the couple. As the band’s alternative take takes on the 1970s pop of Nick Lowe’s original, Kat and Patrick are both represented in equal measure.
Throughout the whole soundtrack, there is this subtle yet perfected ebb and flow of big sentiment and coolness. It seems fitting for a Shakespearean adaptation as tracks like Air’s ‘Sexy Boy’ or Joan Jett’s ‘Bad Reputation’ feel big and dramatic and on the nose, used in a similar way as the music in Baz Luhrmann’s take on Romeo and Juliet.
However, elsewhere, the film settles into a 1990s period piece as the characters feel realistic, genuinely youthful and 3D. It’s through the eclectic use of artists like The Cardigans, The Thompson Twins, Semisonic or Save Ferris that the era comes in. Mixing together pop, rock, rap, electro, the sounds vary vastly depending on the mode of the scene, but all work towards the same purpose. That purpose is a delicate balance of big, overblown romance, as Shakespeare would want, merged with a genuine, refreshed cool.
Maybe the power of the soundtrack is in the overwhelming sense that these songs were custom-picked with real consideration of the characters, their states, and what they might listen to. Unlike some modern films, where it can end up feeling like stock instrumentals were plugged in as an afterthought or big musical moments feel clunky and obviously crafted to make a soundtrack hit, the use of music here feels simultaneously both natural and like a character in itself.
“I want you! I need you! Oh baby, oh baby,” Kat says at one point with an eye-roll that made the moment iconic. Later in the film, when the ‘I Want You To Want Me’ lyrics play over the final happy ending scene, it proves that attention to detail. Not only is it just a perfect, feel-good track to wrap up a movie with, but that subtle lyrical and textual link-up feels like Shakespearian levels of dedication, just as it deserves.
There’s also the simple fact that these songs don’t seem to have aged all that badly. As a time capsule for the end of the century, the film captured some of the best bits of the 1980s and ‘90s that still sound just as good today. With a healthy mix of big names and anthems along with smaller acts or forgotten cuts, anyone who watches the film today is sure to still add a couple of tracks to their playlist. And, as the sign of a truly great soundtrack, they’re sure to always link it back to whatever moment was playing out on the screen as the song played in the background.
