The musician Quentin Tarantino called the “voice of truth”
There are certain elements that have come to indicate that a movie has been directed by Quentin Tarantino – excessive violence and expletives, consistently masterful performances from Samuel L. Jackson, and, always, a killer soundtrack.
Tarantino’s penchant for pairing his love of music with his love of movies began in 1992 with Reservoir Dogs. His debut remains one of the most iconic film soundtracks in modern memory, and his masterful use of Stealers Wheel’s ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’ even pushed the song and the band back into the limelight.
Not long after, the Pulp Fiction soundtrack sold two million units in two years, while Kill Bill’s iconic opening use of ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’ revitalised interest in another track. With a career now spanning three decades and ten films, Tarantino’s commitment to soundtrack curation has never wavered.
“I’m almost as proud of my discography as I am of my filmography,” he stated at the Grammy Museum in 2019, “And I think part of that is making hard choices, and it’s always about how this song goes into that song.” Tarantino’s proficiency for marrying his visuals with perfect accompanying music seems to stem from his own love for the medium.
The filmmaker has often spoken about his love for music, his taste ranging from the folk stylings of Bob Dylan to the effortlessly cool Freda Payne. In his youth, Tarantino formed a particular bond with one artist in particular – the so-called “King of Rock and Roll”, Elvis Presley. Naming The Sun Sessions as one of his favourite albums in a conversation with Uncut, the director explained how he once thought of Presley as the “voice of truth”.
“This has been a hugely important album to me. I was always a big rockabilly fan and a big Elvis fan, and to me this album is the purest expression of Elvis there was,” he began, “Sure, there are better individual songs – but no one collection ever touched the album.”
Tarantino was particularly enthusiastic about Presley’s vocals, which have been endlessly imitated and referenced, enthusing, “When I was young, I used to think Elvis was the voice of truth. I don’t know what that means, but his voice… shit man, it sounded so fucking pure. If you grew up loving Elvis, this is it.”
Despite his love for Presley and his prior belief that he was the “voice of truth,” Tarantino has rarely paid homage to Presley in his filmography. Other than a short ode to the rockabilly singer in the Tarantino-penned True Romance, Elvis has been sidelined in the director’s love for soundtrack curation.
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