William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet: Music from the Motion Picture Appreciation Post
MARGAUX:
Some of the best movies were released in 1996. Scream, That Thing You Do!, Fargo, The Birdcage, Set It Off, First Wives Club, Space Jam. But only one movie from that legendary year has a soundtrack that still fuuuuuuuucks, no offense to the MonStars.
Before I was even allowed to watch Romeo + Juliet, I was bumping the soundtrack. Some sort of clerical error due to foreign grandparents who were susceptible to scams; I also got the matching Leonardo-DiCaprio-staring-at-an-unseen-Claire-Danes-through-a-coke-dealers-fish-tank poster out of it.
Like many movie and music critics have said before us, the soundtrack to Romeo + Juliet is like the fifth cast member of the movie. When you listen to it, you can picture each scene and moment that corresponds to the track, and that’s because a lot of the music was specifically commissioned from the artist. And if it wasn’t, it was a B-side on a record with a limited release. The soundtrack manages to be cinematic in sound and scope, but also feels like a mixtape made for only you by your edgy, older cousin.
It’s also worth pointing out that the soundtrack was very successful, going triple platinum (three of those copies were me!), in large part thanks to the Cardigans single “LoveFool”. We talked about it on our mini, but soundtracks, for the longest time, were the only shortcut available to have a single without committing to a full album. I did commit to The Cardigans album though because I made the mistake of assuming all their songs would sound like Ace of Base. First Band on the Moon definitely was sold back to the Warehouse.
EMILIE:
I think I bought this soundtrack when I was in sixth grade or something like that. Between my sister and I, we owned an insane amount of late ‘90s/early ’00s soundtracks (I realize this one os ‘96). There are some I don’t really need to revisit often, but I still play this one occasionally.
1. “#1 Crush” Garbage
MP: This B-side that was remixed to make it “special” for Romeo + Juliet, and it ended up going #1 on an alt rock chart. It’s also the perfect song to describe how having a crush feels, especially when you’re a teen. And the moaning at the beginning would always annoy my Mom when I played it at full volume in the car. Sorry Mom!
EB: I remember putting this CD in my Discman and blushing whenever that moaning open came up. Can’t say enough good things about Garbage, Shirley Manson is one of the greatest frontwomen in rock music.
2. “Local God” Everclear
MP: Honestly, this is Everclear’s best song. It’s angsty, it’s cool, it makes you want to wear a loose fitting Hawaiian Dad shirt
EB: HARD AGREE. I think I’ve texted you more than once when I’ve listened to this song. Hell, I’m queueing it up on Spotify as I type this. Someone posted this song a few years ago in a music Slack channel at my then job, and I instantly knew I’d be friends with that guy. Also, I forgot Art Alexakis played the tattoo artist in the Reese Witherspoon movie Wild.
3. “Angel” Gavin Friday
MP: I used to like this weird little throw away disco song, but then I found out Gavin Friday is Bono’s BFF, so now I hate it.
EB: I’m not a Bono hater, but this song was meh for me. I wouldn’t skip it 90% of the time, but I’d never play it again.
4. “Pretty Piece of Flesh” One Inch Punch
MP: One Inch Punch’s Justin Warfield would go on to join She Wants Revenge (remember them?!), otherwise, pretty forgettable.
EB: Yeah, this one I always skipped.
5. “Kissing You” (Love Theme from Romeo + Juliet) Des’ree
MP: Absolutely no song sends me back to a scene in a movie like “Kissing You”. The instrumental version is on a random Spotify playlist, and when it came on the other week, I thought to myself, “why is my mind’s eye flashing to Clarie Danes running down a hallway dressed as an angel?? OHMYGODTHISISFROMROMEOANDJULIET”. Some fun tea: “Kissing You” was the last big single of Des’ree’s relatively short — she also did “You Gotta Be” — musical career; she hasn’t released any new music since 2003 and has rarely appeared in public since then, emerging only to sue Beyoncé for an unauthorized cover of “Kissing You” in 2007.
EB: I definitely had some middle school crush feelings when I listened to this song. I googled one of my middle school crushes a few years ago to see what he was up to and found his mugshot. Fun times.
6. “Whatever (I Had a Dream)” Butthole Surfers
EB: I just remember this as the track that opened with an audio clip of John Leguizamo’s Tybalt’s “Peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, and all Montagues.”
MP: This is one of three Butthole Surfers songs I like, and it’s unavailable to stream anywhere. Good thing I still have a hard copy of this soundtrack.
7. “Lovefool” The Cardigans
MP: I mean, this fucking song. What else is there to say? I think this was the first song I actively turned on because it got to be so overplayed. It only recently STOPPED being played in Walgreens and Nordstroms incessantly.
EB: I love this song. I love the Cardigans (one of the most underrated bands of the ‘90s). This was from their First Band on the Moon album, which was their big U.S. mainstream record, but you should check out their previous albums Emmerdale and Life. The original version of this song was more of a bossa nova, acoustic number. It’s definitely sadder sounding than the final disco-y bop that we heard on the radio. I think that’s one of the things I love about this song; it sounds super upbeat at a glance, but if you actually listen to the lyrics, they’re incredibly sad. The co-writer of this song, guitarist Peter Svensson, has gone on to write a ton of hit pop songs, including “Breathin’” by Ariana Grande, “I Really Like You” by our second Canadian Queen (Celine is number 1, obvis) Carly Rae Jepsen, and a bunch of The Weeknd’s songs.
8. “Young Hearts Run Free” Kym Mazelle
MP: The good disco song from the soundtrack. If you like this, listen to Alex Newell “Kill The Lights”. Both are amazing lip sync songs too.
EB: Can’t listen to this song without dancing and lip synching.
9. “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)” Quindon Tarver
EB: So this song would end up getting remixed by Baz Luhrmann a few years ago into “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Suncreen),” that song in 1999 that was a graduation speech set to music.
MP: For whatever reason, listening to this again for the first time in a long time made me unexpectedly emotional. I blame quarantine!
10. “To You I Bestow” Mundy
MP: Another perfectly angsty song
EB: I like this song, great harmonica use.
11. “Talk Show Host” Radiohead
MP: Apparently recording this song ended up changing Radiohead’s sound forever. They had initially recorded “Exit Music (For A Film)” for R+J, but the song was so inspirational, and it fit so perfectly for OK Computer, they took it back. Yorke and co still allowed Luhrmann to use it for the end credits, but isn’t on the soundtrack (at least the first printing, it was on subsequent pressings). “Talk Show Host” sort of serves as Radiohead’s thesis for their sound to come; it rides a trip-hop, drum-machine beat, and acknowledges what every mildly depressed teen, aka their fanbase, was thinking, “nothing”.
EB: So I like “Talk Show Host,” but LOVE “Exit Music (For A Film).” It’s one of my all-time favorite Radiohead songs. It’s actually on the second soundtrack they realized for this movie (which I think I also owned). I remember trying to arrange “Exit Music (For A Film)” for my college a cappella group. I never finished it, but that’s how inspired I was, guys!
12. “Little Star” Stina Nordenstam
MP: Forever 21 Björk made the perfect song to accompany a snoozy scene.
EB: Would definitely agree with you here. There are a lot of Swedish acts on this soundtrack! The Cardigans, Stina Nordenstam, and the Wannadies are all from Sweden.
13. “You and Me Song” The Wannadies
MP: This song isn’t good, but I like the corny chorus!
EB: Yeah, I love this song because it’s super corny. I think this might be on my “Come on, get happy!” mix. If not, I’ll be adding it because there’s nothing particularly deep about this song, it’s just fun to sing along to.
PS: while looking up images for this post, I was reminded this movie also has PAUL RUDD!!
