Movies Almost Ruined By A Musical (Or Other) "Performance"

[bratpop]

Spider-Man - Macy Gray singing whatever the hell Macy Gray sings about. WHY.

The Crow - Medicine. Okay, cute-ish singer, nice song, but... who? Of all the music that inspired The Crow, to have a cameo by My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult was already a little weak, but then this non-band? Doesn't so much date the movie as make it look cheap. I mean, was Henry Rollins too busy? That bastard was in JOHNNY MNEMONIC.

Ghostbusters 2 - Your Love Is Lifting Me Higher (cover/remake). I didn't know any better at the time, but of every uplifting song in the world, this probably isn't the one that would get the Statue of Liberty to start dancing.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off - Danke Shoen. To this day, it still makes little to no sense why either Ferris or the audience would want to listen to this song.

Hellboy 2 - Barry Mannilow. Ahahaha, it's funny.  Love is universal. Comedy is universal. Music is universal. Taste in humor about love songs is not.

Spider-Man 2 - Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head. It was already beyond stupid and anachronistic in Butch Cassidy. Here it is worse than Mephisto ordering Peter's divorce, and then not even banging MJ.

And in the "Other" category:
Scarface - Richard Belzer. I can't think of a lot of comedy performances in movies that aren't about comedy, and this is probably the reason why.

[Thrifty]

I saw "The Producers" at the local cineplex back when it came out 12-26-2005.  That was a distinctive day, and I remember thinking how much the music ruined it.

[gojikranz]

i remember as a kid i loved the special editions of the starwars movies except they changed the songs in return of the jedi i was pissed cause otherwise it was the greatest filmgoing experience for me given i had only seen lame vhs prints prior to that.  (i didnt even care/notice that han shot first)

[Steve-O]

The Crow - Medicine. Okay, cute-ish singer, nice song, but... who? Of all the music that inspired The Crow, to have a cameo by My Life With The Thrill Kill Cult was already a little weak, but then this non-band?

As it happens, I'm a big fan of Medicine and of Brad Laner in general.  That little cameo performance, though indisputably pointless, was my favorite part of the movie.

[jewishcarpenter]

The shitty techno in The Matrix was a definite downer.

Yes, the rave scene in "Reloaded" had me smirking for days.

[Relaxing Dragon]

The shitty techno in The Matrix was a definite downer.

Yes, the rave scene in "Reloaded" had me smirking for days.

Full agreement here as well. That's a scene that would really improve the movie if it was cut (I think someone did that, made some cut of the second and third movie that edited the Zion stuff. Still need to find that...)

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

Data and Picard singing in Trek films?  Well, they weren't the good Trek films, were they?

Diane Keaton singing in Annie Hall and Radio Days.  Very uncomfortable feeling having to listen to her kind of "sneak up" on the song like she's afraid of it.

The waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long bit with Jack Nicholson as The Doctor in Tommy.  Not to mention Oliver Reed's alledged singing.

I know there's something that I'm forgetting....something that I thank god for fast forward on video....so that I can still watch a particular film without suffering through that.

Let me get back to you.

[Darth Geek]

Muppet Christmas Carol. I love this movie so much, as I do all the Muppet movies, but the "When Love is Gone" song between Ebeneezer and Elizabeth absolutely stops the film dead in it's tracks. I think it's funny when I hear people say this song isn't in the DVD version, because I have to fast forward EVERY TIME I watch it.

[FordPrefect]

Muppet Christmas Carol. I love this movie so much, as I do all the Muppet movies, but the "When Love is Gone" song between Ebeneezer and Elizabeth absolutely stops the film dead in it's tracks. I think it's funny when I hear people say this song isn't in the DVD version, because I have to fast forward EVERY TIME I watch it.

That song was cut from the theatrical release of the film, but it was added back to the home video release. The 2002 DVD was basically the full screen VHS version with bonus features. The 2005 DVD release (Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition) had the theatrical widescreen version without the song, plus the full screen version with the song. Sounds like you should get that version. Personally I like "When Love is Gone", but to each his own.

[BEERxTaco]

Track of the Moon Beast -  The Band That Played "California Lady"

The Band that Played California Lady began as a duet featuring the vocal and acoustic guitar stylings of The Fish-Lipped Guy and The Eskimo. The Band that Played California Lady achieved little commercial success, playing numerous dive bars in America's southwest. However, all that changed when they added a female backup singer known as The Friendly-Looking Backup Singer. Suddenly, their signature tune "California Lady" was everywhere, including a bad B-movie like Track of the Moonbeast, and they rocketed to sudden fame. They went from playing dusty bars found along state highways to huge venues, including Watkins Glen in New York. There they shared top billing with such bands as Wet Willy and Toots and The Maytals.

Like the moon, fame is also a harsh mistress. The Fish-Lipped Guy, uncomfortable with the creative genius role his adoring public thrust upon him, took to drinking and a circle of fast friends. The Eskimo, previously an equal partner in this musical concern, found himself left in the shadow, given names like "The Quiet One" and, of course, "The Eskimo". He took to drugs to escape the pain of this public emasculation.

The Fish-Lipped Guy, no longer tethered by the support and friendship offered by The Eskimo during the band's early days, took to heavier drinking and womanizing. This of course lead The Eskimo into a faster downward spiral using more drugs.

The Band that Played California Lady might have ended there but they managed to drag themselves into a studio to record a follow up album. In contrast to their upbeat, and dare I say peppy California Lady, they recorded a more somber, serious, introspective work called Rhode Island Lady. Fans were unwilling to accept The Band that Played California Lady's exploration of new territory, wanting more peppy tunes about ladies in California, or at least Oregon. Their sophomore album failed to crack the charts.

The Fish-Lipped Guy and The Eskimo, bitten by the fickle bug that is fame, retreated further into their addictions. Their agent felt some regrouping was in order, like having them play some smaller fan-friendly venues instead of the massive stadiums they played during the heyday of the California Lady sound. He signed them to a deal where they'd open for Brewer and Shipley. However tragedy struck when The Eskimo overdosed and fell into a drug-induced coma for several months. The Fish-Lipped Guy added gambling to his growing list of destructive vices (drinking, womanizing) after The Eskimo's overdose. The Band that Played California Lady was no more.

However, they did enjoy a small resurgence in the late `90s after a small reunion tour and a new generation of fans discovered the joy of "California Lady" and The Band that Played California Lady.

[Doctor Who?]

Batman.  the Prince songs.  Nothing date a movie or stops it dead like Prince.

[Doctor Who?]

Batman.  the Prince songs.  Nothing date a movie or stops it dead like Prince.

Oh god, yes. *shudder*.

I skip those every time and the movie goes from a 7.5 to an 8.5 on my ratings scale.

[bratpop]

Fuck you, the Prince soundtrack is one of the greatest soundtracks of all time. I would not throw it at a zombie.

It doesn't date the movie, because the songs were original. They weren't 80s Prince songs, they were Prince songs that existed solely for that movie. They exist only in the Tim Burton gothic Gotham universe where they are extremely popular with the homicidal criminal element. Any similarity to Earth Prime artists known formerly or currently as Prince is purely coincidental. It says so in the credits.

[Doctor Who?]

Fuck you, the Prince soundtrack is one of the greatest soundtracks of all time. I would not throw it at a zombie.

It doesn't date the movie, because the songs were original. They weren't 80s Prince songs, they were Prince songs that existed solely for that movie. They exist only in the Tim Burton gothic Gotham universe where they are extremely popular with the homicidal criminal element. Any similarity to Earth Prime artists known formerly or currently as Prince is purely coincidental. It says so in the credits.

Funniest thing I have read in a while.

[daltysmilth]

My Fair Lady, either of the songs Eliza's father sings.  They're not necessarily bad songs, and he performs them well, they just go on too darn long and they make the film drag.