Last month I had such a blast creating my 1965 movie music mix that I thought I’d make a mix for my previous year of focus, 1983. My 1965 mix is defined by mostly short bursts of groovy pop energy. 1983 is the opposite. There are fewer songs, but the mix is quite a big longer in length. I find that it is defined by either melancholy, edge, or a melancholic edge at pretty much all times, even when the surface doesn’t reflect that at first glance. Also, interestingly, this mix happens to be completely male-dominated.
A few notes:
1. This isn’t a mix meant to definitively reflect the year in film. It’s a mix that caters to my music tastes (which in this case largely, bot not exclusively, embraces electronic, new wave, and contemporary classic)which I hope, and to a degree assume, will be enjoyed by others. For this reason, to give an example, tracks from the Local Hero, The Right Stuff, and Videodrome scores were left out because while they essential to the films themselves, do nothing for me sonically on their own.
2. I have a few self-imposed ground rules when creating these mixes. They are:
- I only allow music that comes from, or is very close to, the chosen year in film. I’m very attached to the time capsule feel of the 1965 mix and want to retain that for other mixes. So anyone looking for tracks from, for example, the iconic soundtrack to The Big Chill, will be disappointed.
- The track must feature in the film. It cannot solely exist on the soundtrack. I ran into this problem with “Swamp” which is on The King of Comedy soundtrack, but is not actually in the film.
- This brings us to my next rule. I must have seen the film in order to include its music on the mix. I made one exception to this rule when I discovered that “Swamp” is used in Risky Business. I have no desire to see Risky Business, but I skimmed through the film to get sense of the Tangerine Dream score (also on the mix) and to find where “Swamp” is used, just to confirm its usage.
3. The mix is available for listening at 8tracks, which I will provide a link to here, as well as a track listing.
4. Despite having seen over 40 films from 1983, the mix only contains 11 tracks from a mere 7 films. 7 are instrumental, the rest are not.
8tracks link: http://8tracks.com/cinephile24/1983-movie-music
1983 Movie Music Track Listing:
1. “Koyaanisqatsi” – composed by Philip Glass – from Koyaanisqatsi
2. “Swamp” – Talking Heads – used in Risky Business
3. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” (version from The Hunger) – Bauhaus – used in The Hunger
4. “Scarface (Opening Theme)” – composed by Giorgio Moroder – from Scarface
5. “Moochie’s Death” – composed by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth – from Christine
6. “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” – composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto – from Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence
7. “Love My Way” – The Psychedelic Furs – used in Valley Girl
8. “Scarface (Push It to the Limit)” – Paul Engemann – from Scarface
9. “Show Me” – composed by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth – from Christine
10. “Guido the Killer Pimp” – composed by Tangerine Dream – from Risky Business
11. “Pruit Igoe” – composed by Philip Glass – from Koyaanisqatsi
Cinema Enthusiast 