Artistic value of popular songs in films

The first film to make use of rock"n"roll in film was probably The Blackboard Jungle in 1955, which used Bill Haley's "Rock Around The Clock". Rock"n"roll was originally used as source music to provide" social colour" (Tagg, p.1), and the genre became synonymous with the new youth culture that was emerging in the mid-5Os. The use of rock"n"roll in film helped fuel negative attitudes towards youth culture, especially in films such as Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock (1957), where youth culture was characterised by juvenile delinquents, and therefore with rebellion and anarchy.

Popular music is also used to provide local or historical colour, particularly in films that are based around music and set during a certain period, e.g. films such as La Bamba (1987, based in the late 1950s) and Dirty Dancing (1987, based in the summer of 1963). Rebellion seems to be a common theme in these two films, the characters of Dirty Dancing rebelling against parental pressure and Richie Valens (Lou Diamond Phillips) rebelling against the music industry's prejudice against South American artists in La Bamba.

Other films used to portray contemporary youth cultures include Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Loved Up (1995, BBC film), both of which use dance music both as source music and as an "underscore" to represent the social groups involved, social groups that are still considered rebellious, even though the style of the music used has changed. Films such as Loved Up and Trainspotting (1996) are based around young people that take drugs (or, with Trainspotting, trying to give up drugs), and therefore the music chosen for the film should in some way represent drug-taking, the characters who take drugs, the society which condones/condemns the consumption of drugs, and, perhaps more importantly, the attitude of the filmmaker(s) towards the whole situation. Most of the music heard in Loved Up is used as source music, either in night-clubs or in bedrooms, and most (if not all) of the music is of the techno genre, a genre which is still linked with the consumption of the drug Ecstasy. Taking Ecstasy is often referred to as "getting loved up", so the links with the drug are made clear from the very start of the film.

Even the music used in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction (1994) is similar in that it represents a distinctive social group, the blend of 1960s Dusty Springfield ("Son of a Preacher Man") instrumental guitar music (Hank Marvin) and contemporary underground music suggesting a hip, ultra-cool society. Pulp Fiction is another film which tackles the consumption of drugs, in this case heroin and cocaine as well as cannabis.

The media furore surrounding films such as Pulp Fiction, Trainspotting and Loved Up suggests that drugs have become (or have remained) an important symbol of youth culture and rebellion against polite society, and this idea is firmly rooted in early films and their portrayal of youth culture by the use of popular songs in their soundtracks. These earlier films include the "great" films of the hippie era, such as the bike movie Easy Rider (1969) which contained music by Hendrix and The Band, and Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild", and the documentary film Woodstock (1969/70) which also features music by Hendrix, as well as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Who and Joan Baez.

It seems that most music subcultures have had films based around them to some extent, films such as Singles which used music from the "grunge" scene that grew out of Seattle (the city in which the film is based) with the success of bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam; the American "gang" movies of the late Eighties whose soundtracks were mostly made up of hip hop and rap music (these films include Sean Penn's Colors and spoofs such as Kid'n'Play's House Party and Damon Wayan's I'm Gonna Git You, Sucker); Mersey beat films such as Backbeat (1995, not to mention the films that the Beatles made), and punk films such as The Sex Pistols" The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle.

Many of the films listed above use popular music mainly for a "non-underscore" function, in that the music appears mostly as source music, either being performed (as with La Bamba, The Great Rock"n"Roll Swindle, Backbeat, and others such as Grease, This Is Spinal Tap, Fame, The Commitments and the guitar solo at the prom scene in Back To The Future), being danced to (as in the theme pub scene in Pulp Fiction, most of Saturday Night Fever and Dirty Dancing, the nightclub scenes in Trainspotting, Loved Up, Basic Instinct and numerous teen movies), or simply being listened to (background music in coffee shops, shopping malls, bedrooms etc.).

Analysis: Trainspotting

The uses of film music mentioned above as locators of time, place and social group are basic functions. The use of popular songs may be (and often are) much more sophisticated than is often given credit for, and one example is the soundtrack to the British film Trainspotting, which is made up entirely of popular music, with no orchestral underscore whatsoever. The songs are often used as underscore where they are obviously not heard as source music. Examples include Pulp's "Mile End" (recorded especially for the film), which is used almost in its entire four-and-a-half minute form, to accompany the scenes where the main character, Mark Renton, moves into a flat in London. The lyrics of the song describe the state of the flat he moves into –

It smelt as if someone had died
The living room was full of flies.
The kitchen sink was blocked
The bathroom sink not there at all...

The dialogue in this part of the film is kept to a minimum so that we are aware of the soundtrack even though it is not source music, and is too prominent to be an underscore". The result is that this segment of the film is like a pop video -there is no need to understand what has gone before to appreciate what is happening at this particular point, the scene and its accompanying soundtrack is self-contained. This process of self-containment, of being a "pop video" within the larger framework of the film is seen several times and for different purposes.

Leftfield's "A Final Hit" (also written for the film) plays soon after Renton decides to give up heroin (again) and decides to have one last fix. "A Final Hit" is an instrumental track, and contains "nice" flowing harmonic chords which contrast with a dark, almost suffocating rhythm track, which utilises Leftfield's characteristic blurred effects and repetitive drum loop. The contrast between harmony and rhythm may represent Mark Renton's mixed feelings at this point in the film - he really wants to give up heroin, but the feeling it gives him is too pleasurable.

The music in Trainspotting is also used to create irony, as with Brian Eno's contribution "Deep Blue Day" (1983) - a laid back, flowing piece of ambience heard while Renton is hallucinating that he is disappearing down one of the most disgusting public toilets in Scotland. Up to this point, the film has retained some degree of gritty reality, but here the film descends into the surreal world of the hallucination, treated effectively through a combination of sound and visuals. The slow motion shots of Renton gliding through a deep blue sea to the accompaniment of Eno's ambience, contrast sharply with the reality of the situation, which sees Renton searching a filthy, stinking broken toilet bowl for the heroin pessary which he has just lost, while he retches uncontrollably.

The first example of irony, enhanced by the soundtrack, comes in the opening scenes, when Renton and fellow heroin addict Spud are chased down the street having been caught stealing. The scene features a voice over by Renton.

Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a big fucking television. Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers... Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing junk food into your mouth... Choose life. But why would I want to do a thing like that?

The accompanying soundtrack is Iggy Pop's "Lust For Life" (1990), which lends the film an immediate sense of humour and a sense of rebellion against all things dull, a spirit that continues long into the film. The ultimate irony though, is that Mark Renton does indeed "choose life". Iggy Pop's contribution to the film's soundtrack ("Nightclubbing" as well as "Lust For Life", both 1990) serves another purpose besides irony. Iggy Pop's music is the pop music equivalent of a "leitmotif" for the character of Mark Renton. We learn during the film that Iggy Pop is one of Renton's favourite artists, and the two eventually come to signify each other - Mark Renton is the central character of the film, and Iggy Pop is the most prominent artist on the soundtrack album.

Iggy Pop's music is also used to show how little Renton knows about new music. He decides to go out to a club with his friends, and finds that music has changed a lot since he last went out, hence the inclusion on the soundtrack of techno songs such as Underworld's "Born Slippy (NUXX)" (1996) and the "Full On Renaissance Mix" of Bedrock's "For What You Dream Of" (1993). These newer songs contrast with the use of older songs on the soundtrack, songs such as New Order's "Temptation" (1987), Eno's "Deep Blue day"(1983) and Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" (1972). The newer, club tracks are used to show how out-of-touch Renton is with modern nightlife, and suggests that he has been indoors to long, wrapped up in his heroin habit. The contrast between older and newer music is encapsulated in Sleeper's contribution to the soundtrack - a cover version of Blondie's "Atomic" specially recorded for this film, and heard (ironically enough) during the nightclub scene, being probably the only song played that Renton recognises.

The pop songs used in Trainspotting therefore serve the same purposes as an orchestral underscore, with the added bonus of being performed by various artists of various genres, with not only the music but the lyrics adding to the film's narrative (as with Pulp's "Mile End"), enhancing (Leftfield) or contradicting (Brian Eno) the characters' situations, creating irony and serving as "theme music" for characters or important events, while providing a contemporary feel to the film without danger of being regarded "over-hip" or trendy, as is often the case with Tarantino's use of music in his films.