Commercial value of popular songs in films

The use of popular songs in films is not always primarily artistic, and in the past few years has become increasingly associated with promotional techniques. Filmmakers have realised the commercial potential of using popular songs in films since the 60s, beginning with "the commercial success of Monty Norman's and John Barry's "James Bond Theme" (Dr. No, 1962), prefigured by Duane Eddy's cover of Mancici's "Peter Gunn" theme (1960)(Tagg, p.2). Tagg then goes on to describe how the themes for subsequent Bond movies were written and/or performed by pop musicians e.g. From Russia With Love (Matt Munroe, Barry Bart, 1963), Goldfinger (Shirley Bassey, Barry, 1964)...Live and Let Die (McCartney, 1973)..." (Tagg, p.2) and more recently Duran (A View To a Kill, 1986), and Tina Turner (Goldeneye, 1995).

Since Berlin reached No.1 in the singles chart in 1986 with Giorgio Moroder's "Take My Breath Away" following its inclusion in the Tom Cruise/Kelly McGillis film Top Gun, filmmakers have realised that recruiting a famous band or artist to perform a song from the film will almost certainly guarantee chart success for the theme as a single, which can help boost box office ratings for the film and make the accompanying soundtrack album a best seller. Examples of recent box office hits that have a world-wide hit single as part of its soundtrack include Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (Bryan Adams, "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)", 1990), Bram Stoker's Dracula (Annie Lennox, "Love Song For a Vampire", 1992), The Bodyguard (Whitney Houston, "I Will Always Love You", 1992), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Guns'n'Roses, "You Could Be Mine", 1992) and Four Weddings and a Funeral (Wet Wet Wet, "Love Is All Around", 1994).

Analysis: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

The trouble with using popular songs in films for commercial reasons is that the song(s) featured may seem, at best, incongruous with the rest of the underscore, and, at worst, vulgar or crass, as is the case with Bryan Adams" "Everything I Do (I Do It For You"). The song is taken from the end credits of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves rather than from the underscore itself. The song's style has very little to do with the rest of the soundtrack, which is a traditional "classical" score.

The promo clip for the single owes a lot to the film - the video was shot in a forest, and is a performance video interspersed with shots from the accompanying film. The film-based shots include lots of close-ups of the main characters (including Kevin Costner and Christian Slater, obviously for sex appeal), numerous action sequences to show how exciting the film actually is to watch, the obligatory appearance of the villain (Allan Rickman as The Sheriff of Nottingham), and, of course, the reunion of the separated lovers at the end of the clip. The promo clip is therefore a microcosmic form of the film it is taken from, but without giving too much away. The video is obviously intended to make people want to see the film, and the song is included at the end of the film to make those very same people want to buy the single and/or the soundtrack album.

The authors of "On the Track" state that "in order to use a song effectively in a score there must be a space for that song on the soundtrack and a reason for its use" (p.525). The trouble with "Everything I Do..." is that there is no place for it or its AOR singer on the film, except for promotional purposes, and this is surely why the song has been appended to the end credits rather than used during the film itself. The same is true of Annie Lennox's "Love Song For a Vampire", which used as part of the end credits for Bram Stoker's Dracula, contrasting with its "classical" underscore, and whose video features Annie Lennox lip-synching the lyrics, interspersed with shots from the film.

It may be interesting to note that while Trainspotting made extensive use of its soundtrack, with the songs available commercially on a soundtrack album, no singles were released to help promote the film. A few of the tracks have appeared as B-sides on recent singles, including Pulp's "Mile End" (the B-side to their "Something Changed" single) and Sleeper's "Atomic" (as a B-side to their latest single "Sale Of the Century"), but unlike so many other films in the 1990s Trainspotting doesn"t seem to exploit its soundtrack as a promotional tool in the same way as Hollywood seems to favour.

Analysis: Philadelphia

Another successful film that has spawned a successful single is Philadelphia (1994, directed by Jonathan Demme, and though "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen was obviously used to promote the film, the idea of using contemporary music to promote a contemporary film makes the song's use less incongruous than those used in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Bram Stoker's Dracula, This is probably because these two films are historical in nature, while Philadelphia is based very firmly in modern day reality.

Again, the promo clip for Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia" owes much to the film. The opening title sequence of the film features footage of everyday life in Philadelphia, some of which are included in the promo clip to lend some visualisation to Springsteen's lyrics. In fact, the only difference between the promo clip for the single and the opening title sequence of the film is the absence of Springsteen lip-synching the lyrics during the opening titles, and the inclusion of the titles themselves. It may be interesting to note that the vocal track used on the video promo clip is different to the one used in the film and on the single and soundtrack album releases. The vocals for the video clip were actually recorded on the streets of Philadelphia, and it is possible to hear the "imperfections" of Springsteen's vocal performance, as well as background noise from the images we see on screen (children playing, traffic driving past etc.). This "live" recording of the song strengthens the ties between music video and the way film sound blends music with sound effects.

We are never allowed to forget that Bruce Springsteen's song is meant to promote the film. Apart from the song title being an extension of the film's title, the song itself is played in its entirety (to fade) before the film's narrative actually begins. The single's promo clip is included before the film on the official video release of Philadelphia, as well as an advertisement for the soundtrack album, which also features an excerpt of the song. The result is that we hear Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Philadelphia" three times before the film's story actually begins.

Another song used to promote the film is Neil Young's "City of Brotherly Love" (perhaps used ironically given the nature of attitudes towards HIV and AIDS portrayed in the film) and is heard during the final scenes of the film, just before the end titles. This song is used for more dramatic impact than Springsteen's song, since we have come to sympathise with the characters by this point, and the song is meant to provoke an emotional reaction when used in combination with the images that we see at the end of the film. Following Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks)'s death from an AIDS-related disease, there is a memorial gathering at his home. The bare piano chordal accompaniment fade up as Beckett's lawyer is informed of his death, then the scene cuts to an exterior shot of Beckett's home, where family and friends are gathering. The number of people at the memorial seems to contrast sharply with the bare solitude of Neil Young's voice, which sings in a high register to the accompaniment of a solo piano. As the strings join in the second verse, we see that a home video is playing, a compilation video of Beckett as a young boy. During this second verse the camera closes in on the TV screen and the music drowns out all sound of the gathered crowd. By now we hear only Neil Young's song and the background sounds heard on the videotape (children laughing and playing etc.). The film freezes with the final chord of the song, then blacks out, leaving a short gap of silence and darkness before the end titles begin, accompanied by Howard Shore's orchestral underscore.

The blending of image and sound during this final scene of Philadelphia gives it the air of a promo clip - a popular song accompanied by a short visual narrative, and its attempt at an evocation of emotions and poignancy makes the scene similar to the promo clip for Annie Lennox's "Every Time We Say Goodbye" (taken from the AIDS awareness album of Cole Porter cover versions Red Hot and Blue, 1990), directed by Ed Lachman. The instrumentation of the song is similar to Neil Young's - voice and piano, but this time the instrumental solo is provided by an accordion, and the visuals are similar to those of the closing scenes of Philadelphia - Annie Lennox is watching home videos of a young boy and girl playing, one of whom, we assume from the lyrics, is her, and the boy has probably died of AIDS, judging by the use of the song within an AIDS awareness project. What does differentiate this promo clip from the final scenes of Philadelphia is the presence of a central character that is lip-synching the lyrics. The function of lip-synching in this particular video may be to make the situation more personal, or to create empathy, while there is an element of detachment between the audience and the artist who sings the song at the end of Philadelphia.

"Every Time We Say Goodbye" is one example of how pop video and film are artistically linked, but as music videos continue to become more complex, both in visual and textual narrative, and as there are more films available for the promo director to plunder, more serious research is needed to explain just how and why music video is influenced by film.