The music of Tarantino

A while back Miksteip - a radio-program in Norway - had a Quentin Tarantino-special. In other words, they devoted their entire 2-hour program to the music used in Tarantino´s movies.

Needless to say, the program was just about as badass as Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. In this post I´d like to share some of my favorite songs from the movies of the influential director/auteur, many of them featured in the Tarantino-special on "Miksteip".



The fact that Tarantino has always put a lot of effort into choosing the right music for his movies is no secret, as shown by the following quote:

When I´m writing a script, one of the first things I do is find the music I´m going to play for the opening sequence. I can´t go forward until I figure out how I´m going to start - what the opening mood music will be - Quentin Tarantino

So, what better place to start then at the beginning? In his directorial debut Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino proves that the aforementioned quote rings true. He really does give it a lot of thought, and in the end that gives us a very memorable opening sequence in both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Although the opening of Pulp Fiction is a great one, the song used in Reservoir Dogs is a better song if you remove the filmic context of it. And although it´s hard not to link song and film moment, I´ll only include songs that I also consider strong in it´s own right.

Little Green Bag - The George Baker Selection

Reservoir Dogs

Stuck in the Middle With You - Stealers Wheel

Reservoir Dogs

Son of a Preacher Man - Dusty Springfield

Pulp Fiction

Across 110th Street - Bobby Womack

Jackie Brown

The Delfonics - La La Means I Love You

Jackie Brown

(Although not on the soundtrack, this song can be heard as Jackie Brown puts on a record at her house. The song she puts on at first is on the soundtrack, but it is definitely not a coincidence that Quentin Tarantino lets the record run to play this one as well...)

Bang Bang - Nancy Sinatra

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Don´t Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmeralda

Kill Bill Vol. 1

Down in Mexico - The Coasters

Death Proof

Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) - David Bowie

Inglorious Basterds

Freedom - Anthony Hamilton & Elayna Boynton

Django Unchained

Ancora Qui - Elisa

Django Unchained

Who Did That To You? - John Legend

Django Unchained

Too Old To Die Young - Brother Dege

Django Unchained

MTV - they used to show music...

It´s been forever since the last time I updated this blog, but hopefully it´ll kick back into gear these next few days/weeks. Anyway, here´s a short little trip down memory lane to when MTV showed music videos (and I taped them on VHS)... Have a nice Weekend:


Marcy Playground - Sex And Candy



Everlast - What It´s Like



Semisonic - Closing Time



White Town - Your Woman



The Cranberries - Zombie



Fugees - Fu-Gee-La



Da Brat - Sittin´ On Top Of The World



TQ - Bye, Bye Baby





Memory lane is one of my favorite lanes. True story.

Live this summer...

Well, it's been forever, so it's about time with an update. Summer is here, and due to a Wedding in Italy, as well as working full-time for a few weeks, I haven't kept this blog as updated as I would have wanted to. Anyway, here's a couple of tunes from artists which I have seen, or will see, live this summer.

About two weeks ago I saw Aloe Blacc live in Oslo at the Oslo Live Festival. I had been looking forward to the concert for quite some time, and he didn't dissapoint me. Due to bad weather (and maybe the Foo Fighters concert, which was on the same day just outside of Oslo), the attendance wasn't as high as I (and probably Aloe) had hoped, but that didn't stop him. He did a great gig, and here are a few favorites of mine:

You Make Me Smile




Loving You is Killing Me

Aloe performed a great version of this at the concert




Mama Hold My Hand



















In less then two weeks, I'm off to Berlin to watch Gianna Nannini again. Last time I saw her in concert was in Rome 2009. This time, she will be performing in Berlin in a venue with a capacity of 3500, and I'm looking foward to seeing her at a smaller venue then last time, even though the concert at Palalottomatica was amazing. Nice to see her in different settings. Anyway, here are a couple of great tunes from the amazing Gianna Nannini.

Ogni Tanto - from her most recent album, Io e Te.



America - live from the Amiche per L'Abruzzo concert



Fotoromanza - an old classic




Bonus: Fabri Fibra feat. Gianna Nannini - In Italia




Later the same week, I'll be back in Oslo to see a legend. Prince sold out in a couple of minutes when the tickets for his concert in Oslo Spektrum became available. No surprise. Here are a couple of reasons why Prince is regarded a living legend in the music-industry.


When Doves Cry



Little Red Corvette

If I sing a song...

Spring has finally settled in Oslo, and this means one thing for a student. It's time for finals, studying and a hellish month before one can finally put the books away and return to social life. This is somewhat ironic, as part of what I'm studying this semester is sociology... Anyway, this blog has been quiet for a while now, much due to the aforementioned school-work, but also because I went to Rome for a week to live the good life. Rome was, as always, amazing, and it only took me a couple of days before I booked myself another couple of days to Rome this summer... Grande!

I've finally "fixed" my iPod, that is to say.. I bought new headphones. Here are some great tunes I recommend you to have available on your iPod as you stroll along the streets of.. wherever you are.

First off, a tune a friend of mine recommended to me.

Charles Bradley - "The World (is going up in flames). Cheers Ståle!



Aloe Blacc should me a name most of you recognize after his hit "I Need a Dollay", which was also featured in the Tv-show How to Make it in America. His album "Good Things" came out last year, and has a lot of great tunes, such as...

If I



Life so Hard




And one of my def favorites from the album:

Mama Hold My Hand




And speaking of songs about mamas, here are two bonus songs. Have a good one!

Tupac - Dear Mama



Nas - Dance

Italian music - Gianna Nannini

When I was a wee boy about yay high, my family and I went on Holiday to Italy. This was back before cd-players were the standard for cars, so when we bought some Italian music to listen to in the car, we bought a tape. We bought Gianna Nannini.




So, basically, Gianna Nannini is one of the first artists I was introduced to. It was 88-89, and I was 5-6 years old. Luckily for me, she is still going strong, and last October I went to Rome and saw her live in concert. It didn't dissapoint.


From the concert at Palalottomatica in Rome, October 2009. I was way in the back, so could only get pic of the atmosphere with my cell-phone cam




It was just amazing to go to Rome for a concert, and sit there with thousands of Italians singing along to an artist I had been listening to for about 20 years.





So I really recommend you checking out these videoes and live clips. Personally I love her voice, and the versatility in her tunes. And I also love the fact that sometimes when you listen to the songs, you can almost hear her smile. Nice.



This tune, Aria, is from the album "Perle", an acoustic-ish album with some of her greatest tunes played down. Great album. No video for this, just the tune.




This next is a live clip, and she is great live, from 1984. "Ragazzo dell'Europa" and "California".




Music-video for "Voglio Fare L'Amore"



"Sognami" Live




Music-video for "Meravigliosa Creatura"





Music-video for "Maledetto Ciao"



Music-video for "Bello Impossibile"




Last one for now (I could go on forever) is the theme from the World Cup 1990 (Football... or soccer for those in America)

Gianna Nannini & Edoardo Bennato - "Un'estate Italiana"




Enjoy!