(no subject)

[oselle]

liptonrm has just posted her list of Winchester-inspired music and baylorsr recently sent me a huge collection of all the music that appeared in Seasons One and Two. I'm not musical in any way but I know what I like and I've loved almost all the music they've used in Supernatural. As I've mentioned often, I'm an old fart. These great radio hits of the 70s and 80s are stuff that I literally grew up on and a lot of it has disappeared from non-satellite radio, at least here in NYC. We have exactly one rock station left here, and they most play post-grunge stuff. Every once in a while they'll shoot you some AC/DC or something, but you've really got to wait for it.

One of the things you've got to love about Supernatural is that it's got such a distinctive tone that you can hear or remember a song and immediately think, "That's so Supernatural!" baylorsr and I used to do this all the time with Birthright. She excels at the music mix thing, far more than I do, and to this day there are songs that make me think of the Birthright universe and always will. One of those songs, Blind Faith's poignant "Can't Find My Way Home" made its way into Supernatural, so there's some crossover there between the two. Classic rock overflows with songs about isolation, alienation, living on the road and just...driving...and those are things that Birthright and Supernatural really have in common.

Supernatural has done a terrific job of hitting on just the right music. Here following is my short list of songs I'd love to hear in Supernatural, and why.

Steely Dan, "Do It Again"
This is an eerily sinister song that throws together acid-trippy mixed images of gambling, murder, hangmen, desert wastes, Las Vegas and somehow, redemption. As with most songs from the early 70s, you really can't tell what the hell they're talking about, but it sure sounds cool. Sample lyrics:
Now you swear and kick and beg us
that you're not a gamblin' man;
Then you find you're back in Vegas
with a handle in your hand
Your black cards can bring you money
so you hide them when you're able
In the land of milk and honey
you must put them on the table.

Bob Dylan, "Shelter From the Storm"
Readers of Stephen King's epic The Stand will remember an excerpt from this song (not the one below) as one of the book's great opening quotes. The lamentable "unabridged" edition that appeared in the early 90s left the quote out! I'm hoping that subsequent editions included it. SPN has already used Dylan's elegiac "Knockin on Heaven's Door." "Shelter from the Storm" has a jaunty sound that belies its creepy lyrics, which seem to hearken back to all the dark corners of American folklore. Sample lyrics:
I was burned-out from exhaustion,
Buried in the hail.
Poisoned in the bushes,
And blown-out on the trail.
Hunted like a crocodile,
Ravaged in the corn.
"Come in," she said, "I'll give ya,
Shelter from the storm."

The Doobie Brothers, "China Road"
This is a Birthright song for me, but I'm willing to lend it to the Winchesters. One of the last Birthright stories I ever wrote was about Zeke and Casey hiding out in the Florida swamps during one very hot summer (is there any other kind in the Florida swamps?) The story included a scene of Zeke, Casey, their stoner friend Slim Jim and his trailer-trash girlfriend Cheryl driving to "China Point Beach." There is no China Point Beach in Florida, the beach was modeled on the Gulf Coast's Piney Point Beach which is, in reality, home to a sewage treatment facility. But I love this song so much that I named the beach after it. It's just the sort of thing you want to listen to while driving real fast on a hot day with all the windows rolled down, and I think it totally belongs on the Impala's tape deck. So do the Doobie's sublimely mellow "Black Water" and "Listen To The Music."
Sample lyrics:
When the sun comes up on a sleepy little town
Down around San Antone
And the folks are risin' for another day
Round about their homes
People of the town are strange
And they're proud of where they came
We're talking about the town of China Grove

Deep Purple: "Highway Star"
Heavy metal before the term existed, and probably the perfect song to describe Dean Winchester's obsessive love for that RIDICULOUSLY CONSPICUOUS CAR. Like all Deep Purple songs, there's something very menacing about this one. Also love their mournful "Perfect Strangers" and "Knockin' At Your Back Door," though the not-so-subtle wordplay of the latter is outrageously filthy ("a clever cunning linguist" -- say it fast. You'll get it). Sample lyrics:
Nobody gonna take my car
I'm gonna race it to the ground
Nobody gonna beat my car
It's gonna break the speed of sound
Oooh it's a killing machine
It's got everything
Like a driving power big fat tires
And everything
I love it and I need it
I bleed it yeah it's a wild hurricane
Alright hold tight
I'm a highway star

And now for some more recent stuff. Season Two ventured into some late 80s/early-90s metal and grunge with the likes of Queensryche and Alice in Chains. Most of that Seattle stuff is way too depressing for a depressive like me to listen to, and hearing it often evokes the aimless misery of my early twenties. Nevertheless, I have to admit that its suicidal lyrics and suffocatingly dense guitar tracks tend to work well within the SPN universe.

Soundgarden, "Superunknown"
A surprisingly bouncy one from Chris Cornell et al, but with great, screaming lyrics. This was very popular when I first discovered The X-Files and I always associate it with that show. Sample lyrics:
Get yourself afraid
Get yourself alone
Get yourself contained
Get yourself controled

Van Halen, "Runnin' With The Devil"
I'm so old that I feel like this one is recent. It's really not, but come on -- this one's a no-brainer. Sample lyrics:
I live my life like there's no tommorow
All I've got I had to steal
At least I don't have to beg or borrow
Yes I'm living at a pace that kills

Puddle of Mudd, "Blurry"
I don't know anything else by this band but this was all over the radio around 2001/2002. It's got an echoey, spooky sound that I like. The lyrics sound vaguely stalkerish and the song is probably too romantic for SPN but I think the Wincesters might dig it. Sample lyrics:
Everyone is changing
There's no one left that's real
Make up your own ending
And let me know just how you feel
'Cause I am lost without you
I cannot live at all
My whole world surrounds you
I stumble then I crawl

Long enough? Fuck, I'm full of myself tonight, aren't I?


Supernatural Season Three premiere: THURSDAY 9 PM, CW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comments

[liptonrm.livejournal.com]

You sure this is your last SPN post of the night? Positive. It's just, I know how hard it is to stop once you've gotten started. Oh, show, you burrow into our heads and never let us go. ;-)

Some great song choices, there. I'm not as fluent in the era as I would like to be but, boy oh boy, is Supernatural helping me get a crash course. They excel, over there, at fitting music to emotion and plot. Actually, they might just do so better than any show I've ever watched.

And Birthright is so the reason I knew baylorsr would love this show once she sat down to watch it. And now you too. Awesome.

[oselle.livejournal.com]

It's impossible to stop. Especially since I've got two years' worth of buildup that needs to come out. Nevertheless, I'm on radio silence until...oh, 10 pm tonight. Gotta conserve my energy!!

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Good good music there. I don't know all of them, but I do know some, and it's amazing to me how seamlessly they fit this music into the soundtrack of SPN. I think you've hit on something, talking about isolation, alienation, living on the road and just...driving... and it strikes a chord somewhere in my soul. One of the reasons I love Sam and Dean and even that super friggin' car is because they're outsiders. They don't fit into the world or their time, no matter how crazy-sexy-cool they are. They're like old-west gunslingers who ride into town, kill the bad guys, then ride out, because there's no place for them among the civilians. They're "dangerous folk."

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I wanted to link to audio clips but I didn't know what sites would be really good for that. All of these songs are worth checking out, though.

One of the reasons I love Sam and Dean and even that super friggin' car is because they're outsiders.

This is, of course, part of the show's great appeal. And it's sort of a fantasy too -- being able to live off the grid, go your own way. For all of the isolation and alienation of that life, there's something deeply appealing about it, especially, I think, within American culture.

They're like old-west gunslingers...

I'll bet Eric Kripke would love that description.