ROCK ON SCREEN

Film/show: Red Riding Trilogy – 1974

Tune: In The Court Of The Crimson King by King Crimson

Scene: This superb evocation of life in early seventies Yorkshire – adapted from the David Peace books for Channel 4 this spring – sees cub reporter Eddie (brilliantly played by Andrew Garfield) digging too deep into a grim world of child abuse, police brutality and widespread corruption. Sitting on the floor of his bedroom in his mam’s house, chugging back cheap scotch like his life depends on it, he rifles through a series of grisly crime scene photos of mutilated kids as he tries to untangle the web. The Dance Of The Puppets blares from the record player, a dark and swirling accompaniment to the character’s confusion and fear as he tries to work out who is pulling his strings. Only a brief snippet is used, but it was enough to make us dig out King Crimson’s brilliant 1969 debut album and re-enjoy as accomplished and meaty a progressive rock album as you could wish to find.

Film: The Silence Of The Lambs

Tune: American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Scene: Unfortunate senator’s daughter Catherine Martin drives at night in her battered old car, moments from abduction by Buffalo Bill. She sings along, loudly and to be fair not very well, to Petty’s timeless classic. The feelgood familiarity of the song cruelly ratchets up the tension as the viewer wonders what fate will befall this innocent. Enter Bill, faking a broken arm, persuading Catherine to help him get a sofa into his van before one of cinema’s great jolting questions: “Are you a size 14?” Thump. Oof. A great scene and a brilliant use of the song.

Film: Almost Famous

Tune: Tiny Dancer by Elton John

Scene: Frazzled, fed up, hating the biz and hating each other, the members and hangers-on of Stillwater listen to Elton’s lovely 1971 track. One by one, they all start to join in, making for a great and unforgettable moment in the movie. If you haven’t see it, you should: it’s about a teenage rock journalist who, improbably but whatever, goes on the road with an Allman Brothers-ish Seventies group so he can interview them for Rolling Stone. Excellent coming-of-age stuff, and lots of little gems for the rock fan – for instance the singer taking acid and declaring, Robert plant-like: “I am a Golden God!” Bonus trivia: actor Billy Crudup, who stars as the lead guitarist Russell Hammond, was taught how to play the guitar by Peter Frampton!

Film: Apocalypse Now

Tune: The End by The Doors

Brilliantly mixing the sound of helicopter blades whirring across your speakers, the composer / soundtrack arranger Carmine Coppola perfectly meshes the opening of this sprawling, haunting song into the sound effects track. The impact on his son Francis Ford Coppola’s Vietnam masterpiece is electric, as the camera whirls around the bedroom, looking down on Martin Sheen as he prepares himself for the experience nothing could prepare him for. The song itself, with its bleak and violent imagery of total destruction and sexualised rage could hardly be more appropriate for the Vietnam War, or indeed for the surreal, overpowering movie to come. The line about the “blue bus” may have been a nod to contemporary slang for some opiates, or may have referred to the vehicles used to transport US army grunts to basic training.

Film: GoodFellas

Tune: Atlantis by Donovan

Always had a bit of a soft spot for this 1968 hippy-dippy number about the lost underwater city – that’s Macca on tambourine and backing vocals by the way – from the Maryhill troubadour’s Barabajagal album in the US. Over in the States, it was first released as the B-side of ‘To Susan On The West Coast Waiting’, here it was an A-side. Massive hit in Europe, only got to number 23 here, but the sweet, swirly lyrics about an underwater utopia are all jolly nice, particularly if you’ve had a couple of jazz cigarettes. Dear old Donovan. Martin Scorsese made the bizarre but brilliant choice to use it in his mobster classic GoodFellas, in the scene where pint-sized psycho Tommy (Joe Pesci) stomps and stabs rival mobster Billy Batts (Frank Vincent – later Phil Leotardo in the Sopranos) to death for teasing him about having previously been a shoe-shine boy. Or almost to death, as it turns out. The juxtaposition between Donovan’s crooning and the sickening violence make the scene unforgettable.

Film: Trainspotting

Tune: Lust For Life by Iggy Pop

As Renton and Spud charge down  Princes’ Street, spewing nicked merchandise from their jackets like a pair of deranged fruit machines, the unmistakeable drum line crunches in. And then the movie’s brilliant lack-of-mission statement: “Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers.” As Iggy Pop starts up with “Here comes Johnny Yen again…” we meet the crew, learn about the virtues of heroin as a decision-making tool and life philosophy and know that we are in for a wild, hilarious, dark and dirty ride. All accomplished within a minute and twenty seconds, this is a thrilling and brilliantly bold start to a movie, made genius by the pounding thrill of Iggy in full flow.