ROCK ON SCREEN

Film/show: Pulp Fiction

Tune: ‘Son Of A Preacher Man’ by Dusty Springfield

Scene: Taken from the gorgeous Dusty In Memphis album, if this song doesn’t move you, seek medical assistance immediately: you may well be dead. The song was originally offered to Aretha Franklin, who turned it down, but the Jerry Wexler-produced Dusty version gave her a top ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic in 1968. Quentin Tarantino had to have it for his 1994 masterpiece, and said that he would have cut the scene without it. Said scene, of course, sees the extremely tempting but extremely off-limits Mia Wallace, gangster’s moll, getting ready to be escorted for the evening by one of her husband’s goons. As Vincent Vega waits downstairs, Uma Thurman – for it is she, black bob wig notwithstanding – gets ready and powders her nose, addressing John Travolta’s Vincent through the intercom as Dusty conveys the sound of heaven itself to your eardrums. Slinky, seductive and marvellous fun.

Film/show: Fight Club

Tune: ‘Where Is My Mind?’ by The Pixies

Scene: One of cinema’s great “Oh God, what have I done?” moments. Incidentally, if you haven’t seen the film a) you should and b) don’t read on, because we’re about to give away the ending, and Rock Solid wants to spoil you, not spoiler you. Ok? So Edward Norton’s unreliable narrator everyman has just shot himself/Brad Pitt in the mouth and the whole world is collapsing around him. He stands hand-in-hand with mad Marla Singer, watching as his own personal Armageddon is unleashed. Is it a symbolic detonation of consumerist society? Or have his misguided acolytes actually gone and blown up the whole city? Is it even happening outside his head? What record could possibly fit this better than ‘Where Is My Mind?’, from The Pixies’ debut full album Surfer Rosa, a terrific record and the real start of a quite brilliant band’s career.

Film/show: American Beauty

Tune: ‘American Woman’ by The Guess Who

Scene: Lester Burham is living the American Dream: he has quit his job, telling his boss where to shove it in the process, and managing to get a year’s pay-off money to boot. He’s about to get a stress-free, low impact job in a burger bar. He has an apparently mutual crush on a smoking teen cheerleader, he has taken up smoking pot and driving around in his car all day listening to the music of his youth. And in this scene, that’s The Guess Who’s ‘American Woman’. The sheer, unbridled joy that Kevin Spacey (in his finest role) pours into Lester’s enjoyment of the simple pleasure of a middle-aged man goofing off, get his bake on and listening to a prime slab of juicy classic rock speaks to us all on a very deep, and indeed a very shallow, level. One of the greatest films ever made, and this track is a perfect accompaniment to one of its high points.

AT