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Music & Popcorn #6: '90s OSTs with Jocelyn Brown

July 22, 2021·1 hr 3 min·5 clips

Oliver Wang argues 90s soundtracks brought R&B and hip-hop into movies, unlike the 80s.

The premise is simple and loaded. After the Music and Popcorn setup for the 2021 Heat Rocks Brain Trust, Oliver, Morgan, and Jocelyn Brown settle into 90s soundtracks as the argument. The 80s get their respect, but Oliver keeps tugging the room away from John Hughes gravity. The next decade had its own soundtrack language, and a lot more R&B and hip-hop came into the movie game, past earlier exceptions like Purple Rain and Crush Groove. Then the chosen soundtrack changes the temperature. It pulls the conversation toward MTV bumpers, nervous drum patterns, and that teenage need to know a song the second it hits. Lust for Life is the spark. Jocelyn remembers hearing little pieces of it everywhere in interstitials and promos, until casual recognition turned into a hunt. New Order and Lou Reed matter too. Their names make the album feel less like a random movie tie-in and more like a trail through taste. Morgan comes at it from the film side. He remembers the scenes first, so vividly that the music takes a minute to catch up. The baby crawling on the ceiling still lands hard, along with the broader memory of a film that warns, pretty bluntly, against heroin. Then the songs rush back in: the club scene, Ewan McGregor's Rent Boy, Kelly McDonald's character, and New Order's placement. The affection stays shared. Near the end, Jocelyn thanks the hosts for making a tough year better, and the credits fold that gratitude back into the Heat Rocks family.

As heard by us

'90s soundtrack culture gets a sharp Heat Rocks defense, from R&B and hip-hop's film-album turn to Trainspotting's MTV afterlife.

Heat Rocks uses this Music & Popcorn roundtable to make a clean, persuasive case for '90s soundtracks as their own movie-music language, not just the afterglow of the '80s canon.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You have strong opinions about 90s soundtracks and you are tired of the 80s getting all the credit.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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