Really Annoying Movie Music from the '60's-70's

[gypsybangles]

Here's a really big pet peeve of mine and I'd like to know if there are others of like mind.

 

Back before "actual" rock-n-roll songs by the original artists were used in films, music in the films from the '60's and '70's had a very peculiar sound to those of us who grew up during that time, and knew what really great music was out there. I'm referring to the music that tried to sound "hip" or "with-it" but was just AWFUL. In addition to bass and guitar, there was always this overuse of the organ. In fact, in the music I'm referring to, this instrument was predominant, but unfortunately played by people with NO CLUE. We had 'Procol Harum's' 'A Whiter Shade of Pale' for instance, at the same time as these really pathetic, tuneless, themeless organ rip-off-riffs (and even calling it a rip-off is paying it way more of a compliment than it deserves). It usually accompanied the obligatory party/dance scene with a whole bunch of people who couldn't dance; the females, mostly blond, hair swept up and back to high tease cascading down their backs, mini-skirted, go-go booted, arms-a-pumping-or-a-swimming-or-a-hitchhiking, vacant-mindless of expression, and the only soul they had was on the bottom of their boots. The guys were worse...just stupid, jerky movements with no rhythm at all. And it wasn't just confined to these movies, but seemed to permeate other films of the time as well.

 

Anyway, back to the music. It all sounded the same, and odiferous fumes emanated from it, surrounding some films (which may have not been so bad), with a musical miasma that destroyed their credibility. I just always got the impression some "real cool" studio head just said "Yeah, put in a lot of organ, the kids'll really go for that." Bleaghhh! As if Les Paul was given a days notice to imitate Eric Clapton. (Definitely a bad analogy, Les paul was really good, but you hopefully get my drift).

 

I think it's a prime example of movie moguls tasteless patronization, underestimating their audience, and shortcutting for the sake of BIG $$$'s. I really hope heads rolled, but unfortunately it wasn't quick enough.

 

I wish I could cite particular movies, (probably blotted them out), but I know you hardcore movie buffs can. Love to hear from you.

 

Gypsy

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gwtwbooklover]

I was shocked, shocked when TCM did its Oscar connections some years back and learned that The Thomas Crown Affair's Windmills of Your MInd was nominated for an Oscar for best song. That to me is the most irritating song. I can't stand it! However when the movie was remade the one saving grace (I didn't like the remake) was Sting singing The Windmills of Your Mind. It was terrific the jazzy spin he put on it and it didn't even sound like the same song.

[brackenhe]

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[brackenhe]

I know exactly what you mean. Like maybe a night club scene and there's always some lame music playing that kind of sounds like it might be something but it's not really. There are a few movies from those times that had some decent music (The Graduate comes to mind) but mostly it was probably some hack that they could pay a tenth of what they'd pay a real musician. It seems to me that this whole thing of using real music came into vogue after MTV went on the air and thing changed to compete with it. That sounds a little simplistic but that's how I see it. TV changed then too (I'm not trying to give MTV too much credit but they do deserve credit for that.)

 

And gwtwbooklover--I love that song Windmills of Your Mind. The words are so poignant about a love that can never truly be because the person you love is so distant and unknowable. I admit I've never seen Thomas Crown Affair (not a huge Steve McQueen fan) but I have seen the sequence where the song plays (I think Steve's character is flying in a glider) and I can see why it would get on your nerves.

[therealfuster]

If you had not put a time limit on this of '60's and '70's, I would have mentioned the Spice Girls and their movie as the most annoying movie music ever.

 

You make such a good point, that what sometimes passes onscreen for rock music of the time period, was little like what was really playing on Top Forty stations of the 1950's, 1960's or 1970's.

 

One really old film, which had hack music but in this case I think it is deliberate and not a bad imitation, was in Chaplin's "A King in New York" in which he seems to be parodying the parodies of rock music that adults tried to put in films or on tv at the time.

 

Though the Ed Sullivan Show was a major purveyor of rock stars of the day, even so far as having Jim Morrison on, but never again due to his misbehaviour...usually the rock acts sounded great, as Ed had a rule about no performers being allowed to use prerecorded music. Only one performer ever got away with breaking that rule, which was the son of Jerry Lewis, Gary...whose singing was so abysmal in rehearsal that Ed allowed him to lip synch to his big hit, "This Diamond Ring" perhaps in fear that the audience might leave otherwise.

 

So...as long as a rock group appearing on Sullivan's show was a complete band, able to play their their entire sound, the music things went fine. But if a singer who had a rock hit, appeared without their backup band or studio session people, then Ed's band would play behind them in a really bad pastiche of a rock and roll style. To enjoy some of these performances, get the boxed set of the Ed Sullivan Show, which has some fine examples.

 

In films, the very clever description you give of writhing go-go booted girls [who looked like Lada Edmund, Jr. from the tv show, "Hullabaloo" who were ubiquitous in these films] reminds me of some of the Deborah Walley vehicles of that time period, like "Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine" which came out around 1964 or 1965. Produced by teen film veteran, Sam Arkoff and starring also Dwayne Hickman, this film had music by Les Baxter, who is pretty far from rock and roll. Being of that Hawaiian lounge sound, Les is now very collectible and I've been buying up his stuff on that Mondo Exotica line, but in the rock period, Les Baxter was a man who played adult exotic lounge music reminiscent of the South Seas, which World War II veterans admired, and it was definitely for the adults and not teens.

 

I may have to differ with you about Les Paul, as Clapton with his slow hand even, probably would have trouble imitating him, but I think Les could do Clapton up right, but I do get your drift. Nothing is worse that a pale imitation of the real thing, just like most the Philadelphia sound had just about wrecked the rock pantheon with stagnant young Frank Sinatra type imitators wailing in tailored silk suits, and acting like they were rock and rollers.

 

I think the film "The Trip" had a most hallucinogenic soundtrack that sounded like some Hollywood session men imitation of Pink Floyd, but it's been quite a while since I've seen it.

 

Interestingly...most of the Elvis movies, had scenes just like you describe, when Elvis is not singing and just in the action of a club or lounge.

 

Most movies made in the 1960's, which did not have a real rock band in a scene, were pretty lame and were usually about adult concerns, and would have a scene with the family's teenager attending a concert, and would be quite ludicrous and just would just portray rock as a caricature. Only ones like "Blow-Up" by Antonioni, which hired the Yardbirds to sing an old American rhythm and blues song, originally done by Johnny Burnette, were really believable.

 

Please add to your topic, the worst dancing on tv or film, by a teenager, and I will add Ronnie Howard as Opie on "The Andy Griffith Show". He was the world's best kid actor as Opie, but when that boy would dance on the show, and try to do the Hully Gully or the Jerk, well...it was just excruciating to watch.

 

Great topic!

[moviejoe79]

I tend to think that perhaps the movie makers WANTED to use crapola music, in order to keep focus on what was going on in the STORY, and not have the music overshadow it.

 

I doubt that this is true 100% of the time, but it is another reason why the music would be so bad.

[sandykaypax]

Fuster, I just had to chime in at the mention of Les Baxter. It's taken me about 8 years, but I finally only have 1 cd left to get in Capitol's superior Ultralounge series, volumes 1-18. I had never even heard of Les Baxter before I got into the whole lounge music thing, but now I am smitten! Unfortunately, when the series was first released, there were a few extra cd's that were not part of the numbered series, one of which is The Exotic Sounds of Les Baxter and it is now out of print! I keep hoping to find it somewhere for less than 100 bucks...

 

I love it when I watch a movie from the 60's now and I can actually recognize the lounge music playing on the soundtrack.

 

Sandy K

[therealfuster]

to what you are saying.

 

I too have been buying up those Ultralounge cd's, and my favorites are Mondo Exotica, Ultra Lounge Sampler[with the leopard cover!] , Ultra Lounge:Vegas Baby [with the real roulette wheel on the cover] and my ultra favorite, the Ultra Lounge Tiki Sampler!

 

I also love the double cd set, "The Exotic Sounds of Martin Denny" which is unbelievable and my favorite on there is "Swamp Fire". I've decided to go all out and even decorate my home in a Tiki mood.

 

I just checked on Borders and I see what you mean about that Les Baxter cd. There were used copies selling for 140 bucks!

 

How cool that now you can identify lounge music on Swinging Sixties movies! One could have a talent much less enjoyable. I still want to get Space Capades, Bongo Land, Crime Scene, Organs in Orbit, Cha Cha D'Amour, and Rhapsodesia..so I envy you.

 

I recently ordered a Carmen Cavallaro greatest hits album from Borders, because it showcases his song, "Voodoo Moon" which he played in a film which was not so long ago aired on TCM, "Hollywood Canteen". I'd heard of him before of course and my family even had some of his 78's, but I had not had the good fortune to actually see film of him playing. The man is sensational, and it must be true that Liberace stole his act from Carmen.

 

Recently I've gotten into buying up some Yma Sumac cd's but that is another story altogether.

 

Good luck on finding the Les Baxter cd, and if you find two, give me a ring please.

 

 

[gypsybangles]

Hey Brakenhe,.

 

I think you hit on something when you mentioned 'The Graduate'. It seems to me this was a BIG breakthrough at the time...actually hiring a contemporary Top 40 group/artists to do the music for a mainstream movie, and long before MTV. I went to see the movie because of the music; after all I'd never heard of Dustin Hoffman, and the only thing I knew about Anne Bancroft (may she rest in peace) at that time was 'The Miracle Worker'. Of course the movie was great, and developed a buzz on it's own merits, but it was Simon and Garfunkel who got me to stand in the ticket line. It was a stroke of genius on the part of Mike Nichols, (who's always been a few furlongs ahead of the pack). One would think other film-makers of the time would have jumped all over the idea, but if memory holds they were still slow on the uptake even in the face of this movie's phenomenal success. Hence there were many more films with abysmal sound tracks before the idea really caught on.

 

Thanks for your input.

 

Gypsy

[gypsybangles]

Hey Fuster,

 

How did I know this was a topic you couldn't resist? I'm glad you liked my explanation, but felt I was grasping at straws somewhat, not knowing specific movies. You always amaze me with your (to me) esoteric film facts.

 

You mentioned Michaelangelo Antonioni, and it occurs to me he actually cut 'Pink Floyd's' track from 'Zabriskie Point'.

 

There are people who are scoring those old silent films, and it would be really interesting I think to re-score some of the films of which we're speaking with contemporary music of the time.

 

More currently, Clint Eastwood's use of Ahmed Jamal tracks from 'At the Pershing' (minus the live audience applause) in 'The Bridges of Madison County', warmed the cockles of my heart. I've been an Ahmed Jamal fan since I was still in single digits when this album came out in the '50's.

 

I've decided to make a list; when these movies with awful sound tracks show up I will add them to the list, and we'll be able to continue this discussion armed with specifics. Will you do the same?

 

Brakenhe made a very good point regarding 'The Graduate', so check this out as well.

 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

 

Gypsy

 

 

[therealfuster]

be writing down any and all awful soundtracks for the list from this time forward.

 

That was so interesting about Clint using the Jamal tracks in "TBOMC" which I've seen but did not realize or even note the song credits so thanks for sharing.

 

I do have a very bad habit of wanting to read all the credits of songs at the end of a film, if they use old rather obscure stuff, as in "Paper Moon" which had tracks by early bluegrass people like the Blue Sky Boys. The fun thing is then trying to find other cd's by people one has heard of only in a movie, which can prove exasperating. Imagine trying to order cd's by the Blue Sky Boys from the 1920's at Borders! Surprisingly one can often find some really odd stuff though still in print.

 

Clint, being a big jazz fan [which was apparent in how well he directed "Bird" that bio, of Charlie Parker] really seems to know his musical subject matter and take care with what he chooses for his soundtracks.

 

I agree that Brackenhe was dead on about the significance of choosing Simon and Garfunkel songs for the soundtrack of "The Graduate". Some of the scenes like with Ben looking through the fish tank accompanied with the S&G tracks are imbedded in the mind. And the film resonates with late 1960's issues, that were essential to the college age students of the day.

 

I just think that you hit on a marvelous issue in films with this idea, which is not discussed, and is quite fascinating...of the mode of the time on film in music, et cetera often being more artifice than reality.

 

You could apply your basic principle, concerning anything which is of a style or mode, expressed in film, of which the filmmaker seems to only have a smattering of knowledge and expand this into a thesis. This could go back as far as films like "Reefer Madness" with its simplistic views of some illegal substances, to films like, "The Fly" where the scientific talk about "cat atoms" seems not so well grounded. Or...one could get into issues about clothing, or decor, and investigate how if one only took their knowledge from movies, that they would think all young women in the 1920's were flappers wearing beaded cloche hats, all rich homes in the 1930's were decorated in all white Art Deco decor, and all young people in the late 1960's were hippies or flower children, since that is how the periods are often portrayed on film in retrospect.

 

Again...great topic choice, Gypsy!

[slappy3500]

Sorta like in "That Thing You Do" when the Wonders portray a band called Capt Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters. They just faked playing some lame "hip" music.

[katyscar11ett]

Isn't almost everything? I detest almost all 60's and 70's movies and everything about them. Yes, there ARE exceptions - actor Steve McQueen for instance. What a low ebb in film history. Sad! :-( I don't think TOO much of it when it's said that someone won an Academy Award in these decades because a lot of them had no competition. If they had - they wouldn't have won. Just my 2 cents. :-)

[johnnyweekes70]

I was thinking about this subject the other night as I was watching the John Wayne film, CHISUM. One of the most ridiculous examples of bad theme music has to be the theme, "Chisum! John Chisum..." Maybe it's just me, but I just had to skip over the credits coz that piece is really, really bad. In the middle of the film a truly annoying song about the woman, Sally, comes out of nowhere and shatters the entire mood. Whatever was McLaglen thinking? Paging Ennio Morricone.

[slappy3500]

I remember my Mom watching "All My Children" back in the early 70's. At that time there was an "evil hippy svengali" on the show. He looked just like Charles Manson. Anyway this "far out" dude was always listening to some wild, crazed, rock n roll (on a record player! no less). I noticed that this evil music was the Ventures " Hawaii Five O" Album. They never played the title track but as long as this guy hung around they played every other cut. The Ventures were a mild cover band who did instrumental versions of rock hits...like "The Letter" and " He Aint Heavy He's My Brother". But it WAS electric guitars and I guess that was AS MUCH rock as these middle-aged house wives could STAND! I always kidded my Mom, "Are they playing Hawaii Lame-O again?

[gypsybangles]

Hi Slappy,

 

That's a funny reminiscence, and funnier still that in the late '50's-early-60's we actually had some pre-Hawaii-50 'Ventures' albums at home ('Walk, Don't Run' was either an album title or a song I recall.) They weren't on the cutting edge of rock-n-roll certainly, but very tight as a group, and if it were their music playing in the films I'm referring to, I wouldn't have complained. They were way better than the junk to which I'm referring.

 

Thank you for sharing,

 

Gypsy

[slappy3500]

Hey Gyp, don't get me wrong I LIKE the Ventures. But not particularly when they do instrumentals to songs w/lyrics. But imagine the acid heads of the day listening to 'em on a record player FGS. Not even a stereo system. "Hails of derisive laughter"

[therealfuster]

Gypsy on this one, as I love the Ventures!

 

I think they were really a rather revolutionary band, what with all guitar instrumentation, and doing some really tasty instrumental hits. They did not do mild Carpenters' type cover versions of hit songs, but really rocked out.

 

I realize you said you liked them, so I'm not trying to berate you....but have you heard their version of the title song from Kubrick's film "Lolita" which is called "Lolita Ya-Ya"? I'm so sure you'd love it.

 

I have a wonderful Ventures Christmas album and also stuff like the Ventures in Outer Space with far out spacey stuff, and some stuff besides their giant hit, "Walk Don't Run".

 

Of course, who I'd really like to see from that time period, is Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn of the group, Booker T and the MG's as they were super and "Green Onions" was a delight to hear on the soundtrack from "American Graffiti".

 

You all might enjoy the book, "Very Strange Music" which has chapters on many of the sounds you are describing in this thread.

 

You'd love the Ventures' non-lyric version of a song with lyrics, if you heard Mae West sing the same song, like "Day Tripper" on her "Way Out West" album which I am embarrassed to admit that I own....

[gypsybangles]

Hey Fuster,

 

I just reread your reply to Slappy, and just started cracking up...in addition to your vast knowledge of movie esoterica, it occurs to me you must have absolute piles of discretionary income, or in the case of the May West album...indiscretionary income...is there nothing you won't buy? Just to satisfy my curiosity, where do you draw the line?

 

I am busting on you a little, but really do appreciate the "wealth" (excuse the pun) of information you provide.

 

Gypsy

 

 

[gwtwbooklover]

Guys I hate to post this but that song from High Noon Darling Please Don't Forsake Me I can not stand it. It grates on my nerves. I absolutely hate it. It is not a great song to me and it is warbly, whiny and just awful IMHO.

[gypsybangles]

Hey Booklover,

 

You're talking about Tex Ritter (father of John) for crying out loud. 'Do Not Forsake Me' not only resurrected Mr. Ritter's career, but received the Oscar for best song that year. As it, during the opening credits, gave in narrative form an overview of the movie to come, it was instrumental in influencing this use of theme songs in subsequent films of the 50's and 60's. Aside from that it was a huge radio hit for Frankie Laine as well.

 

You're certainly entitled to your humble opinion, but just wanted you to know you're stompin' on sacred ground.

 

Gypsy

[gwtwbooklover]

I still hate it. I'd like to hear Frankie Laine's version I could probably stand it then. I mean when I saw High Noon the first time I didn't see the opening credits so I didn't hear the song. Then this High Noon song pops up in lists for best movie songs and I saw the High Noon movie again and therefore heard the song. I thought what an awful song. I didn't mean to offend anyone but I don't care for it.

[kenwal34]

Gypsy,

Just read your post. I'm a big Tex Ritter fan. As a kid, I spent many a Saturday watching Tex ride the range and round up the bad guys. And his version of the song is my favorite.

[bansi4]

I recently watched an acclaimed film "Knife in the Water" (1962) directed by Roman Polanski and the jazz score by Chris Komeda didn't appear to fit the scenario of the movie, most of the time.

 

And Ken, I'm with you on the Tex Ritter song, since I felt it fit the scenario of "High Noon" perfectly and

setting us up for an outstanding western. Good stuff.

 

Mongo

[mcgeear]

Reading the title of this thread made me immediately think of one of my favorite lightweight movies, 'Cactus Flower' from 1969 or so. Don't know how many of you have seen this movie, but in it, there are a couple of scenes in a groovy 'club' called 'The Slipped Disc'. The music is very lame instrumental covers of Monkees songs. We are treated to very cheesy, wah-wah guitar and organ reditions of 'I'm a Believer' and 'She Hangs Out.' Groaningly lame, and very much in the 'generic rock music' tradition of movies and TV of that era.

Another example that comes to mind is a bad 60s movie called 'Psych-Out', with Jack Nicholson. In it, he is a member of a band called 'Mumblin' Jim', and their hit song is suspiciously like a bad parody of Hendrix's 'Purple Haze'. When I saw this movie at a revival movie house back in the 80s, the audience roared with laughter at 'Mumblin' Jim's music.

As for lounge music -- I have become quite a fan of lounge music, although it was considered unhip by my baby-boomer peers back in the 60s, I love it; I recently found a copy of Les Baxter's 'The Primitive and the Passionate' on vinyl at my local antique store -- for 25 cents! But it's great that the genre has experienced a revival.