“Less Than Zero” Soundtrack, 1987. Def Jam Recordings. Loved the movie, which I saw in at the Valley Fair Mall theatre in Appleton, WI when it came out, but was (and remain) ambivalent on the soundtrack. SO 1980’s: both movie and music. My favorite quote pretty much sums up the decade’s attitude: Clay, “Are you happy, Blair? You don’t look happy.” Blair, “But do I look good?” Gawd, even their names are the epitome of the 80’s.

The soundtrack mixes so many genres it almost gives the listener whiplash. We’ve got Aerosmith for classic rock (“Rocking Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu”), Poison for glam rock/faux metal (“Rock and Roll All Nite” – covering KISS), Slayer for heavy metal (“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida”), an Alyson Williams and Oran Juice Jones R&B duet (“How to Love Again”) and Glen Danzig with Roy Orbison representing one of the weirdest collaborations ever (“Life Fades Away”).

The best tracks were also the soundtrack’s most successful. LL Cool J’s “Going Back to Cali” is sooooo smooth, sparse and 80’s rap-tasctic. “Bring the Noise” by Public Enemy was probably my first exposure to political hiphop, though it would take a few more years for my full appreciation of their music. And then the Bangles’ cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Hazy Shade of Winter” – desperate, frantic, frenetic.