less than zero Archives - Vinyl From The Vault https://vinylfromthevault.com/tag/less-than-zero/ Fri, 26 Nov 2021 13:02:53 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 198238920 The Bangles “Hazy Shade of Winter” https://vinylfromthevault.com/the-bangles-hazy-shade-of-winter-1987-def-jam/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-bangles-hazy-shade-of-winter-1987-def-jam Mon, 18 Dec 2017 19:25:03 +0000 http://box2101.temp.domains/~vinylfro/the-bangles-hazy-shade-of-winter-1987-def-jam/ The Bangles “Hazy Shade of Winter” 1987. Def Jam Recordings. This week 30 years ago, The Bangles’ cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s 1966 hit was climbing up the charts (eventually hitting #2); it was the second single to be released from the soundtrack of most depressing and nihilistic Christmas movie ever, Less Than Zero. (The book [...]

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]]> The Bangles “Hazy Shade of Winter” 1987. Def Jam Recordings. This week 30 years ago, The Bangles’ cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s 1966 hit was climbing up the charts (eventually hitting #2); it was the second single to be released from the soundtrack of most depressing and nihilistic Christmas movie ever, Less Than Zero. (The book is even less holiday-friendly: the screen adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ novel is loose at best; Ellis hated the sanitized story but a faithful rendition was deemed too edgy and studio execs nixed much of the bisexuality subplot, among other things.) The Bangles’ “Hazy Shade of Winter” is one of the best cover songs ever – they take reliably melancholy Simon and Garfunkel and add to them a desperate rock-n-roll beat, hook and feminine harmonies (and sleigh bells!), making a perfect late Reagan-Just-Say-No-era holiday anthem. The B-side on the 45 is Joan Jett & The Blackhearts’ “She Lost You,” which also appears on the Less Than Zero soundtrack.  “She Lost You” was first recorded in 1965 by The Zephyrs.

 

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]]> 11316 “Less Than Zero” Soundtrack https://vinylfromthevault.com/less-than-zero-soundtrack-1987-def-jam/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=less-than-zero-soundtrack-1987-def-jam Thu, 19 Feb 2015 20:36:31 +0000 http://box2101.temp.domains/~vinylfro/?p=4408 “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 [...]

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]]> “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.

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