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These songs from stereotypical coming-of-age movies live inside your brain, bro.
Scoring aims to shine a light on TV & Movies that utilize music so well that the song and scene become intertwined in your psyche. Good, bad, and of course weird, these live rent free in your head…or, at least mine.
I was born in the late eighties and as such fell directly in line with a bevy of teen coming of age movies throughout my impressionable years. I took my cues from them for an extended period of time, which, now that I reflect on it, explains my terrible track record with the opposite sex until post college (you trapped yourself wife!).
Many of those films stay with me to a small degree today for a simple reason. Their score, in this case specific songs throughout the films, is alive in my subconscious just waiting to be brought to the forefront of my giant head. If I hear a single bar of any of the songs to follow, I immediately think of the scene and context from which they were present.
Before I dive into the specifics just a note, I am intentionally omitting Dazed and Confused from this category of coming of age movies as that film is so well documented with it’s amazing soundtrack and I don’t want to beat a dead horse.
First up is the classic Can’t Hardly Wait about a guy who essentially stalks a girl throughout all of high school before shooting his shot with her in a stunningly believable way. You know, writing her a note about his love and catching her at the lowest point possible of her self esteem after being dumped before the big party by the legendary and faultless Mike.
The house party that most of the film takes place in is responsible for a few songs that I always tie to this movie whenever I hear them. Mostly because now as I sit in my mid thirties the 90’s, 2000’s, and Pop Rock Sirius XM channels are comfort food to me as I drive robotically to and from work.
First up is "Funky Cold Medina" by Tone-Loc. This is not a track that I have on any playlists, or an artist I really know anything about. Really I blame Jamie Pressly for this one being trapped in my head. We hear this song playing in the background as the aforementioned Mike attempts to get his buddies to make good on their pledge and dump their high school sweethearts before they all move on to college. He fails in his attempt.
Ok here is the clip itself that stays with me - I apologize in advance it’s grainy as shit, I am not an audio/video expert, I suck in fact, and this is all I could find (sorry this is a common thread here so you’ll have to bear with me).
I would have probably seen this movie back when I was 12 or so. So yea, probably not hard to see why this would have stuck with young, dumb(er) Kirk.
Next up is our good friend of the blog Seth Green’s classic bathroom blunder (please don’t reach out to him for confirmation, he is a shy person).
As the ultimate virgin chad he goes through the appropriate rituals of pre-mating in perfect sequence. Run DMC’s "It’s Tricky" plays the entirety of the scene. Rewatching this now I realize this scene kind of sucks, but back then, boy oh boy I’m sure I was laughing my little ass off. Regardless, it’s stuck up there too, Run DMC plays, and I think of Seth Green attempting to get laid.
Fun fact about this song, a rare instance of two conflicting scenes from films competing in my brain for center stage. The absolute garbage film, Road Trip, the poor man's Euro Trip, has a scene where the "wacky, shy" character breaks loose and has fun dancing to this.
Another fun fact, I really hate this song, especially after listening to it over 10 times writing this.
The most famous song in the film has got to be when the kid who Mike has picked on throughout school gets his moment to shine by singing "Paradise City" by Guns N’ Roses.
I do love eighties metal, glam rock, what have you, but GNR has never been a favorite of mine. And I think this scene, and this movie are to blame. It feels like a shoe horned selection to make the character (William Lichter) have a cathartic moment of being a badass for all the years of hell he’s been put through. Valid to do that I just really do not like GNR. A reminder here - just because these songs/movies are together in my messed up mind, that is not necessarily a good thing. We just happen to have two back to back I wish I could erase from my memory entirely but ya know, that’s life haus.
The next film of a teen coming-of-age story that has stuck with me is Cruel Intentions.
As shown in the pic above this was a super relatable high school experience. I mean, a lot less Halo and more sex and drugs, but ya know, yea pretty much high school.
The score that stands out to me here is when our protagonist (Ryan Phillippe), who was a giant piece of shit, is trying to no longer be a piece of shit and prove it to the girl of his dreams (Reese Witherspoon).
As Ryan races to cut off Reese from leaving him on terms that he can’t accept, we get in my mind what is a perfect score as "Color Blind" by Counting Crows plays. Mournful and beautiful, it helps encapsulate his journey in the film and what the right person can mean to you. And the fact that letting them slip through your fingers would be the absolute worst thing you can do.
I know my friend and coworker Matt loves this film and song choice as well. That’s mostly because I’ve seen him play the CC song "Mr. Jones" more times than I can count throughout the years at college get-togethers and I’m pretty sure he’s developed an unhealthy mental relationship with Adam Duritz. Not hard to see why.
Matt's Note: This all checks out. I will say that this song is actually so good that it borders on out-of-place in this glorified soft core porn of a film. And I mean that as a compliment to both the movie and the tune.
The last film on this ol’ coming of age train is American Pie 2.
Even though the movies in the series are quite dumb, I have a soft spot for them. I suppose it’s just the cliche "simpler times" and all that crap. Formula is pretty simple in all the films, one of the group, the "glue guy", Kevin Myers comes up with a some scheme that will bond the group, things get zany yet "real", the group has a falling out, then get back together and realize the real prize was friendship all along.
At the end of American Pie 2 as the group of friends have a successful end-of-the-summer party, the beautiful melodies of "In Too Deep" by the visionaries Sum 41 play our heroes out.
Here’s the full clip (also it’s in Spanish, again I suck at this and this is all I could find):
Now, nothing much to see there right? Typical coming of age outro song right? Why would this stick in my frontal cortex for years?
Here’s why - at the 1:00 minute mark in that video all 5 of the main friend group proceed to make awkward 1-on-1 eye contact with each other. They then raise their drinks and nod towards each other as if saying:
It goes on for 20 seconds straight, which may not seem long, but it is, oh it is. I have never been in a scenario with my buddies and had any version of this play out. If I saw a group of guys doing this at a party I would be pretty sure they either roofied the drinks or planned on an elaborate murder-suicide pact for all the party goers in the name of some obscure cult.
It’s this moment in the entire movie that sticks with me. So credit to Sum 41 for worming their way into my headspace as well as a result. I wish it was "My Own Worst Enemy" by Lit, but again, I don’t make the rules. All I know is this is my life since I could remember. Many people have their trials that weigh them down. I know this is my cross to bear. Maybe, if I'm really being honest with myself, I know I need help to take it up. Know anyone who can help me lift it?
