Soundtracking: "Batman Forever"
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 at 12:30PM Chris ponders the cultural death of the soundtrack and Batman Forever...
While this series is mostly curious on how music is used in the movies, it’s interesting to also consider a film’s soundtrack outside of them as well. There were times when film soundtracks were provided some of the most popular and culturally recognized music, but those days are essentially over. Perhaps one of the first films to birth the “songs inspired by” soundtrack moniker was Batman Forever.
And much of its songs are simply filler, either referencing characters or existing as discarded b-sides (make that c-sides) from hip artists with some. It’s merely a package to be merchandised and sold next to action figures and tie-in product. It started a model to be repeated in blockbusters to come, from The Hunger Games to Twilight to Space Jam.
Perhaps this transition from essential companion to disposable collection of unrelated songs is partly to blame for the cultural death of the soundtrack. There have been Junos and Moulin Rouges that have felt significant, but in this way Batman Forever was the beginning of the end. Just look at how this year Ingrid Goes West used Forever’s soundtrack for jokes - a movie partly about consumable culture made reference to this very soundtrack as a rarefied consumable product.
You could argue that this was true for Tim Burton’s original Batman and its slew of silly Prince tracks, but even those songs spoke to a particular aspect of the Joker’s personality. As a soundtrack, Forever’s songs end up working backwards from the normal formula: instead of music that’s like a piece of the film to be carried with us, here it is a sideways entity that music evoke the experience. No wonder a hodgepodge of U2, PJ Harvey, and The Offspring pales in comparison.
The one example of musical importance that Forever does have is Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose”, and it’s tacked on as a credits track. Guys, this song still slays. No matter how you slice it, the song has essentially nothing to do with Batman, except maybe as reflective of sexual stirrings one might feel from a mysterious man with sculpted leather nipples. Doesn’t that romantic sweeping chorus just burst in like a sweeping cape-clad hero to save you? Yes, indeed it does. This song is sex. Contemporary franchises’ family-friendly vision has somewhat made us forget the subtle sexual undercurrent to superhero appeal, but including this song under the Forever banner feels like a wink to that - and at the time when that neutering was just beginning.
But the video does that “working backward” recall some of the film’s. Seal’s open chested, wind blown crooning on a rooftop next to the Batsignal itself stirs up the image of... Nicole Kidman. Her Dr. Chase Meridian attempts to seduce Batman by lighting the Batsignal and then opening her trench coat to him on arrival. Is Seal supposed to be summoning Batman for bootknocking, threatening public safety and tax-payer dollars inherent in the use of the Batsignal? No judgment, Seal, because we get it.
So even with a fabulous track, the “soundtrack as product” model divorces music and the movies in a way that shorts both of their potential combined impact. Imagine if “Kiss From A Rose” was used during the Batsuit closeup montages (Batnipple! Batwrist! Batbutt!) - now that’s a more fitting song use.
Previous Soundtracking Favorites:
Frances Ha
Meet Me In St. Louis
Mistress America
The Bodyguard
Young Adult
...all installments can be found here!
Reader Comments (11)
This is an odd entry. I do remember being really into that U2 song - the Achtung Baby/Zooropa period is my favorite U2.
The Tracy Thorn and Eddi Reader tracks are the standouts,sounding fresh today as in 95.
Kiss from a Rose really does hold up. That video makes me forget how terrible the film ended up being.
One note: I have a theory that every actress has one film she can look back on in her career and agree that she will never look better in her life. As terrible as Batman Forever is, Nicole Kidman looks stunning the entire time. This is the film I think of when I think of how gorgeous she is.
One of the things that kind of strikes me about the movie: Why isn't Nicole Kidman the villain? Keep the name, but make her a map based supervillain instead of a civilian girlfriend. Ditch Two-Face and Riddler (you're clearly barely interested in either of them) and focus on a villain that's entirely silly.
The U2 and Flamig Lips songs are great. No idea how Sunny Day Real Estate got on this, but good track too.
Volvagia - I remember from her mysterious character posters thinking as a kid that she was probably either a villain or the villain's girlfriend lol
Did anyone watch The People vs. OJ Simpson, set in 1995? Sarah Paulson's Marcia Clark gets a makeover set to Kiss from a Rose. It is EVERYTHING.
It won the Grammy for Song and Record of the Year but was ineligible for the Oscar because it was previously released on Seal's album. Also winning Grammys that year were Alanis Morrisette and "Jagged Little Pill", and TLC and "Crazysexycool". Nominated five times and famously shut out were Mariah Carey and "Daydream", and Joan Osborne wondering if God was one of us.
Sorry, I just really love 1995.
I always thought that the Kiss From A Rose video was completely better than the Bstman Forever movie.
The U2 song is great. I always love hearing it.
When I try to watch this film, all I see is recent Oscar winner TLJones getting so enraged that Jim Carrey is upstaging him in every scene. Carrey recently stated that it was true and that Jones despised him. (Could still tolerate this film over the George Clooney fiasco and Batman Begins.)
Not a fan of U2, but "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" is a dope song, one the their best and worthy of the Nolan trilogy soundtrack. The movie might be crap, but not the song (and the music video).
90's U2 is the best. Actung Baby and Zooropa are flat-out brilliant, and if you take a few weak tracks out, Pop is way stronger than it's given credit for ("Gone," anyone?). They retreated to a color-by-numbers formula after Pop, which is a shame--their 90's work was experimental and often gorgeous.
I remember buying the Seal album a full year before "Kiss from a Rose" was featured on the Batman soundtrack--it was very obviously a standout cut. It stands the test of time.
I don't think movie soundtracks are a thing of the past. I do think the random assembly of artists-of-the-moment approach is, for the most part, gone. People can cherry-pick tracks they like on iTunes, so a soundtrack can't just be a dumping ground for weaker tracks by hot artists. The Hunger Games, Great Gatsby, the 50 Shades films, and La La Land all had successful soundtracks, and those are all pretty recent.
@Ben
I so agree, the best Nicole has ever looked. Wish her character was more interesting. There was a great interview where she expressed her frustrations at wanting to delve deeper into the character and being told to just look hot basically. She wasn't having a bar.