Westworld returns to HBO this Sunday, so Chris is taking on season one's hidden songs...
Remember back in 2016 when Westworld debuted and select corners of the internet went gaga over the songs that underscored its Thandie Newton-forefronted saloon. This would-be jukebox of pianistic gloom christened its maidens and gunslingers in the likes of Soundgarden and Radiohead, an easter egg in plain sight meant to draw oohs and ahs of macho irony.
Instead of stereotypical ragtime revelry, this wild west fantasy sounds like a wind-up music box sold at a Hot Topic...
Naturally, this not-exactly-an-anachronism stirs up a whole slew of questions. Has Westworld corporate paid all these licensing fees? Do the hosts (that means “robots” if you’re unfamiliar) know the lyrics or do they get super confused when the guests break out in drunken sing-a-longs? What happens when you scream “Play ‘Free Bird’!”? Does this DJ take saloony requests?
Most importantly: who the hell is programming this jukebox? Westworld is filled with endless doublecrosses and nefarious planning from the scientists at the helm, but it’s a stretch to imagine head honcho Anthony Hopkins’ Robert Ford getting lit on Chris Cornell. It sure as heck ain’t Maive, Newton’s cunningly and capable matron, because she’d clearly have the sense to instill more appropriate mood music or at least have some fun. Whose idea it was to musically instigate guests’ lust with “House of the Rising Sun” remains a mystery...
Now, sure: these song choices are an inventive bit of reimagining. They are somewhat in sync with the host’s experience of their lingering, buried memories - we lean forward, willing our ears to catch the at once familiar and untraceable tune, catching our breath once we get our hands on the title. But they also are representative of Westworld’s worst impulses: a crutch for shock factor for its own sake, an overpowering favor for gloom and doom, and a limited and easily dismissed perspective of male fatalism. As with the rest of the park, any element of fun is squashed by the dark side.
Though maybe there is more to hope for in the coming season (Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box” having already been teased) as the musical device did find some footing later on in the season. Paired with Maive’s escalating escape plot, the autopiano got onto her wavelength for Amy Winehouse’s propulsively angry “Back to Black”. At once, the song choice informs character and flows with the stylistic reimagining without drawing too much attention to itself. And the wink of irony actually lands here: the lyrics are literally “I died a hundred times.” Maybe part of Maive’s reclaimed power here also included hijacking the bar’s Spotify.
But not to be discounted is the symmetry these revamped and stripped tracks have with the show’s more haunting original theme by Ramin Djawadi (who also has duties over reorchestrating the famous tunes). Original scores may not be quite what Soundtracking is about, but here the intentional proximity of sound between existing music and new kind of underlines where the use of the existing pales in comparison. Djawadi gives us the enigma, the texture, the transfixing awe. Better hope Maive has the lockdown on Westworld’s Spotify password.
All Soundtracking installments can be found here!