“Lady Marmalade,” a hit currently inescapable on pop radio, is only the first single off the “Moulin Rouge” soundtrack. It features Christina Aguilera, Missy Elliot, Pink, Lil’ Kim and Mya-some of the biggest names on today’s charts-and has already helped drive sales of the soundtrack to nearly the 1 million mark. At the same time, box office for the PG-13-rated movie hasn’t been nearly as sizzling; after five weeks in theaters, it’s only made $43 million. It’s a good bet that a large portion of “Moulin Rouge” soundtrack buyers haven’t even seen the film.
The popularity of movie music has peaked this year, with the sales and abundance of quality soundtracks at its strongest point ever. The “Moulin Rouge” CD is just the latest example of a movie-compilation album that eventually outsells more traditional pop records. Earlier this year, soundtracks for “Save the Last Dance” and the raunchy “Coyote Ugly” sold big. The soundtrack to “The Fast and the Furious” entered the charts at No. 13 a month ago and last week was Billboard’s greatest gainer. Even the CD for “O Brother, Where Art Thou” is still No. 18 on the Billboard 200. The George Clooney movie, which made only $44 million, was released six months ago.
Though these albums vary wildly in style-“Moulin Rouge” is a camp musical of sorts, “The Fast and the Furious” an aggressive, sneering collection of rap and rock by artists such as Ja Rule and Limp Bizkit, and “O Brother” filled with blues and rural field recordings-they represent the new generation of soundtrack.
Not that movie music hasn’t always sold well. People gobbled up Henry Mancini’s “Pink Panther” LPs in the ’60s. Albums for “Grease,” “Fame” and nearly every Barbra Streisand film over the last 20 years have enjoyed healthy sales. But a new sort of movie-inspired CD appeared in the 1990s. For the 1994 soundtrack to Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers,” Trent Reznor remixed tunes by Patti Smith and others into a score that was as creepy as the film. The eccentric “Pulp Fiction” album was everyone’s must-have in the mid-1990s. The “Dead Man Walking” soundtrack featured songs written especially for the film by Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Vedder.
Today, these sorts of soundtracks fill shelves at record stores. One obvious reason they’re popular: more bang for your buck. A CD can contain work from several pop artists. Even the kid-friendly “Dr. Dolittle 2” has an accompanying CD with tracks by Snoop Dogg, O-Town and Wyclef Jean. Often, pop acts will contribute new material or rework already-popular hits. For the “Moulin Rouge” CD, alternative artist Beck remade David Bowie’s classic “Diamond Dogs.” The soundtrack for a “A Knight’s Tale” reintroduced Thin Lizzy’s ’70s beer-brawling tune “The Boys Are back in Town” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You” to younger audiences.
There soundtracks are also a little edgier than the latest boy-band CD. The “Moulin Rouge” CD, which was produced by the film’s director, Baz Luhrmann, consists of old pop, rock and Broadway tunes mixed together in a musical-style medley. On it, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” melds with techno by Fatboy Slim. Cheesy AM radio hits like Elton John’s “Your Song” find new meaning when sung by Ewan McGregor.
In the future, you may see rock music producers writing entire scores for films. The most recent example: Paul Oakenfold, an electronic DJ and producer, created the entire topsy-turvy “Swordfish” soundtrack.
Of course, some rock critics complain that filling a CD with pop music is a cheap way to sell a movie-and a sure way to kill the art of the old-style, sweeping film score. But talk to “Moulin Rouge”’s Luhrmann. “It’s great to have an album out there,” he recently said. “[Fans] have a relationship with the music before they even go to the [movie].” Of course, that’s assuming they buy a ticket at all.
