better soundtracks - empire records edition - volume 1

In 1995, a wonderfully crappy movie filled with some of the worst performances of its various cast-members' careers emerged as a representation of a generation. Empire Records cannot in any way be considered a "good" movie. But ask the MTV/boomerang/generation-Y crowd and they'll tell you that this cult classic was a big part of the 90s.

The movie was ridiculous but the soundtrack was stellar. Except when drones of teenage girls ran to the stores to score the album, they discovered, as with many other movies, that many of the best songs from the movie were not actually on the official soundtrack.

And with that, I bring you the first installment of my new blog project. I'll be looking up songs from movies that sadly did not make the soundtrack and post what videos are available on YouTube. Finding the songs isn't particularly difficult but the objective is to get them all in one spot and with a description of the scene in which the relevant song played. In an effort to keep each entry short, each movie will likely take up several posts spanning several days.

Some songs you might recognize from Empire Records, in no particular order:

1. Seems by Queen Sarah Saturday

(Where Corey, A.J. and Mark play the M&M game led by Gina to determine who gets to pick the first song to play while they open)



2. Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix

(When Joe first arrives at the store right before he finds out that the previous night's deposits never made it to the bank)



3. Saddam A Go-Go by Gwar

(The video Mark is watching while he eats the special brownies from Eddie)



4. Rock n Roll/Ega by Daniel Johnston

(Same scene as before, during the end of the Gwar video)



5. Plowed by Sponge

(When they are preparing for the Save the Empire party)