If you’ve ever watched a Quentin Tarantino movie, and a lot of us can easily admit that we’ve watched most if not all of them by now, or at least a couple for those that don’t like ultra-violent movies, then you know that he favors music that doesn’t really conform to the current mainstream all that often. Instead he seems to enjoy songs that come from decades past and might not seem to fit the idea of what some people might think of when they tend to envision a fight scene or a particularly tense moment. Some might say that sounds like 70s style music, or that it simply seems odd since it goes so definitely old school. Well, that’s kind of the point. When it comes to his movies Tarantino is well-known for his taste in music, and that tends to lean towards songs that you don’t tend to hear all that often in today’s movies. But quite honestly that’s a big part of what makes his movies unique.
You can easily recognize every song if you’ve watched his movies and if you’ve watched them closely enough or have watched them enough times you might even be able to pinpoint the scene they come from. It’s usually pretty easy to find out just where to find all these songs since there are so many different sources to look at that will gladly point them out for you, but to have Tarantino do the legwork is great for a couple of reasons. One is that some of the songs on this list could be your favorite and it could mean that you think along the same lines as the celebrated director, and the second is that if you pay close attention you might get an insight to how his mind works, at least in a small way. But overall the fact that he’s giving people the songs he happens to care about the most is another way he seems to be opening up and showing people just what his motivation is when it comes to making his movies.
A lot of folks throughout the years have been the kind to wonder just how twisted Tarantino is when it comes to some of his content since truth be told it gets a little graphic and there are moments when the morbidity factor goes off the scale, or did at least considering the era in which a couple of his films were shown. But throughout his career he’s been changing up his style ever so slightly with each movie until finally he’s come to the point where he has everything down the way he wants and is able to convey his vision to the audience in a way that might not make complete sense but is still highly entertaining and features perfection on a few different levels in terms of what he gives to the viewing public. His movies are a bit disturbing in some scenes, kind of gritty and definitely violent and bloody in others, but somehow Tarantino still manages to get his point across and finds a way to make being offensive an art that people will want to watch no matter if it’s a bit graphic.
If this music was to be used in anything other than a Tarantino movie it might seem out of place, but when used for one of his film it seems as though it’s tailor-made, as though the movie and the song were made just for each other and couldn’t be separated without diminishing the movie in a big way. Say what you want about Tarantino, but he’s managed to become an expert in devising ways to blend music and visual art in the same way a seamstress manages to create a stunning and ultimately fashionable article of clothing. Some might think that it’s possible to simply toss a song and a movie together and make it work somehow, but the timing, the right fit, and various other factors have to be met as well in order to really make it blend together and become inseparable in a way that the audience will accept. You can still hear the discordance between the songs and the action at times, but only if you’re really listening for it and not simply allowing the harmony between the two to play out.
There are some that might scoff at that and claim that music and movies simply go together or they don’t, but those are typically those that don’t really walk into a movie expecting much more than two hours of entertainment and little else. Those that want an experience that they’ll remember fondly and with great pleasure will be the ones that are listening to the music while watching the movie, not picking between the two. Check out his list on Spotify, you might find yourself sitting in to listen for a while.
Follow Us
