Remember when we used to drive around Liberty City listening to this song?
Even though Rush Rush may be best known to some for its use in Grand Theft Auto III, it was actually first recorded for the soundtrack of Scarface. This was Debbie Harry’s second collaboration with producer Giorgio Moroder. Their first collaboration was Call Me, which shot to number one on the charts. Rush Rush was slightly less popular, peaking at #105 in the U.S.
The video features people watching and reacting to footage of Debbie Harry. Interestingly enough, this video came out around the same time as David Cronenberg’s Videodrome, which featured James Woods doing the same thing.
The 1975 film Autopsy is a great giallo, one that definitely deserves to be better known than it is. Another thing that deserves to be better known is Ennio Morricone’s wonderful score for this film. Hence, today’s song of the day: Ennio Morricone’s Main Theme From Autopsy!
There are so many stories about the careers of British musicians Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty that it would probably take several posts to tell them all.
Drummond’s musical career began in 1977 when he formed a punk band called Big in Japan. After Big In Japan broke up, Drummond was one of the co-founders of Zoo Records and he worked as a manger and producer for several post-punk bands, including Echo and the Bunnymen. He also worked with a band called Brilliant, which had been formed by former Killing Joke bassist, Jimmy Cauty.
Drummond and Cauty must have hit it off because they went on to start their own musical project. Originally known as the The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), the project also recorded under the name The Time Lords and, eventually, the KLF. Among their first hits (as The Time Lords) was Doctorin’ The Tardis. After Doctorin’ The Tardis hit number one despite being intentionally designed to have no musical value whatsoever, Drummond published a book called The Manual (How To Have A Number One The Easy Way), a semi-satirical how-to book about how to write a song vapid enough to become a hit. Drummond promised that anyone who read the book would have a hit song or they would get their money book. Drummond later admitted that some readers did subsequently contact him, asking for a refund.
As the KLF, their biggest hit was 3 A.M. Eternal. 3 A.M. Eternal was originally recorded in 1988 and was subsequently re-recorded in 1991, this time with the addition of rapper Ricardo Da Force and vocalist Maxine Harvey. This video feature Da Force rapping while playing with a very big phone while Maxine Harvey sings in what appears to be a pyramid. Meanwhile, the members of the KLF drive around at three in the morning. The car from the driving scenes also appeared in the video for Doctorin’ The Tardis.
When the KLF performed this song at the 1992 Brit Awards, they fired machine guns at the audience. Though the machine guns were full of blanks, no one had informed the audience of that fact and there was quite a panic as a result. After the show, the KLF announced that they were retiring from the music business and then deleted their back catalog. They also had a dead sheep sent to the after party.
Today’s song of the day the main theme from Dario Argento’s The Cat O’Nine Tails. Ennio Morricone’s score brought a lot of atmosphere to Argento’s classic giallo.
Today’s song of the day comes from a film that may not be good but which is kind of fun, 1985’s Red Sonja. Ennio Morricone’s score for this film was enjoyably silly, much like the film itself. The main theme finds Morricone in a playful mood so listen and enjoy!
Today’s selection in our on-going tribute to the memory of Ennio Morricone comes to us from the score for Sergio Sollima’s 1966 film, The Big Gundown.
Even though Morricone may be best known for his work with Sergo Leone, he provided scores for several different Spaghetti western directors. The epic grandeur of the Italian westerns has as much to do with Morricone’s music as it does with any individual director or even any individual star. For many, Morricone was the composer of the mythological old west.
Through the Shattered Lens 