Were you one of the folks who boogied in your seat while the pop classic blared in the first GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY? Are you eagerly awaiting the release of Awesome Mix Vol. 2? Then today is your lucky day, because although you’ll have to wait until the movie to see how the music meshes with everything, the set list itself has just been released. Let the Spotifying begin!
Thank you, Baby Groot.
While talking with Rolling Stone, James Gunn spoke about the meaning of the songs in the context of the film. Here are his words on a few of the tracks:
"Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO
I've always said that if the Guardians had a house band, it would be ELO, and"'Mr. Blue Sky" is one of my favorite songs by them. We had a hard time getting the rights. We had to really fight to get the song, and I personally appealed to Jeff Lynne. I think we made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
"The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac
There are two songs that are the most deeply embedded into the fibers of the film. "The Chain" is one because it is about the Guardians, at least in the way we use it, and we use it a couple of times in the movie. And the other one is 'Brandy,' which is an incredibly important song in the movie. Both happen to be two of my favorite songs from the Seventies.
"Bring it on Home to Me" by Sam Cooke
It's just a really beautiful song. In Quill's mind, it's about Quill and Gamora.
"My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison
It was one of the first songs that I picked out to try to use in the movie and it has to do a little bit with the origin of Ego [Kurt Russell]. And there's this big creation myth about how he came about and it was kind of lined up with that. I've always been into Hindu creation myths and there's some similarities there.
The soundtrack for GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY featured songs like “Hooked on a Feeling” and “Spirit in the Sky”, and taking that into consideration you wouldn’t think the music would really sell in the era of Justin Bieber and Maroon 5. But sell it did, in both the movie and in real life, as the soundtrack went to the top of the charts, eventually going platinum.
Though I could look up the songs online now, I think I’ll wait to hear them in the movie. I feel like I should hear the ones I haven’t heard before in a fresh context, while some I’ve heard before could use a bit of revitalization in my mind. All in all I have faith in James Gunn, and he did us right before, and he shall again.
Buy the album this Friday before the movie arrives May 5.