Decibrity Playlist: Early Graves

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Two years after the tragic death of Makh Daniels, Early Graves triumphantly returned with a new record this week (Justin M. Norton put it much more eloquently in his review in our December issue). Instead of putting together a typical playlist to celebrate Red Horse, the quintet decided to go all multimedia with its theme: songs that define movie moments. As they described to us, “Each song is a part of a movie and is essential to the feeling that the part it was in gave to you.” Feel free to listen along here as you read about their picks, one per band member. We hope you have as much fun reading it as they seem to have had in putting it together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3JRw02TG30

Prince’s “Partyman” (from 1989’s Batman)
Much like Heath Ledger’s anarchistic Joker was an antithesis to Christian Bale’s brooding vigilante, Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy was a reaction to the previous hyper-surreal and often goofy Batman flicks. This scene set the stage for wacky creative liberties taken for years to come, including the casting of George Clooney to play the caped crusader. For real. The bottom line is, for anyone growing up in the late ’80s/early ’90s, this movie was everything you had been waiting for (this and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and more. I picked this song more for what it represents, than for how cool the song is, but we are talking Prince so of course the song is awesome. Jack Nicholson knocking his satanic-Cesar-Romero-on-cocaine out of the park is the highlight of this movie and still stands the test of time, yet as years go by this scene definitely time stamps it. This was the moment that it was decided it was okay to have a little fun in our Batman flicks, something that spiraled way out of control post-Burton and paved the way for the Dark Knight trilogy’s more earnest approach. The Dark Knight poses questions such as what happens when an “unstoppable force meets an immoveable object.” Still, every now and then the kid in you just wants to hear lines like “THIS TOWN NEEDS AN ENEMA!”—Dan Sneddon

The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” (from 1987’s Full Metal Jacket)
This song encapsulates the mood of the whole movie. Aside from being an amazing tune, it serves as the final bloody brush stroke in what I believe to be one of the best films of all time. Every time I hear that song it makes think of shooting snipers at point-blank range and fucking 10 dollar Vietnamese hookers. “Me love you long time.”—Matt O’Brien

Huey Lewis And The News’ “Hip To Be Square” (from 2000’s American Psycho)
Every time I hear this song it reminds me of the Paul Allen murder scene. It’s probably the only rock song I can hear and immediately think of an awesome movie scene.—Tyler Jensen

The Brothers Johnson’s “Strawberry Letter 23” (from 1997’s Jackie Brown)
The moment you hear this song, Samuel L. Jackson lights up a cigarette, puts on his leather gloves and drives his badass Cadillac to an empty lot. Where he shoots Chris Tucker in the head. This is when you learn how ruthless he is.—John Strachan

Guns N’ Roses’ “You Could Be Mine” (from 1991’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day)
“You Could Be Mine” is a defining song in the Terminator 2 movie. Why? For one, Edward Furlong so cleverly drops a classic line on his stepdad (“She’s not my Mother, Todd”) while listening to this song, but also the riff is fucking awesome. (PS: if your name is Todd, that really sucks. You probably got a lot of swirlies and noogies and got your pants pulled down in front of a large crowd.) Straight up a fantastic song full of attitude in a movie that was full of early ’90s attitude. Whenever anyone who is a music fan thinks of this movie, I know that this song comes to mind. Also there was the lame video where Arnold tries to kill Mr. Rose himself. I wish that Arnold was sent back in time to stop Axl from making Chinese Democracy. Waste of ammo. (PPS: I wrote this before I saw Andrew Bonazelli’s wonderful update of Axl Rose himself playing acoustically at the Bridge School Benefit looking like he ate Hulk Hogan, but I still stand by this song.)—Chris Brock

Honorable mentions:
AC/DC’s Who Made Who (from 1986’s Maximum Overdrive)
Ramones’ “Pet Cemetery” (from 1989’s Pet Semetary)
45 Grave’s “Partytime” (from 1985’s Return Of The Living Dead)
Stealers Wheel’s “Stuck In The Middle With You” (from 1992’s Reservoir Dogs)
Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love” (from 1990’s Goodfellas)
Urge Overkill’s “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” (from 1994’s Pulp Fiction)
Morbid Angel’s “Rapture” (from 1994’s Night Of The Demons 2)