This month, the Mental Jukebox revisits the movie soundtracks of the nineties. The music I’m highlighting are some of my personal favorites. In many cases, the movies themselves were huge for me as well. But the focus will still be on the music – as always. Let’s bring on the throwback classics, the grunge, the gangsta rap, and the indie gems. #31DaysOf90sMovieSongs
Movie: Dazed and Confused
Ever notice how some songs’ riffs instantly make people break out into whistling and humming? There’s magic in their notes and the way those notes are strung together that bring out the endorphins. They’re also instantly recognizable by everyone else around you – for better or for worse. Clapton’s guitar riff on Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love”. The bass line in Queen’s “We Will Rock You”. And then, of course, there’s the alto sax hook in War’s “Low Rider”. But, look. There’s so much more to the song than just that one riff that we all hum along to.
Charles Miller’s alto sax riff is the defining element of the song. The element that probably contributes the most to the catchiness. But to ignore everything else would be like only talking about Michael Jordan – and discarding the rest of his team. The Scottie Pippen of the song is the impossibly low bass vocals – also handled by Charles Miller. They’re all-star vocals. The Rodman factor is handled by B.B. Dickerson’s stalwart bass line. Steady and strong. The Steve Kerr role is played by the percussion, featuring cow bells, congas and timbales. Each percussion element is like that occasional three-pointer, assist or hustle play that keeps the team in the game. A team is rarely successful because of a single player. Same goes for the hero element of a song. People might think of Charles Miller’s alto sax first, but they would be remiss to ignore the other parts of this song.
“Take a little trip with me.”