“Hoppípolla” by Sigur Rós from “We Bought A Zoo”
Perhaps because it’s the first time that he was working from a script by someone else (“The Devil Wars Prada” writer Aline Brosh McKenna), and perhaps because of the bulk of tunes are provided by Sigur Ros frontman Jónsi, but music somehow plays less of a role in “We Bought A Zoo” than in most of Crowe’s works, despite a soundtrack including favorites like Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, and Eddie Vedder. We always applaud any use of Echo & The Bunnymen in a movie, but the most effective music moment actually comes from Jónsi’s band Sigur Rós, whose song “Hoppípola” accompanies the film’s emotional climax, as Matt Damon’s zoo opens to no guests, only to find a queue of customers stuck behind a fallen tree. It’s more effective than it sounds on paper, we promise: the track had been overplayed in commercials, but it’s truly stirring stuff in Crowe’s hands here.
Honorable Mentions: In terms of other potentials, we also considered most of the live performances in “Singles,” along with the Who-accompanied opening of “Jerry Maguire,” and the latter film’s use of Paul McCartney’s “Singalong Junk” and, more subtly, L.V’s “The Wrong Come Up” in the famous “Show Me The Money” scene.
“Almost Famous” also has some great live performances by the band-in-the-film, Stillwater, and the uses of Led Zeppelin’s “Misty Mountain Hop” and Rod Stewart’s “Every Picture Tells A Story” also stand out there, while “Vanilla Sky” makes effective use of The Monkees’ trippy “Porpoise Song,” Todd Rundgren’s “Can We Still Be Friends,” and Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill.”
Finally, in “Elizabethtown,” there’s the notable use of Elton John’s “My Father’s Gun,” The Concretes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love,” Ryan Adams’ “Come Pick Me Up,” The Hollies’ “Jesus Was A Cross Maker,” and Ulrich Schnauss’ “Passing By,” while “We Bought A Zoo” showcases Bon Iver’s “Holocene” (Crowe slightly ahead of the curve on the now-overused track), along with Neil Young’s “Cinnamon Girl.” Any others we missed? Let us know your favorites in the comments.
Enjoyable list. I\’m a huge fan of Crowe. Just to be the nit-picky person though, Diane and Lloyd are not driving back from the prom. It\’s just a post-graduation house party. And Crowe has done a total of 8 features (not counting the 2 docs), not 7 as stated above.
Great article! Definitely would have added "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" from Almost Famous… William running through New York looking for Penny while the camera pans upwards with the music slowly crescendoing; definitely one of my favourite parts!
Lovely article reminded me of why I love Crowe movies when he\’s on form and how enriching his use of music is. But erm who\’s Diane? Doesn\’t Jerry walk into the sunset with Dorothy Boyd?
Good stuff, but leaving Come Pick Me Up off any "top"-anything list for which it qualifies calls for some reflection. If Lloyd Dobbler, and not Orlando Bloom, had been on the other end of that phone call, that sequence would be every bit the equal of In Your Eyes. I\’ll confess I\’d never heard Tangerine or Jesus Was a Crossmaker before seeing the movies; now those moments are burned in my brain.
And if you wanna know Crowe\’s biggest waste of a song, I think it easily goes to Aimee Mann\’s Wise Up which as far as I know was written for the film since it wasn\’t in any of her albums. I\’ve seen the film at least 20 times and still can\’t tell you where the song is used but it\’s in the credits and even in the soundtrack which was years before PTA thankfully reused it to great effect in Magnolia.
Great list guys! You describe the same thoughts and emotions I had for almost every cue. I know you could use almost all his music scenes in the list, and you catch a few more in the honorable mentions, but if there is one oversight, I think it is Sigur Ros\’ The Nothing Song that plays at the end of Vanilla Sky when they are on the rooftop. The song had been played live by the band but wouldn\’t actually come out until their album () was released. But Crowe being Crowe just took one of the live cuts. He also used another song of theirs in the film which obviously foreshadowed his relationship with Jonsi.