No major disrespect to comic book nerds out there, but Zack Snyder has shit for taste. You can tell he’s a dork, very probably a very nice guy, and yes, he’s super sewn-up with the admittedly impressive visuals, but nerds are generally lacking in the good-taste fromage dept. and it’s no different here (especially when it comes to music). How do we know this? Well for one, “The Watchmen” trailer had that terrible Smashing Pumpkins song that was cheese-or-rama (and he probably thought was rad, most fans didn’t even blink), but more significantly is this near laughable news: My Chemical Romance will cover Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row” (or “something like that” Synder says) in “Watchmen,” according to MTV’s Splashpage blog.
Did you hear that thud? Someone is going to think this is cool news, but they’re probably in San Diego right now, on a laptop and likely pushing 300lbs. Shudder. Holy snob much? Probably, but this sacrilegious. Someone hinted at this in our comments section yesterday when we blogged about the news that “Watchmen” would feature tunes by Jimi Hendrix, Dylan, Simon & Garfunkle and other ’60s counter-culture touchstones. We wondered allowed if they’d be able to license these songs and an anonymous person clearly in the know said, wait for it, clearances had been sought a year in advance. Our internecine conversations led us to ask, “cover versions?” And sure enough, we’ve got My Fucking Chemical Romance covering Dylan.
Does this mean Fall Out Boy covering Hendrix and Jonas Brothers tackling Simon & Garfunkle to be announced shortly? Thankfully, no [Sigh of relief, our weak constitution and sensitive fromage barometer couldn’t take it to hear so many classic songs desecrated].
Snyder assures SplashPage that only one post 1985 track will be in the film and it’s this aforementioned sacrilege that will close out the film (credit is due for not featuring modern bands doing iconic covers, that’s only one notch above rapp-rock ala “Judgement Night”). My Chem frontman Gerard Way apparently reached out and contacted Snyder himself.
“He’s a super-great guy, and an awesome musician, and so we’re trying to work with them right now to put together possibly a song for the end titles. [They’ll perform] like a cover of “Desolation Row,” or something like that.” Synder said. We’re sure he’s a nice guy, in fact, we know it, but excuse us while we go wipe the bad taste out of our mouths.
I’m not pushing 300 lbs and I’m in New York. This is cool news. I like The Smashing Pumpkin’s, Loved the watchmen trailer, loved the Alan Moore graphic novel and Like My chemical romance and Bob Dylan. This is really cool news. Thanks for the music in movies news though. This is a far more relevant post as far as I’m concerned than speculation about Anchorman 2. Eugh.
When I saw the Watchmen trailer, before seeing TDK, I couldn’t believe the choice of song. I liked Gish and Siamese Dream, and maybe the song 1979. But for Billy Corgan, the dropoff in quality music has been resounding. It’s all fourth generation Smashing Pumpkins rehash at this point. Plus the song didn’t fit for me with the trailer. Some people who were with me disagreed. I think they were more into the visuals than the music. One thing this film doesn’t need to be littered with is lousy covers from post grunge, emo bands.
I marvel at all the innocence I have lost between two mere posts at The Playlist. Just this morning, I expressed my incredulity that Snyder failed to include Throbbing Gristle would be all over his urban, proto-apocalyptic film set in a bleak, bizarro-world version of 80’s era Manhattan! While I would personally love to see Knot-tops getting thwacked-out to Genesis P. Orridge, he ain’t American, so I’ll hand Snyder a pass for our different takes on the sourcmaterial. But what about Glenn Branca? (An omission by the notoriously-overworked journo-guerillas at MTV, of course.) And Nomi? Argo Lindsay? (Ibid, assuredly.) And now we told that some faux-glam-tards are covering Dylan? Is this some wry commentary by Snyder, insinuating that, if we won the Vietnam War, then there would have been no lasting counter-cultural presence in America? Or is Snyder a fucking doofus who has had his aesthetic sensibilities warped from watching one-too-many snowboarding videos? Thanks for the persective, Playlist: verily, fanboys invariably have shit-rate taste in music.
I mean, isn’t it the trailer/marketing people who generally pick the songs that go in the ads?
Not to defend Zach “Subaru Commercial” Snyder, who, during a press conference for 300 once said, “What was really difficult in making this movie was trying to come up with the shots that fell in between Frank Miller’s panels from the book”… err.. yeah.
(he really is a nice guy though)
He *is* super nice. I kinda feel bad, but you know, you gotta say what you’re gonna say. It’s nothing personal obviously
AF’s comment sums up everything I don’t like about Snyder’s movies. He makes moviemaking a game of fill-in-the-blanks and photocopying source material. That hews so close to cheating, IMO. But, hey, this sophisticated story is being geared towards 12-year olds – what can ya do…
And adults of a certain breed and intellect. 😉
snap
This just kind of hurts me. In no way does the lead singer even sound, represent, or stand for anything Bob Dylan ever did. I will admit that I do like some My Chemical Romance songs, but somehow them doing a Dylan cover not only cheapens the quality of Dylan and makes me think that this is MCR’s way of trying to “legitimize ” themselves.
I do have to disagree, though. Although the Smashing pumpkins song was tarnished in the Batman and Robin trailer, I think it works great with the Watchmen trailer. It just gives this really haunting feel to it. I dig it.
Hey Kage, Bob Dylan ain’t no Neil Young or Ted Nugent. This is a guy who say’s he a song and dance man while he plays guitars and harmonicas. Remember, he does Victoria Secret commercials.
Someone needs to get Zach snyder a cooler older brother with great taste in music and can teach him about life outside the enraged parental advisory world that is Zach Snyders brain.
Maybe then we would have a slow-motion less watchmen trailer with music that was actually produced in the the 80s.
Like “Devo” or “Suicide”, or any other band not fronted by a giant, molested, bald, manbaby.
I’m 16, female, definately not pushing 300lbs and I’m a fan of MCR, I am well aware that there are a ton of people that are not fans of their music, you have no real reason to be so harsh.
i would never put my chemical romance in the same basket with fall out girls or jona sisters