Hey! Look! Another new recurring series that I’ll start and not keep up with. As always, I will try, though. And, really, creating these series gives me something to write about during the times when there is absolutely nothing going in my life to write about.
There are many, many times in television and movies where it seems the song playing is tailor made for the scene that is happening. Sometimes, this may be the case. But most often some person in charge of the movie/show’s soundtrack (how do I get that job???) sorts through tons of music to find the song that perfectly fits the moment.
That is what this post is about.
I’m a very big fan of My So Called Life. I own its one season on DVD. I’ve watched it repeatedly. The show is filled with really great music that captures the time so well. What I forget with My So Called Life is that it was filmed during the time period it takes place in: 1994. What’s great about this is that it’s not like a Freaks and Geeks or a That 70s Show where they are trying to recreate an era so they mention the big bands and the big songs from that time period for forced nostalgia (don’t get me wrong, I highly enjoy Freaks and Geeks), My So Called Life was just happening in 1994. The music they chose to showcase were not the big bands of the era…usually the focused on the more indie groups; the 120 Minutes set. I mean, this was 1994 and I’m fairly certain they never mentioned Nirvana or Pearl Jam. If this show was written today to take place in 1994, that would be the only music mentioned, everyone would have long stringy hair and holes in their jeans. Not that characters like that weren’t represented, but in high school in 1994 (I was 15 at the time so this show…I tell ya it made sense to me) not everyone was following the grunge movement.
The show just feels very authentic to me. Probably because I lived it. And, I guess maybe I assume that Freaks and Geeks is a little forced with its look and sound because I wasn’t there to say that’s not exactly how it was. But I know My So Called Life is authentic.
And the music is a big part of that.
I grew up in a small town and Buffalo Tom was barely on the radar. The only place I had heard of them was 120 Minutes, MTV’s late night alternative music video show. But they were definitely the big band on My So Called Life. They talked about them all the time. I wonder if Buffalo Tom’s management struck a deal with the producers or maybe the band was friends with someone on the show, who knows? But the gang on My So Called Life loved that band.
It’s hard to pick a favorite episode of this show, but there are a couple that pop into my head right away and this particular one is where this musical moment takes place. Buffalo Tom come to town to play at Pikestreet, a nightclub. (NOTE: I could tell you to beware of spoilers to follow, but this show is now 18 years old, so too bad.) Angela Chase, the show’s heroine and the aloof and distant Jordan Catalano, forever her love interest are making out in the boiler room of the high school. He has finally given her the time of day – and by time of day I mean he makes out with her for an hour every day in the boiler room – and she likes to believe that they now have a very deep connection. But Jordan doesn’t quite feel the same. She’s not the same kind of girl he usually dates and his friends think she’s weird, hence, the boiler room make out sessions – out of sight of everyone. But, at the same time, you kind of believe he does really like her, too, but that the social distinctions of high school keep him from being able to admit it.
She asks him, during one of these make-out sessions if he’s going to see Buffalo Tom at Pikestreet. He says he’s going and that’s where the conversation ends.
Later in the girl’s room, Angela finds herself defending her “relationship” with Jordan to her two friends, Rayanne and Sharon. She blurts out that he invited her to Pikestreet to see Buffalo Tom but that she can’t go because her parent’s probably won’t let her. Rayanne and Sharon say that she has to go and they all concoct a plan to make it so.
When they get to the club (with Buffalo Tom performing "Late at Night" in the background) they see Jordan playing pool with his friends. Rayanne and Sharon keep pointing him out but Angela keeps making excuses not to go over there. Finally she can’t think of an excuse any more and goes over to say hello. She tries to talk to him when he curtly tells her: “You’re kind of crowding me” as he tries to take his shot. And your heart plummets and your face flushes from total embarrassment for her. It’s awful. She of course runs away and Rayanne tells Jordan he’s a jerk.
But this is not the musical moment I’ve been rambling on so long for.
The next day he leaves a note in her locker to meet him in the boiler room. And she goes. And he tries to kiss her but she tells him off for treating her like a jerk in front of his friends.
Later, she’s hanging out by a locker with her friends and she looks across the hallway and sees Jordan by his locker with his friends and well…I’ll just let the scene speak for itself….
The song is perfect. The scene is perfect. And if you’re a fan of the show, watch Brian Krakow and his reaction to everything. The show played off this “love triangle” so well. Brian adores Angela who treats him like crap while she adores Jordan who treats her like crap. Everything Jordan does to her or all the ways he makes her feel is exactly what she does to Brian and she doesn’t realize it and it makes you think: does Jordan mean to be a jerk, or does he just not realize how much she cares?
It’s great television.
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