Music Chart RP style - w/c 25 May 2020

There is a theme this week, of sorts. It's cars.

I really like cars. It started with watching Top Gear with Dad when we were younger, mainly for watching Clarkson, May and Hammond acting like the prats they are, but I do genuinely love cars more and it only grew from there.

I also love driving. Ever since I was small, I wanted to learn to drive. When I was little, Dad let me change the gears in the car, and then when I was 17 I started learning as soon as possible, and I've now been driving for over 10 years (I know, I am old). I'm happy when I'm behind the wheel of the car... especially when the driving is accompanied by a great soundtrack.

I don't know about anyone else, but I can't drive without a playlist. Every time we went on a long drive up to see family, or even just a five minute trip round the corner to see friends, there was a soundtrack chosen. Seeing as the car Josie and I drive is only equipped with a CD drive, we now have a radio MP3 player, one that chooses an 'empty' frequency and allows you to play your songs through that channel. It's low tech, but if you've ever tried driving to Ilkley (a 4 hour drive) with nothing but The Greatest Showman on a loop or a homemade 'Josie Does Rock' CD, you'll understand our pain!

So this week's songs are from films about cars, or songs about cars... and the playlist is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5uvGPB5HsOhdICfOxGVqDZ?si=9kQP9VzQRqSLNAHozIGvlA

NUMBER 10.

California Crossing - Nathan Furst

The Ford Mustang is my ULTIMATE favourite car. And this one is BEAUTIFUL. I'm not a massive fan of what Ford have changed it to now, with narrower front headlights and a longer bonnet, but it's still the car of my dreams. One day I'll own this car. One day. This track is my favourite scene from the film too (unfortunately I couldn't find a good enough screen cap of it). They've just been chased onto a mountainside - basically cornered - and then they hook up to an Apache helicopter, which carries and drops them off at the Salt Flats near Death Valley. It's a driving montage, scenes of the car driving in different landscapes, and it really does show off the muscly bodywork handsomely.

NUMBER 9.

Magic - Pilot

In lieu of not being able to find the original soundtrack to this film on Spotify, I've chosen Magic by Pilot. It's used while Kevin and Maggie (Lindsay Lohan) are fixing Herbie up, and it's just a great tune. It's one I don't skip, even when I'm not driving. I've seen all the Love Bug movies, and I remember going to see this film with Dad in Brighton... Alright, it was crap, but hey it had a great soundtrack. Plus who doesn't love an old-fashioned VW Bug like Herbie? Am I right?

NUMBER 8.

McQueen and Sally - Randy Newman

Randy Newman isn't one of the composers I'd put up there with my favourites, but this song will probably always be somewhere near my top 10. I love how bouncy and bright it is, and you can hear the scene in the music. Here Sally is taking Lightning out for a drive, showing him just how beautiful it is to drive on actual roads, rather than just round and round a track, or just driving on by to save 10 minutes of driving. The animation in the film wows you as well. In this scene, Lightning and Sally are in canyons that are shaped like car fenders and wheel arches, whilst also showing the famous Route 66.

NUMBER 7.

Ride (feat. Gary Clark Jr) - ZZ Ward

Another Cars number. This time the ending song for Cars 3, where Lightning has a brand new look, sporting a new 'Doc Hudson' blue. Personally I prefer the red but I know what they're going for. The Cars franchise was okay... not my favourite set of Pixar films, but as well as a great score from Randy Newman, they are also full of old school classics as well as new numbers like this. It's upbeat, and it's accompanied by a montage of Lightning and Cruz at races. It's a fun song to sing along to.

NUMBER 6.

See You Again - Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth

I saw Fast 7 at the midnight showing, because I absolutely love the Fast and Furious franchise. I started watching it because of my love for this guy right here, and I was so upset when he died. Filming was delayed - for obvious reasons - but I really love that they made this film for him, and gave him such a beautiful send off. It's emotional, because you're not just saying goodbye to a character, you're saying goodbye to a person, and even now you can see how close the Fast Family was, even 7 years later. But this song is perfect. See You Again is packed full of emotion and I can tell you the guy next to me in the cinema asked if I had any tissues. Not a dry eye in the house.

NUMBER 5.

Mustang Nismo - Brian Tyler

This is the car build music. It's a Ford Mustang's journey from being barely built in a shed to the start line of a drift race. Whoever doesn't love the style of the old Ford Mustang... Man, to be able to drive one of those really would be a dream come true. Tokyo Drift is my second least favourite Fast and Furious movie (third least favourite if we're including Hobbs and Shaw) because it's just so detached and extremely different, but I do love the Evo he drives and then this. Phwoar.

NUMBER 4.

Formula 1 Theme - Brian Tyler - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52khlKOl1do

I had no idea Formula 1 had a theme until I searched 'cars' in Spotify, but I suppose it makes sense. And the titles are by Brian Tyler - the same composer who has done the Fast and Furious scores since the first film in 2001 - and they are actually really good. You can hear the 'zoom' of the cars whilst the music builds, no doubt including montages of past wins from Hamilton, Button, Vettel, etc... I should probably look it up on YouTube to take a look (I did and it's very good). I've never really been into Formula 1 though, despite this getting an entry. I'm not a fan of how the cars look to be honest... but that's just one woman's opinion. I do get the excitement behind Formula 1 and how you just do not know how the race is going to end because there are so many external factors. Anyway... GREAT theme from Brian Tyler, who excels at car movie soundtracks.

NUMBER 3.

Fast and Furious - Brian Tyler

Oh hey, it's Brian Tyler again. Being too young to see the first 2 in the cinema - I was 10 when The Fast and the Furious came out - Fast and Furious was probably the first Fast film I actually saw in the cinema, and although it's second best to Fast Five - THE best Fast and Furious ever made or ever to be made - the tunnel scene is second to none. BUT this film has my FAVOURITE Brian O'Connor car ever. The kitted out Subaru Impreza Dom steals for him. He gets it back in 7 - a blue one - but this black one is beautiful, and whenever I see one of the streets, I turn my head to watch it drive the other way. The running joke is that Brian goes for electronic, whereas Dom goes for muscle... The soundtracks to these films are more electronic than most, and they're obviously fast paced, but this particular song is the introduction song to Brian, back working for the FBI, chasing a suspect along a street. Time for a rewatch soon I think.

NUMBER 2.

Lost But Won - Hans Zimmer

Hearing this live at Hans Zimmer's World of Hans Zimmer was just incredible, and with the images of the massive race cars on the screens behind the orchestra, you can really can hear the sound of the engines and you can hear the pace of the cars in the tempo getting faster and faster. Man. Hans Zimmer really is a genius. I'm going to keep saying it.

NUMBER 1.

Danza Kaduro - Don Omar, Lucenzo

I can guarantee you, if you say Danza Kaduro, the person's answer will be the ending to Fast Five. It's iconic. This is the BEST Fast and Furious film of all time, and the whole scene with the Dodge Chargers hauling a massive safe through the streets Rio is second to none in my opinion. "We need two precision drivers," Dom says... to which Brian answers, "Well, you know we got that." Definitely time for a rewatch, and a very good song to end on.

So there we have it. A little bit of an insight into how much I love cars and how soundtracks affect the enjoyability of a drive from A to B. Music is always important, so it's always VERY important to have the right soundtrack to a long drive.

Remember you can find the playlist here, on my Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5uvGPB5HsOhdICfOxGVqDZ?si=9kQP9VzQRqSLNAHozIGvlA

Give it a follow, if you have Spotify, as the music changes every week! And if you want me to showcase your top 10s, drop me a message!