The power ofa film’s music score can have a strong influenceon its audience by setting the tone of the story. From the choice of genres to a variety of musical artists,a movie’s soundtrack can have a hold on viewers hours after the film is finished.Folks will soon find themselves humming along to that love song from that pivotal heartbreak scene and add it to their playlist on their phone.A film’s soundtrack isa fundamental part of its creationand, at times, its characters andScott Pilgrimis no different. The franchise creator,Bryan Lee O’Malley,was even inspired by a song to create the graphic novels that gained him fame. He even went so far as to curate a playlist for each volume of the comic. Many of the artists featured in O’Malley’s playlist are included in the 2010 film adaptation,Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
But like the music inScott Pilgrim vs. the World, the Netflix anime series,Scott Pilgrim Takes Offhasbecome a hit with fans even as its story has diverted from the live-action film.Takes Offis full of hits that complement the show’s style very well. The show’s creators rewarded fans by creating an original score along with a few original songs from the in-universe bands like Sex Bob-omb. Many of the artists included in O’Malley’s original playlist are featured in the series, as well as Metric’s popular hit in the film, “Black Sheep”. The show alsoshows its anime influenceby including some popular Japanese rock bands like Necry Talkie, who sing the Netflix show’s opening title song, “Bloom”.
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
After meeting the woman of his dreams, a charming musician finds himself contending with an army of her ex-boyfriends.
How Did Music Help Bryan Lee O’Malley Create ‘Scott Pilgrim’?
Bryan Lee O’Malley initially became inspired to create the character of Scott Pilgrimafter listening to Canadian indie rock band, Plumtree’s “Scott Pilgrim”.The particular lyric, “I’ve liked you for a thousand years” led him to create the concept of Scott Pilgrim’s dream girl, Ramona Flowers, as this mystical girl that travels via Subspace, a spacetime portal that helps her travel to different spacetime portals. As O’Malley was writing and illustrating the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, he accompanied each volume with a playlist of songs he’d listen to during his process. Bands like Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, and The Replacements were featured to help envelope readers into Scott’s world,much like what happens in movies.
Similarly, other artists featured on theScott Pilgrim vs the Worldsoundtrack, such as Metric and Beck, lent their talents to help create the film’s world.According to O’Malley, Beck co-wrote about 21 songs with Nigel Godrich for Sex Bob-omb, and about four were picked by Edgar Wright and O’Malley: “Garbage Truck,” “Threshold,” “Summertime,” and “We Are Sex Bob-Omb.” “Ramona” also technically counts as that was written and performed by Beck, though it’s notactuallya full song.
How Important is Music to ‘Scott Pilgrim’?
Giventhe cult status ofScott Pilgrim vs the World,many fans have been referring to it as a 2010 indie rock time capsule. Many of the original songs by Sex Bob-Omb were written by Beck and helped to curate that authentic Toronto lifestyle. This is part of the reason why the filmremains a classic over a decade later. Edgar Wright wanted to include many of the artists featured in O’Malley’s playlist in the film as he was just as passionate about music. Wright and O’Malley would mail each other mixtapes, imagining what kind of music each character would listen to. Both having similar tastes in music, the two naturally teamed up together and handpicked the film’s soundtrack. This led to other songs like “Teenage Dream” from T.Rex and Frank Black’s “I Heard Ramona Sing”.
Even thoughScott Pilgrim vs the Worldfeatures some pretty great popular artists, much of what makes music so crucial to this franchise is the in-universe bands. Sex Bob-omb, The Clash at Demonhead, and The Katayanagi Twins contribute to the long-standing love this franchise has for music. The cast ofScott Pilgrim vs the Worldwas even dedicated to putting in the work to authentically portray an up-and-coming indie rock band. Academy Award winner,Brie Larsonwho plays the lead singer of The Clash at Demonhead, Envy Adams, provides her voice for the singingfor “Black Sheep”. The ActorsAlison Pill(Kim Pine),Johnny Simmons(Young Neil), andMark Weber(Stephen Stills) learned their instruments from scratch and spent several weeks practicing together as a band. Pill, who plays drummer Kim Pine, toldMTV Newshow meeting with Beck’s drummer taught her, “drumming beyond the stuff that was in the songs.” It not only helped shape her character but also helped her master the drums in a couple of weeks.Michael Cera, on the other hand, already knew how to play bass and had to “dumb it down” to not outshine any of his bandmates and to stay in that same garage band style.
Does the Music in ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ Differ From the Live-Action Film?
Scott Pilgrim Takes Offlives up to the same tone of the seriesby utilizing some of the same artists from O’Malley’s playlist. The show, however, does include a few popular Japanese rock bands to live up to the hyper-stylized mood. Japanese rock music invokes the same spirit in the film as the 2000’s indie rock music does for the film adaptation. To further that, it also brings this anime to life by enlistingJoseph Trapanese(The Witcher) and the chiptune pop bandAnamanaguchi, (who worked on the soundtrack fortheScott Pilgrimvideo game), to team up together to produce much of the show’s original music and score.
Music inScott Pilgrimhas always been an integral part of the story. From the graphic novels, film adaptation, video games, and now anime, this franchise has brilliantly told this story through music. Most recently, the show’s soundtrack beautifully matches the atmosphere from the comics while also capturing Science Saru’s animation. Its success can also be seen with how consistent the music has remained throughout the years in its delivery in the movie.
