"Hell Naw, B*tch, You Got a D*ick in Your Mouth!"

That's really one of the cool aspects of music: an artist can incorporate samples taken from movies (and such) and either incorporate them as part of the song (like Nine Inch Nails does in "The Becoming") or use that sample an element or introduction to a song. Additionally, it's through these songs that I've found some equally interesting and/or boring films that I've seen. Finally, seeing what samples are used kind of give you some idea as to what an artist finds interesting. It's like getting to know them as a person, rather than as a musician.

Here are some songs and the samples used that I've found along the way:

Nine Inch Nails, "The Becoming" (the screaming heard throughout the song, on a loop)
The looped scream comes from a scene in Robot Jox 

(The sampled screams come in at about 20 sec. into the clip)

Rob Zombie, "Hands of Death(Burn Baby Burn)
The shouts of "Hail Satan!" and "God is Dead!" come from the final scenes of Rosemary's Baby

(Crappy Lyrics Video, but listen for the clip from 2:40-2:50)

(Listen to the first few seconds of this clip and from 0:55-0:59 for "God is Dead!")

Rise Against, "Survivor Guilt"

The discussion of America's future come from Catch-22 (as hi-lighted in the lyrics video)

(The first clip is from 1:07-1:25; the second, about 3:20-3:25)

Dr. Dre, "Deez Nuts"

The second intro (after the phone call, starting at :35 seconds) comes from a bit called "Chestnuts" from Rudy Ray Moore.

(The original bit begins at 1:45)

Well, that's all I've got for now. I've know of some others, but if I included them all, it'd be an incredible long and tedious post. All in all, it's really interesting to see how artists really incorporate existing material (whether it's from a film, television, or even a stand up comedy bit) into their music and make something that can be either frightening or humorous. Until the next post, my fellow readers!

"Nothing Can Stop Me Now..."

Recently, I have become a supporter for a Kickstarter project aptly titled "Nothing Can Stop Me Now", which is a cryptic motif in the music of Nine Inch Nails over the years (clicking the link will take you to the Kickstarter page). I'm proud (and excited) to say that I'm one of the backers of the project, excited to see the results of the project.

Personally, I am a big fan of the music of Nine Inch Nails and take pleasure in not only exploring the architecture of Reznor's music, but also discovering the motifs and themes that are conjured  up in the music, also. Thus, I'm excited to see people's interpretations in a graphic novel format of both classic and modern songs that are taken from the discography of NIN. 

The photo seen here is of The Fragile, the last album that I have bought that completes my NIN collation, excluding EP's, remixes, and other outstanding works, of course. This album was, initially, a difficult album to listen to, considering the fact that I had jumped around from LP to LP inconsistently. In time, I have learned to appreciate that level of detail and production value that went into creating this album, as well as the songs being more easily recognizable than ever before. I can't wait to see the direction that NIN takes in the near future.

Video Game Theme Music

Recently, I've been somewhat obsessed with listening to theme songs from various video games I have played over the years. They've been providing me with a refreshing break from the music I've been listening lately, which is currently Avenged Sevenfold and Nine Inch Nails. I amazed at how creative some of the music has been, and I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I didn't appreciate the music initially (or rather, took me so long to REALLY hear the music). So instead of me ranting, or telling a life story of mine, I thought I'd do something different and share with you 10 of the many theme songs (in no particular order) that I've been listening to lately. Enjoy!

1) Devils Never Cry by Testuya Shibata & Shootie HG: The harsh vocals & guitar, juxtaposed with the gothic/renaissance atmosphere of the music are something to behold here. 

2) Operation: Market Garden by Michael Giacchino: Anders' performance as the solo vocalist is just beautiful. The way he lends his voice to the music can allow us to shed solemn tears for our fallen heroes. 

3) Super Smash Bros. Melee Theme as performed by The New Japanese Philharmonic: Somehow, the epic theme got more epic-er.

4) God of War II Main Theme by Gerard K. Marino: Fun fact - the composer intentionally reduced the woodwind sections and doubled the brass sections to create the powerful, memorable sound GoW is known for. Also, everything is sung in Greek!

5) Throw It All Away (Shadow's Theme) featuring Everett Bradley: I thoroughly enjoy the industrial/hard rock feel of the music here (similar to Devils Never Cry). It'd be great to hear more of this type of sound in music more often. 

6) Fallout 3 Main Theme by Inon Zur: This orchestral piece can really captures the insecurity of living in a post-apocalyptic world. My only gripe here is that the piece is too short. 

7) Open Your Heart by Crush40: In a (successful) attempt to make Sonic Adventure more edgier and down-to-earth, prog-rock pieces like this theme song are found through the game.

8) Live & Learn by Crush40: The prog-rock attitude continues in this main theme song of Sonic Adventure 2. After this game, most theme songs of following Sonic games have been somewhat lacking, to say the least. 

9) Godot: The Fragrance of Coffee by Noriyuki Iwadare: There are no words to really describe this beautiful and jazzy orchestral interpretation. This is one of those pieces that should be played at a wedding somehow. 

10) Fly in the Freedom (Rouge's Theme) featuring Tabitha Fair: I hated this song as a kid, but as an adult, I really love this style of music (the problem is: I don't know what would this be considered! I'm thinking Jazz or Bossa Nova, but I could be wrong). Complex, elaborate, and sexy, Fair's vocals add to the music to create a song that's strangely memorable. 

The Fault In Our Stars & Hesitation Marks (100th Post!!!)

The Fault In Our Stars...just wow. I spent almost all of my free time reading all of it. While it sucks to admit that I didn't tear up (which I thought I would), the love, the loss, and the side effects of dying were truly, deeply felt. I really appreciated the wry humor that had emerged from tragic situation, revealing the very human side from a very inhuman disease. For some reason, Hazel seriously reminded me of Juno from...Juno. At some point, I put Ellen Page's face to Hazel, for that reason alone. Perhaps I'm thinking too much into it, but John Green did an amazing job revealing just how very differently people with diseases are treated differently. This was most obvious with girl's mother at the mall, as well as Hazel and Augustus acknowledging the myriad eyes watching them at the airport. Kaitlyn, Lidewij, and even that little girl at the mall were outstanding (as far as social norms go) by not treating Hazel with unnecessary sympathy and pity. All in all, The Fault In Our Stars was an amazing read. I'm quite happy with myself for buying the book.

In other news, I've got my hands (rather ears) on the new Nine Inch Nails' album, Hesitation Marks. My quick review is that the band is definitely heading in a new direction. However, I will say that my first impression of the album is fairly positive. Musically, it doesn't sound as post-industrial as his other band How to Destroy Angels, nor does this new material sound remotely similar to any of his previous work. Lyrically, still the same Reznor we've all always known. Hence, it's safe to say that album is a reflection of the band going in a new direction. 

Also, I realized that this is my 100th post!!! Wow, I didn't think I'd spend so much time here. For a while, I debated on terminating this account and beginning a Tumblr account, but out of laziness (I'm being honest here), I've decided to stick with this quaint Blogger account. Thank you for your love, support, and constant reading. Here's to another 100 posts. Cheers, mates!