Soundtrack: SGM (Single Grunge Male)

So I was visiting family in Canada when my cousin asked me if I wanted to go shopping with them.  They were heading to a local mall and wanted me to hang out with them.  The adults were boring at the time and my dad handed me a few bucks and told to buy something cool and have a great time.  It was not the first time all us cousins hung out together, but it was the first time we went to the mall.  We usually went over their friends house to shoot pool or go to the local hang outs.  When I looked at what my dad gave me for money I thought he was crazy.  He handed me like $50 in Canadian dollars.

I was not sure if I should buy something for myself or for my parents.  I had a enough money to do both.  I figure I try to please both of them with pleasing myself.  We went all around the mall that day and I stopped at many places.  I even went into a sports shop and picked up a CFL (Canadian Football) shirt.  That did not cost much, so I still had extra amount of money to spend.  My cousin knew I liked music a lot.  He took me to this record store on the way back.  It was quite big.  My eyes widened when I saw the selection of music they had.  Around this time in the states a movie was about to come out staring Matt Dillon and my celebrity crush (at the time) Bridget Fonda.  The movie was called Singles.  It looked pretty cool and I liked the directors first film Say Anything.  It took place in Seattle and had really cool music used in the film.  I saw the trailer when I went to see another film.

I went into the record store and their it was right in front of me.  The movie was no scheduled to be out for a few more weeks, but there was a funny display in the store.  It was made by someone at the record store and had the title GRUNGE on it.  In this display had Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, Screaming Trees, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, and Afghan Wigs.  The display had these Teen Beat type photos of all the bands with all the formats you could by from them.  It was kinda corny looking but I think it was more for attention then looks.  In the middle of this display was the cassette and CD copies of Singles: The Motion Picture Soundtrack. Now I needed to get this.  This was one of those kill two birds with one stone moment.  I could buy it and listen to it, and I could buy and my dad would like it.  He loved Pearl Jam.  When I played Ten for him he told me how much he loved Eddie Vedder's voice.  On this soundtrack he would love another voice.  The voice of Chris Cornell.  He would really dig this.

When I got the soundtrack I was really amazed of all the music that was represented by Seattle.  Also on this soundtrack was Jimi Hendrix, and Ann and Nancy Wilson from Heart.  They called themselves The Lovemongers and covered the Led Zeppelin song "Battle Of Evermore." To me it was a win win buy.  When I brought it back to the my cousins house I was met with defeat.  My dad reminded me that the cassette player in moms car eats cassettes so don't play it on the way home.  I had to wait until we got home.  It was a four and half hour drive and had no way of letting my dad hear the cool music I got.  It had to wait.

When I got home my friend called me up to go see a movie with him.  He was so excited to check out this movie called Singles.  He was telling me that the members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam were in the film too.  I knew I wanted to go and I got to go.  I also told my friend that I picked up the soundtrack to film and had all those cool people on it.  After the movie was over I wanted to see it again. It was very good and funny when those Seattle musicians tried to act.  Don't quit your day job Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder and you too Jeff Ament.  In all seriousness the film was better then most and better then I have seen at that time.

All in all I think this soundtrack is another one of those classics.  It is up there with Until The End Of The World that I wrote about.  There are many soundtracks that really make an impression on me and Singles is one of them.  Not only for the film and the music, for my dad. He was a fan of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.  After hearing my cassette copies of Badmotorfinger and Ten he likes music that when a singer sings, he could be understood.  He could the hear the words of the lyrics without shaking his head trying to understand them.  He overall loved the cool music played on the whole soundtrack.  When I finally got a copy of the movie to watch, he even liked the film. So for a great soundtrack and a great film check out Singles.  If there is an early compilation about what the Grunge/Seattle scene was all about then this is the one.  What's great is a handful of these songs were not released at the time so there is a bonus.  Enjoy!!