Thank you, Quentin. Thank you for everything. Thank you for “Jungle Boogie” on Pulp Fiction. Thank you for directing Uma and John Travolta dancing together. Thank you for the 5, 6, 7, 8’s in Kill Bill Vol. 1, and for reminding us of Nancy Sinatra’s tale of childhood love and its ominous signifiers in Vol. 2. And, now, with the Death Proof soundtrack, it’s time to thank you again.
Yes, the tone of grindhouse double features is captured perfectly through the song selection. Everything from T. Rex’s glam to the soul of Joe Tex provides enough sticky grit to match the action and irreverence of Death Proof.
“Chick Habit” by April March, one of the few contemporary songs on the soundtrack, is a Dick Dale-esque surf rock song whose lyrics are a playful twist on girl-fronted bands of the ’50s—imagine giving “Leader of the Pack” a devilish wink and an “I told you so” from start to finish. “Hold Tight” and “Baby, It’s You” are jukebox lust at its finest, swaying their figurative hips in saturated Crayola colors with whiskey spilling onto their hands from a glass. And, apparently, T. Rex wrote something other than “Bang A Gong.”
Equal to the sexy violence that’s seamlessly woven into Tarantino’s film, the soundtrack delivers the same punch. More than unearthing hidden gems from the past, Tarantino has created the perfect mix tape, the one we all wish we could put together to show off our wit, obscured passion, and dangerous streak to the object of our desire.
