Making the Mundane Epic
I agree with this completely. An exchange between Bill Simmons and a reader in Simmons' most recent "mailbag" column on ESPN:
Q: Do you realize that listening to Explosions in the Sky, the band that does most of "Friday Night Lights" music, can make any normal experience epic? I walked my dog [while] wearing headphones and listening to them, and by the end of the walk, I felt as if I had experienced something truly life-altering. I am currently trying to apply the "Explosions Theory" to many other aspects of my life, such as showering, vacuuming and doing laundry.
-- Owen, Cleveland
SG: Couldn't agree more. I wish there was a way to pump that music into every bathroom in my house. I'm also amazed none of the presidential candidates has used Explosions in the Sky for their campaign. You could show me a 30-second ad of John McCain trying to pass out a kidney stone to that music and I'd probably want to vote for him afterward.
posted by JMW at 2:03 PM
4 Comments:
Sigur Ros has a very similar effect.
I was going to make a similar comment after seeing them on your end-of-year "best of" list - the first time I heard them was via the soundtrack for Friday Night Lights, and since then, their music finds it way into the oddest moments of my life via iPod shuffle. Picking up the mail at the PO box is suddenly infused with Rocky-like gravitas.
Great point. I listen to the "Friday Night Lights" (movie) soundtrack all the time. They also do some music for the TV show, like the opening credits. Even though we DVR the show, I never fast forward through the credits because of that music. I love it.
-Dezmond
Well now, this is a softball for someone like me. I listened to a little Explosions In The Sky, enjoyed what I heard and will listen more. If you like them give a listen to Michael Nyman’s Drowning By Numbers, which was the soundtrack to a Peter Greenaway film of the same title, or some of Miranda Sex Garden. But if you are truly looking for music that can make “any normal experience epic”, you’ve defined Wagner. In that category you can’t touch him with a ten-foot pole. It’s like learning to drink cognac or smoke a Cuban cigar or eat smelly French cheese, it takes a little work to get beyond mayonnaise.
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