Addicted To Vinyl Musical thoughts from the open road, with headphones on

1Oct/0817

A love letter to the music supervisors for Californication

Californication - main title

Finally watched the season premiere of Californication, and I have to give serious props to Budd Carr and Nora Felder, who are listed in the credits as the music supervisors for the show.

Californication spent all of the last season really impressing me with excellently placed and timed musical selections, particularly midway through the first season. Hank Moody's (David Duchovny) world crumbles at the conclusion of the "Filthy Lucre" episode with "The Pretender" by The Foo Fighters providing a soundtrack that was totally on the mark each passing second with what was on the screen, right down to the climax of the episode which happened as the Foos track officially kicked into full gear.

I know that's what music supervisors do - it's their job to creatively place music so that it works like that, but I rarely see music supervision as fine as what I've been hearing on Californication.

There's definitely a Warren Zevon fan working somewhere within the Californication brain trust - credit Budd and Nora, or maybe creator Tom Kapinos? Several Zevon originals and cover versions popped up during the first season, and not your average pick of "Lawyer's Guns, and Money," but instead cool stuff like "Mohammed's Radio," and a Steve Earle version of "Reconsider Me." This past weekend, "My Sh*t's F*cked Up" from Zevon's 2000 Life'll Kill Ya release, was the latest addition to the growing list of Zevon love, and again, it was well utilized and perfectly placed.

The last time a TV show knocked me out with their music choices? The Wonder Years.

Yeah, it's been awhile.

Check out the complete rundown of musical selections via the Californication episode guide on the official site, and if you're not watching Californication, Netflix the first season, and catch up.

Steve Earle and Reckless Kelly - Reconsider Me

Warren Zevon - Reconsider Me

The Steve Earle track by the way, comes off of Enjoy Every Sandwich, one of the best tribute albums you'll ever come across. All of Zevon's pals are here - Springsteen, Browne, Raitt, you name it, they're on it, including Adam Sandler's great Zevonesque version of "Werewolves of London." There's not a single track on here that is a miss. Not a one - absolutely great.

P.S. - I'm sure that you can guess my dream job, would be to be a music supervisor in the film/television industry.


Relevant Links:

Enjoy Every Sandwich: A tribute to Warren Zevon - CD

Genius: The best of Warren Zevon - CD

Californication official website

Warren Zevon official site

Filed under: Good Watch, Television Leave a comment
  • Sorry but,I forgot to let ya know I got the
    Jackson Browne/Davis Linley DVD..
    Thank you again.. That was pretty cool of you,,
    Michael.. :)
  • Eleanore
    The soundtrack for the show is absolutely fantastic, isn't it? They keep surprising me in the best ways with the cues they choose, and I hope it continues. I'm told Duchovny and Kapinos are the big Zevon fans on set, and someone must be a Slayer fan, too (I think all the titles of Hank's books are Slayer albums). Bring it on, Season Two!
  • I too thinking a music supervisor in that capacity would be an awesome job.
  • I am not awake otherwise that last sentence would have been in English.
  • Perhaps I shouldn't admit this, but. . .

    I really enjoyed the music selections used throughout all of the Felicity episodes :)

    Um, yeah, I probably should have kept this to myself*
  • Jack
    The Matthew Sweet mailing list said that "Come to California" was being used in a radio ad for Californication. See you later this month at the Beachland Ballroom.
  • Matt Wardlaw
    Michael - all g - glad you are enjoying it!

    Eleanore - I think that's what I really enjoy, is the surprises that are always coming around, musically. You're right, I had forgotten about the frequent Slayer refs. Becca/Madeleine Martin's face melting Guitar Hero session made me want to go out and buy Guitar Hero! She's SO great. Thanks for the insight on the Zevon tip....and really, everyone should be a Zevon fan. Warren contributed so much to our culture with his music.

    Jose - hell yes!

    Kelly - you're here, where love for bad or questionable television is discussed openly without shame...haha

    Jack - I vaguely remember hearing that, but since I never seem to actually watch TV live anymore, I didn't see the promos. See you at Beachland, for sure - I am thinking about going to Pittsburgh the night before the Cleveland show.
  • Eleanore
    Becca is indeed great! One of the highlights of my YEAR was having the opportunity to interview her at, of all things, the X-Files 2 premiere in L.A. She's a doll!

    If you haven't already, I'd highly recommend picking up the "Temptation" CD that Showtime released at some point last year, which has a really nice sampling of some of the best tracks from Season One. I hope they do something similar again for Season Two, at this rate!
  • Matt Wardlaw
    Eleanore - that would have been a great interview...that's pretty great.

    Thanks for the recommendation on the Temptation CD...I don't have that one!

    Another winner in this week's episode...Wake Up Time by Tom Petty - so cool!!

    LOVE this show..hope that Duchovny's personal issues don't wreck it.
  • Frank
    I also found the music to the show to be very enthralling. The cover at the end of the one episode where Lou Ashby dies was awesome; now if I can only find it and hear it again!
  • Matt
    Frank,

    They've got episode guides on the Showtime site that have a rundown of the music used in each episode, so you should be able to track that song down!

    http://www.sho.com/site/californication/home.do
  • Frank
    Ah found it; it was a Sheryl Crow cover of Behind Blue Eyes. When it was played at the time of the show it worked perfectly.

    Thanks
  • Matt
    wow - interesting! I'm a huge Sheryl Crow fan, and now that you mention it, I do remember that cover. I'm going to have to hunt around to see if I have that one.
  • Frank
  • I just started watching this show this season and I'm hooked. I too have noted the many WZ songs as well as some subtle references (e.g. excitable boy). Looking forward to more!
  • Matt
    Lawrence - it's a great show. I'm thinking that I might need to get the first season on Netflix - I have a new friend that needs a proper introduction, as a fellow music nerd
  • I didn't know Netflix had this kind of thing, great to know!
blog comments powered by Disqus
« I think it might be NKOTB Day in Cleveland So you’re going to get fired from that radio station, huh? »

Concert Tickets



Contact Me


Send CDs/DVDs/Blu-Ray/Books and any other fun stuff for review consideration to me:

Addicted to Vinyl
P.O. Box 771685
Lakewood, OH 44107

Send Us An Email

Blogroll

Archive

Meta