It's impossible to not hate almost everything about Twilight.
The books changed what "vampire" means to an entire generation. Now, it's less about being an undead monster than it is about misunderstood hunks with sparkly pale skin. Then, the movies went on to solidify the idea that as long as a guy is hot, he can watch you sleep and suck the life out of you to near death. And, of course, being as plain as plain can be will score you no less than five men falling over themselves to be with you at all times.
Twilight is an affliction.
The soundtracks to the "saga" are it's only redeeming quality. Sure, they eventually gave way to young idiots referring to Muse as "the Twilight band," but we're willing to overlook Stephanie Meyer's shortcomings if it means awesome bands like Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, St. Vincent, Sea Wolf, and Editors were exposed to and eventually appreciated by the types of people who don't go out of their way to look search for good music.
The official track list for Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1 was recently released. The record won't be available until November 8, but features songs from Aqualung, The Belle Brigade, The Joy Formidable, Theophilus London and more.
I can't wait to see which song becomes to backdrop to Edward tearing Bella's demon baby out of the womb with his teeth!
Here are a few other good soundtracks to bad films.
Tron: Legacy
The film itself was a box office success, but a critical disappointment. The Tron: Legacy soundtrack was anything but that. Daft Punk crafted every song on the disc, which wound up being more along the lines of what fans wanted from their 2007 record, Human After All.
Elizabethtown
Orlando Bloom plays a yuppie that undergoes a life crisis when his father dies. On the flight home, Kirsten Dunst becomes the epitome of the manic pixie dream girl. The result is incredibly pretentious scar on Cameron Crowe's directing career. The soundtrack was standard fare for a Crowe flick though - near flawless. Appearances from Ryan Adams, Tom Petty, Lindsey Buckingham, and Elton John make this an introspective disc that far outshines its film complement.
Yes Man
Yes Man had a good premise, but ultimately failed with casting. Jim Carrey falls for manic pixie Zooey Deschanel -- a mismatched pairing if there ever was one. Despite being the end of Deschanel's tolerable phase (Hey, did you see the one where she plays the quirky brunette!?), she makes a few solid appearances on the film's soundtrack as one-part of Munchausen by Proxy. Unfortunately, the official 13-song soundtrack takes many of the film's shining musical moments and replaces them with Eels songs. While the Eels totally rock, it could have benefited for more variety -- Just like Deschanel's acting career. Zing-o!
Clueless
I still love this film. I don't care what anyone says. Then again, I realize it got mediocre reviews and didn't win any Academy Awards. For a movie about a superficial Beverly Hills brat, the film's soundtrack had a lot of depth. I might be partial to it because it was my first exposure to Radiohead and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones ("It took you that long?!" I was 8, damnit!) It also had a handful of songs with sassy female leads, for which I'll always be a sucker.
Judgment Night
Something about drug dealers or something... Judgment Night horrific ratings, achieving a 27% aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes, but somehow they managed to recruit the best in the era's music. Each song on the soundtrack was a rock-rap mash up, like the collaborations between Dinosaur Jr. and Del the Funky Homosapien, Pearl Jam with Cypress Hill and Slayer with Ice-T. Rolling Stone said "Judgment Night's bracing rap rock is like the wedding of hillbilly and 'race' music that started the whole thing in the first place....It's an aspiring re-birth."
