Idolator: Juno

"Juno" Soundtrack Was Almost Devoted To Yo La Tengo

Anthony Miccio — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:00:00 EDT

While the contents of the Juno soundtrack have probably made little difference to most Idolator readers' lives (unless you didn't know about the Moldy Peaches and, honest to blog, cried when you finally heard "Anybody Else But You"), there are at least three people who might be upgrading their furniture if director Jason Reitman had stuck with his original plans for the flick's musical motif. "We started to realize there was this rebirth of lo-fi music that had the same energy as punk music, but nowhere as angry. The first band we discovered was Yo La Tengo and so I started to think that was the sound of the film." Then Diablo Cody stormed in the room and went "blah blah I used to be a stripper and this isn't sticky edgy sweet enough blah blah listen to this song on my Oh My iPod (get it?) it's the biggity bomb!" Or rather Ellen Page downloaded "Anybody Else But You" for Reitman when he asked her what Juno would listen to. But it's fun to pretend.

It's also fun to imagine how the movie would have been if Georgia and Ira were crooning throughout the film instead of Kimya and Adam, and this clip reel set to Jacob Ruefer's cover of "You Can Have It All" gives you an idea of how it would have been. (Yo La Tengo's version did earn a place on the Juno B-sides comp.) (Also, isn't it weird how much Ruefer sounds like YLT bassist James McNew?)

So would Reitman's original plan have earned Yo La Tengo a gold album and the chance to perform on Sesame Street? Or would songs like "Sugarcube" and "The Summer" have failed to hit the same nerve as Kimya's ultra-twee sensitivity?

JUNO - You Can Have It All (Cover) [YouTube]
Jason Reitman [KCRW via The Playlist]

Idolator Pays Tribute To 2008 Canadian Music Hall Of Fame Inductees Triumph

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 14:15:00 EDT

Thought Leonard Cohen, Madonna, and the Coug were a bit B-list for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame? At least last month's ceremony didn't feature Tom "Life Is A Highway" Cochrane inducting arena demigods Triumph. That happened at the Juno Awards last night. Oh, Canada! Are we already praising those inspired by Rush up there?

"Somebody's Out There," at No. 27 their biggest single in America. The song can be found of 1986's The Sport Of Kings (which is presumably hockey). If Geddy Lee's sung a song as catchy and spirited, I'm OK with never hearing it.

"Magic Power," as performed at the 1983 US Festival. Starts off like Journey (who America has somehow not gotten around to inducting into its Hall Of Fame), but the double guitars get kinda fierce after the first minute, and then it kind of sounds like Rush.

And here's their first Canadian hit single, a cover of Joe Walsh's "Rocky Mountain Way." It kind of sounds like Rush.

As members of the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame, the band joins an exclusive circle of celebrated artists that includes Guy Lombardo, Anne Murray, Ian & Sylvia, Bryan Adams and the Tragically Hip. It is now rumored that the classic line-up may reunite following this belated recognition of their impressive body of work.

Canada!

Earlier: Feist Feels The Weight Of Toting Around Five Juno Statues

Feist Feels The Weight Of Toting Around Five Juno Statues

Maura Johnston — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 09:15:00 EDT

Starbucks fave and allegedly swoonworthy singer-songwriter Feist was the big winner at last night's Juno Awards—you know, the Grammys of Canada?—sweeping the Single of the Year, Album of the Year, and Pop Album Year categories and taking home the awards for Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year as well. But the fans were not having any of it, handing Michael Bublé his only award of the night through voting on the Juno Web site. Yeah, you tell them what side of the smooth-music coin you like, people of Canada! Full list of winners—which is absent of the words "Avril," "Lavigne," and "Celine," but does have Finger Eleven and Ozzy Osbourne—after the jump.

Single: "1234," Feist
Album: The Reminder, Feist
Pop album: The Reminder, Feist
Group: Blue Rodeo
New group: Wintersleep
Country recording: Paul Brandt
Juno fan choice award: Michael Bublé
International album: Good Girl Gone Bad, Rihanna
Artist: Feist
New artist: Serena Ryder
Songwriter: Feist
Adult alternative album: Small Miracles, Blue Rodeo
Alternative album: Neon Bible, Arcade Fire
Rock album: Them vs. You vs. Me, Finger Eleven
Vocal jazz album: Make Someone Happy, Sophie Milman
Contemporary jazz album: Almost Certainly Dreaming, The Chris Tarry Group
Traditional jazz album: Debut, Brandi Disterheft
Instrumental album: The Utmost, Jayme Stone
Francophone album: L'échec du matériel, Daniel Bélanger
Children's album: Music Soup, Jen Gould
Classical album, Solo or chamber ensemble: Alkan Concerto for Solo Piano, Marc-André Hamelin
Classical album, Large ensemble or soloist(s) with large ensemble: Korngold, Barber & Walton Violin Concertos, James Ehnes, Bramwell Tovey, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
Classical album, vocal or choral performance: Surprise, Measha Brueggergosman
Classical composition: Constantinople, Christos Hatzis
Rap recording: The Revolution, Belly
Dance recording: All U Ever Want, Billy Newton-Davis vs. Deadmau5
R&B/soul recording: Revival, Jully Black
Reggae recording Don't Go Pretending, Mikey Dangerous
Aboriginal recording The Dirty Looks, Derek Miller
Roots & traditional album, solo: Right of Passage, David Francey
Roots & traditional album, group: Key Principles, Nathan
Blues album: Building Full of Blues, Fathead
Contemporary Christian/gospel album: Holy God, Brian Doerksen
World music album: Agua Del Pozo, Alex Cuba
Jack Richardson producer of the year: Joni Mitchell, Shine by Joni Mitchell
Recording engineer: Kevin Churko, Black Rain by Ozzy Osborne
CD/DVD artwork design: Neon Bible, Arcade Fire
Video: "C'mon," Blue Rodeo
Music DVD: 666 Live, Billy Talent

High five for Feist [Globe and Mail]
[Photo: AP]

Ellen Page Sings Diablo Cody's 'Zub Zub' On Soundtrack Sequel

Anthony Miccio — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:45:00 EDT

Juno B-Sides: Almost Adopted Songs, a sequel to the chart-topping Juno soundtrack, will be released on April 8 as an iTunes exclusive before hitting other digital retailers in May. "None of these songs made the movie, but they are all essential members of the Junoverse," says Juno director Jason Reitman, who will pay dearly for coining the term "Junoverse." Dearly.

Along with the Kimya Dawson and Belle & Sebastian ditties you'd expect to find in the refuse of the "Junoverse." We'll also get the chance to hear "Zub Zub," a song written by Oscar-winning pariah Diablo Cody. Here's the deleted "Zub Zub" scene, with some sextra wit at the end (like the word sextra? Don't use it, its in my screenplay).

Sadly, the eight-minute song about Danny Trejo will not also be available.

Juno star sings in sequel to movie soundtrack [Reuters]
Ellen Page Sings "Zub Zub" On the "Juno" DVD's Deleted Scene [Daily Motion]

Phyllis Schlafly Still Alive, Not A Kimya Dawson Fan

Dan Gibson — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:30:00 EDT

Google searching for material occasionally leads you to some odd places, and today it took me to Human Events, a publication that apparently has been "leading the conservative moment since 1944" for a Phyllis Schlafly review of the movie everyone was talking about several months ago, Juno! It turns out that Phyllis and I, despite otherwise sharing zero in the way of opinions, both disliked the film, but in the midst of an anti-feminist screed, there was one delightful, sorta music-related paragraph. So, you've probably been wondering...what does an 83 year old ERA foe think is wrong with today's youth? Well, she'd be happy to tell you!

America is in bad shape if the financial success of this movie reflects today's high school culture: sexual activity without marriage, crude pictures on the walls, vulgar language, a girl smoking a pipe, unattractive clothes, uncombed hair, enjoyment of slasher movies and weird music, and marriage breakup.

While I was a bit puzzled by Mark's endorsement of the Carpenters' tribute record as anyone, but to equate the music (outside of the truly tedious Kimya Dawson) with a girl smoking a pipe seems unfair. So, we leave it to you the reader...which of these teenage threats is most likely to destroy our beloved America?

Feminist "Juno" Unfit For Family Award [Human Events]

Courtney Love blogs the Oscars before heading ...

Maura Johnston — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:15:48 EST

Courtney Love blogs the Oscars before heading out to "Eltons Party": "i love dthat tattoo on her ( Dibalo) and her cute thigh and the wietzman shoes were actually pretty unnatractuve really,. neat, i like the minnesota thing too, i wont be getting a bl;ack bob although i think abou tit contstantly , but it was inspiring rarely does anyone win when theyre an "outisder" particul;alrly chicks who talk about sex working- desp[ite the fact that EVERYONE i know in this town who wasnt upper middle class or didnt come from a hollywood family DID IT and even then i know of some exceptions. so i was really proud a little Nirvana moment if you will." Oh, honey, I know what you are saying but... agggh. Nooooo. [Courtney Love's MySpace Blog / Photo: AP]

Dear David Carr: You May Want To Check Your Dictionary's "R" Section

Maura Johnston — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:20:16 EST

A note to Times awardsblogger David Carr, who decided to indulge his rockcrit side in today's broadside against Juno haters as such: "But to suddenly kick something to the curb because it found an audience is the height of 'rockism,' a critical mindset that suggests if a lot of people like something, there must be something terribly wrong with it." Actually, no. (Please trust me on this.) Rockism is—c'mon, say it with me, everybody—"The theory that traditional rock music is a more authentic form of popular music than pop music." Or: a just as annoying, yet totally different, sort of reactionary attitude exhibited by people who "know culture."^* Maybe next time you should check with your colleagues before embarking on music-crit-related vocabulary lessons? Otherwise, love your work, that No Country acronym contest was killer! [The Carpetbagger]

^* FYI: The behavior you describe/decry is actually referred to by the term "being a reactionary asshole, or a bored blogger." It's not as zingy as "rockism," but perhaps you could work on that.

That Old Mid-January Sales Malaise: It's Back

mjohnston — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:50:19 EST

From Hits: "[Next] week's chart will probably be topped by Rhino's soundtrack to the universally adored^* Juno, with a projected 70-75k. It should be followed by a still-robust Alicia Keys (J/RMG), who's headed toward 60-65k, with Radiohead (TBD/ATO/RED) and Mary J. Blige (Geffen) both looking 55-60k-ish. After that comes a big drop, with nine—count 'em—nine releases all trending toward 25-30k; Yup, a piddly 25k will get you in the Top 10 next week. " And if you thought that was bad, wait, it looks even worse when you compare it to the numbers from this time last year!

The charts released last Jan. 17 had the Dreamgirls soundtrack in the top spot, and it reached No. 1 by selling only 60,000 copies. So at the top, the numbers seem more healthy—but if you look further down the top 10, the numbers get more comparatively grim; the No. 10 album from that week, Nickelback's All The Right Reasons, sold 35,000 copies, more than any of the albums that aren't in the top three.

Rumor Mill [Hits Daily Double]

^* FYI: Juno was not universally adored, especially in the section of the universe currently occupied by this writer. Jennifer Garner was quite good, as were pretty much all the adults in the film. But Ellen Page's character annoyed the crap out of me, although I do wonder if I'd have been as irked if the movie's opening scene—and anything involving cutesy references to that hamburger phone she had—had been cut out entirely. (Sorry, Rainn Wilson.)