Media Writing Blog: James Gunn’s Guardians Of Retro Soundtracks

You have crash landed from outer space to the planet of Gen Z Talks Rock Music. This is the space destination for up-to-date rock music news and rock music opinions by someone, who must have time traveled to know this much about rock n’ roll. Today I will blog about a director that have introduced the younger generations to music from back in the day in his movies. I will explain why I think his soundtracks with songs of the past works so well and how I appreciate him picking the best song for each scene of his movies. Finally, I'll explore the director creating the revival of rock music has affected the younger generations.

    This director is my favorite moviemaker in my opinion. He has created five of my favorite films that have made the top 10 of my favorite movies ever made. He made live action versions of my number one cartoon growing up as kid, which was Hanna Barbara’s Scooby Doo. This filmmaker started out as a screenwriting for 10 years before becoming a director and two of the screenplays that he wrote were “Scooby-Doo” and “Scooby Doo 2: Monster Unleashed.” He made his directing debut in 2006 and didn’t get his big break until 2014 with a Marvel blockbuster hit. “Guardians Of The Galaxy” became the third highest-grossing Marvel film as it made 773 million in the box office. Then after the success of his first superhero film, he was brought back to write and direct the sequel. “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” surpassed the first movie in the box office as it made 863 million in the first month. In 2021, he made another superhero blockbuster under DC with the remake of “Suicide Squad.” 2.8 million people streamed the film on HBO Max and it made 167 million in the box office. The director that I am talking about is James Gunn.

Guardians Of The Galaxy’s Origin Of 70’s Mixtape:

    James Gunn is a talented in crafting movies, but what I'd like to focus on how he puts together amazing soundtracks for his cinema masterpieces. The Scooby Doo movies had a 2000’s pop punk soundtrack and “Suicide Squad” had a mix of old and new songs in its soundtrack. However, there are two soundtracks by James Gunn that is a great talking point for this blog. The Guardian Of The Galaxy films have a jam-packed collection of rock n’ roll songs in their movie soundtracks.                                                                                                                               James Gunn based his decision on having 70’s songs in the soundtrack, when changing the Marvel comic book character, Star-lord, in his movie. The original screenplay by James Gunn didn’t have the 70’s music soundtrack, until Gunn felt his script was missing an important element to his story. Gunn wanted his main character, Star-lord, to have some sort of connection with his home planet Earth. The 70’s mix tapes played on the Sony Walkman became Gunn’s plot device for Star-lord’s attachment to Earth. When Star-lord was kidnapped and taken away from Earth by space ravagers after his mother’s death, Star-lord only had a Sony Walkman with mix tapes. These items were his only memories of his mother and when he lived on Earth. Gunn was fully committed and used the Billboard singles chart of each year of the 70’s for songs to create his soundtracks. Then he would find the perfect song that he thought it would work for the scene and write it into his screenplay. Here’s a link if you want to read more about this origin story.  Why a '70s Mixtape Propels the Plot of 'Guardians of the Galaxy'  | Billboard

Why The Rock N’ Roll Soundtrack Works For Guardian Of The Galaxy:

     I think James Gunn’s 70’s mixtapes for both of his movies works effectively, because it’s more than using old song for nostalgia. What I mean by that is James Gunn worked hard finding the right 70’s song for his scenes. He didn’t use random songs from the 70’s just because the song was released in the 70’s.                                            
    Here are some of examples of how James Gunn always picked the proper song for the moment in the movie. First example is the scene in volume 1, when main characters, Gamora and Star-lord are on the planet of Knowhere on an outside balcony. They have a conversation about why the Sony Walkman is important to him and Star-lord puts the headphones over Gamora’s ears. The song being played is “Fool Around And Fell In Love” by Elvin Bishop. Star-lord in the romantic moment leads in for a kiss, but Gamora violently stops him. The Elvin Bishop’s song is about a guy, who dates tons of girls, but changes his way, when he falls in love with someone. This is such a thoughtful selection by Gunn because the song describes who Star-lord is as a character and how he is feeling in that moment. The lyric in this piece of music, “I must’ve been through a million. I’d love ‘em and I’d leave ‘em alone,” perfectly depicts the character of Star-lord, who is a player and lady man that jumps from girl to girl. When the almost kiss happened, the lyric sung was “I fooled around and fell in love,” repeatedly and this was moment that Star-lord fell in love with Gamora. Gamora was the someone that changed Star-lord’s lifestyle and the first-person Star-lord cared about since his mother. 

    Another example is from volume 2, when the funeral of Yondu is going on and Star-lord is watching it, while listening to “Father And Son” by Cat Stevens on his newly acquired Zune music device. Cat Stevens’s song is about father giving advice to their son and a son responding to their father’s advice. This selection was perfect again, because this song tells the audiences, Star-lord figured out Yondu was his actual father figure, not his actual father. Both instances, James Gunn picked 70’s songs that matched the tone of scene. Also, whatever is happening in the scene, these 70’s songs explained how the characters were feeling in that moment and the song meanings matches exactly what is going on in the scene. There are many other examples of James Gunn using his soundtrack as a creative tool to make a better movie. Here are the parts of the film visually in the links below.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2-"Father And Son" Scene - YouTube

Guardians of the Galaxy - Fooled Around and Fell In Love Dance Scene - YouTube

Younger Generations Exposed To Rock Music:

    The rock bands and artists on these soundtracks have a brand-new audience thanks to James Gunn. A whole generation that didn’t grow up with these songs are singing along to them. I can say this is true with the many experiences of being shocked that the youth knowing these songs. For instance, you’re driving your car with your friends, and you play “Cherry Bomb” by The Runaways. Next thing that happens, your friends are singing their lungs out to this song. How on Earth do they know this song? Then you ask them, and they say it from the “Guardians Of The Galaxy” soundtrack. This is the moment, when you change the song to a different Runaways song, because you know your friends only know the one.  It’s a bittersweet feeling, because the movies helped the youth find new songs, but it brings them to the same level as me. I was at a superior level in knowing songs that the youth has never heard of, until James Gunn came along and shows the youth these works of art from the 70’s. It may hurt my ego, but I really think it’s a wonderful thing that a form of media has gave the youth exposure to rock music. They have connections to what maybe their parents listened to as a kid and starts conversations with one other. Music is a powerful thing, where two completely different people can like one song or artist and talk about music for hours. Another thing is the movie’s soundtracks are a useful starter pack for the youth, who are not into rock music. They listen to any song on the soundtracks, and it gets them curious to check out more of the band’s music.                                                                                                                                                               Gunn has affected the young culture with these 70’s mixtapes and he mastered making soundtracks just as important as directing the movie. It is something to admire because Gunn knew what songs from the 70’s to put in his scenes and what songs from the 70’s not to put in his scenes. Here’s video links of more examples of Gunn’s excellent song choices. Let me know what you think of James Gunn and what your favorite music scene in the Guardians Of The Galaxy movies? This is the end of another successful music blog and catch the latest Gen Z Talks Rock Music blog weekly with up to the minute rock news and opinions. 