Fight Club

Tyler Durden is a fucken legend. From the mind of writer Chuck Palahniuk and the vision of David Fincher, Durden casts a massive shadow across a generation that in the latter half of the 90’s was beginning to be fed up with the volume of corporatism that seemed to be enveloping the globe. Apart from being one of the most kick arse films ever made, I actually think it hit a very raw nerve in an audience that had never really heard their own situations described with eloquence and anger in equal measure.

Enter: Brad Pitt.

This is the best thing he’s ever done. And despite the level of fame and media coverage this man gets, he’s done some very very awesome stuff. [I’m not even gonna go near Se7en. It nearly destroyed me that film]. But somehow, the anti establishment cool factor was at 110% when Pitt bought out the big guns [literally] and ripped the viewers a new one with his portrayal of discontented consumer realism served cold as shit on burnt toast from a broken toaster we all thought we wanted.

Wake up calls come in many varied forms, but this one was very much thrown in your face…while you were already down…bleeding…in your own piss. I think it was goddam genius. Probably a film that we should watch every year and then get our kids to watch as soon as they turn 16.

I will throw Ed Norton a very big bone here because he played the lead/supporting role to a tee. I like Norton a lot. He’s totally underrated and probably is the glue that held this film together while our friend Brad paraded around like the all powerful peacock we know he can be. That wasn’t a dig at Pitt mind you. He just gave something in this film that I think will be classed as his best performance ever.

So, along with a storyline that took me a three minute conversation post watching it to realise that Tyler & the Narrator were one and the same, the music from this film just added to the intensity of what I was watching. The original soundtrack is a film score as opposed to songs from various artists. But they don’t include some tracks from the film that are absolutely essential in reviewing the music in this movie.

Let’s begin with the score….

Created entirely by a duo that has a very impressive track record, it’s stylings and temperature scream 90’s down tempo electro. The Dust Brothers created such a unique sound for this film that it is just as beautifully bloody and raw as the film. It can jump from something that sounds like Zero 7 to a hard core NIN track within a beat. It’s not really the kind of sit back and listen on a Sunday afternoon on the back porch vibe, but it can definitely get you pumped up for…let’s say…ummm…a fight?

Don’t get me wrong though. There are a fair few tracks on this album that are really soundscape…y? Can I make up words like that? Why not.

I am Mykel’s disdain for the English language.

If nothing else, it’s intense. Because its from the 90’s [albeit the late 90’s] it has a very strong Chemical Bros kind of feel. Add a little bit of Prodigy crossed with the Crystal Method and we’re close. But these dudes are pretty prolific producers. Everybody from Beck to The Beastie Boys had a taste of these English boys who well and truly made a mark during the time of mainstream electronic music.

As far as tracks go, I’m not gonna single any out because like most musical scores, it all melds into each other to make one long track really. The nice aspect to this album is the fact that they’ve added a couple of those beautifully worded speeches. I like to add this album to my random listening so that on occasion I will hear Brad pacing around on a cement floor as he begins emphatically telling his legion of lost men what the world is really all about. It’s quite refreshing to hear at times.

Then we get to a couple of tracks that weren’t included. There are a whole heap of ones I don’t know, but there are two that I distinctly associate with the film the most. First is a song by Tom Waits called ‘Goin Out West’. Now I’ve never really hidden my deep love for this man and this song just adds to the list. It’s from an album called Bone Machine and like Tom Waits himself, it’s raw, grungy and it fits into this film like hipflask into my pocket [#SPT].

Finally, it’s the song that I probably most think of when I think of this film. Probably because it’s played during the climax. [all the while I am still trying to understand where Tyler went] ‘Where Is My Mind’ by the The Pixies makes a most distinguishable mark. With 90’s-esque guitars belting out and simple back beats, it seemed really appropriate to hear this as The Narrator/Tyler and Marla hold hands in a quasi romantic way while a city full of buildings crumbled and collapsed through a wall of panelled glass. Brilliant.

Fight Club really did help define how we told stories via the film medium. I am determined not to paraphrase the rules of Fight Club because I think that the most beautiful aspect of this film is it’s irony. The more popular it has become, the more poignant the message in the film is. Plus, Meat Loaf with man boobs is a very brave role to take.

Hats off to the entirety of this film. From the music, to the story, to the acting to the directing. I think that I identify with the idea of being stripped of all worldly ideals until you’re free to actually do what you want. It’s a universal concept. Maybe more relevant the more we evolve.

Here’s to a mind bending Friday and as Tyler says: “Fuck off with your sofa units and string green stripe patterns, I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say let… lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.”

M /