Got Balls of Steel, Got an Automobile

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I tweeted about my obsession with Metric's song "Black Sheep" off of the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack the other day, and it hasn't subsided since then - I can and have listened to this song on repeat for hours. When I was doing laundry and dishes on Sunday I did just that - just this one song playing over and over and over, and it never stopped being totally awesome. I'll even admit that while hanging up my shirts I may have tried to shimmy just a little bit like Brie Larson does in the movie as Envy Adams, Scott's ex-girlfriend and the lead singer of The Clash at Demonhead, fictional movie band. Just a little. Shimmy.


Anyway there's an awesome article at the LAT from the other day where a bunch of the awesome figures behind Scott Pilgrim's awesome soundtrack chat about each individual (awesome) song, and I'd hate myself for not highlighting the bit about the Metric song, and nobody wants me to hate myself (more). Right?

"Song No. 12: "Black Sheep," Metric

After maintaining cult-favorite status for about a decade, Toronto's electronic-infused rockers Metric had a breakthrough with last year's "Fantasies." The band was an early target for "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," and a perfect fit for a number reasons. One, the band is associated with the city in which the film is set, and two, lead singer Emily Haines was an inspiration for the way O'Malley drew Envy Adams (played in the film by Brie Larson) the lead singer of fictional band Clash at Demonhead.

Haines was flattered to hear the character was based on her, but contends that Envy is far more tough than she's capable of being, although she didn't use the word "tough" and instead opted for a phrase a family newspaper couldn't print. Yet if Envy is a caricature of Haines, the artist said "Black Sheep" is essentially a caricature of Metric. Originally intended for "Fantasies," Haines said the band felt it too obviously reflected the band's sound.

"Aspects of the song, the electro aspects of the band, and the abstract lyrical visualizations, are extreme examples of certain aspects of us," Haines said. "These are late-night conversations the band has had. Everyone has commentary on what you’re doing, and everyone has interpretations. But we are also looking at it. It’s not like we’re blindly going, ‘Oh, what’s this?’ We’re aware of what we have been, and what we want to be."

Godrich understood exactly what Haines was getting at. "It’s a very common criticism when you’re making records. You say, ‘Well, this sounds like somebody trying to be us.’ But that was perfect for this film. It’s not Metric. It’s a shadow of Metric."

The band re-recorded the song for the film, as Wright requested a slightly more "sinister" opening. The song now has an extended intro, with Larson on vocals offering a few 'oh yeah's," used in the film to taunt Scott and Ramona in the audience.

It's been a soundtrack summer for Metric, who also recorded the lead track for "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse." Haines said issues of branding aren't too heavily weighed in the act's decision to license, and she wasn't concerned, for instance, of the band forever being associated with the "Twilight" empire.

"In 2003, we would have loved to have been asked to write for a film like ‘Twilight’ or ‘Scott Pilgrim’," Haines said. "But we didn’t exist to anyone else, so it wasn’t an option. There’s no big leap happening. I should hope that after four albums and 10 years we would have more opportunities to get our music to people other than club shows.

"I’m not sitting around comparing the brand structures of Hollywood movies," Haines continued. "I look at the calendar. I look at my life. I look at what is possible as a musician.""

When I saw Scott Pilgrim the second time this past weekend - and it was just as wonderful, thank you very much - I had the question answered for me that I couldn't remember from my first viewing, whether it was Larson singing the song in the movie or if I'd just spaced on it being Haines' voice coming out of her body. But I love what Haines says about this song having fit their sound too perfectly, because I'd figured that Beck had written this song for them, and that's what made it sound that way. I was right, just in the wrong way! Usually it's the other way around.
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