Rating Each Song on GODZILLA ‘98 OST
Mileage varies about the 1998 American version of GODZILLA. Some find a bit of kitschy fun in it; some enjoy it on a “so-bad-it’s-good” level; and some are filled with a volcanic amount of hate for the cursed bastardization of a cultural icon. One thing that we can all agree upon? It had a soundtrack. But was it a good soundtrack? It is with this age-old question in mind that I sought to investigate the individual songs that made up Godzilla: The Album.
The would-be blockbuster’s soundtrack is made up of an eclectic mix of artists and sounds, often seeming not at all appropriate for the movie to which they are tied.
I will be judging each track based on the song itself as well as how it corresponds to Roland Emmerich’s DOA film. My rating for each song is based on a five-point scale of Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders, with one cup holder being the worst and five cup holders being the best.
What treasures will we find as we explore these 15 tracks? Some undiscovered piece of brilliance? An incredible b-side by a beloved artist? Or mostly tossed off singles that feel culled from an abandoned bin at the label’s catalogue?
All decisions are my own and also final. Shall we begin?
Track 1: “Heroes” by The Wallflowers
The Wallflowers were not…a great band, but they were solid FM radio fodder that worked well in the late ‘90s for Starbucks soundtrack. The song choice actually works with the film, the idea of people rallying against impossible odds to save the day. Unfortunately, it is not a very good rendition. It lacks the call-to-arms grandiosity of Bowie’s original or even the heartfelt sense of resignation of Peter Gabriel’s version. It’s a fine track that isn’t distractingly bad and can easily be ignored. But if you pay attention…not good.
3 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 2: “Come With Me” by Puff Daddy & Jimmy Page
This is what we all came here for. This song is ridiculous in all the best ways, matched only by its fairly incoherent music video (directed by Howard Greenhalgh) which finds Puff Daddy attacked by Zilla, then turning into doves, then leading an orchestra all while Jimmy Page performs the basic lick of “Kashmir” against a green screen. Here’s a sample of lyrics, a.k.a. the modern equivalent of Ginsberg’s “Howl”:
Certainly you fooled me
Ridiculed me
Left me hanging
Now shit is boomeranging
Right back at you
Think long range
Narrow-minded
Left me blinded
I cosigned it
Shit backfired
But I'm bouncing back
I grinded
The bridge, with Combs’ falsetto and nonsense lyrics, is terrifically odd break that completely stutters the momentum, but then he’s back to yelling, presumably at Godzilla. Also, the added sound f/x of Godzilla roaring is the excessive cherry on top of pure indulgence.
5 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 3: “Deeper Underground” by Jamiroquai
Jamiroquai’s emergence was a fun burst of dance music injected by that French funk that came from synth days into disco and then house music. Unfortunately, this song is ridiculously uninspired and feels half-hearted at best. It sounds like the ultimate tossed off b-side that someone found lying around the studio and slapped it onto GODZILLA soundtrack. Also it has nothing to do with the movie in any way (I guess…Jean Reno is French, so…there’s that?)
2 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 4: “No Shelter” by Rage Against The Machine
“No Shelter” is a strong song by Rage Against The Machine that debuted on this OST (though later would appear as bonus tracks on versions of The Battle Of Los Angeles). While it does work within the larger framework of the 1998 movie—a city under siege while an inept government responds poorly to the disastrous threat—it overlooks GODZILLA’s pretty staunch pro-military stance. It is a truly solid RATM tune, but the fact it’s used as promotional fodder for a film estranged from their ethos causes cognitive dissonance.
4 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 5: “Air” by Ben Folds Five
What the hell? I love Ben Folds and two of Ben Folds Five’s albums are minor classics that have held up over the decades. But this song is so maudlin and doesn’t fit in with the film. It’s not even a palette cleanser, some sonic sorbet; it slows everything down to a crawl and surrounded by the other poppier/heavier tracks make it stand out in the worst way.
2 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 6: “Running Knees” by Days Of The New
A lesser act from the 1994 grunge era (which would include members from other groups like Alice In Chains, The Louisville Crashers, etc.), this had to sound horrible dated in 1998 and has aged even worse since then. It’s a boring, uninspired weak sauce grunge pop song that feels built from a template and acts mostly as moody filler that does nothing for the movie and even less for the album.
1 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 7: “Macy Day Parade” by Michael Penn
Michael Penn and Aimee Mann were a music power couple for film soundtracks for a couple of years—mostly due to their close friendships with P.T. Anderson amongst others. His music is that beat-inspired troubadour type that you can find in Clem Snide or a more metropolitan Tom Petty. “Macy Day Parade” is forgettable and again would work fine as easily ignored background music. Which is damning with faint praise, but compared to the insistently shitty caliber of the other works, it does help. However, it has nothing to do with the movie. Half of this soundtrack are these moody songs that were probably meant to reflect the fractured romance or whatever, but just feels like completely missing the point for a movie about a giant iguana fucking up NYC while pimping Taco Bell.
2 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 8: “Walk The Sky” by Fuel
I always grouped Fuel into that first wave of plaintive rock groups that weren’t emo but used walls of sound of rock groups from the ‘70s. Other acts like Matchbox Twenty, Goo Goo Dolls, and Three Doors Down would fill this space as well. It kind of sounds like unhappy, brokenhearted rockstars using piss-poor poetry to convey the most basic of emotions. Surprise! That’s exactly what this song is and it sucks. Technically it could work with the simplistic bombast of Emmerich’s GODZILLA with simulacrum of emotions instead of actual human feelings.
1 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 9: “A320” by Foo Fighters
Another basic B-side that was scooped off the studio floor, but because it is better than the others on this soundtrack because it’s Foo Fighters. Unlike other entries, it’s not annoying or bad. It’s also not so bland that it is easy to ignore. It’s a perfectly pleasant song that manages to hit those melancholic emotional notes before kicking in the pedal and becoming a harder rock song that fits with the action blockbuster that audiences were sold.
4 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 10: “Brain Stew (The Godzilla Remix)” by Green Day
“Brain Stew” by itself is a fun and stupid pop punk song. (And like almost all Green Day songs, it is essentially pilfered from previously existing works by other bands) The lyrics have that fun stoner sardonic wit betraying an existentialist slacker trying to make sense of everything while the simple licks work their way into the brain by becoming an excellent earworm that anyone can beat out on the table or dashboard. But what puts this version of “Brain Stew” over the top? The entirely superfluous Godzilla roars that are sprinkled throughout the song. They match up with beats, but are still seemingly used sparingly as if the engineers thought “well if we do it too much, that would just be silly.” It’s such a bizarre mix of strong pop punk and bungled product tie-in that it’s a hoot of song.
5 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 11: “Untitled” by Silverchair
Due to the unfortunate chronic health problems of its lead singer/songwriter, Silverchair never got to have the longevity they deserved. Make no mistake, they weren’t setting the world ablaze as they rewrote rock music as people knew it, but they were a solid enough bar band for the post-grunge era. But this song does not represent the group well at all. It’s closer to the Fuel track included on this album than their other works. There is a bit of the feedback guitar in the wings that seems waiting to break out but never does. Instead it’s mostly a lot of build up that should explode in the end with raucous energy but simple remains one note of energy and fizzling out. Which, while that’s pretty apt metaphor for GODZILLA, doesn’t help the movie feel anything more than the mishmash of bad decisions that it was.
2 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 12: “Out There” by Fuzzbubble
Fuzzbubble was Puff Daddy’s first rock act that he signed and tried to make happen. They didn’t happen. Their inclusion on this soundtrack is clearly part of P. Diddy’s demands for his own appearance. It’s a boring nothing song that is forgettable and feels utterly detached from GODZILLA.
1 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 13: “Undercover” by Joey DeLuxe
“Undercover” is a fine song if you can’t get Beck. It’s a knock off of his Odelay-era work, and feels like it was made more for movie trailers than movie soundtracks, with bad voiceover describing some inane plot. Oddly enough, it is very reminiscent of “Smooth” by Santana (feat Rob Thomas), but that came out after. So…good job? It’s a bland song that works as elevator filler but isn’t dynamic enough to match Kaiju action or weird enough to add some oddball energy to the film.
2 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 14: “Opening Titles” by David Arnold
This is a piece of the score that Arnold wrote for GODZILLA. I was curious about the rest of the work for the film, and found that vast amounts of the music is completely forgettable with bits cribbed from James Horner and Alan Silvestri. “Opening Titles”, though, is a nice bit of dramatic foreboding of the terrors to come. Well, the terrors that were supposed to come anyway. Charting the radioactive progression of the iguana into the not very intimidating asexual Zilla, Arnold’s song is strong entry that fits in with previous Godzilla scores and makes the audience feel like some epic Kaiju stuff is about to go down. It didn’t, but at least it felt that way during the opening titles.
4 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Track 15: “Looking For Clues” by David Arnold
Another bit of the score from composer David Arnold, but it makes no sense for this to be the last track. Sounding nothing like music from a monster movie, even if it’s not the bombast of annihilation but perhaps some creepy moment or something. It instead sounds like the mysterious scamp music that would accompany some bit of investigation in Harry Potter or some other kids’ fare. Worse yet, this is the note to go out on? How is this sticking the landing? It’s a fine bit of music but it feels totally discordant with the movie and its placement in the tracklist is abysmal.
2 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
Average score: 2.66 Taco Bell tie-in GODZILLA cup holders out of 5!
