SOUNDTRACKS

FANFAIR

Blonded by the light. Blondie's music made several notable appearances in this past year's movies. Bridesmaids featured a remaster of "Rip Her to Shreds"—with Debbie Harry's best sneering vocals—and the band's 1981 hit "Rapture" is a highlight of the Shame soundtrack. The standout moment in that otherwise creepy film is blonde actress Carey Mulligan's sad, twisted rendering of "New York, New York"; Frank Sinatra's version may never sound the same again. (The variety of musical excellence in Shame includes contributions from John Coltrane, Howlin' Wolf, Chet Baker, Tom Tom Club, Chic, and Glenn Gould.) In My Week with Marilyn,Michelle Williams does an admirable job as Marilyn Monroe singing "When Love Goes Wrong, Nothin' Goes Right/Heat Wave" and "That Old Black Magic."

Other 1950s standards in the Marilyn movie include Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" and Nat King Cole's "Autumn Leaves."

In The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Rooney Mara looks like a Nine Inch Nails fan. One of the characters in the movie wears a NIN T-shirt. And Oscar-winning (NIN founder) Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have created this season's most exciting, innovative him score. Reznor and Ross radically remade Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song," with remarkable, banshee vocals from Yeah Yeah Yeahs lead singer Karen O. Also included on the movie's three soundtrack CDs: a cover of Bryan Ferry's "Is Your Love Strong Enough?" from Reznor's new band. How to Destroy Angels, with gorgeous vocals from Reznor's wife, Mariqueen Maandig.

The 1980s-era electronic-pop score for Drive was written by Cliff Martinez, who's worked as a drummer with Lydia Lunch, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. The movie also features songs from the Chromatics, Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx, and Desire. For We Bought a Zoo, director Cameron Crowe chose music from Sigur

Ros and that band's leader, Jonsi. According to Crowe, "Jonsi's music is pure happy/sad; huge slashes of darkness and joy wrapped up in a giddy feeling you can only call clear-eyed whimsy. I love Planet Jonsi." Some top-notch blues, soul, and rhythm and blues vocals enlivened the movies: Ray Charles, Mavis Staples, Lloyd Price, and Mary J. Blige contribute to Die Help; Betty Everett, Koko Taylor, and Don Covay are all heard in I Don't Know How She Does It; songs from Nina Simone and Doris Troy are in Crazy Stupid Love;Bruno Mars is on the soundtrack for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn—Part I; and Curtis Mayfield's classic "Pusher Man" is in The Hangover Part II.

Additional movie music of note: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in The Art of Getting By; Willie Nelson in Our Idiot Brother;Grateful Dead in The Music Never Stopped; the score from Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood for We Need to Talk About Kevin;Mark Ronson, the Crystal Method, and Skrillex's work in the music documentary Re-Generation; and in Young Adult, alterna-rock groups that appeal to those in the Pacific Northwest include the Replacements, Dinosaur Jr., the Lemonheads, and Veruca Salt. And the often blonde Lady Gaga gets the hilarious Chipmunks treatment with versions of her "Bad Romance" and "Born This Way" in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

LISA ROBINSON