Ben Affleck, director of the excellent movie, “Air,” coming April 5th to theaters, has one of the best soundtracks of all time.
There are dozens of hit songs in “Air,” and Affleck chose them all himself, not using a music supervisor. The music, all from the early to mid 80s, moves along the story of how Michael Jordan became Nike’s sports mascot before he was even an NBA star perfectly. In fact, there are several nods to the theme from “Beverly Hills Cop.”
And it all works, just like in the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies. It’s unclear so far if there will be a CD or iTunes collection. If so, it would be a smash hit.
One song that should get a big push is one of my all time favorites: “Tempted,” by Squeeze, the most under-rated group in pop history. The great Squeeze duo Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford wrote the song. You can hear them and Elvis Costello singing back up on the record to Paul Carrack’s soulful lead. It’s one of the greatest pop songs of all time.
So how did “Tempted” from 1982 wind up in “Air”?
Affleck told me this week at the “Air” Party in New York: “Originally I had Jump by Van Halen in that spot. But you can’t license Jump or any Van Halen song. Apparently they’re all fighting with each other and no one can agree on anything. So we gave up. I’m much happier with Tempted anyway.”
When “Air” launches, it would be swell if “Tempted” goes the way of Kate Bush’s “Running Up that Hill” and gets discovered by a whole new generation.
