By Vicky Bennett / GMS Administrator
The nominations for the 10th annual Guild of Music Supervisor awards were announced earlier this month.
As always, we would like to pay special tribute to our UK and European Guild of Music Supervisor members that have been nominated which can be seen if you click here.
We had the pleasure to speak to some of the Music Supervisors who were nominated and gave us their personal insights into the music behind the films and television.
Best Music Supervision for Film Budgeted Under $25 Million
Blinded By The Light
Music Supervisors: Zoë Bryant and Pete Saville
May you give us a little insight into your work on the film?
Zoë / Pete:
It was a huge and rare honour to work on a project with Bruce Springsteen’s full support and backing.
Obviously, Springsteen’s legendary songs are the focal point of Blinded By The Light, but the sound of 1987 Britain also threads through the story and acts as a crucial editorial counterpoint to The Boss. We worked closely with director Gurinder Chadha to expand and select authentic music from that era – such as Pet Shop Boys’ “It’s a Sin”, Level 42’s “Lessons In Love”, A-ha’s “The Sun Always Shines on TV” and M/A/R/R/S’ “Pump Up The Volume” (which Pete remembers fondly from childhood – taping it from the radio with his brothers!). UK music of that era was escapist. It was this shiny world you could enter into when – politically – things were pretty awful. This 80s music was about escaping the reality of relentless Thatcher-ism and onslaught of rabid capitalism.
What did you enjoy most about working on this film?
Zoë / Pete:
Aside from the opportunity to work on a Bruce Springsteen-endorsed project, we loved re-visiting the 80s gems – nostalgic for both of us! We also had the pleasure of tracking down the Bhangra acts that Gurinder knew from the era, like Heera and the inimitable Johnny Zee (India’s answer to Michael Jackson!). Not a world we were familiar with, but we connected with lovely people who helped us with kindness and generosity.
Is there anything else that you would like to share?
Zoë / Pete:
Track Listing:
“Backstreets” – Bruce Springsteen
“Badlands” – Bruce Springsteen
“Because The Night” – Bruce Springsteen
“Blinded By The Light” – Bruce Springsteen
“Born To Run” – Bruce Springsteen
“Cover Me” – Bruce Springsteen
“Dancing In The Dark” – Bruce Springsteen
“Darkness On The Edge Of Town” – Bruce Springsteen
“Hungry Heart” – Bruce Springsteen
“Independence Day” – Bruce Springsteen
“Jungleland” – Bruce Springsteen
“Prove It All Night” – Bruce Springsteen
“The Promised Land” – Bruce Springsteen
“Thunder Road” – Bruce Springsteen
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“(I Just) Died In Your Arms” – Cutting Crew
“Get Out Of My Way Fascist (Pigs)” – Amer Chadha-Patel
“Hoon Tha Meh Nachna” – Johnny Zee aka Taz Stereo Nation
“I Think We’re Alone Now” – Tiffany
“It’s A Sin” – Pet Shop Boys
“Lessons In Love” – Level 42
“Live It Up” – Mental As Anything
“Maar Chhadapa” – Heera
“Mary’s Prayer” – Danny Wilson
“O Duniya Ke Rakhwale” – Mohammed Rafi
“Pump Up The Volume” – M/A/R/R/S
“The Sun Always Shines On TV” – a-ha
“Tu Ganga Ki Mauj” – Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi
You can access this by clicking here!
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Best Song Written and/or Recorded for Television
“On a Roll” from Black Mirror
Program: Black Mirror
Episode: #503 “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too”
Music Supervisor: Amelia Hartley
May you give us a little insight into your work on the film and what you enjoyed the most about it?
Amelia:
I loved working on ‘Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too’ (ep3, series 5 Black Mirror.)
From bringing The Invisible Men, our record producers, on board, to getting Trent Reznor and his team across Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones’ creative, to Miley Cyrus, her team and label and the lovely Netflix it was really good fun!
I didn’t really sleep before 1 am for about a month as everyone except for me was US-based but hopefully it was worth it as, with Anne Sewitsky, our wonderful director, and Nick Pitt the lovely producer, I think we might be a little bit proud of the music in this episode.
Thanks so much for the nomination!
You can watch Black Mirror’s episode of ‘Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too’ streaming now on Netflix!