One of this summer’s biggest movie hits just had the curtain raised on some of its more iconic musical moments courtesy of a new deep-dive by Apple Music.
The behind-the-scenes video on some of the movie’s more notable musical moments comes as the movie makes its transition from short summer theatrical release to finding a home on VOD services where – much like the smash hit game its based on – it’s all set to run and run.
“We thought it would be so great if Jack is singing about some of his experiences in the overworld,” explains director Jared Hess, keen to make maximum use of Jack Black, who plays Steve, the movie's main protagonist and someone who’s equally at home both acting and creating music as part of Tenacious D.
“Some of the builds that he’s done have these little song moments,” explains director Hess.
“I wrote a few jingles…” admits Black.
"We did one take of him singing his Lava Chicken Shack jingle and he just crushed it,” says Hess. “That’s the take that we use in the film. That was first time. Dude, it was amazing.”
“It was pretty magical. That was right out of the gate,” confirms Black.
And the song has proved such a smash that it has attracted celebrity endorsement, even gaining a cover version by progressive metallers Trivium, who posted their own impromptu backstage take earlier this week.
Who’d have thought that it takes a four-string bass and a seven-string guitar to bust out this bite-sized future classic?
It’s all pretty remarkable for a song that’s only 34 seconds long
Yes, Black’s track, Steve’s Lava Chicken – like the spicy wing it honours – is gone before you know it, and yet its presence in the movie and lasting catchy appeal allowed it to chart in the UK last month becoming – no surprise, this – the shortest music release ever to do so.
What’s perhaps more remarkable (yes, even more than the fact that it’s a song about cooking a chicken with lava and was created in a single improv take) is that it only grasped that accolade by a mere two seconds.
And the song it beat to become the shortest ever? UK duo Jonny Trunk & Wisbey’s The Ladies’ Bras, of course. A song which clocks in at a positively leisurely 36 seconds.
With a chorus of “The ladies’ bras, the ladies’ bras. The ladies’ knickers and the ladies’ bras,” it's certainly one that sticks in the mind. It's a song that not only hit number 27 in 2007, but also reveals something of the unique nature of the British psyche.
We’ll have more musical madness along in a moment.
