Basquiat: Original Soundtrack - Music From The Miramax Film
Few film soundtracks capture the essence or personality of their subject matter as beautifully as the collection of songs culled fromBasquiat. Jean Michel Basquiat's charisma was based in the many facets of his character and his art, and there's a song here for a good portion of his ever-changing moods. "Public Image," by PiL is a cynical sneer matching Basquiat's own disillusionment over his fame. The inclusion of the undulating rap/funk masterpiece "White Lines" by Grandmaster Flash, plays almost like a cautionary tale, while the hopelessness of Joy Division's "These Days" seems like a theme for the bleak emotional state the painter sometimes experienced. There are, of course, songs that reflect the period of Basquiat's rise from the '70s until his untimely death in the '80s.--Steve Gdula