Spider-Man: Music From And Inspired By
The boys will be so pleased. Radio-friendly stadium rock is back in a big way, andMusic from and Inspired by Spider-Manmakes capital use of the trend. Like the blockbuster film itself, there's an attempt to provide something enjoyably disposable for everyone--resulting in "anthemic" songs you nod along to, and then forget the second they're done. Bands and artists you probably don't know (Bleu,Black Lab,Greenwheel) add the Everyman feel Spider-Man's character is said to approximate, while heroes Aerosmith provide an appropriately cartoonish cover of the original "Spider-Man Theme" (but nice to hear them hammily rocking, rather than wringing it ballad style). And ifKid Rockshouted the chorus on aBeastie Boysjoint, and their studio guitarist stole the riff from "Devil Went down to Georgia" and used it for an intro, you'd haveSum 41's latest effort ("What We're All About"). Throw in Danny Elfman, some buzz from theHives("Hate to Say I Told You So") and theStrokes("When It Started"), add the token Mary Jane (Macy Gray's "My Nutmeg Phantasy"), and the soundtrack does what it should--provides rock-solid support for the film, and then fades out.--Laura Etling