Alternate 'Scott Pilgrim' soundtrack choices

Scott Pilgrim is like my Harry Potter, Twilight or any other popular book series today. I realize I’m hardly alone in that sentiment: There’s something powerful about Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novel series that’s irresistible. Though I’ve seen some negative chatter about the first “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” trailer, mostly relating to its glorified imagining of indie culture, the book series has real heart.

With Edgar Wright (“Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz,” “Spaced”) behind the film version of Scott Pilgrim, I’m confident that the movie will be entertaining. Just as O’Malley packed the Scott Pilgrim series with little nuggets of video game, comic book and music nerd trivia that seep into the texture of the story without distracting readers, Wright has done the same in his film and TV work. O’Malley tossed a Microphones reference into his books, Wright playful re-did a line from “Night of the Living Dead” in “Shaun of the Dead”: They seem to be a pair made for each other.

Of course, we won’t find out what the movie is like until the end credits roll, but the pedigree for the film is strong. My only reservation, aside from Michael Cera playing Scott Pilgrim, is the soundtrack [via Edgar Wright’s blog/Pitchfork]:

01 SEX BOB-OMB (Beck): “We Are SEX BOB-OMB”
02 Plumtree: “Scott Pilgrim”
03 Frank Black: “I Heard Ramona Sing”
04 Beachwood Sparks: “By Your Side”
05 Black Lips: “O Katrina!”
06 Crash and the Boys (Broken Social Scene): “I’m So Sad, So Very, Very Sad”
07 Crash and the Boys (Broken Social Scene): “We Hate You Please Die”
08 SEX BOB-OMB (Beck): “Garbage Truck”
09 T. Rex: “Teenage Dream”
10 The Bluetones: “Sleazy Bed Track”
11 Blood Red Shoes: “It’s Getting Boring by the Sea”
12 Metric: “Black Sheep”
13 SEX BOB-OMB (Beck): “Threshold”
14 Broken Social Scene: “Anthems for a Seventeen-Year-Old Girl”
15 The Rolling Stones: “Under My Thumb”
16 Beck: “Ramona (Acoustic)”
17 Beck: “Ramona”
18 SEX BOB-OMB (Beck): “Summertime”
19 Brian LeBarton: “Threshold 8 Bit”

Yes, the soundtrack is strong, mixing old hits with indie favorites. But I can’t help but question the artists selected to perform as two of the fictional bands from Scott Pilgrim. That being, Beck as SEX BOB-OMB and Broken Social Scene as Crash and the Boys.

In the graphic novel series, SEX BOB-OMB is a slightly-inept punk trio, while Crash and the Boys is a noise trio best known for having an extremely young drummer with ADD. For some reason, Beck’s diverse discography doesn’t really match with the book’s concept of SEX BOB-OMB. And the army-of-musicians known as Broken Social Scene doesn’t seem like a good fight for Crash and the Boys.

So, what bands would provide better fits?

Well, perhaps one of the many pop-laced new emo bands springing up around the country would be a good stand in for SEX BOB-OMB. Though most of these acts have skilled musicians to pull of their sounds, the tunes many of the bands produce have a playful and punk nature to them. And with albums that are as short as the one SEX BOB-OMB produced in the Scott Pilgrim series, a band like BEST FRIENDS! would work quite well as a SEX BOB-OMB stand in.

How about Crash and the Boys? L.A. noiseniks HEALTH would fit the bill nicely. With blasts of noise that knock people on their ass, a drummer that certainly maintains aural authority, and a flair for electronic and dance music, HEALTH’s sound would be a great match for Crash and the Boys, especially with the fictional band’s narrative evolution.

Of course, the music decisions have been made, the songs synched up to the film, etc. Although I’m interested to see what Beck’s SEX BOB-OMB and Broken Social Scene’s Crash and the Boys will sound like, it’ll be hard to not imagine HEALTH every time I open a Scott Pilgrim book and see an image of Crash and the Boys.

“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” international trailer:

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Health – “Die Slow”:

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