Customer Reviews

Pretty In Pink: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not a huge fan of movie soundtracks, but you couldn't take this CD away from me without a fight. Pretty In Pink's music did much to make it the great film it was. Although some of the artists featured on the soundtrack weren't really mainstream or famous, the music epitomizes the late great 1980s. "If You Leave" by OMD was one of the biggest hits of the entire decade, and it sounds as good today as it did back then. The title track by The Psychedelic Furs remains immediately recognizable by its opening notes. Both of these two songs still spark a nostalgic memory of my angst-ridden teen years. I must thank the compilers of this soundtrack for including the short but emotion-laden track "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" by The Smiths. Were it not for this CD, I probably would never have discovered the weird yet cathartic music of Morrissey and The Smiths. "Left of Center" is one of Suzanne Vega's best songs, just as "Do Wot You Do" represents INXS at that band's peak. These songs are a pretty eclectic mix, but all of them are fun to listen to even today and could probably fill a dancefloor with young people as well as not so young people who watched Pretty In Pink and listened to the soundtrack over and over again in our young, carefree days. For me, each song sparks a memory and keeps alive a small piece of a time in my life I will be trying to remember and relive until the day I die.

You talk about a guilty pleasure. This is great sing-along stuff. I wonder how many times I can moan and groan along to "If You Leave" before the neighbors knock down the walls and dismantle the CD player. This CD rules; I've listened to it so many times I've probably worn holes in it. The only thing I don't like about it is that it doesn't contain Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness", since Duckie makes such a classic scene of it in the movie. Still a great CD though.

Five-star ratings should be used sparingly, really. But this album gets the five mostly because the selection holds up even fifteen years after the movie's release. I've got my fave tracks, but I rarely skip any of the tunes. I still prefer the original version of the title track, but this one is way more accessible, and certainly more 80's-esque. Essential for any self-respecting retro fan, and a fan of pop music in general.

This soundtrack came out the year I graduated from High school. I can remember playing the "cassette" to death in my car and I remember loving the entire soundtrack but was always a bit disappointed that Nik Kershaw's version of "Wouldn't It Be Good" wasn't used on this set. While Danny Hutton Hitters is okay, the original is far superior.

Surprisingly, nobody has mentioned Echo & the Bunnymen's "Bring on the Dancing Horses" which is my personal favorite selection on this soundtrack. It is hauntingly beautiful and still gives me chills to this day when I hear it.

The Smith's "Please Please Please" was for me the beginning of a long melancholy relationship with that band. I recently saw Morrissey in concert and he can still create a mood..
"Shellshock" by New Order and "Left of Center" by Vega and Jackson and of course the title track are wonderful too.

It doesn't get better or more 80's than The P-Furs, New Order, OMD, The Smiths, INXS and Echo. This collection showcases some of their better songs and it all flows together in perfect harmony during a time when things well...weren't so bad.

John Hughes' "Pretty in Pink" has always been a favorite movie of mine. I fell in love with it immediately. It is easily one of the greatest teen movies ever and is rivaled only by "The Breakfast Club" as the best "Brat Pack" flick of the 80s.

The soundtrack, much like the film, captures the essence, the spirit of the 80s. What you get here are ten new-wave, alternative and pop songs that helped define the era. Standouts include Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark's "If you leave," The Psychedelic Fur's title track, and the Smiths' "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want," but really the entire soundtrack is great, not a dud among on the CD.

The album is somewhat bittersweet, with the songs being equally morose and celebratory. Much like the film, the songs seem to focus on unrequited love and longing, with a glimmer of hope.

If you are a fan of the film, 80s music and or pop-culture, this CD is well worth adding to your collection.

With artists like INXS, OMD, and Echo and the Bunneymen, this soundrack is a perfect mix of 80s alternative. When I first bought the tape years ago, after seeing the movie, I wore it out playing it over and over. To listen to these sleeper hits by major alternative 80s artists again is a trip back to my teenage years.

So why don't I own it? I taped it off a friend's vinyl (Greg, where are you?) and listened to it so many times that I went out and bought just about every album that these songs appear on. You could say this record nearly single-handedly shaped my musical taste.

I picked this up on vinyl back in the 80's, and played it obsessively. I grew up in a small farming community, and somehow, country music didn't do it for me. I had no idea what else to listen to, until I bought this soundtrack. I didn't know who any of the bands were at the time, but loved them all so much that I began to track them down. This was before INXS hit it big, but when I heard another one of their songs, I rushed out and bought their album. I was sure that Suzannne Vega had a pipeline to my soul--I was Left of Center--and she understood! Morrissey's voice was like a beacon from elsewhere, and for the next 10 years, I listened to New Order and the Smiths constantly. I own all of Echo and the Bunnymen now, I think, and the Psychedelic Furs will always have a place in my heart for their marvelous version of this fantastic song. I was perhaps the only person in America to track down a Belois Some album, which I still have. It's great!

Essentially, this soundtrack became a sourcebook for me. It was the first "trendy" non main stream commercial pop that I had found. The fact that all of these songs sound like perfect classic 80's pop is a testament to the person who compiled this. This soundtrack doesn't sound revolutionary any more, but this was essentially for me the 80's equivalent of Seth Cohen introducing Ryan Atwood to Death Cab for Cutie.

If you love delicious pop music, if you adore the 80's, if you secretly wish Molly Ringwald still was a huge star, rush out and buy this. You won't be disappointed.

I had watched Pretty in Pink a couple of times when I was about four. Years went by, and I found myself in a used CD store, throwing over a couple of bucks for this soundtrack, I went home, stuck it in my CD player, and all of these memories from the movie came rushing back, I cried. It was so odd, I hadn't remembered any of the movie before then, but the minute If you Leave came on, I could picture Andy hugging Ducky....

Now, I wouldn't give up this CD even if you payed me, somehow I feel it's conected to my past.

Finally, a few months ago, I re-watched the movie, and I have to admit, the soundtrack is better. I liked the movie of course, but it was a little too 80's for my taste.

i enjoyed the album but it was missing 2 good songs the first one was "rudy"by talk back, and the other one was rave up/shut up, by the rave ups.if anyone knows were you can get "talk back"album let me know..