[You know when you haven't explained yourself properly then there's a mixup and then you end up thinking, 'ah, fuck it'. That is this post. When I invited the Readers of Toad to contribute posts for this series on soundtracks I meant entire posts - you know a couple of hundred words, a little story or a bit of a rant. When John sent me his email on why he loved the soundtrack for Natural Born Killers I thought 'Oh for fuck's sake, I've ballsed this up. I really haven't been very clear have I.'

Then I looked at the post he'd sent through and, although it crossed my mind that I should email him back and explain that I kind of had a little more writing in mind, that really wasn't necessary. I mean, what he says is coherent, makes sense and is a single, complete thought neatly expressed and in need of no further elaboration.

The other reason I wanted to post it is because John is entirely new to me. He's never left a comment and this is the first time I knew he read my blog. I get this sometimes with people who say hello on Last.fm or Facebook. This blog gets over a thousand hits a day and maybe thirty people leave comments on a regular basis. Now I am not complaining about this at all, but it means I write this stuff, throw it out there and have little idea who is out there either enjoying it, hating it or just downloading the mp3s and fucking off, never to be seen again.

So it seemed sort of fitting that the first time John took the time to say hello I should just take him at face value, post what he wrote, include the rather excellent song choices and let you all meet him too. So, without any further ado, Natural Born Killers...]

My first soundtrack love was the Natural Born Killers disc produced by Trent Reznor. Like the movie, some people say it’s too jumbled and too ecclectic, but I say it works. Even the softer tracks like Patsy Cline’s ‘Back In Baby’s Arms’ take on a sinister edge.

Leonard Cohen – Waiting for the Miracle
Patsy Cline – Back in Baby’s Arms
Patti Smith – Rock & Roll Nigger

Posts in this series:
- Crash Calloway from Pretending Life is Like a Song writes about The Commitments.
- Nate, who plays viola in The Young Republic explains why some terrible films have excellent scores.
- My dearest darling Mrs. Toad sings the praises of the High School Movie.
- DC, presenter of The Waiting Room, goes on a truly interminable ramble about the great Tom Waits and One From the Heart.
- Brother of Toad talks about how the context of music can interfere with its use in a movie.
- John sums up Natural Born Killers in three sentences.
- I have a go myself by writing about the art of referencing films in your song lyrics and what it lets you do.
- Tim from The Daily Growl digs away at the sensual texture of In the Mood For Love.
- Matt from Draped in Velvet might never forgive the false start of the world of rap-rock.
- Ian from Broken Records delivers the rant that started this all off: why soundtracks just don’t work!