Episode 24 transcript

Note: this transcript is AI-generated, and as such, it may contain spelling or grammatical errors.

Chad (00:17.853)
Hello and welcome back to the Aural Mess podcast. I'm joined again this week by Alex Sciarra. Hey Alex.

Alex Sciarra (00:23.63)
Hi, Dad, thank you for having me once again. Honored to be here as always.

Chad (00:27.805)
Well, thank you very much. And this is a very special episode, as you know, I've been really excited to record this one. So we're going to be talking about the movie and the soundtrack to the movie Xanadu. And one of the reasons why I invited you to guest host this episode is because you'd never seen the movie. So the first question, of course, that I want to know is, what did you think?

Alex Sciarra (00:49.39)
Well, as a huge ELO fan, I was bowled over in a good way and then by a bad way. I turned it on not knowing what to expect. Of course, I've watched all over the world and Xanadu thousands of times on YouTube.

and I did read in one of the articles you sent me, it was a 40 page script.

They were like, this is for and one of the actors right there like surely they'll shop this and make it longer. I it was just and at one point during the second half I counted I tried to time when Something totally unexpected would happen. So i'd be like, okay one

two three boom turns to animation okay one two three four okay he's in a cage now one two three four five okay he's you know where the fish are turning to birds like at no point did i know what was going to happen next which

Chad (02:11.229)
That's amazing.

Alex Sciarra (02:12.91)
Nope, no single point was I like, yeah, like this will flow like surely they're on the beach and then you know, they'll walk the it was kind of a fever dream as many would describe it. Colors were gorgeous. Olivia Newton John, of course, Australia's greatest export, but my honest reaction was what the heck did I just

What the fudge did I just watch? What was your first exposure to the film?

Chad (02:49.981)
So I saw it in the theater in 1980 as an eight -year -old.

My sister took me to see it. I don't know if I had asked to go see it, maybe because, you know, they released some of the music first. I think, like, Magic was on the radio already, and I'm not sure what other songs. I think they were sort of out right before the movie really hit the theaters. So I had a huge crush on Olivia Newton -John, you know, as a kid. My first celebrity crush, right? First girl that I liked, you know, that was like an adult, I guess.

Alex Sciarra (03:04.462)
Okay.

Alex Sciarra (03:09.678)
huh.

Alex Sciarra (03:20.43)
Mm -hmm.

Chad (03:20.475)
so my sister took me to see the movie and eight year old me probably loved it. You know, if I remember correctly, it was just like, like you said, it was a fever dream, but between the animation and the bright colors and the music and the roller skating and, you know, I knew of Gene Kelly because as a kid, you know, even probably that young, I'm sure I watched musicals with my parents. You know what I mean? So I think it was all familiar to me, but, maybe, you know, as an eight year old, didn't get the take that you had, which was like, okay, I've.

Alex Sciarra (03:42.702)
Absolutely. -huh.

Chad (03:50.382)
no idea what's happening next. Subsequent rewatches, I've probably seen it six or seven times. It's one of those things where it's like, I love it. I love it just for the nostalgia and for the sheer fever dream, cocaine fueled campiness that it represents.

Alex Sciarra (03:53.998)
Love.

Chad (04:14.94)
But at the same time, I kind of watch it half cringing too. So it's kind of funny.

Alex Sciarra (04:23.726)
Did you, have you shown your daughter?

Chad (04:26.588)
she won't watch it with me. She's like, I don't want to watch that. Well, so here's the thing is like, you know, I rewatch it, like maybe, you know, like I said, I've probably seen it six, seven times. And three of those times have probably been in the last 10 years. And my wife just hates it. She's like, why the hell are you watching that piece of crap again? And I'm like, because it's fun, you know? So I think my daughter's kind of like, well, you know, I don't know, it's not her thing.

Alex Sciarra (04:54.158)
Yeah, I could see it being a big nostalgia hit and that's a lot what I read online too is like I loved it when I was eight. I loved it now. It'd be akin to me watching like, I don't know, Fern Gully. I remember that 90s animated film where I'm like, yeah, the bat has a fucking wire on its head. Like I love this and everyone's like, bye.

Chad (05:06.203)
Sure.

Chad (05:10.46)
hahahaha

Chad (05:15.517)
It's like I said, it's familiar. It's like a comfort movie. You know what I mean? It's one of those things that I can put it on. I don't have to pay attention to it.

Alex Sciarra (05:20.014)
Hmm.

Chad (05:24.636)
And it's just there and it kind of does its magic. I think it's interesting too because it sort of took us from the 70s into the 80s, right? Being filmed in like 79 into 80. And they sort of talk about, you know, this is the 80s. This is a new decade like in the movie. So it was like, it was so exciting, I think to them at the time. And to your point, you know, 45 page script, what's the average in Hollywood? 200 pages, 250, you know, for like a normal movie. Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (05:51.982)
Yeah, a minute a page as the rule goes. Yeah.

Chad (05:54.542)
And, okay, got it. So yeah, it was like nowhere near fleshed out. It was really just an idea. And you know, the story, if you look at it, it's cute. You know, it's a cute story. It's sort of...

echoes a movie, I think, from the 40s. I forget which star was in it, but it's the same sort of thing where like a muse comes to life and, you know, sort of helps this musician realize his dreams or whatever. So they sort of stole that idea, I think, from an old 40s film.

Alex Sciarra (06:27.566)
Yeah, they did say it was a 40s film and remind me of 40s. We'll circle back to that.

Chad (06:32.987)
Okay, yeah. So it's and even the director says that like, he thought they were going to do all this script massaging and fleshing out and they kind of didn't they just kept rewriting stuff on the fly like as they were filming basically, they sort of never got around to like expanding the story. So it just became more of a musical I think and just you know, let less of a plot.

Alex Sciarra (06:59.534)
Hmm interesting. Yeah,

What I was gonna say about the 40s, I remember I was, I went to an arts high school, very unconventional, and I was shopping for a winter formal and or prom dress. And in LA, you know, it was before Yelp, maybe like 2007, 2006, like you had to kind of, you know, the word on the street, like, the word on the street is this warehouse in downtown LA has a bunch of vintage dresses and the woman's really eccentric. So I went there and I was trying on all these dresses and I got this really

really cool black dress with a narrow waist and huge like, you know, like ribbons, like black and then like a weird pencil skirt. And she said something that I've never kind of forgotten. She said, well, you have to remember in the eighties, they were obsessed with the forties. And I was like, and then I was like, did Xanadu inspire this? Because, you know, I did tap when I was little and that tap dancing scene where it goes back in time.

Chad (07:50.2)
Yeah.

Chad (08:02.009)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (08:02.19)
and Olivia Newton -John's tap dancing with him. I was like, okay, like I need to find a studio immediately. My new life is tap dancing. It's just so hypnotizing to watch. And how did they even come up with tap dancing? It's just like rhythmic and just flows. And it's just really beautiful. But it did remind me of that. And yeah, just did not know what to expect from.

Chad (08:07.385)
hahahaha

Chad (08:27.834)
I don't think anybody involved in the movie knew what to expect. Like scene to scene, they were just like, okay, let's do this. The tap dancing scene, which I didn't know this. I was just, I went down like this Olivia Newton, John rabbit hole this morning. Cause I started out with watching, which I forgot to send you by the way, but I'll.

Alex Sciarra (08:40.59)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (08:44.526)
Okay.

Chad (08:44.762)
link them for the show and I'll send you afterwards. There are a couple of actual documentaries about the movie. One was filmed sort of like generating excitement for the movie before it came out. It's like 20 minute long special, I guess that was on TV or something. And it was like behind the scenes and, you know, talking about the whole Gene Kelly thing and all that. There's another one called I think it's like revisiting Xanadu or going back to Xanadu or something. And it was filmed from the way it looks, I'm guessing it was shot in the 90s, like the

late 90s. And they talked to a few people that were involved in the movie, the director, the producer, a couple of the actors, Kenny Ortega, who was the choreographer, and everybody sort of telling the recollections of the thing. So from there, of course, YouTube started feeding me like Olivia Newton, John retrospective videos and things like that. And I found this channel, which I can't remember the name now. But again, I'll go back to my history and paste a link to the channel and the show notes. But they did this 10 part series on like Olivia Newton, John's life and career. And it was

Alex Sciarra (09:15.854)
Mm -hmm.

Chad (09:44.524)
really well done, but they have all these like really deep and obscure sort of interviews and clips of her talking about different things. So the Xanadu episode, she was saying how...

she was taking tap dance lessons because she wanted to learn how to tap and sort of expand her dance knowledge because she wasn't a great dancer. And then when Xanadu came around and she realized Gene Kelly was gonna be in it, she actually asked them to incorporate a tap dancing scene into one of the numbers. Yeah, so it was sort of her idea, which is like mind blowing.

Alex Sciarra (10:20.526)
Wow. And I did notice at that very last scene, I can't remember if it's actually in Xanadu or all over the world, I thought the troupe was tap dancing, but they're tap dancing on roller skates. Like it's very like... I was like, cool, more tap dancing. No, they're on roller skates. Like, surprise. I was like, whoa, that was a really cool, interesting kind of bit that they incorporated again. Don't know why.

Chad (10:33.369)
Yes.

Hahaha

Chad (10:49.113)
Well, it was supposed to be like a like a roller disco movie just to capitalize on on the craze at the time. And then somehow they landed Olivia. Somehow they landed Gene Kelly. So then it turned into this whole other thing, I guess. But they kept the roller skating in there and like to see Gene Kelly, I think he was like 67 or 68 when he shot that. And he's like on roller skates like it's nothing like, you know, super impressive.

Alex Sciarra (10:53.742)
Yeah.

Thank you.

Alex Sciarra (11:15.086)
Yeah, and another note I've never done any real drugs. I only smoke weed but halfway through it I was like what drugs like what like is this what real drugs are like? like acid Cocaine like not cocaine like everyone says cocaine But like gotta be like LSD like everything I don't know

Chad (11:28.568)
Hahaha!

Chad (11:39.545)
Yeah, it had to be some hallucinogenic for somebody to come up with this idea. But the idea of the muses, I think was was kind of cool. You know, Olivia Newton -John is supposed to be Terpsichore.

sure which ones the other muses are, you know, officially, but they go through this whole storyline of, you know, her sort of coming back to the earth and, you know, finding somebody to inspire and to help out to realize his dream. And, you know, of course, it's Michael Beck, who we knew from The Warriors a few years prior. Another great cult classic. Awful, but great movie if you've never seen it. You've never seen The Warriors? All right.

Alex Sciarra (12:17.198)
No, yeah.

Never seen the ways. Okay. Okay.

Chad (12:21.433)
That's your homework, Alex. That's another one you've got to go watch. Same thing. It's a shit movie, but it's like you have to see it once in your lifetime.

It's about these gangs in New York in the 70s, basically. And like this one gang is sort of like off their home turf and they have to make it back to Coney Island and all these other gangs are sort of in the way. And there's this whole like gang confab going on. And, you know, they're all like meeting to come up with like terms to stop the gang wars. And it's like it's it's just awful. But but and the best the best possible way of being awful. And it's Michael Beck is the lead character again. So.

Alex Sciarra (12:31.726)
interest.

Alex Sciarra (12:57.614)
Yeah.

Michael Beck's acting in this film is something else. I mean if a cardboard box came to life, I mean just respectfully like if a refrigerator like a 1975 Frigidaire just came to earth and you know, it was just like Fascinating.

Chad (13:10.744)
Hahaha!

Chad (13:27.864)
Yeah, for sure. But it's just, you know, to me, interesting how...

the different characters kind of come together. Right. Like I think that was one of the things that was well done. As you see, Gene Kelly is like this aging former musician, owned a club in New York City, and then sort of gives up on that dream and settles into this construction management company or whatever that he owns in California. So, you know, obviously he's, you know, very comfortable financially. He's got this huge house and, you know, he's just looking to sort of, you know, fun. He's like a VC. Right. He's looking to fund.

Alex Sciarra (13:56.302)
Yeah.

Chad (14:06.954)
fund somebody's somebody else's dream. And he comes across this kid who's like this amazing artist that has you know, kid, I mean, he's probably like 30 something years old in the movie, but he calls him kid like the whole time. And you know, he's like, I'm gonna make you a partner. And he and Michael Beck's like, I've never been a partner before, what do I have to do? It's just like, some of the the acting is pretty bad, but the interplay and some of the dialogue is just priceless, you know.

Alex Sciarra (14:16.014)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (14:33.71)
Yeah, and then a lot of people like, okay, first of all, let me circle back. The job like was that a made up career or did record labels actually fund a troupe of artists to enlarge by hand album covers? Because I want that job. I can like bring it back like.

Chad (14:51.735)
Mm -hmm. They did. It was a real thing. Right?

Alex Sciarra (15:01.486)
And it's so funny that it was like financed by the label. They're like, you're on our payroll. Like you needed you need to be true to this art. We paid the PR paid a lot of money to make this is perfect. Don't paint are too pretty like that. Like police sergeant boss was like, no. Like, I mean, I guess that's like the crux of all kind of like artists against capitalism. You know, it's like, don't you dare be creative. Which is really funny and.

Chad (15:26.424)
For sure, yeah.

Alex Sciarra (15:29.102)
Yeah, I'd love that job. Like, they're just chilling in the basement, like, painting. Like, you probably smoke weed. Like, like that curve.

Chad (15:35.513)
Well, it's funny because he comes in at one point and he's just like talking nonsense. And the other guy that works with him is like, are you straight and like, you know, and the 70s parlance of like, you know, are you high, right? Like, so funny.

Alex Sciarra (15:44.494)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (15:48.558)
Yeah.

Chad (15:50.936)
But yeah, that would be a sweet gig. And even the manual labor involved, because later, you know, the boss sends him out and says, OK, well, you know, go hang up your artwork. And he goes to this record store. And it's kind of funny. Like he's in the middle of actually hanging like a painting, I guess, or a poster or whatever. And then he sees Gene Kelly and he just like jumps down off the ladder, just leaves. I'm like, what happened to his truck? What happened to his ladder? Like, you know, no continuity.

Alex Sciarra (16:11.278)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (16:16.398)
Yeah, and the characters that come in and out like the guy in the van he's like hop on and he like is like roll I was like I thought he's gonna get in the van again one two. nope. He's hitching a ride like Yeah, let me let me start counting over I was gonna do that cuz I'm such a like cap record I was gonna like make a data set like I was like, okay average of when I Don't know what the fuck is gonna happen next

Chad (16:29.304)
He's hanging on the back of the van.

Chad (16:43.704)
Hahaha

Alex Sciarra (16:45.294)
Like, let's make a graph of when things just go haywire and I'm confused again.

Chad (16:52.57)
Yeah, I think they really just, you know...

It was like they built the plane while they were flying it, you know, that kind of thing. They were just like, fuck it. Let's just put this in. You know, this is great. And apparently the animated scene, which was like completely out of left field, they called up Don Bluth, who, as you know, did like all these amazing animated movies for Disney in the 70s. I think Secret of Nim was the biggest one. And they just like out of nowhere said, you know what we need? We need an animated sequence. Who should we call? Call Don Bluth. He just quit Disney recently or whatever. Like he just left Disney and I guess.

Alex Sciarra (17:01.966)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (17:05.55)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (17:11.694)
huh.

Okay.

Alex Sciarra (17:21.902)
Yeah.

Chad (17:25.498)
that one of the videos that I was talking about, they actually interviewed Bluth and he was like, yeah, they just called me up in a panic and they were like, you know, we have to get this animated sequence in and you know, can you do it like tomorrow? And he's like, sure. So I guess he did the storyboards in like a day and he sent them back and they were like, love it. It's brilliant. Let's fucking shoot it. You know, like there was no editing, no like, you know, just everything just kind of got thrown up against the wall. And there you go.

Alex Sciarra (17:50.638)
Yeah, it does look very Disney. I do absolutely appreciate a hand animated sequence. I thought it was very gorgeous with her and the princess. A little weird that she turned like a redhead and then like they didn't look anything like each other. It was just like no no no alternate universe again. Here we are. Surprise.

Chad (18:04.537)
Right.

Chad (18:10.649)
But they did give her a little leg warmers even when she was like a fish or a frog or whatever. Yeah. Yeah. yeah. I think when she turns into one of the animals, I forget which one she has little like purple leg warmers on or something. Yeah. Supposedly that movie like launched the whole leg warmer craze. I don't know if that's true or not, but.

Alex Sciarra (18:15.758)
I didn't see that under the gown.

Alex Sciarra (18:29.39)
interesting maybe crossed with physical that came later i don't know but

Chad (18:33.21)
Yeah, and by the way, I watched the sequence on that too, and that Olivia Newton John channel and that I mean, I don't you know, again, I was that was 82. So I was 10. And you know, it was a big hit. I remember hearing it on the radio and stuff. But I remember seeing the video but.

Alex Sciarra (18:40.046)
huh.

Alex Sciarra (18:45.422)
Okay.

Chad (18:50.842)
I guess that song really was designed to like erase her like wholesome good girl image and you know, prove that she was a grown up, right? Which for better or for worse, I don't know.

Alex Sciarra (18:59.118)
pinch.

Yeah. Another note about, I guess, the costumes. I mean, okay, so I felt it was a little jarring and I don't want to be ageist because that's a big discourse right now on Twitter.

you know about Pamela Anderson without the makeup yada yada do you expect everyone to die at 27 or anything but the fact that they put her in these toddler dresses for a woman with the poofy white and you could really see her I mean what was Grease I was trying to think when was Grease shot 76 70 she just

Chad (19:39.065)
78 I think, yeah. Or 77, I came out in 78 maybe.

Alex Sciarra (19:45.422)
Yeah, like I don't want to say I think maybe it has to do with the cinematography or the lighting or the costuming, but she looks markedly older, especially in the little bow peep outfits. You know, I think, you know, and then she's back with physical and she cuts her hair and that's always great. You know, a sign of growing up, cutting the hair and she looks younger there, but I don't know, cowboy boots and ribbons. Like that was very...

Chad (20:11.897)
Hahaha.

Alex Sciarra (20:14.894)
jarring.

Chad (20:16.954)
Well, she was like 34, I think, when that movie came out. So yeah, so it wasn't like she was even in her 20s. I mean, you know, and back then, I mean, you know, again, the ageism thing back then was rampant. And to be 34 as a woman in Hollywood back then, like she was considered probably old, you know? I mean, by today's standards, you're just getting started.

Alex Sciarra (20:19.822)
Really? Okay.

Thank you.

Alex Sciarra (20:35.63)
Mm -hmm, exactly. And then there were you Yeah, my gosh, and then you know the infamous like grace, you know the high schoolers who are 30 Yeah Like why was that a decision and then we're growing up early. We're gonna look really old over high school Grown -ups and like no, you're a child

Chad (20:51.386)
Hahaha!

Chad (20:55.962)
I think it's the hairstyles too. Like if you look back, I mean, I went to high school in the eighties and if you look back at like my yearbooks and stuff, like some of the kids that I went to school with look like they could have been in their mid to late twenties. And I think it's because there's just that anachronistic thing about their outfits and hair that makes them look older or like you just know that they're 50 something years old now. I don't know. I feel like that that's a factor when you look back, you know.

Alex Sciarra (21:19.278)
Yeah.

Yeah, same with, I guess, my grandma's yearbook in the 30s. It was very like, you know, little adults. Little adults. But another little girl. They're good.

Chad (21:30.585)
Yeah, well, and they grab. Okay.

I was gonna say, well, in the 30s when they graduated high school, they were like starting families, going to war, like, you know, like there was, there was no, there was no being a kid after you turned 18. It was it. That was, that was the end of your, your young adulthood, you know.

Alex Sciarra (21:49.294)
Yeah. Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (21:54.03)
the costume design and when I've watched all over the world in Sanidu thousands of times on YouTube.

Just I love love love the extras how they're so new wave like proto new wave like with like I was joking with you that you should have worn a bright like just like neon orange mohawk wig with like a mullet too just so much like you know just like like and then like blue street like a lightning bolt on the side just like they're like let's go all out and the wigs and then you know the the woman on the clothes

Chad (22:07.768)
Yeah!

Alex Sciarra (22:30.944)
hanger doing that gorgeous kind of choreography and they come out like that was the peak that was the payoff to me I was like okay I sat through 86 minutes like it's all worth it I was like it's coming it's it just be patient watch him fly through the mural

Now they're fish and then that that you know, they're outside the the Xanadu and they're all excited They're like here it is and then I was like, okay, like the music starts. I was like, this is why I came here So that was a huge fail. Yeah

Chad (23:04.023)
You were cursing me the whole time. I just know you're like, damn it, Chad, why did you make me watch this? And why do we have to talk about it?

Alex Sciarra (23:13.806)
No, it's important. We should definitely continue the discourse into the coming years, because who else is going to?

Chad (23:22.039)
Yeah, you know, I feel like some of these lost gems just need to have something said about them every so often to keep them alive and sort of keep them in people's consciousness. You know, it's it was the best movie ever shot. Of course, not probably one of the worst movies ever filmed. But just, you know, for all the reasons that we've been talking about, I feel like it's important to keep it alive, you know.

Alex Sciarra (23:42.894)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

Chad (23:47.734)
So let's talk about the movie being a flop, because you mentioned that before we started recording. And, you know, I guess some of the some of the history around that, like, what did you find out?

Alex Sciarra (23:53.678)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (23:58.798)
I found out it was shot for 20 million. I don't know what that is in 20, $24 shot for 20 million. I think you've said the budget once it was originally slated to be a low budget release just for the people. Then Olivia John signed on Kelly signed on and they're like, wait, wait, wait, increase the budget and box office.

And it was it was cute. They said they released it on August 8th, 1980. Fact checker. But they wanted to do 888, which I know in Chinese is just like the luckiest like fortune. And I work at a Taiwanese company and everyone's email is like John to 888. Like really? Like, you know, eight, you know, and I was like, okay, like a fortuitous number. And I mean, gosh, did that backfire on them because it it

Chad (24:36.758)
well.

Chad (24:41.942)
Okay.

Alex Sciarra (24:50.382)
barely broke even at 22 million and some change. Not on opening weekend. Total. Theatrical release.

Chad (24:55.576)
Well, they didn't say total. Yeah, yeah. Wow. That's that's abysmal.

Alex Sciarra (25:03.214)
Yeah.

Chad (25:03.32)
They did say and they didn't say why, but apparently it was supposed to open in like 800 to 900 theaters and it only played in 200 for the opening week. And they didn't say why the studio pulled it back. I don't know if the studio execs just didn't have any faith in it whatsoever. But the director or the producer, whoever was talking in the interview about it, basically felt like, you know, if they released it as broadly as they said they were going to, it probably would have done a lot better.

Alex Sciarra (25:09.71)
huh.

Alex Sciarra (25:13.422)
no.

Chad (25:33.431)
you know, but who knows that's that's conjecture.

Alex Sciarra (25:33.806)
interesting.

Interesting and yeah, and they did mention I didn't know this about the industry our film But I guess August is traditionally the slower month. Let's put out whatever we have It's summer it's slow like we don't anticipate this to be like a Christmas release or anything like that They're like just throw it out there and see what happens. So

Chad (25:46.135)
Hmm.

Alex Sciarra (25:58.798)
that timing, you know, they did say it had a big resurgence, midnight screenings and akin to Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Chad (26:00.279)
Ha ha ha.

Chad (26:06.551)
Yeah, they did a musical of it. 2008, 2012, some sometime around that time they did a musical on Broadway. And apparently it was a pretty big hit, but I think it was probably, you know, a bunch of late boomers and Gen X kids like myself that probably were like, holy shit, I gotta go see Xanadu on Broadway. You know?

Alex Sciarra (26:10.094)
Really?

Alex Sciarra (26:27.406)
Yeah. my gosh. Yeah, just polar opposite of tastes. I think a few like I when I was like interested, I think I was tweeting about like I have to see this. You know, it was and I guess this kind of comes to the point of the

the mood of the film and the bands. As you know on Twitter, my big joke is, you know, a few years ago I was like, LA's number one supertramp fan. Like, pick the most like just medium, like no one loves supertramp, like I do. I'm LA's number one supertramp fan. And then conversely, when I got my UK passport a few months ago, I was like, all right, like not only am I LA's number one.

Supertramp fan. I am UK's number ELO fan. Again, like who loves ELO? Like it's me. Like I'm obsessed. But it was actually really funny speaking to the musical part. After I got my passport and I was really missing London and just so, you know, homesick for a place I've never lived. I downloaded this really amazing radio scanner for UK radio.

Chad (27:13.942)
Yes.

Chad (27:36.343)
Hmm.

Alex Sciarra (27:37.294)
and it had all the channels, it was Scotland, you know, London, all the BBCs, BBC Classical, and then Virgin is actually kind of akin to a perhaps audacity, a, you know, kind of a big powerhouse. And I remember, sorry, circle back, when I touched down in London,

You know, I flew and they have the little monitors and the screen and Wi Fi is expensive. So I'm like, whatever, I'm just gonna listen to whatever's on here. And I remember as we started landing, I was like, I'm gonna put on I put on ELO. Like, like, that was really big. I was like, why not? Like, you know, and when I downloaded the radio scanner, Virgin Radio hits so much ELO, like they're not fucking around. Like, they're like, this is our greatest export.

Chad (28:24.855)
hahahaha

Alex Sciarra (28:29.166)
fucking Richard Branson's probably at work he's like come on throw on throw on all over the world again you guys like just so like every other song I was like my gosh like I prophesized that this is huge like maybe I'm not UK's number one ELO fan Richard Branson is.

Chad (28:36.279)
Ha ha ha.

Chad (28:47.704)
Richard Branson has to be.

I remember yellow from being a kid and I don't know what year it came out and guess guessing sometime in the seventies but out of the blue is it like 76 77 maybe my brother had the album and I used to sit in his room and listen to whatever he was listening to because you know who doesn't do that with older siblings right and he used to just blast that album like nonstop when it came out yeah so like turned to stone and I forget some of the other tracks on that like just great great

Alex Sciarra (29:10.158)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (29:17.838)
Yeah.

Chad (29:20.281)
and those are like embedded in my consciousness, you know. But it's interesting too how they kind of split the music, right, for the soundtrack, and that's a great segue because we're gonna go through song by song. But like...

Alex Sciarra (29:30.478)
Yeah.

Chad (29:33.591)
You have Olivia Newton John, who is this global superstar for like almost 10 years at this point. I think she really hit the scene in like 71, 72. So, you know, and she had a bunch of hit records and a couple of, you know, hit singles, whatever. So they kind of built some of the music around her and her long time, you know, collaborator, John Farrer wrote, I think a bunch of the songs that she was going to sing, but then they brought Jeff Lin in and, you know,

Alex Sciarra (29:43.342)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (29:54.894)
Thank you.

Alex Sciarra (30:01.55)
Interesting.

Chad (30:02.584)
did the other half of the soundtrack and they sort of met in the middle on Xanadu. He wrote Xanadu, but she sang it, right? But I think the other four songs that feature ELO is Jeff on lead vocals as you would imagine.

Alex Sciarra (30:15.214)
Okay.

Chad (30:17.88)
But I think it's kind of funny because he was seem to be excited about it. He was working with John Farrar. I can't say the guy's name. I think it's Farrar. And Cliff Richard was involved because of the duet, right? Like, and I don't know if he has writing credit or if he's just credited because, you know, he was, he was also a gigantic star in England at that time. But.

Alex Sciarra (30:26.446)
Mm.

Alex Sciarra (30:31.246)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (30:38.83)
Interesting.

Chad (30:40.599)
After the movie came out and it sort of took a beating from the critics, Jeff Lin sort of distanced himself from it for years and like, wouldn't play any of the songs apparently and was like, you know, that was a mistake or whatever. And I think time sort of softened that up a little bit. And now I think he's been embracing it again, or, you know, he did after. But.

Alex Sciarra (30:48.814)
Wow.

Chad (31:03.319)
Let's do the soundtrack. Let's do it in movie order. Let's do it in the order in which they appear. Yeah, why we're here. So first song is I'm Alive.

Alex Sciarra (31:04.718)
Yeah, let's get into the meat and potato.

Chad (31:16.345)
And it soundtracks the scene where the muses come to life from this mural somewhere in Venice Beach, which I'll also link an article that goes through all the filming locations for the movie. So any of you LA folks can drive around and go location scouting if you're so inclined. But, you know, let's talk about the special effects in that scene.

Alex Sciarra (31:28.622)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (31:41.742)
the light track, like the auras? Maybe it was like, okay, we're entering like the new age era. Like everyone's gonna have like a yellow aura or like five or six digitally drawn auras.

Chad (31:56.184)
I think they were hand colored back then. I don't think there was anything digital. I don't know, but it seems like it was like hand drawn, all the animation. So you have all these muses come to life, they kind of pop out of the wall and sort of become 3D and start dancing. And they do this whole sequence and then they all kind of just shoot off in different directions, right? And I guess like they all have to go find their person to inspire.

Alex Sciarra (31:58.958)
Well...

Yeah.

huh.

Alex Sciarra (32:17.966)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (32:21.742)
Yeah, that was really gorgeous. I mean, that was a great start to the film. That was a good taste of what was to come up with the I Am Alive. It's very swelling. It's very just exciting. So really, really enjoyed that that song. So that was a good one.

Chad (32:27.736)
Yeah.

Chad (32:39.48)
Yeah, and that's obviously an ELO, right? So it's a strong way to start the soundtrack. Next up is Magic. What are your thoughts on Magic?

Alex Sciarra (32:42.382)
you

Alex Sciarra (32:53.358)
is a big music video I send to people I have crushes on. That is my I'm seducing you like historically I've stopped maybe two years ago but if I've sent you that music video like feeling fire I'm into it.

Chad (32:57.369)
Ha ha ha ha ha!

Chad (33:12.185)
It's on.

Alex Sciarra (33:13.422)
Yeah, I just think it's so seductive and I mean, how can you beat her voice? I think she did a, I was actually watching a music video of her separately performing it. So I think that was on her rotation. I think that was a big hit from the film. She went on to perform it and she's wearing the cute little jumpsuit and it's just very flirty. It's.

It's great, it just has a lot of emotions and kind of the theme of the film. Believe in magic, believe in manifestation, believe in visualizing. It's magic.

Chad (33:50.009)
Seductive is the exact right word for that song, I think. Just the music itself, like the backing track is very kind of sultry and sort of enticing. And then you have this just beautiful, crystal clear voice of Olivia's come in and...

Alex Sciarra (33:59.79)
Mm -hmm.

Chad (34:08.408)
It sounds like a late 70s composition, but it sounds timeless at the same time. Like you can play that song now and it doesn't seem like it's old or dated. Like it just kind of fits any, any era really. And it's interesting because it was like a number one hit. And I think it was actually, like I said, it was released on the charts, on the radio before the movie even hit theaters. But they don't really feature it in the movie, right? It's sort of like in the background when they're skating around this abandoned theater. Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (34:20.046)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (34:32.75)
Yeah, the roller, the weird roller skating. I was very sad it didn't have a bigger moment. I totally forgot. He hears the music in the distance and then again, don't know why, you know, I internally associated it with seduction because it's kind of the siren song to him, right? He's like, there's something over there. There's something over yonder. So yeah, should have had a bigger moment and she's just roller skating by herself.

Chad (34:59.224)
Yeah, and like, you know, some of the worst dialogue in that scene too. He's like, well, you know, what are you doing here? And she's like, I just come here to skate sometimes where nobody can bother me. It's like, you're amused. You can do whatever you want. And this is where you decide to hang out. You know, like, I don't know. It's pretty funny. Emo Olivia.

Alex Sciarra (35:13.39)
Yeah, maybe she's going through something. Everyone has their moments. Even muses have bad days. Yeah, and then the dubbing too kills me, I think, you know, in one.

scene it's just Michael's like dub like clearly dubbed I was like why did they have to dub this like why I hadn't seen it in eons it's like the mouth doesn't match up so maybe there's a little dubbing in that scene too maybe the acoustics of the roller rink with Anna Diem

Chad (35:32.376)
Ha ha.

Chad (35:40.728)
Yeah, could be.

Chad (35:47.096)
So next up is what we sort of alluded to earlier. There's the sort of 40s throwback, Whenever You're Away From Me. And it's the scene where Gene Kelly has this flashback of, you know, him being a clarinet player in this band in the 40s. And, you know, he had this woman in like a army uniform, like a whack or whatever they call them.

Alex Sciarra (35:53.198)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.

Chad (36:11.576)
that was, you know, I guess in the band with him, right. And he has this like memory of her singing and then it sort of comes to life. And, you know, here she is in his very Rococo mansion in Hollywood. Right.

Alex Sciarra (36:14.414)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (36:25.678)
Yeah, I hope, yeah, it's, what is it, maximalism. I think we're all sick of the minimalism of 2014, so I hope maximalism comes back and that was the key. You know, the plants, just the tile. It was very appropriate. Kind of Sunset Boulevard there.

Chad (36:37.4)
Ha ha ha.

Alex Sciarra (36:48.462)
lone past star alone in his big house. Someone comes in. But just the tap dancing. The tap dancing was spectacular during that song and it really fit.

Chad (36:48.696)
Yeah.

Chad (37:00.216)
Yeah, it was impressive, you know, for somebody that just took lessons, you know, fairly recently, apparently to hear her tell the story. I think she did a, excuse me, she did a great job. And Gene Kelly is just Gene Kelly and funny story. And you probably saw this in some of the articles too, but they talk about it in the documentary. Gene Kelly signed on and said, I'll do the movie, but I'm not dancing.

Alex Sciarra (37:22.606)
Really?

Chad (37:22.744)
Yeah, of all things. He said, I won't, what'd he say? I won't touch a toe was the word they used, the term they used. And I guess he asked for a meeting with Kenny Ortega, who we can talk about, you know, separately, but fantastic choreographer, did a lot of great work in the seventies. And he's, he did a lot of work with, I think like Cher and Madonna and a bunch of other people. Michael Jackson, right? Yeah, right.

Alex Sciarra (37:37.486)
Okay.

Alex Sciarra (37:47.246)
Michael Jackson, yeah, eventually. Makes sense.

Chad (37:51.994)
But they brought him in to do the choreography for the movie. And I guess he had enough of a name that Gene Kelly knew who he was. And Gene said, I want to meet with the choreographer. I want a private meeting with Kenny. So Kenny Ortega tells a story that Gene Kelly and him are sitting in a room and just the two of them. And he said, well, I'm not dancing in this picture. But if I were to decide to dance, what would you have me do? And Ortega says to him, well, I would just take you.

Alex Sciarra (38:04.686)
Mm.

Chad (38:21.947)
things out of your vocabulary and your choreography and you know sort of maybe update them a little bit or you know whatever so Gene Kelly says show me. Kenny Ortega is like I'm kind of like shitting myself like you know but he says luckily I knew...

Alex Sciarra (38:32.302)
Wow.

Chad (38:38.137)
a lot of, you know, I knew a lot of Gene Kelly's dance routines from the movies and stuff. He said, so I started doing some of his steps and then, you know, he joined in and we were like doing this, you know, sort of workshop kind of thing. And then at the end of it all, he said, OK, I'll dance. It's, you know, I like what you're going to do. I'll dance. So, yeah, it was really kind of funny because you imagine like Gene Kelly being in a movie and not dancing like it just wouldn't track. Right.

Alex Sciarra (38:55.31)
I trust you.

Alex Sciarra (39:03.054)
That would be very funny. I don't know why he said that maybe he was moving on from his career. But then again, why would you sign up? He's like, I'm gonna dial it in. He's like, you don't get dancing. Like I get a per diem I want my own trailer and no dancing on the writer. They're like, what they're like, we get to accommodate the red &Ms like but the dancing dude like they're stressing out behind the scenes. What are we gonna do like everything?

Chad (39:22.457)
Hahaha

Alex Sciarra (39:32.014)
which is pretty crazy to think about.

Chad (39:36.729)
Well, and they said that the only reason he took the job in the first place was because it was literally his house was around the corner from the lot and he could walk there. And they said, he said that if it was further away, he wouldn't have done it because he didn't want to deal with like commuting in LA. So it's like.

Alex Sciarra (39:45.774)
No.

Alex Sciarra (39:52.77)
God, don't I knew that.

Chad (39:56.088)
Yeah, right. And, you know, I guess he was in a position at that point that he didn't have to work. Right. So I think he was like, listen, if you want me, it's going to be on my terms, you know, whatever. So good for him. But it worked out and then they got him and they made him dance. So, you know, lucky for us. All right. Next up on the soundtrack in movie order is the duet with Cliff Richard and then Libby Newton John. And it's called Suddenly. What do you think?

Alex Sciarra (40:04.11)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (40:20.302)
Yeah. Yeah. I'm trying to recall it in my mind. That might be the when we reach the lull in the soundtrack for me. Yeah. So I am.

Chad (40:34.776)
That was another big hit, but in the movie it was the scene where they sneak into the soundstage with all the fancy equipment and the thunder machine and the backdrops and all that stuff. And.

Alex Sciarra (40:42.894)
I don't know.

Alex Sciarra (40:48.302)
Yeah.

Chad (40:51.736)
and they're like roller skating, of course.

Alex Sciarra (40:55.534)
Yes, yes suddenly it's good. Does that transition into the animated? No, that can't. Okay.

Chad (41:01.528)
No, that comes a little later.

Yeah. So, I remember suddenly being on the radio also and not knowing who Cliff Richard was and like, didn't really have any concept of him because I don't think he was really a big star here. I think again, he was, he was huge in the UK, but not really in America. So years later realizing, you know, what a megastar he was and stuff. But at the time I was kind of like, who's this guy? You know,

Alex Sciarra (41:11.982)
Really?

Chad (41:32.984)
Alright, so next song in the soundtrack and this is a big one. It's called Dancin' and it's where they had the big band and the sort of Andrew Sisters clones meet up with the New Wave punk rock guys who happen to be the tubes.

Alex Sciarra (41:45.198)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (41:48.814)
gosh, my gosh. That was the point in the movie. I was so confused because that song or that scene, it was like the rock song they chose for that was just so, it was like the same bar with no changes. It was like, da, da, da, da, da. And then you're like, okay, like here's gonna key change, da, da, da, da. And you're like, what is this? This is the worst song. And she comes out and she's all rock and roll. I'm like.

Yeah, but yeah, I remember that very vividly.

Chad (42:20.056)
Yeah, so the band and the orange jumpsuits is actually the tubes who yeah, you know who they are, right?

Alex Sciarra (42:24.91)
Okay, interesting.

Yeah, that kind of knew it.

Chad (42:30.457)
So yeah, but the funny thing is, and I didn't know this either, the Tube started in like the early 70s and they were kind of like an art rock collective kind of thing where they were doing like all these like, you know, theatrical shows and things around music before they really started putting out like rock records. And then, God, I forgot the first single they had out. It was like Young Punks on Dope or White Punks on Dope or something was the first song. And oddly enough, like fast forward to 1984,

1983 I think it was and they had this massive hit with she's a beauty which was all over the radio It was co -written by Steve lucather from Toto which Toto wrote like every song that was in the top 40 I think in 1983 but

Alex Sciarra (43:04.622)
Alex Sciarra (43:09.934)
Okay.

Alex Sciarra (43:14.542)
Yeah.

Chad (43:15.96)
Yeah, so it's like, there's this sort of art rock band which kind of fits because that whole scene where they're just like dancing and there's like, you know, sort of women riding all over the synthesizer stacks and guys like stretching his guitar cord across this woman's head and like, it's just, it's so over the top.

Alex Sciarra (43:26.254)
Yeah!

Alex Sciarra (43:33.998)
It is, it truly is. Yeah, very interesting. But yeah, that, and I'm always fascinated, not to go on too much of a tangent, but you know, kind of the Devo, the tubes or whatever. It's kind of that, you know, that symptom of everything that came before me was just kind of melded together. And it really does surprise me that, you know, punk was, you know, more 70s and maybe perhaps even earlier than I would have thought. Same with Devo.

The only fake argument I've had on Twitter was a mutual of ours posted, I'm gonna recreate an argument I had with my bass player when I was in high school. Who is more influential, Devo or Nirvana? And I was like, what would you say? Just really quick tangent. Yeah, me too. And some...

Chad (44:23.444)
I would say Devo 1000%.

Alex Sciarra (44:28.334)
Like bless his heart. I felt so bad for aching him on. He was like Nirvana. And I was like, do you not understand that Devo was Nirvana's influence that Kurt was super into Devo and without Devo, we wouldn't have like just like three quarters of the music we had. He's like, well, you know, grunge was so influential. And I was like, yeah, grunge inspired what fucking Pearl Jam Rage Against the Machine. Like Devo has touched on every band that's ever been out. It was just really funny to be in like this faux argument because I was like staying really strong. But.

kind of that 70s, you know, the art, like the tubes, like, you know, every kind of burgeoning and creative out there surrealist people who dare to dream are, you know, deeply like, what the fuck are they doing with the hat? Same like the unseen insanity with the wigs, you know, it.

It surprises me that it came out so early and it shocks me that people who might think that grunge was as influential as it was.

Chad (45:29.977)
I think grunge and Nirvana would have been as big as it was if it weren't for MTV and if it weren't for the fledgling internet, right? Because I think they got a lot more buzz than maybe they would have if they had come out in the 70s or 80s. And yeah, Devo, again, mid 70s, they got started really, or like early 70s. And...

Alex Sciarra (45:36.558)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (45:50.798)
Okay.

Chad (45:52.184)
They just didn't really sort of enter the real popular consciousness, I think, until Whippet came out in 80, 81, because it was on the radio, right? It was a hit song. And I remember my dad, who was who was pretty opinionated, hated that song and was like, you kids shouldn't be listening to that punk rock crap. And it's just like, but they're not really a punk band. You know, but like he just lumped them in with it with that whole thing.

Alex Sciarra (45:58.574)
Yeah. Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (46:20.526)
That's so funny. Or as my mom would call it, weird music. I was watching Decline of Western Civilization part one. She's like, like she had no other vocabulary. It's so weird. Weird. And that's kind of it. You should have been like, Hey, dad, like, can I introduce you to the germs? Like, maybe you'd like to listen to X. Here's my friend Darby Crash. He's really slow because he's super strung out.

Chad (46:23.671)
Yes.

Chad (46:30.839)
Ha ha ha ha ha!

Chad (46:37.879)
Hahaha.

Chad (46:43.575)
I didn't know the germs back then I was like eight and you know, but but

Alex Sciarra (46:47.886)
Yeah, that's true. I wouldn't have known them until my -

Chad (46:51.127)
Devo was on TV and they had the funny hats and the video was like just nothing anybody had ever seen before. So like, you know, it was just, it was that kind of thing. But yeah, Devo, the tubes, they were like almost subversive. I mean, Devo was totally subversive, right? And, and, but they did so much more than music. They made their own instruments. They made their own costumes. They did like all these short films and like performance art pieces when they did live shows, like they just sort of took things to a whole other level. So just, just that alone. I,

Alex Sciarra (46:53.422)
No.

Alex Sciarra (46:57.966)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (47:06.35)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (47:11.63)
Yeah.

Chad (47:21.081)
I think, gives them a complete edge over Nirvana.

Alex Sciarra (47:25.838)
Yeah, and then also a note on that too, not to take us too much down a rabbit hole, but I do think this kind of crosses over to Xanadu with art and muses. I feel like at my high school there was a lot of departments of visual arts, film, music, theater, but I think the visual arts were the sleeper of the school because we didn't get attention, we weren't included in the documentaries. It was actually really funny, we had...

He's actually a musician now in Gold Star. So Marlon Rabin right there, he was the mysterious kind of, you know, gorgeous, blonde, tall, mysterious kid, always singing Goodbye Ruby Tuesday, like who is he? I guess they were trying to make a documentary when we were juniors and they were seniors. And we actually emailed the production company after, like why weren't the visual artists included? And they're like, we handed out releases to every single one of you. We didn't get one release back.

Chad (48:19.482)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Alex Sciarra (48:20.558)
I was just imagining Marlon Robbins right there being like, all right, like, let's move a giant with this release, man. Like, and I think that attitude that devil may care of, you know, having hands on similar to Xanadu with the art and the painting gives music and theater an edge that musicians and actors might not have without our influence. So goes to Devo making art films.

Chad (48:46.874)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (48:48.91)
That performance art really drives like, well, I've never seen something like that before. And, you know, when we're filming stuff, it's like, well, it looks good. Like we have an eye for it, not to toot our own horn so much. But that came together in Xanadu in those latter scenes where it's the wigs, like the direction. I feel like maybe they didn't have enough performance art. It was maybe like a...

Chad (48:59.29)
Hahaha.

Alex Sciarra (49:15.15)
What is it called? A production, a trial of a performance art that just spun into something entirely its own because if it maybe had less self -awareness, it could have been something truly stranger.

Chad (49:31.545)
I don't know how much stranger it could have gotten, but yeah. But you're totally right about the visual arts and sort of enhancing music. I mean, not that music can't stand on its own, but look at the MTV generation and then that whole era. How many bands were...

Alex Sciarra (49:34.99)
Yes.

Chad (49:48.153)
rock stars that hit MTV and became like household names because of their videos, right? And they had been bands for maybe five, 10, 15 years prior to making their first music video and didn't really get the sort of fame or success. But, you know, like that visual sort of thing rocketed a lot of bands into, I think, popularity, not only performance, you know, not only like them.

being filmed, like playing their instruments, but so many videos had little stories or like movies, you know, mini movies, if you will, like almost like cinematic, like Duran Duran, right? Like, so I think that launched a lot of bands into places that they might not have gotten to were it not for the visual arts. Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (50:23.15)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (50:31.438)
Mm -hmm, exactly, exactly. So that was an interesting thread. I think, you know, they did well with the colors in Xanadu. Maybe a little more muted in the talking scenes, which is disappointing because you come with the lighting and the big theatrics during the music numbers and then again the dubbing, the kind of quiet like hodgepodge of just like set decoration between really painted and interesting, you know.

Chad (50:41.08)
yeah.

Alex Sciarra (51:00.366)
kind of black and white, but I don't think, you know, maybe the musical numbers with the colors and the vibrant nuance would have been as powerful without those kind of lulls, with the drabs, kind of.

Chad (51:08.44)
Yeah. Yeah, good point. Because it kind of like blasts you into that number when it starts because it's just so different. Speaking of which, good segue. So the next song on the soundtrack is Don't Walk Away by ELO and that's the animated sequence.

Alex Sciarra (51:25.326)
That was so sweet, especially for someone who's going through it. Like right now, like it was just so beautiful and you know, the the wistful kind of reflecting back on the seduction of, you seduced me, like where are you going? You're walking away like my muse. Like don't, you would have this magical animated life where you're a fish and I'm a bird, but.

very swelling, very sweet song that maybe I wasn't familiar with or wouldn't have grabbed my attention on the soundtrack before I'd seen the musical number. So perhaps that's a big one that I'd go back to on the soundtrack specifically.

Chad (52:10.712)
Alright, up next is the big flashy production, the one you mentioned, all over the world, which was shot in, I guess, a very famous Hollywood boutique called Fiarucci's that is no longer. Yeah, didn't know that either until I saw the documentary thing.

Alex Sciarra (52:21.358)
No kidding.

Alex Sciarra (52:26.83)
It wouldn't surprise me that a boutique would have a stage or something. They're like, you know, keep the clothes racks. Like, here's the stage. You know, it was probably like a theater, like, you know, a Hollywood Boulevard or something like that. But that does not surprise me. What a great scene. And I think bless my heart last night when when that started, I was like, yeah, like outside, like pretending here is a theater. I was like, now we're getting started. Like.

Chad (52:55.224)
Such a good song.

Alex Sciarra (52:55.47)
Like, come on, like, how can you not be so stoked on that scene? Or that song?

Chad (52:59.48)
Yeah.

yeah, that song was amazing. That was one of the standouts from the soundtrack for me, even as a kid. I used to blast that one. I used to have the house where I grew up. It was originally like a two family, but my parents owned the whole thing. And then when I was a kid, I had sort of almost free run of the upstairs apartment after my brother and my sister had moved out. So that's where I had my record player and my big speakers and my vinyl. So like I used to go upstairs and just play music and I could play it almost as loud as I want because, you know, it was,

whole separate part of the house. So it was it was cool. I remember distinctly playing the Xanadu soundtrack album. It was the first record I bought with my own allowance money. Yeah. Yeah, I still I still have it. Yeah, it's in my garage. I have a I have an orange crate full of my old vinyl. And at some point, I need to go out there and rescue it and clean it up and bring it in the house and put it in a

Alex Sciarra (53:41.55)
That's a good one to have and I love the album art too. You still have it?

Chad (53:57.973)
respectful place because you know I started rebuilding my vinyl collection so I have half of them here in my office and the other half are just sitting in a box so I'm gonna have to go grab them and...

Alex Sciarra (53:58.958)
Yeah!

Alex Sciarra (54:07.63)
I feel that, I feel that so hard.

Children teens, whosoever is listening to this do not get rid of your music collection you started out with Don't do it. You will regret the shit out of it when you're 30s like I did that all my CDs when I was probably like 22 I got all my CDs the stained the swine It was all perfect in the little sleeves with the album art like I just handed over to my cousin my younger cousin I was like go crazy like what an idiot dude like so don't hold on tight to the Xanadu vinyl you'll have

Chad (54:28.149)
Yep.

Chad (54:32.277)
Chad (54:36.853)
Yes.

Alex Sciarra (54:40.176)
that for the rest of your life. What do they do?

Chad (54:41.877)
Nice ELO reference Alex, hold on tight. Hold on tight.

Alex Sciarra (54:49.454)
Hold on tight to your dreams! Hold on tight to your music collection, please! Liz, I beg you, if you come away with nothing else from this, don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. Especially vinyls. I got rid of a lot of my mom's vinyls too. She had Pretender, she had Cyndi Lauper. Ugh, I know. I'm not very smart sometimes.

Chad (54:49.493)
Another great ELO song. It wasn't on the soundtrack. That's right.

Chad (55:01.109)
Agreed. Agreed.

Chad (55:09.781)
I have a, somewhere I have a box too. It's like one of those little lunchbox things that like sort of flips open from the top. And it's some of my mom's 45s from when she was younger. And it's like, I think like the Drifters and Elvis and that kind of shit. I have to, I don't even know what's in there. I mean, I know that, I think those are a couple of the titles or the artists, but I have to go in and dig that up and bring it in the house too.

Alex Sciarra (55:16.526)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (55:31.022)
Okay, interesting. Yeah.

Chad (55:32.469)
Yeah, I'm still working on getting a stereo system. I need to get like a, I don't have a turntable at the moment. So that's, you know, lower priority, but I'm definitely going to get one at some point soon.

Alex Sciarra (55:38.606)
Yeah, anyway.

Alex Sciarra (55:42.702)
And then there was one more thing. Yeah, we do have actually surprisingly like my great -grandfather's opera records from Italy That's crazy. So I need to get a deck at least for that Like I don't hate seeing like the Polly actually signed my career Alex to do sorry, but yeah, like I was like, okay, like we have something and then I don't know if you remember I don't know if your parents had this year your grandparents we had like It was like a desk. Like it was a huge like console

Chad (55:50.229)
wow, that's so cool.

Chad (56:09.107)
yeah!

Alex Sciarra (56:11.022)
And it was also a vinyl player, a stereo the size of a desk. And my grandpa, God bless him, once they converted this den over here from a patio to a den, he put in a speaker system. Like we have a speaker that used to connect to the vinyl player. I don't remember it, but we have the knobs. I was like, OK, I need to find like an AV genius to like help me hook this back up because we have a stereo system. But yeah, so that's tangent.

Chad (56:13.075)
Yep.

Chad (56:32.403)
Come wire it up. Yeah. That's so cool.

Chad (56:40.627)
I know, tangents are good. All right, so the fall, another ELO song, and this is the one that plays, it's sort of the Mopey song that plays when the, can't even think of the character's name, I'm drawing a blank, but Michael Beck's character.

Alex Sciarra (56:47.694)
Mm -hmm.

Chad (56:58.931)
tries to go find, Sonny, thank you, tries to go find Kira and Kira's nowhere to be found so he makes his way on his roller skates over to the mural and proceeds to skate full speed ahead, head first into it. Because that's what I would do.

Alex Sciarra (56:59.054)
Sunny. You're welcome.

Alex Sciarra (57:14.862)
for sure! He's like, this is it. He's like, this is my key. And then it goes to that, that I think that was the scene I started counting when I didn't predict anything because that's when it shoots off with the Zeus and then the really confused like, was it like on Hera? Like I don't know what god, goddess it was supposed to be.

Chad (57:30.131)
Yeah, it was, it's Hera, yeah, Zeus's wife.

Alex Sciarra (57:32.782)
Okay, and he's like, you must like not hold on tight to your dreams. She's like, don't you remember having hope? And he's like, what are you talking about? She's like, I don't know what I'm talking about. And I was like, Whoa, okay. She's like, you're confused, honey. And it's like,

Chad (57:46.547)
That was trippy, that whole dialogue for sure.

Alex Sciarra (57:51.918)
But yeah, that was really sad. I mean, I did notice his short shorts, which are like, my gosh, like this is redheaded guy, like so sad, but also wearing the shortest shorts. I was like, ugh. But yeah, that was a very emotional scene.

Chad (57:58.418)
You

Ha ha ha ha ha!

Chad (58:07.698)
Yeah, and then we segue from there into, you know, they kind of send him back, right, and into the mortal world. And then Kira stays behind and sings this beautiful ballad called Suspended in Time. Not much to say about that because the scene's literally just her with the hand -drawn glow around her and like the orange bars that represent like.

Alex Sciarra (58:21.038)
Mm -hmm.

Chad (58:33.042)
Mount Olympus, heaven, whatever it's supposed to be, right? Reminds me of a Beavis and Butthead line, which is, these special effects aren't very special.

Alex Sciarra (58:36.75)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (58:43.054)
Hey dude, check it out, that's my girlfriend. We should do that, I did have a thought, I was like maybe Chad and I should redo the, I don't know, like do a Leap bar or something, like just do the Beerus and Butt -head thing, maybe we get someone to animate us. But yeah, we could do Xanadu too, I was like, what are those lights here? It's like, those are my energy, that's my girlfriend. The special effects, you're like, why? Like.

Chad (58:45.17)
Hahaha!

Alex Sciarra (59:09.742)
just had a mind of its own like the lines the auras

Chad (59:16.498)
I think they spent all the budget on Olivia and Gene's salaries, you know, or whatever they paid them. I mean, that had to take up a lot of the money because God knows they didn't spend it elsewhere.

Alex Sciarra (59:26.766)
like whatever Fiverr was in 1980, they're like, I don't know, like a classified. They're like, okay, we got like a shoestring budget for something that's gonna be all throughout the film. Like we can pay them 10 cents and a warm meal.

Chad (59:43.442)
Hahaha

Chad (59:47.761)
And they spent the money on the Don Bluth animation too. So that that was actually well done. But the rest of the animation just was was awful. But you know, what are you going to do? All right. So that brings us to the big finale. So they they build the club. They open the club. Kira gets sent back by Zeus, right? Because he's he softens up and says, OK, well, you can go back just this once to the mortal world and go see that guy. So he sends her down and she shows up at the club and proceeds to.

Alex Sciarra (59:50.678)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (59:59.886)
Mm.

Chad (01:00:16.624)
go into this 10 minute or longer sort of medley of songs which culminate in the movie's theme song Xanadu. So what about that scene? Let's do it out.

Alex Sciarra (01:00:25.102)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (01:00:28.91)
I mean, I knew it was coming. I knew Xanadu payoff was coming at that point. There was a scene earlier where I thought it was the end and I had forgotten that Xanadu was coming. I think that transition, is that the one where it transitions into the longer tap dancing before Xanadu?

Chad (01:00:48.368)
I think, yeah, it does. She's in like the 30s or 40s looking outfit with the hats and the, yeah. And she's...

Alex Sciarra (01:00:52.206)
Yeah, -huh. And then she comes back slowly, maybe through time, maybe to the 80s, the present time, but that was very beautifully done and the anticipation there was strong for the final scene. But it was a nice kind of send -off to what I had just seen with Medley. You know, I love a Medley.

Chad (01:01:17.04)
they go through all these great costume changes too like you said like in the 40s and she has the cowboy thing they do like a country song and they have her in like this leopard looking outfit with her hair all wild and she's singing like this rock song and

Alex Sciarra (01:01:34.03)
Yeah, the teased hair, that was crazy. The cowboy and then she's like dancing in like the cowboy thing. That was a little interesting. But yeah, through the decades and the leopard. And then maybe there was a callback to that in the very last scene. I think the dancers, they have leotards with lions on them, like on their faces, and then it zooms by and you think it's like a special effect. And that was really cool. I really enjoyed that.

Chad (01:01:36.752)
Hahaha

Chad (01:01:54.448)
Yeah.

Chad (01:02:00.91)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then we have the theme song, which is another bop. I don't know what else to say about it. I mean, it's just, you know, it's again, one of those songs that you hear it and just makes you feel good, you know.

Alex Sciarra (01:02:13.534)
Definitely revisit that song a lot and you know it's just it's great and then Feel Good, the synthesizers, it was probably a really new sound at that time. I think it's an original sound even to that day like because we move through New Wave, we move through Grunge, we move through all rock college radio.

But yellow, I mean, it truly was like, they're like, hey man, what should we call this? Electric light orchestra. Like, yeah. Like it's the most apt name for a sound that you possibly get. They're like, no, it's like, well, you know, made of electric light, like synthesizers and his voice, Jeff's voice, how they put it through kind of like a reverb kind of thing. It was really special.

Chad (01:02:53.902)
Hahaha!

Chad (01:02:58.99)
yeah, yeah. You know, when you hear ELO, you know it's ELO. They have a very distinct sound and his voice too, because of all the, you know, I think it's, I don't want to say over -processed, but there's a lot going on on his voice. It's like double -tracked and reverbed and you know, all the things. Interesting side note, by the way, on the soundtrack and then we can wrap up, but.

We talked about 90s artists on our last episode together. Guess who did a whole album of Olivia Newton -John songs in 2018 and then followed it up with an album of ELO songs in 2023.

Alex Sciarra (01:03:43.502)
Can I get like a random hint that won't give it away? Because I feel like.

Chad (01:03:48.624)
That's gonna be tough. So she was part of a trio in the late 80s, early 90s, went out on her own and was part of the Boston Alternative scene in the early to mid 90s.

Alex Sciarra (01:04:08.238)
It couldn't be a Kim deal because she didn't really go out on her own except the breeders and that would be so unexpected and just like crazy. Whomst was it? One.

Chad (01:04:17.647)
It was Juliana Hatfield, of all people. So, sh -

Alex Sciarra (01:04:23.758)
I would never.

Chad (01:04:25.327)
Her Olivia Newton John tribute album features three of the songs from Xanadu. So it's Suspended in Time, Magic, and Xanadu, the theme song, which I think is hilarious because I think Juliana is like four years older than me. So I'm sure she saw the movie in the theater probably as a young girl because like, why else would you be so brave to record those songs and put them out like so many years later?

Alex Sciarra (01:04:47.598)
Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (01:04:51.662)
Yeah, 2018, 2020. Really? Interesting. That makes me happy, knowing someone's out there.

Chad (01:04:52.303)
So great, so great. And they're pretty faithful covers too.

and interesting.

somebody's there's so many people out there that connect with not only the music with the movie itself. And like, you know, I don't know, I thought I was one of the only ones, but apparently not. But Juliana does not do any of ELO Xanadu soundtrack songs on her ELO tribute album. However, which I just downloaded before we started recording earlier, she put out a cover of I'm Alive on her bandcamp as like a like a bonus track to the album. So I did.

Alex Sciarra (01:05:06.318)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (01:05:17.646)
Hmm.

Alex Sciarra (01:05:22.446)
Okay.

Alex Sciarra (01:05:26.574)
Alex Sciarra (01:05:31.118)
I need to listen to that. I'm looking forward to that. Yeah, there it is.

Chad (01:05:31.473)
I downloaded it and I listened. It's really good. And the funny thing is it's an ELO song, obviously, but it sounds like her version of it sounds to me like it could have been on a traveling Wilburys album. It's got that kind of quality to it. So it just sort of speaks. Well, yeah. Now you're what's your current tag on Twitter? That's it.

Alex Sciarra (01:05:38.67)
No.

Alex Sciarra (01:05:46.51)
Love a traveling story.

I'm now I'm now I'm America's number one traveling little brace fan. Because who loves them like no one I do. my gosh.

Chad (01:05:58.895)
But it speaks to it speaks to how what an influence Jeff Lynn had, I think, on writing and arranging and producing for the Traveling Wilburys because my God, it literally sounds like, you know, before she starts singing, I'm like, this is Juliana Hatfield. It sounds like Traveling Wilbury. So yeah, definitely go check that out. And again, I will link all this in the show notes for our listeners and viewers. But yeah.

Alex Sciarra (01:06:05.646)
Mm -hmm.

Alex Sciarra (01:06:24.558)
Yeah, I was describing and I'm traveling will raise I think my mom was like really traveling It's a super group Jeff Lynn Tom Petty Roy Orbison. I totally forgot George Harrison I was like Bob Dylan and like George Harrison like wasn't on my radar. I was like, shit like I'm so sorry Sorry darned

Chad (01:06:38.958)
Hahaha

Chad (01:06:44.238)
Alright, well what else? I mean, I think that's it for the sound track. We covered all the salient points of the fabulous monstrosity that is the movie Xanadu.

Alex Sciarra (01:06:55.79)
The end was cute. The end was cute because I mean, I'm leaving it up until, like, okay, so I'll say my interpretation of the very end scene and then you could say your interpretation of the very end scene. So my interpretation was either she little mermated it, like aerialed it and got legs and is now a human. I feel like that's another movie where it's more apt and, you know, directly translated to where she's, you know, a real girl now, kind of.

Chad (01:06:56.014)
Any clue?

Chad (01:07:07.438)
Okay.

Alex Sciarra (01:07:24.206)
So I can't tell if it's that or he meets someone exactly like her in like an ethereal fate kind of thing.

Chad (01:07:33.743)
Hmm, interesting. I think I would, I would go with the, the, the former scenario. I feel like she became a real girl. I think Zeus let her go. And there was a line that, that, Sonny says when he's in, you know, Olympus or whatever. And he says, well, you know, you have enough muses running around. Can't you let one go or something like that, something to that effect. So I feel like maybe, maybe he did. Maybe Zeus was like, okay, you know, you can go be a real girl now. Yeah.

Alex Sciarra (01:07:35.758)
What did you take away?

Alex Sciarra (01:07:55.054)
Yeah.

Chad (01:08:07.758)
Alright, anything else you want to talk about?

Alex Sciarra (01:08:11.854)
I think we covered it pretty thoroughly. Good job.

Chad (01:08:13.454)
Yeah, I think we did. I think we did. Yes, good job us. Well, thank you for and again, you know, I feel like I kind of blindsided you. I was like, you should really go watch the movie and then we'll talk about it. You're like, great. And then you're probably sitting there going like, God damn it, Chad, why did you make you watch this?

Alex Sciarra (01:08:20.27)
Good job.

Alex Sciarra (01:08:30.366)
I mean, I had a, I mean, always thrilled and honored to be on the podcast. So anyway, I can kind of sneak my strong arm my way into oral mess. I'm going to do it even if it's watching Xana do.

Chad (01:08:43.758)
Well, I'm glad I'm glad I didn't you know, sandbag you too much into doing it and I appreciate you being here and it's it's it's wonderful to have you back and and I hope this won't be your last guest host appearance For sure Great. Well, I will I guess wrap things up and thank you once again and That's it. We'll talk to you soon All right, see ya

Alex Sciarra (01:08:48.878)
no, total pleasure.

Alex Sciarra (01:08:55.982)
Bless. Thank you. I very much appreciate that.

Alex Sciarra (01:09:09.102)
Alright, bye Chad! Have a good one. Bye.