Madonna's Bond Song 'Scored' Low...

TGO_TGO_ Posts: 46MI6 Agent
edited November 2002 in James Bond Music
From NYPOST.com...
MADONNA'S BOND SONG ‘SCORED' LOW

November 24, 2002 -- The man who wrote the musical score for the latest James Bond flick blasted Madonna yesterday - saying the Material Mom's theme song for the movie is a double-o dud.
Composer David Arnold went as far as to call the techno-laced ballad, "the worst Bond song ever."

"Ideally, I would have liked to have made some musical sense of her song, but I couldn't," Arnold, a Grammy Award winner, told London's Sunday Express.

"Die Another Day," which debuted Friday, is Arnold's third Bond score, and he assures people won't hear another note from Madonna's song, which shares the film's title, anywhere else in the movie.

"Nobody has criticized me for not working her song into the film score," Arnold said. "She got three minutes, I got 92."

Arnold said he wasn't alone in his scorn for Madonna's song.

When Prince Philip heard she was the songstress for the latest Bond installment, he allegedly asked: "Are we going to need ear plugs?"

"She's got 3 minutes, I got 92." That is going in my sig soon. ;)

Comments

  • MBE_MBE_ USAPosts: 266MI6 Agent
    edited November 2002
    I'm really surprised at Arnold, not that he didn't like it, that's his perogative and many don't like it, but that he blasted it, and the same week the film opens. Rather unprofessional. I'm sure MGM, Wilson, Broccoli et al are thrilled. NOT.

    MBE
  • Red GrantRed Grant Posts: 147MI6 Agent
    well I liked it as a song, but it was really cruddy with what was the series best title sequence.

    But Arnold is wrong though. You can hear it in another part of the film. You hear a part of it played a Graves Ice Palace when Bond meets Jinx at the bar table.
  • MBE_MBE_ USAPosts: 266MI6 Agent
    Yeah it's also at the end in the Dirty Vegas mix, so she got more than 3 minutes. LOL Really, I've always heard that Arnold is complete gentleman but he's not acting like one. Tsk tsk. :p

    MBE
  • jjmacjjmac Posts: 20MI6 Agent
    i think his ref to 3mins may be more about the famous quote than the actual time she had in the soundtrack. Quite a good pun actually.
  • Iona Havelock RIPIona Havelock RIP Posts: 38MI6 Agent
    Yeah. Red Grant beat me to replying that Madonna's awful song can also be heard in the Ice Palace sequence.
  • TheBladeRodenTheBladeRoden Posts: 1MI6 Agent
    Aren't these the same people that asked her to do the song? They should be blasting themselves because we all know what a typical Madonna song sounds like and this didn't turn out any different.

    Tell me if you couldn't make any sense out of that, my English could be better.
  • MBE_MBE_ USAPosts: 266MI6 Agent
    Hmmm, MGM and EON Producers Broccolli and Wilson asked Madonna to do the theme, they aren't the one's blasting her, composer David Arnold is, and very unprofessionally IMO. I'm pretty sure the Bond makers are not pleased that he couldn't keep his gripes "in house".

    MBE
  • jetsetwillyjetsetwilly Liverpool, UKPosts: 1,048MI6 Agent
    He was also pretty disdainful about Sheryl Crow's song - I remember him making a comment about "people taking it [the Bond theme] just as a way of furthering their career", as opposed to Garbage considering it a great honour to be asked.

    As I said before, I like the song, and I think it works fantastically over the opening credits; it has just the right mix of violence and sex.
    Founder of the Wint & Kidd Appreciation Society.

    @merseytart
  • Iona Havelock RIPIona Havelock RIP Posts: 38MI6 Agent
    What has happened to Sheryl Crow?
    I actually like the Madonna song on reflection! It is different yes, but compared to the likes of Lani Hall's Never Say Never Again or the awful A-Ha 'The Living Daylights' theme then this is ok.
    In the cinema with Dolby Digital, the soundtrack was amazing.
  • spiderfrommarsspiderfrommars Posts: 13MI6 Agent
    Well I wonder if the fact that he liked neither Sheryl Crow or Madonna's songs had anything to do with the fact that he didn't write them. In my opinion I would have preffered him to incorporate these songs orchestrally into the soundtracks and put his differences aside. A Bond film without the song appearing throughout the film is always all the worse for it.

    Arnold is no John Barry. If he could write better Bond songs perhaps then he wouldn't have to worry about not getting involved in the title tracks. Crow's TND was far better than his and KD Lang's attempt.

    All that said, as far as instrumental music goes, Arnold has been a great asset to the series since 97.
  • Sir_Miles_MesservySir_Miles_Messervy MI6 CLASSIFIEDPosts: 113MI6 Agent
    Some Madonna fans that I know (I'm not really one of them) like the song...which says it's on par with a lot of her stuff...

    Now when I first heard the song, I wondered whether or not it was suitable as a Bond theme. By itself it was cool, but should Bond go techno?

    My first few times listening to it, I really doubted it, but I grew on me. Still, I'm not sure how right it was for what it was.

    Either way, I can't call the song a bomb or anything like that, it's very popular on American radio. So it's a successful song, and knowing how diehard Madonna fans can be, I'm sure some people went to the movie just to see her cameo.

    Also, may I also note the presence of the song at another point in the movie. I understand what he meant...but when he said you wouldn't hear it again in the movie, it was dead wrong. I remember specifically pointing it out to the person sitting next to me, being that he was one of the afore mentioned Madonna fans.

    As far as Arnold goes, if he feels it was that bad...he dug his own grave, so he need prepare to lie in it.
  • v2torpedov2torpedo Posts: 1MI6 Agent
    I don't know anyone that likes that song. Are the producers losing it? The older jb movies had much heart and the theme songs reflected that.
  • jamestarcarjamestarcar Posts: 4MI6 Agent
    When I heard the song in the theater I thought the sound system was on the fritz. It is awful. When I play the DVD I have to put the mute on. A real cringeworthy song.
  • DortmunderDortmunder Posts: 40MI6 Agent
    The first time that I heard the song was during the opening titles when I was sitting in the cinema watching the film. I did my best to dodge hearing the song before the movie came out, and I was successful in doing so. It was very hard to do. Anyway, when I heard it in the theatre for that first time, I cringed so hard. I almost walked out of the theatre. It was absolutely horrible. I kept mumbling to myself, "What were they thinking?"

    Now six months later, after hearing it numerous times more, it has grown on me a little. Sure, it isn't the best Bond theme song, and ver well quite possibly the worst, and I don't think that it suited the Bond series that well. Not completely a bad song though, it is just not the type of music that I'm into.
  • iain1066iain1066 Posts: 18MI6 Agent
    I did not like the song (putting it mildly) when I first saw the film. But it has grown on me since. I would not put it up there with LALD or AVTAK, but it is way better than FYEO or OP (an all time low).

    Perhaps some of the comments directed at the song are more a reflection of peoples attitudes towards the singer.
  • ralph2002ralph2002 Posts: 1MI6 Agent
    Madonna's song was really bad...but that "Dirty Vegas" remix was much much worse.
  • BrosBond007BrosBond007 Posts: 5MI6 Agent
    edited July 2003
    I thought the DAD song was one of the worst songs in the series. I hated it from the start.
  • Jermaine76Jermaine76 Posts: 40MI6 Agent
    Quoting JazzX:
    I would like to pass judgement on Madonna`s effort myself, but at the start of her song the theatre`s speakers kept cutting out ... it was most frustrating.

    I don't think it was the speakers....its part of the song. I thought the same thing when I saw DAD at the theater. But then I heard it on an XM station and it had that same crackle-like sound right after the chorus.
  • dvgtrdvgtr Posts: 2MI6 Agent
    I've been a Madonna fan since the 80's but think this is the worst title song of the series. I'm not sure who she wrote it with (her best work was with Patrick Leonard) but she's an artist of the Michael Jackson variety. Hum something to a musician and let them make the song.

    Very disappointing.
  • SeanConnery007SeanConnery007 The Bond Archive - London, EngPosts: 169MI6 Agent
    The more I hear that song, the more I want to bite Madonna's face off.
    Thanks for ruining the Bond themes....
    Nobody Writes Threads Better.
  • JaelleJaelle Posts: 19MI6 Agent
    Quoting dvgtr:
    I've been a Madonna fan since the 80's but think this is the worst title song of the series. I'm not sure who she wrote it with (her best work was with Patrick Leonard) but she's an artist of the Michael Jackson variety. Hum something to a musician and let them make the song.
    Very disappointing.

    I very much liked Madonna's music of the 80s and into the early 90s. One of my favorite CDs is her "Immaculate Conception" collection. But imo she hasn't done anything worth listening to in the last several years, and the DAD song makes Lulu's theme to TMWTGG a masterpiece of lyricism and musicianship.

    It's the only Bond song I turn off. Weak as the LTK theme is, I still think it's far far better.

    However I am surprised about Arnold's public criticisms. Barry has publicly slammed aha for being a "pain in the arse" to work with, but I've never read him publicly criticize their song. (Has he?) Anyway, imo, Arnold is hardly one to talk. I find his scores incredibly bland anyway.
  • crazy8815crazy8815 Posts: 1MI6 Agent
    edited February 2008
    Die Another Day – contains the theme song to the new James Bond film, “Die Another Day”. This record was nominated by Golden Globe as the “Best Original Song”.

    **
    As you all know the downloading of music of this nature is illegal. Don't link to it on this site. - Link Removed, if it continues to happen your user account will be removed. - Si
    **
  • taitytaity Posts: 702MI6 Agent
    I remember when I first downloaded the song, I got it off Madonna's website.
  • 037 Scaramanga037 Scaramanga FloridaPosts: 160MI6 Agent
    I agree with with most people on the fact that madonna's song was bad, but i don't believe it's the worst Bond theme, Lulu's T.M.W.T.G.G has got to be the worst bond song in Bond history, bad movie bad song,
  • youknowmynameyouknowmyname Gainesville, FL, USAPosts: 703MI6 Agent
    I may be alone in this, but I actually liked Madonna's DAD song. However, with that said, it isn't the best Bond song and I would rate it pretty low as a Bond song. As pop music, I liked it. I like working out to it.

    And there have been worse Bond songs, I agree!
    "We have all the time in the world..."
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