Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 100 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time, representing a varied cross-section of films and musical genres. Click “Next Soundtrack” below to explore each soundtrack in the list or for easier navigation, view the full introduction & soundtrack index here.
Magnolia
Warner Music (1999)
Selected by Justin Chadwick
When I first saw Magnolia in the theater, I was so captivated—and admittedly more than a little confounded—by it, that I returned to see it for a second time just a few days after my initial viewing. Perhaps an acquired taste for some, Paul Thomas Anderson’s intricately executed, emotionally gripping examination of deep-seated family dysfunction, psychological trauma, loneliness, and despair is definitely not for the faint of heart.
While the top-notch cast that boasts Tom Cruise, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Jason Robards, and the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman collaborate to bring Anderson’s ambitious and unique vision to life, an argument can be made that the film’s power derives, first and foremost, from Aimee Mann’s songs.
Indeed, Anderson cites Mann’s songs as the key inspiration for the film. “I had a lot of ideas floating around in my head, probably too many ideas, and [Aimee’s] a really good friend of mine, and was privy to stuff she was working on,” Anderson explained to PopMatters in 1999. “It was great to have her music as a thing to latch on to, to help corral all the stuff that was sort of circling around in my brain. So I wanted to just adapt Aimee’s songs, like you would adapt a book or a play. It certainly branched off from there and didn’t become a direct adaption of her songs, but I ended up stealing many lines from her.” One of the film’s most unforgettable moments finds the cast singing along to Mann’s “Wise Up,” a song that Mann originally wrote for Cameron Crowe’s Jerry Maguire (1996).
Featuring eight original songs by the former ‘Til Tuesday frontwoman, the soundtrack and film garnered widespread critical acclaim, in turn helping to rejuvenate Mann’s career, which, at least professionally if not creatively, had reached its stagnation point by the late ‘90s.
After Magnolia’s success and with two criminally overlooked studio albums (1993’s Whatever and 1995’s I’m With Stupid) under her belt, Mann extricated herself from her recording contract with Geffen Records and launched her own label, SuperEgo Records. The first fruit of her newfound freedom was 2000’s outstanding Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo, which lifted a handful of the tracks featured in Magnolia alongside new material. Since then, Mann has crafted quite an impressive discography, each of her albums rewarding listens in and of themselves.
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