One of my biggest frustrations in life is when a song is put into a prestigious film simply so that prestigious film can garner one more Oscar nomination. What frustrates me even further is when that song has absolutely nothing to do with movie and appears only in the end credits. The song I am writing about today appears in its film more than once, is catchy as hell, and by God, deserved to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2004.
I first heard "Scotty Doesn't Know" in high school and thought it was funny, albeit disposable. I figured it was Blink 182 or New Found Glory or one of those other flash-in-the-pan pop punk bands from the early aughts. Then when I finally watched EuroTrip, I was pleased to see it again. What I didn't know is that the song was specifically written for the film, and not picked up by producers looking for cheap laughs.
In the film, main character Scotty (Scott Mechlowicz) is dumped by his long time girlfriend Fiona (Kristen Kreuk, the actress who plays that bitch Lana Lang on Smallville). At the following graduation party, he learns Fiona has been cheating on him with the lead singer of a band who goes on to play a song that graphically describes their affair. It seems Scotty was the only one who didn't know.
EuroTrip is certainly a movie no one gives two shits about, at least not anymore. It has basically no stars save for Michelle Trachtenberg who was in Harriet the Spy back in 1996. Oh, and Matt Damon's lip-syncing cameo as the band's* lead singer. But the song, the great pop-punk pro-cheating anthem of "Scotty Doesn't Know" will forever live on as one of the greatest original songs ever written.
And because Matt Damon is hot...
*IRL "Scotty Doesn't Know" was written and recorded by Lustra, a band known for nothing but writing and recording "Scotty Doesn't Know". The song also appears on their album Left For Dead.
1 comment:
Other early-2000's pop punk that was written for a movie: Kay Hanley of Letters to Cleo, performing the songs written for Josie and the Pussycats. Damn, now I wish I'd done that instead.
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