Various Artists
Clueless: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Capitol/Universal Music)
30th Anniversary Limited Edition Colored Vinyl
We've clearly been doing the makers of '90s teen movie Clueless dirty for three decades, because we don't remember the soundtrack being this fucking cool.
"Loosely based on Jane Austen’s 1815 novel Emma, Clueless was hilariously updated to Beverly Hills High School in the 1990s by writer/director Amy Heckerling," the press release reads. "The iconic film stars Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz, Stacey Dash as her best friend Dionne, Brittany Murphy as Tai, the ugly duckling transformed into a beautiful swan, and Paul Rudd as Cher’s disapproving ex-stepbrother."
See now, all that we remember. Seven years after Heathers and nine years before Mean Girls, it occupies that same space in our mind of obnoxious high school nonsense. But my god, the soundtrack is jam-packed with gems.
It opens with The Muffs' cover of Kim Wilde's "Kids in America." The much-missed Kim Shattuck made the song her own while treating it with the utmost respect.
There's more female brilliance thanks to Luscious Jackson's "Here (Squirrel Mix)" and, later, the also-much-missed Jill Sobule's "Supermodel."
Radiohead, the Lightning Seeds and Supergrass all wave the Brit-pop flag, while "Mullet Head" is one of the Beastie Boys' punkier tunes. And we didn't even mention the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Coolio, and World Party's take on "All the Young Dudes."
The LP has been pressed on, appropriately enough, pink vinyl. Top to bottom, this is a great release. Hell, we might even give the flick another chance.
