The Last Blockbuster Director Taylor Morden Shares Blockbuster Video: Throwback Tracks (Film Soundtracks Playlist)
The Last Blockbuster is a fun, nostalgic look back at the era of video rentals and the story of how one small town video store managed to outlast a corporate giant. Featuring interviews with comedians and celebrities with ties to Blockbuster: Adam Brody (The O.C. Jennifer's Body,) Ione Skye (Say Anything, Wayne's World,) Doug Benson (Getting Doug with High, The LEGO Batman Movie,) Paul Scheer (The League, Veep,) and director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Jay & Silent Bob) with narration by Lauren Lapkus (The Wrong Missy, Orange Is The New Black.) Filmmakers Taylor Morden & Zeke Kamm follow the manager of the worlds sole remaining Blockbuster in Bend, OR, Sandi Harding, as she reflects on the store's vibrant past and navigates the difficult task of keeping a video rental store open in the era of streaming.
Taking us through the history and subsequent rise and fall of the franchise, the documentary reveals the real reason why Blockbuster went out of business (Hint: it wasn't Netflix,) while celebrating the unique and defining culture it created in the 90's, honoring a simpler time and the sense of community that could once be found in Blockbuster locations across the world. The Last Blockbuster is now available to rent or purchase on Amazon Prime, Apple Music, Blockbuster Video, Google Play, and more, as well as a special DVD/Blu-ray combo pack directly from The Last Blockbuster. It's, also, (somewhat ironically) coming to Netflix on March 15, 2021!
- The Last Blockbuster (@lastblockdoc)
01. Huey Lewis & The News - "The Power of Love"
"This song instantly takes me back to watching Back to The Future on VHS. Also, several of my former bandmates got together and played this song at my wedding."
02. Kenny Loggins - "Danger Zone"
"You can't make a movie songs playlist without this one... "I feel the need... the need for speed!'"
03. Simple Minds - "Don't You Forget About Me"
"The ending of The Breakfast Club is one of the most iconic uses of music in a movie of all-time. This is another one that "feels like VHS," if that makes any sense."
04. [Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - "(I've Had)] The Time of My Life"
"This song was such a big hit, it almost dwarfed the movie. People would rent [Dirty Dancing] from Blockbuster just because they heard the song on the radio!"
05. Peter Gabriel - "In Your Eyes"
"In the movie Say Anything (starring Ione Skye, who is, also, in The Last Blockbuster.) When this song hits, with the iconic imagery of John Cusack holding up the boombox, from that moment on, you couldn't separate that song from that movie. Fun Fact: that song was originally supposed to be something by Elvis Costello, but that didn't work out, for some reason."
06. Sixpence None The Richer - "Kiss Me"
"This song just "feels like movies." It was all over the place in everything from She's All That to Not Another Teen Movie, which features our friend, Samm Levine!"
07. [The Wonders -] "That Thing You Do!"
"This is my favorite [song] song from my favorite movie of all-time (that isn't part of a trilogy.) Did you know that Tom Hanks co-wrote a lot of the songs from this movie?"
08. Seal - "Kiss from A Rose"
"Oh, man! Seal, Batman, nipples on The Batsuit, Jim Carey, Val Kilmer, Nicole Kidman... does it get any more 90's than that?"
09. Aerosmith - "I Don't Want to Miss A Thing"
"This song was, literally, everywhere when they were promoting the movie, Armageddon! I always thought it was so weird that this song was playing when Ben Afleck was putting Animal Crackers in Liv Tyler's underpants, like, "yo! That's her DAD singing right now, dude, chill.'"
10. Queen - "Bohemian Rhapsody"
"I am one of the millions of people that discovered Queen at a young age because of the movie, Wayne's World. The headbanging in the car scene is truly [one] of the great moments in home video history."
11. Celine Dion - "My Heart Will Go On"
"This one was such a part of Pop Culture it was kind of gross... but, looking back, it's still a great song and Titanic was one of the most anticipated rental movies of that year, even though it spanned TWO VHS tapes."
12. The Mighty Mighty BossToneS - "Where'd You Go?"
"The Clueless Soundtrack had a lot of amazing songs to choose from, but as someone who loves Ska music and even made a whole movie about it (Pick It Up! Ska In The 90's,) this moment stands out for me as the first time I saw a Ska band in a major motion picture. It changed everything for the 14-year-old trumpet-playing version of me."
13. Coolio - "Gangsta's Paradise"
"What an awesome track from the movie, Dangerous Minds. This video was all over MTV when that movie was out and is definitely the greatest music video of all-time that has Michelle Pfieffer in it."
14. [Whitney Houston -] "I Will Always Love You"
"The Bodyguard is another one of those movies where the soundtrack really propelled the movie more than the other way around. Whitney Houston was incredible in that movie and the soundtrack still holds up as one of the all-time best!"
15. Gin Blossoms - "Til I Hear It from You"
"Damn The Man! Save The Empire!"
16. Josie & The Pussycats - "3 Small Words"
"This one may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I loved the movie, Josie & The Pussycats, and it came out at the peak of my Blockbuster video years. At the time this movie came out, I lived across the street from a Blockbuster video and had their monthly Unlimited Pass and would, often, rent several movies a day. It was like having Netflix, but with the added bonus of snacks, sodas, and DVD special features."
17. Smashmouth - "All Star"
"This one is on the list not only because Greg [Camp] from Smashmouth is in our movie, but, also, because it has become almost a meme unto itself. It was hugely famous for being in the movie, Shrek, and, also, in the movies Mystery Men, Rat Race, and Inspector Gadget. It is, also, one of the few songs that can be recognized by the first half of the first word."
18. Eminem - "Lose Yourself"
"Just when you thought music from movies about music was a thing of the past, Eminem came out with a Heck'uva song that was tied to a Heck'uva movie and it was everywhere!"
19. A.R. Rahman Feat. Sukhwinder Singh, Tanvi Shah, Mahalaxmi Iyer & Vijay Prakash - "Jai-Ho"
"I was trying to think of the last time music from a movie was a big hit while Blockbuster was still around (before La La Land and Lady GaGa's [A Star Is Born].) This one was fun because Slumdog Millionaire was such a unique movie and this was a unique song to be on the radio, at that time."
20. Spın̈al Tap - "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight"
"I couldn't make a playlist of movie music without including the greatest real band from a fake documentary ever: Spın̈al Tap! This one was a super-common rental for me whenever I wanted to explain what it was like to be in a band to someone. Eventually, I bought the DVD Previously Viewed from Blockbuster video. I still have it. You can borrow it, if you want."