I saw Jarhead today and was initially impressed by what appeared to be an attempt to include accurate popular music from the time. Among the songs heard were "Gonna Make You Sweat" by C&C Music Factory, "Something in the Way" by Nirvana, and "O.P.P" by Naughty By Nature. Afterwards though, as I was discussing it with my partner, he reminded me of the timeline of the Gulf War, which started as Desert Shield in August 1990, escalated to full conflict as Desert Storm in January 1991, and was over (so to speak) by the end of February 1991.
As a result, Jarhead's musical selections were a year ahead of itself! No way were troops deployed in summer of 1990 hearing "Gonna Make You Sweat," which entered the top 40 in November and peaked in February 1991. Nor could Jake Gyllenhaal's Swofford have experienced an "inner soundtrack" to Nirvana's "Something in the Way," since its album, Nevermind, wasn't released until September 24, 1991, seven months after the end of Desert Storm. Most egregious is the scene of soldiers partying on Christmas 1990 to Naughty By Nature's "O.P.P," which wasn't a hit (or even released) until nearly a year later.
As a movie, Jarhead is great, but that's not the concern of this blog. As far as accurately representing the music of the time, a little research could have prevented this mess.
No comments:
Post a Comment