The Soundtrack Channel Brings John Williams, Johnny Lee, And That Smashmouth Guy Together

noah | October 20, 2008 3:00 am

Those of you who still lament the lack of music-video-related programming on your cable system, and think that whoever you’re paying for TV programming will listen to your complaints about this fact, might want to take a shot in the dark and ask the customer-service department to add The Soundtrack Channel to its ranks. As I discovered last night, it’s a music-video channel that has but one requirement for a song to get airtime: Inclusion on a movie soundtrack. No, really. That’s it. In the time I’ve spent watching it last night and this morning, I’ve seen videos by the likes of Gavin Rossdale (from XXX), Johnny Lee (from Urban Cowboy), John Williams (duh, of course!), and the very young MC Elijah. And perhaps predictably, I’ve also caught Smashmouth’s “All Star”–the video is a tie-in with Mystery Men, although really, this channel could probably have an entire hour of scenes set to that song. (And after programming it, a videotape could be shipped off to Guantanamo Bay for “interrogation assistance” purposes.)

Did I mention that it makes its own videos? (Sadly, it plays that concept straight–no cross-pollination of subject and object is going on here.) With its all-over-the-map aesthetic and bumpers that were shot during junkets for two-year-old movies like Just Like Heaven, not to mention my sneaking suspicion that my tuning in to the channel this afternoon has increased its viewership ranks by at least .1%, and part of me wonders if, like IMF before it, I’m just getting into it when it’s on the verge of shutting down–its YouTube channel has been dormant since the spring, while its blog has seen less-neglected days as well. But hey, whoever’s programming it has either a really good sense of humor or a “shuffle” function that’s like a more incoherent iTunes. How else to explain its segue from from “What’s Your Fantasy” into a Skye Sweetnam track? I almost want to keep watching all day, just to see how this rampant EPK-pillaging is going to work out.

The Soundtrack Channel [Official site]

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