“Juno” Soundtrack Was Almost Devoted To Yo La Tengo

anthonyjmiccio | June 26, 2008 2:00 am

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While the contents of the Juno soundtrack have probably made little difference to most Idolator readers’ lives (unless you didn’t know about the Moldy Peaches and, honest to blog, cried when you finally heard “Anybody Else But You”), there are at least three people who might be upgrading their furniture if director Jason Reitman had stuck with his original plans for the flick’s musical motif. “We started to realize there was this rebirth of lo-fi music that had the same energy as punk music, but nowhere as angry. The first band we discovered was Yo La Tengo and so I started to think that was the sound of the film.” Then Diablo Cody stormed in the room and went “blah blah I used to be a stripper and this isn’t sticky edgy sweet enough blah blah listen to this song on my Oh My iPod (get it?) it’s the biggity bomb!” Or rather Ellen Page downloaded “Anybody Else But You” for Reitman when he asked her what Juno would listen to. But it’s fun to pretend.

It’s also fun to imagine how the movie would have been if Georgia and Ira were crooning throughout the film instead of Kimya and Adam, and this clip reel set to Jacob Ruefer’s cover of “You Can Have It All” gives you an idea of how it would have been. (Yo La Tengo’s version did earn a place on the Juno B-sides comp.) (Also, isn’t it weird how much Ruefer sounds like YLT bassist James McNew?)

So would Reitman’s original plan have earned Yo La Tengo a gold album and the chance to perform on Sesame Street? Or would songs like “Sugarcube” and “The Summer” have failed to hit the same nerve as Kimya’s ultra-twee sensitivity?

JUNO – You Can Have It All (Cover) [YouTube] Jason Reitman [KCRW via The Playlist]