My Current (again) Hyperfixation: The Legion Soundtrack
I read like three posts in a row-- and left an encouraging comment on one saying much the same thing-- saying GEEK OUT OVER WHAT YOU WANT TO GEEK OUT OVER UNABASHEDLY, PUT THAT LOVE IN THE WORLD EVEN IF ONLY YOU APPRECIATE IT-- just as "David Redux" was playing on my computer. Again. Because I have been hyperfixating on the Legion soundtrack for the past two-ish weeks and playing my playlist on repeat. In this case it was actually just part of my "Psychedelic and Prog Rock" playlist because I've been trying to branch out, but still, I feel the need to gush, but I've been RESTRAINING MYSELF BECAUSE WHO REALLY CARES... but this is a sign, isn't it? So allow me...
*ahem* Those of you who have been following me for any amount of time are probably aware that I'm a fan of the FX show from 2017-2019, Legion, a highly-mindtrippy, oft-problematic, X-Men spinoff about mentally-ill superpowered folks, for which I have written the vast majority of my fanfic. I first checked it out because showrunner Noah Hawley (whose Fargo I'd loved) crossed with the X-Men?! I stayed around because PSYCHEDELIC TRIPPINESS. Which includes the soundtrack. And honestly, maybe it's the soundtrack I love most of all.
There are two, possibly three, parts here. The needle-drops are A-PLUS, perfectly used in the storytelling, and just generally good songs, most of the time (yeah, a few I don't like. But then, sometimes that's what you need to tell the story). A lot of them are genuinely psychedelic or at least prog-rock, but even the ones that aren't are USED psychedelically: ironic in tone, simply capturing an odd fleeting emotional state, whatever. There are some well-known songs like "Speak To Me/Breathe" (more about the Pink Floyd connection in a bit), and a lot of rarer songs from lesser-known artists that I am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL to music supervisor Maggie Phillips for introducing me to. I ended up buying albums from The Beta Band and Secret Machines because of songs used in this show.
I feel like a lot of people had this reaction when "Undiscovered Firsts" by Feist played in Chapter Four of Legion, but this is one I immediately tracked down to purchase, like, after that episode. It might have been later than that. But it's definitely the first Legion-prompted music I purchased at SOME point:
Yeah, looking at the comment section of that youtube video, it's pretty much all "Legion sent me here!"
But the needle-drop I've been most obsessed with during this current binge is Radiohead's "The Daily Mail":
It is constantly in my head and I don't mind at all. It captures my underlying emotions lately (and I didn't even realize this until rewatching Chapter Five with closed-captions-- rewatching the show is another way I've tried to branch out from JUST relistening to my playlist over and over-- but the lyrics are eerily timely, too). It builds, and then it's over too soon, and I feel the need to start it from the beginning.
Here's a Spotify playlist I used for reference when building my own collection:
There are two three reasons I made my own playlist on my own computer out of my own collection. Probably the most important one that just occurred to me is because then I'm not reliant on Spotify. I own this music dangit! I can listen without commercials or supporting shady streaming services! Anyway, another is because there are a few songs on here I WOULD rather not listen to, thanks, why should I force myself? Thirdly, and originally most importantly before I remembered the "not reliant on Spotify" thing, is it only includes "songs," not OST instrumental background music, which is necessary!
That's basically the main musical theme of the series and sums up what it's all like and is also gorgeous.
Score writer Jeff Russo has stated many times in interviews that Pink Floyd is one of his biggest influences in general, and that he specifically leaned into that influence in the music for Legion. Well, whaddya know, my second-favorite band!--and for that matter, there's Beatles influence in there, too. Actually in the comments of the link I put to "David Redux" above, somebody said "This is literally I Want You(She’s so heavy) like just straight up that song." ...yeah so? No seriously it's not JUST straight up "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," but the influence is clearly there. There are definite bits of the score you can point to and say "Ah! Pink Floyd!" about, too, but mostly it's less blatant. But still-- the FEELING is there, that eerie, dreamy, sometimes disturbing feeling.
--Slight tangent about Pink Floyd and psychedelic music in general. It CAN be disturbing, and that's the POINT. It shakes you out of your comfort zone. Now, when I was a teenager and first getting into "Classic Rock," I HATED Pink Floyd. Not just meh, not just didn't care for, ACTIVELY HATED. And I was like, "Yeah, sorry, no way this is EVER going to grow on me." And I don't think it ever DID grow on me-- it just immediately flipped a switch-- from UTTER LOATHING to me buying a copy of Wish You Were Here at the used CD store and thinking, in that moment, oh darn, I think Pink Floyd has suddenly become my second-favorite band. Now, I wrote a whole long thing about my feelings about psychedelic music about 2/3s of the way into this article, so I'll leave you with the link and get back to the Legion soundtrack.
The Floyd influence extends across ALL of Legion, actually, not just the background music. The show's heroine is named after founding Floyd member Syd Barrett (who, notably for purposes of this show, had quit the band due to mental illness). I already mentioned the "Speak to Me/Breathe" needle-drop, and in Season Three there was a literal performance of "Mother":
Admittedly, I have the original Floyd track on my playlist, not this performance.
But that brings us to the third part of the Legion music story: a lot of songs actually PERFORMED for the show. Often IN the show. Usually by the characters themselves, though once the band Superorganism actually appeared in the show to accost one of the characters with a performance of their song "Something for Your M.I.N.D.":
In what is one of my favorite episodes of television ever, Chapter Seven (which when I opened up IMDB just now to make sure I was spelling Maggie Phillips' last name correctly, I noticed is ranked as the top episode there, 9.3 stars out of 10), Oliver Bird (whom you've probably heard me mention because he's one of my favorite characters ever--my third-favorite in this show only because the Loudermilks exist) conducts/wills into existence an eerie arrangement of "Bolero" that scores the frickin' amazing climax of the episode (cw for some creepy body horror and a bit o' gore if you watch this whole video):
Oh oh oh the most amazing thing I've ever seen on TV is this mind-battle of "Behind Blue Eyes" from Chapter 19:
But we were talking about the MUSIC, not so much the SHOW, and one of the other aspects of Performed for the Show is a whole series of covers Russo and showrunner Hawley recorded together as, technically, needle-drops, but often incorporating themes from the score, like the intro to their "Cornflake Girl":
This makes for really unique covers that sometimes sound completely unlike the originals but actually are really friggin' good in and of themselves. I think my favorite is their "Fly Like an Eagle" which is WAY un-Steve-Miller-Band:
Note that the intro is blatantly the intro to Pink Floyd's "Echoes"!
Which is how I managed to branch out to my full "Psych and Prog Rock" playlist in the end-- "ooo, I really want to listen to 'Echoes' now"!
OKAY. RIGHT. So if anybody else gets hyperfixated on psychedelic music, let me know, because it's such a weird thing to hyperfixate on. But never mind. I HAVE NOW SHARED WITH YOU SOME AWESOMENESS. LISTEN WELL.
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