Dear music lovers,
This past weekend, I had the pleasure of experiencing “One Battle After Another,” the latest masterpiece from Paul Thomas Anderson. His films are always a treat, and this one, loosely based on Thomas Pynchon’s “Vineland,” is no exception. Anderson is a consistently captivating director, and a huge part of his magic lies in his impeccable music choices. You never know what kind of story he’ll tell next, but you can almost guarantee it’ll have an incredible soundtrack.
A compelling image shows Chase Infiniti in a scene from Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.”
Today, we’re celebrating some of the finest pop songs gracing Anderson’s movies. This special playlist highlights tracks from his newest release, along with tear-jerking ballads from “Magnolia,” a dreamy tune from “Punch-Drunk Love,” and classic vibes from his first Pynchon adaptation, “Inherent Vice.”
Anderson’s approach to music isn’t about digging up obscure gems. Instead, he often takes widely known, sometimes even overplayed, songs and places them in unexpected, often irreverent, cinematic moments. Imagine a feel-good disco hit underscoring a porn star’s sudden fortune, or a cheesy ’80s rock anthem during a tense drug deal. This juxtaposition breathes new life into familiar tunes, changing our perception of them forever.
This compilation focuses purely on the pop songs he masterfully employs. We won’t delve into his extensive collaborations with composers like Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, whose brilliant scores anchor many of his films (including “One Battle After Another”), or his celebrated music video work for artists like Haim and Fiona Apple.
This is also the latest installment in our ongoing “needle drop” series. If you enjoyed this, be sure to check out our previous discussions on the soundtracks of films by Sofia Coppola, Wes Anderson, and Luca Guadagnino.
So, grab your Healthy Choice pudding, prepare for potential frogfalls, and get ready to dive into this unforgettable Paul Thomas Anderson playlist.
I drink your milkshake,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. KC and the Sunshine Band: “Boogie Shoes”
It’s hard to pick just one song from Anderson’s 1997 breakout “Boogie Nights”; there’s so much music in the movie that it spawned a multivolume soundtrack. But I do love the feel-good montage toward the beginning of the film, set to this mid-’70s hit, when Mark Wahlberg’s iconic character Dirk Diggler celebrates his sudden success with a shopping spree — and a brand-new pair of groovy platform shoes. “Those are really cool,” John C. Reilly’s Reed Rothchild says. “Are they lizard?” Diggler answers, “No, they’re Italian.”
2. The Shirelles: “Soldier Boy”
This enchanting 1962 chart-topper from “One Battle After Another” adds an unsettling layer, hinting at a disturbing romantic entanglement at the heart of the story.
3. Paul McCartney and Wings: “Let Me Roll It”
Paul McCartney’s glorious 1973 attempt at writing a John Lennon song — unconsciously, he has insisted, “although my use of tape echo did sound more like John than me” — accompanies a memorable scene in Anderson’s 2021 feature “Licorice Pizza,” when a moment of emotional revelation occurs on a rippling water bed.
4. Can: “Vitamin C”
The title card of Anderson’s 2014 romp “Inherent Vice,” his first adaptation of a Pynchon novel, appears to the tune of this slinky 1972 track by the German krautrock band Can. Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston) has just visited her former flame Doc Sportello (a werewolfishly sideburned Joaquin Phoenix) and enlisted him to solve the twisty mystery that drives the plot. “Vitamin C” immediately immerses us in Doc’s paranoid (and usually stoned) state of mind.
5. Shelley Duvall: “He Needs Me”
One of Anderson’s most pronounced directorial influences is the great Robert Altman, and he paid direct tribute by using a song from Altman’s surreal 1980 film “Popeye” in his off-kilter 2002 romantic comedy “Punch-Drunk Love.” The composer Jon Brion remixed the original recording — written by Harry Nilsson and sung, indelibly, by Shelley Duvall — to fit seamlessly into his dreamy, oddball score.
6. Ella Fitzgerald: “Get Thee Behind Me Satan”
Ella Fitzgerald’s 1958 rendition of this Irving Berlin standard appears in an early scene of “The Master,” in which Phoenix’s unstable character Freddie Quell attempts to make a decent living as a department store photographer. Undercutting its period-appropriate elegance with a sense of sinister unease, the track foreshadows how well that gig will turn out.
7. Supertramp: “Goodbye Stranger”
In Anderson’s 1999 feature “Magnolia,” this Wurlitzer-driven 1979 Supertramp song plays during a gut-wrenching bar scene in which William H. Macy’s character, Quiz Kid Donnie Smith, gazes from across the room at the secret object of his affection — and his glistening braces. In all its lonely hearted tenderness, the song seems able to express everything Donnie cannot.
8. Aimee Mann: “Wise Up”
Here’s one of those songs that can reliably give me an instant lump in the throat in three seconds or less. The unforgettable “Wise Up” montage in “Magnolia,” during which the film’s principal characters sing the words to this Aimee Mann gem in their lowest ebbs of despair, is one of the most formally audacious moments in all of Anderson’s filmography. (Respectfully, the scene totally works.)
9. Neil Young: “Journey Through the Past”
Anderson underscores a goofy but sweetly wistful flashback in “Inherent Vice” — during which Doc and Shasta consult an Ouija board that they hope will tell them where they can score some weed — with this Neil Young rarity. The better-known live version would have been a bit too dour, but this studio cut from the Neil Young archives, recorded during the “Harvest” sessions with his backing band the Stray Gators, fits the mood beautifully.
10. Steely Dan: “Dirty Work”
Here’s another song from “One Battle After Another,” which accompanies the film’s sudden flash forward and brings us into the emotional inertia of Bob Ferguson’s present day. It also foreshadows a hilarious later bit of dialogue in which Bob reveals — spoiler alert — that he’s a Steely Dan fan. Of course.
11. Night Ranger: “Sister Christian”
OK, fine — I didn’t pick just one song from “Boogie Nights.” This is perhaps the quintessential example of the way Anderson’s use of a popular (and in this case, rather overwrought) song in an unexpected context can completely transform it. After seeing “Boogie Nights,” I will never again be able to hear “Sister Christian” without picturing an outrageously high, mustachioed Alfred Molina waving a gun around while wearing a silk robe and a Speedo. My only comfort is that I know I am not the only one.
The Amplifier Playlist
“11 Classic Paul Thomas Anderson Needle Drops” track list:
Track 1: KC and the Sunshine Band, “Boogie Shoes”
Track 2: The Shirelles, “Soldier Boy”
Track 3: Paul McCartney and Wings, “Let Me Roll It”
Track 4: Can, “Vitamin C”
Track 5: Shelley Duvall, “He Needs Me”
Track 6: Ella Fitzgerald, “Get Thee Behind Me Satan”
Track 7: Supertramp, “Goodbye Stranger”
Track 8: Aimee Mann, “Wise Up”
Track 9: Neil Young, “Journey Through the Past”
Track 10: Steely Dan, “Dirty Work”
Track 11: Night Ranger, “Sister Christian”
This article features curated playlists of these songs, presented as embedded players from popular streaming services.
Bonus Tracks
Our chief film critic Manohla Dargis, in her exultant review of “One Battle After Another,” calls it “one for the ages.” I love a Manohla rave!
Kyle Buchanan also spoke with six of the film’s primary cast members about the making of “One Battle After Another.” In an entertaining feature, Sean Penn describes Anderson as well as anyone ever has: “Paul is this very genteel prince of the San Fernando Valley who understands really wicked things and can write about them beautifully.” I concur.