Recent film sound tracks that consist of previously recorded material are used with the assumption that the audience will recognize the style, if not the specific artist or song. The use of such music affects the feeling of youthful nostalgia in the nostalgia film genre. For example, in American Graffiti, music is the most important element of the production of nostalgia, even though it gives an idealized picture of music from the 1950s. American Graffiti also established a new model in which popular music is used without a clear differentiation between diegetic and non-diegetic music.

Works: Works: Mike Nichols (director): Sound track to The Graduate (37-38); Dennis Hopper (director): Sound track to Easy Rider (38-39); George Lucas (director): Sound track to American Graffiti (39-42); Lawrence Kasdan (director): Sound track to The Big Chill (43-44); Emile Ardolino (director): Sound track to Dirty Dancing (45-48); John Sayles (director): Sound track to Baby, It's You (48-49).

Sources: Sources: Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel: Sounds of Silence (37), April Come She Will (37-38), Scarborough Fair/Canticle (37-38); Dennis Edmonton [Mars Bonfire] (songwriter), Steppenwolf (performers): Born to be Wild (38); Hoyt Axton (songwriter), Steppenwolf (performers): The Pusher (38); Chuck Berry: Johnny B. Goode (41); Brian Wilson and Mike Love (songwriters), The Beach Boys (performers): Surfin' Surfari [Surfin' Safari] (41); Arthur Singer, John Medora, and David White: At the Hop (41); Max C. Freedman and James E. Myers [Jimmy De Knight] (songwriters), Bill Haley and the Comets (performers): Rock around the Clock (42); Hoyt Axton (songwriter), Three Dog Night (performers): Joy to the World (43); Brian Wilson and Tony Asher (songwriters), The Beach Boys (performers): Wouldn't It Be Nice? (43); Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (songwriters), The Rolling Stones (performers): You Can't Always Get What You Want (43); Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich (songwriters), The Ronettes (performers): Be My Baby (45); Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio (songwriters), The Four Seasons (performers): Big Girls Don't Cry (45); Berry Gordy, Jr. (songwriter), The Contours (performers): Do You Love Me? (45); Maurice Williams (songwriter), Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs (performers): Stay (45); Otis Redding: These Arms of Mine (45), Love Man (45); Gerry Goffin and Carole King (songwriters), The Shirelles (performers): Will You Love Me Tomorrow? (47); Al Kooper: (I Heard Her Say) Wake Me, Shake Me (49); Lou Reed (songwriter), The Velvet Underground (performers): Venus in Furs (49).

Index Classifications: 1900s, Film

Contributed by: Karen Anton Stafford