WWW- Allow me to paint a picture for you:
You've just gotten home from work (or a date that didn't go as far as you'd hoped), you've had naughty thoughts running through your mind since the morning commute, and you've just been friggin' dying all day for some alone time! What better way to cap off another 24 hour cycle before you retire for the evening, than to shut your bedroom door, turn the lights down low (maybe even spark up a candle or two) and then insert (no pun intended) your favorite VHS or DVD into the machine. And then you press PLAY. Ah, yes. Where would we be without porn?
But in the midst of getting off to all that good stuff, did you ever stop to think about the music? And did you know that porn soundtracks now form a musical genre in mainstream popular culture all by themselves? Probably not. Chances are, you've never even noticed or paid any attention to porno soundtracks. Or maybe you have noticed one before because it was so god-awfully bad.
But when the musical score in an adult film is done correctly, you don't notice it at all. Why? Because in that case, it's accomplished its goal: To enhance the action on the screen without drawing attention away from it. Now stop and think about that concept for a moment: It's a very subtle, but critical distinction and a very fine line that any musical composer faces when he or she sits down at the keyboard with a cup of coffee and prepares to score porn.
A good composer masters this delicate balancing act well. You can tell a bad or overzealous composer any time you find yourself thinking mid-stroke, "Jesus, what is up with this music?" In many ways, scoring an adult movie is similar to scoring mainstream movies and television in that regard. But it's also a wholly different animal and often infinitely harder. In fact, the better composers are some of the unsung heroes of adult entertainment. Because not only do they have to write and create music that's seamless with the action and ambient sounds on the screen, they have to enhance it. That means finding a rhythm and timbre that helps the viewer (that's you) to get in the mood and stay there, while at the same time, triggering your emotional faculties to escalate and relax at the proper moments, according to what the actors are doing on the screen (or what's being done to them).
Just as important is knowing when to add the music and when to take it away, allowing the sounds of carnal knowledge to come to the audio forefront. Unfortunately, so many porn composers fail to grasp this fragile concept and wind up causing us to either hit the "mute" button, lose our hand momentum, or stop altogether and wonder just what the hell they were smoking and drinking in the studio that day.
There are simply too many reasons to count that would explain why a porn soundtrack didn't come out right. But after talking with multiple AVN and GAYVN Award-winning adult film composer and actress Sharon Kane, who generously gave of her time to shed some light on the subject for me (ok, ok, I admit it: I don't know a whole lot about adult film soundtracks), some of the more common causes of a bad musical score were revealed.
What happens nearly all the time in the age of modern economics is that the porn producers want the soundtrack, like every other part of the movie, to be done on budget and on time. Needless to say, creating music isn't just plug and play; it takes time. And unfortunately, even the best composers sometimes don't have enough time to write and mix music that sounds as good as they want.
Adding further crunch to an already strained time limit, the editors often need to hear the music in order to cut the film so that it fits. In that scenario, when you figure that the editor is trying to make a deadline on a rush, and needs the soundtrack finished to do that, the actual time that the composer would have to work on the soundtrack gets drastically reduced. Do the math and after the equal sign, you get another generically bad porno musical score.
Even worse was something Sharon told me that I found really surprising: It's not uncommon for a composer to be asked to create the music for the movie without even seeing the footage. In these instances, when the composer is asked to "just make up some music," even though it doesn't sound challenging, it can be a lot like trying to drive a car blindfolded. Sharon tells me that she's had to drop by the editing bay on more than one occasion and watch the editors working on the film, just so she could see something and get an idea for the theme and tone of the project.
So, needless to say, time and availability are major factors in what can make a porn soundtrack sound bad. However, each individual project varies according to its own unique set of circumstances and, consequently, has its own set of problems that will send the musical scoring south.
But when the stars align and the project's boundaries are conducive to creativity, there are those composers who have done it right; and exceptionally well at that. Some of the more legendary names in the world of gay porn soundtracks include Johnny Steffen and the Hotness, Michael Gonzales, and Chris Green. Their works and the works of composers like them have influenced countless musical scores on both gay and straight porno over the years. Often times, porn composers go back and forth between gay and straight porn on a regular basis, sometimes even working on the same movie twice, with both gay and straight versions of the same story being produced.
Sharon tells me that her best musical work almost always comes out when she likes the people she's working with, such as adult film producer Chi Chi La Rue. "When you trust and respect the people you're working with," Sharon says, "The music just flows." Which might explain why so many adult film composers have such a hard time putting forth their best work, when you figure that they're walking into projects with producers whom they don't know and find difficult to work with, and have to do so under extremely close deadlines.
What's most remarkable about the porn soundtrack is its journey throughout the decades from the early years, when porn was considered taboo and occupied a ghettoized station in social thinking, to modern times when Jenna Jameson and Ron Jeremy are household names. The porn soundtrack has evolved right alongside the visuals to become a genre of music in and of itself. There are now connoisseurs of porn music who can be found browsing through the porn music section that many record stores now feature, to the club rotation DJs who sample their favorite porn tunes in creating special dance mixes.
Like the pornographic film's long, hard (again, no pun intended) climb to its seat at the mainstream table, the porn soundtrack also has a rich history of merging with pop culture. One of the earliest and most profound examples is the song Mah Nah Mah Nah, which was composed by Italian musician Piero Umiliani for the Swedish porn Sweden: Heaven or Hell. A short while after Umiliani completed his work on the project, he was hired by Jim Henson to score the music for a Muppets special and used the aforementioned song as the basis for what became a worldwide hit single thanks to its commercial vehicle.
The porn soundtrack continues to evolve and extend its reach, not just in a reemergence of the more classical and universally recognized adult film scores, but with popular bands devoted to creating porn music both for porn movies and for record sales on their own, such as the San Francisco Bay Area's "Porn Orchestra." A trend that we will likely be seeing more of is the mainstream artist lending his/her expertise to the scoring of porn soundtracks, as was the case for 80s pop star Boy George who, under his alternate stage name, "The Twin," recently scored the straight-to-video gay porn Manhattan Heat, which debuted in January of this year.
So the next time you get home and can't wait to close your bedroom door and watch your favorite porn, pay attention to the music and the hard work that went into somebody's creation. Because soon enough, the worlds of porn music versus mainstream music will become seamless and interchangeable. And it won't be long before you start recognizing that catchy tune from a porn you saw at a friend's birthday party, providing the rhythm for Paris Hilton's next shopping spree on reality TV (or her next porn appearance in another one of her daddy's hotel rooms... Simple Life indeed!)
Special thanks to Sharon Kane, who has recently finished composing the musical soundtrack scores for two films: Las Vegas Glory Holes and Leather-Bound.
