‘Scott Pilgrim’ Wouldn’t Work Without This Crucial Piece

The Big Picture

• The music in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and the Netflix anime series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off perfectly complements the style of each respective show.
• Bryan Lee O’Malley, the author and artist of the graphic novels, was inspired by music and even created playlists for each volume.
• The music in the Scott Pilgrim franchise, including original songs by in-universe bands and popular hits, is an essential element that contributes to the overall vibe and charm of the series.

The power of a film’s music score can have a strong influence on its audience by setting the tone of the story. From the choice of genres to a variety of musical artists, a movie’s soundtrack can have a hold on viewers hours after the film is finished. Folks will soon find themselves humming along to that love song from that pivotal heartbreak scene and add it to their playlist on their phone. A film’s soundtrack is a fundamental part of its creation and, at times, its characters and Scott Pilgrim is no different. The franchise creator, Bryan Lee O’Malley, was even inspired by a song to create the graphic novels that gained him fame. He even went so far as to curate a playlist for each volume of the comic. Many of the artists featured in O’Malley’s playlist are included in the 2010 film adaptation, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

But like the music in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the Netflix anime series, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off has become a hit with fans even as its story has diverted from the live-action film. Takes Off is full of hits that complement the show’s style very well. The show’s creators rewarded fans by creating an original score along with a few original songs from the in-universe bands like Sex Bob-omb. Many of the artists included in O’Malley’s original playlist are featured in the series, as well as Metric’s popular hit in the film, “Black Sheep”. The show also shows its anime influence by including some popular Japanese rock bands like Necry Talkie, who sing the Netflix show’s opening title song, “Bloom”.

How Did Music Help Bryan Lee O’Malley Create ‘Scott Pilgrim’?

Bryan Lee O’Malley initially became inspired to create the character of Scott Pilgrim after listening to Canadian indie rock band, Plumtree’s “Scott Pilgrim”. The particular lyric, “I’ve liked you for a thousand years” led him to create the concept of Scott Pilgrim’s dream girl, Ramona Flowers, as this mystical girl that travels via Subspace, a spacetime portal that helps her travel to different spacetime portals. As O’Malley was writing and illustrating the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, he accompanied each volume with a playlist of songs he’d listen to during his process. Bands like Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, and The Replacements were featured to help envelope readers into Scott’s world, much like what happens in movies.

Similarly, other artists featured on the Scott Pilgrim vs the World soundtrack, such as Metric and Beck, lent their talents to help create the film’s world. According to O’Malley, Beck co-wrote about 21 songs with Nigel Godrich for Sex Bob-omb, and about four were picked by Edgar Wright and O’Malley: “Garbage Truck,” “Threshold,” “Summertime,” and “We Are Sex Bob-Omb.” “Ramona” also technically counts as that was written and performed by Beck, though it’s not actually a full song.

How Important is Music to ‘Scott Pilgrim’?

Given the cult status of Scott Pilgrim vs the World, many fans have been referring to it as a 2010 indie rock time capsule. Many of the original songs by Sex Bob-Omb were written by Beck and helped to curate that authentic Toronto lifestyle. This is part of the reason why the film remains a classic over a decade later. Edgar Wright wanted to include many of the artists featured in O’Malley’s playlist in the film as he was just as passionate about music. Wright and O’Malley would mail each other mixtapes, imagining what kind of music each character would listen to. Both having similar tastes in music, the two naturally teamed up together and handpicked the film’s soundtrack. This led to other songs like “Teenage Dream” from T.Rex and Frank Black’s “I Heard Ramona Sing”.

Even though Scott Pilgrim vs the World features some pretty great popular artists, much of what makes music so crucial to this franchise is the in-universe bands. Sex Bob-omb, The Clash at Demonhead, and The Katayanagi Twins contribute to the long-standing love this franchise has for music. The cast of Scott Pilgrim vs the World was even dedicated to putting in the work to authentically portray an up-and-coming indie rock band. Academy Award winner, Brie Larson who plays the lead singer of The Clash at Demonhead, Envy Adams, provides her voice for the singing for “Black Sheep”. The Actors Alison Pill (Kim Pine), Johnny Simmons (Young Neil), and Mark Weber (Stephen Stills) learned their instruments from scratch and spent several weeks practicing together as a band. Pill, who plays drummer Kim Pine, told MTV News how meeting with Beck’s drummer taught her, “drumming beyond the stuff that was in the songs.” It not only helped shape her character but also helped her master the drums in a couple of weeks. Michael Cera, on the other hand, already knew how to play bass and had to “dumb it down” to not outshine any of his bandmates and to stay in that same garage band style.

Does the Music in ‘Scott Pilgrim Takes Off’ Differ From the Live-Action Film?

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off lives up to the same tone of the series by utilizing some of the same artists from O’Malley’s playlist. The show, however, does include a few popular Japanese rock bands to live up to the hyper-stylized mood. Japanese rock music invokes the same spirit in the film as the 2000’s indie rock music does for the film adaptation. To further that, it also brings this anime to life by enlisting Joseph Trapanese (The Witcher) and the chiptune pop band Anamanaguchi, (who worked on the soundtrack for the Scott Pilgrim video game), to team up together to produce much of the show’s original music and score.

Music in Scott Pilgrim has always been an integral part of the story. From the graphic novels, film adaptation, video games, and now anime, this franchise has brilliantly told this story through music. Most recently, the show’s soundtrack beautifully matches the atmosphere from the comics while also capturing Science Saru’s animation. Its success can also be seen with how consistent the music has remained throughout the years in its delivery in the movie.

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