Well, I was right. The
Star Wars Insider online supplement is in the "Hyperspace" section of Starwars.com, meaning unless you're a paying member, you can't have a look at the article about the GSWSP. That's okay, though, because I have the whole thing right here. The author of the article, Bonnie Burton, was kind enough to e-mail it to me shortly after it went up. Thanks again, Bonnie!
Although I thought what they were going to post would be more along the lines of the raw interview (what follows is really just an extended version of the print article), I'd be a fool to complain. This is the most attention my little blog has ever received. I feel quite honored to grace the pages of
Star Wars Insider AND the virtual pages of Starwars.com. Scroll down and dig on it already...
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The Dark Side of the Death Star: More SynchronicityAugust 28, 2006
By Bonnie Burton
Imagine if John Williams' epic score as the saga's music soundtrack was replaced with your favorite records. Would Metallica's heavy guitar riffs add intensity to Luke and Darth Vader's exciting duel? Or perhaps dialog between C-3PO and R2-D2 would oddly make sense when backed by rap lyrics from Public Enemy?
This isn't a brand new experiment concept. In 1994, some Pink Floyd fans created a similar experiment called "Dark Side of the Rainbow" in which they would simultaneously play Pink Floyd's album
The Dark Side of the Moon while watching the film
The Wizard of Oz to see if certain film scenes and song lyrics link up.
Florida fan James Greene, Jr. came up with the idea after he heard about another fan who was watching all six
Star Wars movies at once while documenting the few strange little coincidences throughout. "Naturally, this reminded me of the whole 'Dark Side of the Rainbow' thing," Greene says. "So I started to wonder about the possibility of there being an album out there that synchs up with
Star Wars in the same way. The first album I ever tried -- White Zombie's
La Sexorcisto -- yielded about 20 moments of synchronicity. That's not many compared to the 60 you get with
Dark Side and
Oz, but it was enough to get me excited. After I told a friend of mine about my experiment he remarked somewhat cynically that almost any album would probably synch up with
Star Wars, and suggested I devote an entire blog to my synchronization tests. It sounded like a great idea to me, so I did it."
Even though all the films in the saga are fair game for the Synchronicity Project, Greene enjoys testing the possibilities of the original trilogy the most. "The movies I'm most excited about using are the original three --
A New Hope,
The Empire Strikes Back, and
Return of the Jedi -- because I think they're the ones that the general public are most familiar with," Greene says. "Plus, they're the movies that I love most. For the project I'm using the unaltered versions -- the 1995 THX 'Faces' set, to be exact."
Since late last year, Greene has tested albums by Beastie Boys, Green Day, Blondie, Bad Religion, Meat Loaf, The Damned, Dr. Dre, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Public Enemy, and of course, Pink Floyd. After each test, he details exactly where the albums synch up with various film scenes, and explains why certain albums seem to work better than others, on his blog.
"The record with the most interesting synchs to date is Green Day's
American Idiot with
A New Hope," Greene says. "There are 35 total! I'm not really sure why that worked out so well, other than maybe the fact that it's a rock opera with lots of short little songs-within-songs and quick tempo shifts."
Greene also tests other movie soundtracks against the films including
Ghostbusters,
Cable Guy,
Lost Highway,
Less Than Zero and
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. "The
Ghostbusters soundtrack worked best with
A New Hope probably because there's just a good mix of styles including orchestral stuff, old time rock n' roll and cheesy '80s ballads, not to mention the movie's famous title song," Greene explains. "Interestingly enough the line 'I know it's worth it all to spend my life with you' is heard in 'I Can Wait Forever' as C-3PO and R2-D2 are conversing onscreen. It reminded me how much the two act like an elderly married couple."
However, not all the musical experiments are a whopping success. "Oh, there are tons of flops," Greene laughs. "Any album with lots of love songs like Blondie's
Greatest Hits with
Empire never works because there aren't many lovey-dovey moments. Hardcore punk records are usually too short and fast as well. I tried the Led Zeppelin box set which ended up being a wash. Extensive guitar solos don't translate well to synchronicity."
For those fans wanting to try to synch their favorite albums, Greene offers a few tips. "I generally hit play twice real quick on the CD player to pause the CD before the music starts," Greene suggests. "Then right after the second drum roll in the 20th Century Fox fanfare, I unpause the CD player. I do that so there isn't that brief lag between hitting 'play' and the start of the CD. Also try to use albums that you think will have a greater propensity for synchronization. And be sure to go to the bathroom before you sit down with a 70-minute CD. That can be torture."
To read more about the latest experiments, visit the Star Wars Synchronicity Project blog here: http://starwarssynch.blogspot.com
