soundtrack review: the perks of being a wallflower
20 times. Or more. That’s how many times I have watched The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It is the movie I watched when I felt sad. It is the movie that showed me new music and how to love it. I watched it for the first time when I was sixteen years old and this film somehow understood exactly how I was feeling. Not that weird, considering it is packed with teen angst, inspirational quotes, sad songs and existentialism.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age story that takes place in the early 1990s. It follows Charlie, an introverted, intelligent, socially awkward teenage boy. In the film, he starts his first year of high school, where a new world opens up to him: a world of first dates, parties, writing and most importantly, new friends. The film touches upon issues such as mental health, drug use, sexual assault and domestic violence and combines it with the difference that music can make.
Needless to say, music plays a big role in this movie. It perfectly captures a teenager’s need to express their feelings and thoughts in music, which in the nineties was done mostly through creating mixtapes of your favorite songs and sometimes gifting them to your friends. The soundtrack of The Perks of Being a Wallflower contains a mix of songs from the 80s and 90s that leave you, to quote from the film: feeling both happy and sad, and wondering how that could be. Below, I will discuss the songs that stand out most to me.
Could It Be Another Change
Could It Be Another Change by The Samples is the opening song of the film. The gentle guitar melody guides you into a tunnel at night and introduces the mood of the film. It is a melancholic love song that uses lyrics such as: “why can’t you just feel that way I do?”, that describes the feeling of loneliness in unrequited love. After this sentence, the music changes to a slightly more upbeat tune and we see Charlie sitting at his desk for the first time, writing a letter about being both happy and sad, which I think is at the core of this song.
Asleep
In the film, Charlie’s favorite song is Asleep by The Smiths. He discovers it on a mixtape his sister receives from her boyfriend. The song is utterly depressing, as it is about wanting to sleep and never wake up. This shows us the more depressed side of Charlie and it adds to the feeling of sadness that embodies this film, but it is addressed rather lightly in the film, as Charlie gifts Patrick (a friend) a mixtape with the song Asleep on it twice, which the whole friend group then laughs about. It’s in character for a teenage sad friend group.
Heroes
Fun fact: I did not know who David Bowie was before I saw this film. And let me tell you, it was love at first hearing, just like the characters do in the film. We first hear the song when Charlie is in a truck with his two friends, Sam and Patrick (who are step-sister and brother). Heroes comes on the radio and immediately Sam starts begging Patrick to drive through the tunnel, “because it’s the perfect tunnel song”. The music is turned up and while Bowie sings: “We could be heroes, just for one day”, Sam stands in the back of the truck, and pretends to fly through the tunnel. Charlie is so in awe of her, and the tunnel, and the music that he says to Patrick: “I feel infinite.” The song returns at the end of the film, when Sam exclaims that she has finally found the tunnel song (not having known the song, and not having internet at the time, it took a lot of time) and that they are going for a drive. This time, we see Charlie standing in the back of the truck with his arms wide, as a voiceover of Charlie states: “I can see it. This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive, and you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song and that drive with the people you love most in this world. And in this moment I swear, we are infinite.” Because of this, and the theme it creates, Heroes is most important song on the soundtrack.
Pearly-dewdrops’ Drops
Pearly-dewdrops’Drops by the Cocteau Twins is a song that is almost unfindable in the film. The dreamy song only plays in the background, softly, for one short scene, when Charlie’s friends all have graduated, but the moment that makes this song special in the film, is the moment when Sam mentions it to Charlie as the song she imagines she will hear when it will all be okay. I agree with Sam. I looked it up when I saw the movie for the first time and I immediately fell in love. The Cocteau Twins are now one of my favorite bands.
Come On Eileen
During one of the most wholesome moments in the film, we hear this song. It comes on during a school dance. When the upbeat opening chords are heard by Sam and Patrick, they scream: “O my god, they are playing GOOD music! Living room routine!” After that, they run to the dancefloor, swipe everyone out of their way and do the most exciting, wild, fun dance without a care in the world of what people might think of them. It shows the character of the friend group we later meet and how they are all a little different but still fit together. As almost everyone feels like an outsider and a wallflower in their teenage years, for many teenagers, this is the dream. Finding someone that is a misfit just like you.
In conclusion, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a film containing a group of music-loving, crazy, creative, lonely and dramatic friends, showed me new music and how you can use music to release your feelings and thoughts. This film is the main reason I fell in love with music from the eighties and especially David Bowie. When I hear these songs when I am feeling down, I feel understood. And that is why, the soundtrack of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, containing a mix of songs from the 80s and 90s leave you feeling both happy and sad (no longer wondering how that could be).
