One of the signature components of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies are the mixtapes Peter Quill received from his mother, which feature some epic classic rock she wanted to share with her son. While we've heard "Spirit in the Sky" and "Cherry Bomb" in the original film and know songs like "The Chain" are coming in Vol. 2, director James Gunn recently explained why we haven't heard heavier rock music from the era in his Marvel movies. His answer makes a whole lot of sense:
If you think about it, it would be way more like mom-rock. I mean, a lot of dads were listening to Led Zeppelin or Cream or whatever at that time. Maybe it's the feminine side of me but I like that AM radio pop. People are always saying, 'Why don't you put Led Zeppelin in?' I'm like, 'That's not my thing.'
While there are plenty of ladies out there who love to rock out to Led Zeppelin, that's apparently not what Peter Quill's mom was into. James Gunn says that he's actually a person who is drawn to the lighter rock music of the era and so he likes to use those sorts of songs for the Guardians movies. He told the LA Times he likes to think of the choices on the mixtapes as mom-rock, rather than dad-rock, which the outlet notes has been used to describe the song mixtures in the past. Whatever his musical tastes run to seems to be working. The Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Awesome Mix Vol. 2 mixtape was #8 on the charts during the most recent week, selling 34,000 copies in its second week available and first on CD. And that's even before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has actually hit theaters.
It's interesting that James Gunn compares his taste from the seventies in terms of music to people who are more into Led Zeppelin. That band's "Immigrant Song" was recently used in the trailer for the upcoming flick Thor: Ragnarock. So, it's definitely not every single Marvel property that is averse to using the masculine rock band.
But while Thor: Ragnarok is busy Hulking out with its rock music, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 should take a slightly snappier tone, with appearances from David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Sweet, Parliament, Cheap Trick, Cat Stevens, George Harrison, Sam Cooke, ELO and more. The movie also had a bigger musical budget this time around, so James Gunn was able to get the songs he really wanted for the flick, although he said some of the yes' came easier than others. Jeff Lynn reportedly almost said no to including a song at the beginning after an Electric Light Orchestra song was cut out of Vol. 1. The ELO song did make the mixtape. You'll be able to see how the music works in the movie very soon. Select showings of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 are in the cards tonight and the movie opens wide on Friday, May 5. Here's what else we know about the upcoming film.
