You Won’t Believe How ‘The Crow’ Soundtrack Redefined Alternative Music!

A Meditation on Mortality

Actor Brandon Lee, in his last interview before his untimely death in 1993, poignantly remarked, “Since we are unaware of the moment of our death, we tend to view life as an unending reservoir. However, everything has a finite occurrence.” He was paraphrasing a line from Paul Bowles’ 1949 novel, “The Sheltering Sky,” emphasizing humanity’s tendency to view life as limitless and take things for granted.

This concept of infinite life shaped Lee’s portrayal of his character in “The Crow.” In the 1994 film, Eric Draven, who along with his fiancée is brutally killed by a gang on Halloween, is resurrected a year later, led by a crow, to seek vengeance. Lee believed that after his resurrection, Draven fully grasped the value of each passing moment.

The Genesis of “The Crow”

“The Crow” was conceived by artist and writer James O’Barr in 1981, when he was stationed in Berlin with the Marines, as a way to cope with the death of his girlfriend in a drunk driving accident in 1978. The tale of two star-crossed lovers grew after O’Barr read a newspaper article about a couple murdered in Detroit over a $20 engagement ring. O’Barr first published “The Crow” as a comic series in 1989. The story was later adapted into a film in 1994, directed by Alex Proyas and written by John Shirley and David J. Schow. The film is being remade for its 30th anniversary, set to be released on Aug. 26, with Rupert Sanders as the director and a star-studded cast including Bill Skarsgård, Danny Huston, and FKA Twigs.

The Making of the Original Film

Once the original film was given the green light in February 1992, producer and music supervisor Jeff Most began assembling an original soundtrack, bringing together alternative artists who emerged mainly from the early ’80s to the brink of the ’90s, influenced partly by O’Barr’s earlier musical preferences. O’Barr had dedicated “The Crow” to Joy Division’s Ian Curtis and had crafted his protagonist Eric with the face of Iggy Pop and the physique of Bauhaus’ Peter Murphy in his mind.

Most’s idea for the soundtrack was to have all original songs, a concept that many people doubted. He also secured O’Barr’s approval to give Eric the surname “Draven” in the film and to transform the character into a guitarist in an alternative rock band, Hangman’s Joke.

The Soundtrack

For the soundtrack, Most collaborated with Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, whose band was the first to agree to contribute to the soundtrack, with a cover of Joy Division’s 1980 B-side “Dead Souls.” Reznor also assisted Most in securing a label for the soundtrack. Once Reznor and his band were on board, Atlantic Records proceeded with the album.

The label also started presenting Most with other artists to consider for the soundtrack, including Stone Temple Pilots, who were the first band to write a song for the film. Originally, they submitted “Only Dying,” but it was replaced with the “Purple” track “Big Empty,” due to the nature of the lyrics following Lee’s death. By the time “The Crow” was released, the band’s popularity had already skyrocketed after their 1992 debut studio album, “Core,” and was further enhanced by the film.

Helmet’s frontman Page Hamilton stated that the soundtrack made a strong musical statement at the time, successfully combining different sub-genres of alternative rock without any discord.

Even though O’Barr featured the entire lyrics to the Cure’s 1982 “Pornography” single “The Hanging Garden” in “The Crow,” when asked whether the song could be used in the film, Robert Smith agreed to write an original track instead: “Burn.” The soundtrack also included a Rollins Band cover of Suicide’s “Ghost Rider,” Pantera’s rendition of the Poison Idea song “The Badge,” and Rage Against the Machine’s “Darkness.”

Hamilton appreciated how the soundtrack transcended specific music genres. To him, “The Crow” was more than just a movie; it was a celebration of music.

The Legacy of the Soundtrack

The Violent Femmes, who contributed “Color Me Once” to the film, were thrilled to be associated with such a significant film and appreciated the new audience it introduced them to.

Some artists also had minor roles in the film. When Nine Inch Nails had to withdraw from their appearance in the film due to scheduling conflicts, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult filled in for the band in the nightclub performance scene, set underneath the headquarters of gang leader Top Dollar, during the “Big Moby” shootout. The band remixed “Nervous Xians” into “After the Flesh” for the film, recording it at 1 a.m. before shooting the scene inside a chilly cement factory in the middle of winter.

The Thrill Kill Kult’s Buzz McCoy recalls having a casual chat with Lee in the makeup room during filming, a memory that became particularly poignant after the actor’s tragic death a few weeks later due to an accidental gunshot wound on set.

Medicine, a rock band from Los Angeles, also made a cameo in the movie with their raw and unrefined “Time Baby II”. They recorded another version, “Time Baby III,” for the soundtrack featuring the Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser.

The Tragic Loss of Brandon Lee

Medicine’s founder Brad Laner said that “The Crow” had a profound impact on him. He believed that the film meant a lot to Lee, who was on the rise following his 1992 action film “Rapid Fire.” Lee was the son of actor and martial artist Bruce Lee, who passed away at age 32 in 1973.

After Brandon Lee’s death, his mother, Linda Lee, and fiancée, Eliza Hutton, requested that the film and the soundtrack be completed and released. Canadian singer-songwriter Jane Siberry co-wrote and recorded the poignant closing ballad “It Can’t Rain All the Time,” based on a line Draven says in the film. Siberry described the recording of the song, co-written with New Zealand industrial musician and composer Graeme Revell, as “a special moment.”

Most, who had formed a close bond with Lee during the development and scripting of the film, believes there’s still a profound connection to the original film and its music 30 years later. He takes immense pride in the first film and believes it still holds up to this day.

The remaining scenes in the film were completed with the help of a stunt double, digital effects, and script adjustments. Most recalls the difficulty of completing the film without Lee, saying, “Losing somebody that was a great friend, and all that that involved — it was a very difficult shoot.”

The New “Crow”

Following “The Crow,” Most produced “The Crow: City of Angels” (1996), “The Crow: Salvation (2000),” and “The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005),” including their soundtracks, but had no involvement in the 2024 remake or its soundtrack, scored by German composer Volker Bertelmann.

The music for the new “Crow” film includes Ozzy Osbourne and Post Malone’s 2019 single “Take What You Want,” which is featured in the trailer. Most believes the new film appears to stay true to the relationship between the ill-fated characters that O’Barr conceived decades ago, which he believes is the heart of the film and what has sustained it for the past 30 years.

“This movie is about love,” Most says. “I think that is what resonates with people to this day. That’s the emotional center of the film, the emotional chord that strikes people when they walk away and remember it.”