Why do modern movie trailers have such out-of-place song choices?

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mattiasflgrtll6's Avatar
The truth is in here
I keep getting distracted when I watch a trailer that has a song put in it, since most of the time it doesn't fit with the themes or tone that they want to convey at all. For example, why did they pick Heart Of Glass for the House Of Gucci trailer? It's a great song, but it's incredibly jarring how poorly it fits for this kind of movie. It doesn't even mesh with all the typical booming transition sounds.
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"How tall is King Kong ?"
If I understood well, the music is produced pretty late nowadays, so most trailers have musics that are borrowed elsewhere (see how many movie trailers have used the Requiem for a Dream music). It's the iceberg tip of a much larger issue in the -dying- movie music industry.

Now of course, the choice of using a "fitting" or "unfitting" temp music in the trailer is subjective (sometimes contrast works best), but let's say it's not exactly a highly artistic, craftsman's endeavor. Grab an unrelated popular tune, sick it there and let's go.



The "exact release date" part has not aged well.
Definitely not. If it were made today, it would have a season and a streaming service next to it instead.



It is all related to all filmmaking going downhill since the mid 2000s, where we have got forgettable action movies and thrillers, hollywood isn t what it used to in the 70s, 80s and 90s, it was the golden age not anymore, now very few films to look forward to and the blockbuster movies have explosions and zero plot as filmmakers are trying to wow you with effects and grandioso monsters with less and less interest in what the plot offers in terms of storytelling and immersion.



For example, why did they pick Heart Of Glass for the House Of Gucci trailer?
I guessing cocaine? As associated with fashion-elite wealth and decadant-chic and sexing and scheming? It's a very superficial association (why not choose a similarly materialistic dance song from the 90s?), but marketing is superficial by design. And maybe Blondie's catalogue is cheap. I can't even really listen to "One Way or Another" any more due to its rigorous trek on the commercial circuit.



I keep getting distracted when I watch a trailer that has a song put in it, since most of the time it doesn't fit with the themes or tone that they want to convey at all. For example, why did they pick Heart Of Glass for the House Of Gucci trailer?
Aesthetic fit aside, I assume it was because it was period-appropriate: the song was released/was a hit around the same time Gucci became an international brand. I imagine/assume that's when the film takes place. Kinda like Forrest Gump using its soundtrack to situate us in whatever time period it was showing.



Trailers are ads, generally made by someone hired to create the ad. It reminds me a lot of all of those car ads that show people driving through the dirt in the desert at sunset. Most people don't live in the desert, will only drive there on a trip and probably won't be driving off-road, but auto makers want us all to think that our car needs to be desert worthy.

For movie trailer makers, what they need is a very quick emotional reaction to some movie clips that suggest what the movie might be, but without saying too much....no spoilers. Getting an emotional reaction is much quicker with music since it goes right past our rational brain. When I'm seeing a trailer before I've seen the movie, I don't know that the music will not be there.

Ultimately, however, ads are not science, just the best guess of the ad maker.