The legendary Quincy Jones simply handed away on the age of 91. And whereas he’ll be remembered for his work within the music trade, his TV credit and his not giving a fuck in interviews throughout his golden years, some people on the web have additionally been celebrating his contribution to a pop-culture franchise he had completely no hand in creating: Austin Powers.
Mike Myers’ swinging spy character simply wouldn’t have been the identical with out the upbeat theme track that performs in the course of the opening credit of all three motion pictures. If you happen to don’t consider me, strive syncing up the start of any Austin Powers film with, say, 9 Inch Nails, and see how shagadelic it’s.
The observe is named “Soul Bossa Nova,” and it was apparently composed by Jones in much less time than it takes to observe an episode of The Contemporary Prince of Bel-Air.
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As Jones informed Billboard in 2010, “I wrote that in 1962 in 20 minutes for a giant band Bossa Nova album proper after we left Brazil with Dizzy Gillespie, when the bossa nova first began.” (The truth is, “Soul Bossa Nova” is the opening observe of the album “Huge Band Bossa Nova.”) “And it received’t go away. Mike Myers used it for the themes of the Austin Powers movies. Ludacris did it too (in “Quantity One Spot”). It’s nonetheless right here,” Jones continued.
It’s true, whereas the “Bossa Nova craze” of the early ‘60s ultimately light, this explicit piece caught round. Jones included it into his rating for the 1964 drama The Pawnbroker, and Woody Allen used it for his comedy Take the Cash and Run. However maybe most consequentially, it someway ended up getting used because the theme track for a Canadian sport present known as Definition, which was mainly simply the sport “Hangman” however with celeb visitors and no crude illustrations of capital punishment.
The present ran from 1974 to 1989, and it seemingly made a huge impact on a younger Mike Myers. The Wayne’s World star informed The Hollywood Reporter that he first turned conscious of the observe because of “a sport present in Canada known as Definition.” And he determined it could be excellent for Austin Powers: Worldwide Man of Thriller as a result of “it was simply swinger music.”
Jones knew Myers from the time he hosted Saturday Evening Dwell in 1990. “We turned buddies,” Jones defined, “so after they reached out to ask for permission to make use of the track, I fortunately agreed.”
Myers ultimately discovered a technique to work Jones into one of many motion pictures, enlisting him to seem within the cameo-filled opening of Austin Powers in Goldmember. He even will get a peck on the cheek from Austin.
On reflection, Jones additionally in all probability deserves some reward for being one of many few unproblematic stars to seem in that sequence.
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