Yesterday we celebrated the birth of Nelson Mandela, and today marks a birthday of another sort - one of the most important sociological films of the 90's is LEGAL. Yes, none other than Clueless turns 18 today! Don't go ballistic, we had to look up how to spell "sociological" but - much like the classic novel that inspired the movie - it really has stood the test of time.
So along with the slew of posts across the blogosphere dedicated to the overwhelming pop culture and fashion legacy of Clueless, we here at On Air would like to throw our hands up in support of the soundtrack, which was MAJOR in many people's music education.
One of our first lessons in retail therapy was to make every trip to a record store count for mixtape material. Heading straight for the OST bin was the best way to get ahold of a ton of tracks all in a cellophane wrapped jewel box. So when Clueless offered up "the maudlin music of a university station" (in the form of Radiohead's acoustic rendition of "Fake Plastic Trees") alongside Luscious Jackson, Beastie Boys*, some killer cover songs and a little known SoCal band named No Doubt, life was never the same! Here are some of our fave moments.
We must, must must begin with "Rolling with the Homies" by Coolio.
This of course was in reference to the party scene (hard to find on Youtube) which features some of the film's best outfits. "You don't understand this is an A-L-A-I-A!"
Since we're on the topic fashion, we'd be remiss not to include World Party's cover of Mott the Hoople's "All the Young Dudes" in the baggie pants segment.
Fun fact: the tune was written by David Bowie, whose song "Fashion" set the backdrop for Cher's infamous wardrobe scene! Sadly nowhere to be found on Youtube.
Jill Sobule's "Supermodel" proved that she was way more than the "I Kissed a Girl" chick. Yes! Pre-Katy Perry people!
Actually the song is put to excellent use here. It's really an excuse to show this blazing mashup of every outfit worn by Cher in under 60 seconds.
I KNOW RIGHT? Exhausting just watching!
Anyway, one of the unsung faculty, the always-sympathetic-in-her-own-way Coach Millie, was played by MTV VJ Julie Brown of Just Say Julie - never forget! She reprised her role as coach in the TV spin-off of Clueless, which we hope comes to Netflix asap. Check out Julie's outfits - they definitely paved the way for Amber's wardrobe, don't you think?
Oops, we totally said this wasn't going to be a fashion post. Back to the soundtrack. How about Supergrass' "Alright" during the photoshoot?
And to think after all of Cher's hard work this is how Tai thanks her:
Yowch. Anyway, for complete soundtrack stuff see every song featured in the film listed here and snaps to Idolator on their in depth interview with the film's music supervisor Karyn Rachtman - one of the all time greats (OSTs for Pulp Fiction and Reality Bites, like whoa)! As for us, we're outie for now... Hang on. You didn't think we'd let you go without talking about patented Clueless slang, right?
Even the Jane Austen Society (of Australia) has compiled a compendium of Clueless vocab. So they obvs have embraced the adaptation. Had they not, of course, we would have been all like
*High five and a hair toss if you already knew that Luscious Jackson's Kate Schellenbach was the original drummer for the Beastie Boys. Ok our work is done here!
