Rap and rock music pump up the robot boxing fighting sequences on the Real Steel Movie Soundtrack with director Shawn Levy blowing through the movie’s music budget with artists like Eminem, Timbaland, 50 Cent, The Beastie Boys, Limp Bizkit, Crystal Method, Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, Rival Sons, Foo Fighters, Alexi Murdoch and a score by Danny Elfman.
Many of today’s leading musicians were persuaded by Levy to either license their music for the robot boxing movie with heart by taking a rough cut of the film and having personal screenings. Timbaland was so inspired that he offered to write an original track while the notoriously picky Eminem agreed to release two songs for the Disney produced offering: “Fast Lane” with Bad Meets Evil featuring Royce Da 5’9 from the album Hell: The Sequel and “Till I Collapse” from The Eminem Show.
As one of today’s leading producers of dance music, Timbaland after watching a private screening with his son said he was on board and inspired to write the song for the robot dance sequence and came up with “Give It a Go” featuring original vocals by Timbaland and Veronica with the lyrics “This time may never come again”.
Fresh off the Beastie Boys album Hot Sauce Committee Part Two released earlier this year is “Here’s a Little Something For Ya. From Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters is the guitar driven “Miss the Misery” from their 2011 album Wasting Light. Another recent release that just came out this summer is Limp Bizkit’s “Why Try” from the album Gold Cobra. In contrast, there’s the bluesy country rock twang of Rival Sons with “Torture”.
From Curtis Jackson otherwise known as 50 Cent is the highly danceable original song “The Enforcer” but it’s Crystal Method ‘s “Make Some Noise (Put ‘Em Up)” featuring Yelawolf that really cranks up the Soundtrack to Real Steel. If there’s only one song you download for your iPod, this is it.
Oh, but wait, if there’s an artist that defines the sound of a futuristic robo boxing smash-up, it’s Tom Morello’s Prodigy “One Man Army” from Spawn The Album. Actually, if you like this song, do check out the Spawn Album. It’s an awesome collection of music from Henry Rollins, Incubus, Marilyn Manson, Orbital, Korn, Metallica and more. Morello’s other original song contribution is “The Midas Touch”.
Grounding the movie soundtrack to Real Steel is Alexi Murdoch’s laidback song “All My Days” released in 2009 on the Away We Go Soundtrack from the 2006 album Time Without Consequence.
The best thing about the music in Real Steel is all the music chosen for the boxing scenes. The movie grinds to a halt when it relies on the score by Danny Elfman which is surprising considering Elfman’s been a longtime collaborator with Tim Burton on fantastical movies like Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Beetle Juice & Big Fish. But perhaps that’s the issue — maybe Levy lacks the experience or musical shorthand to effectively communicate as successfully as the Burton/Elfman collaborations.
There’s only one song “Kenton” from the Danny Elfman score included on the Real Steel O.S.T. which is still a real steal given the great song mix that made the final cut. The movie Real Steel starring Hugh Jackman was released in theaters October 7th with the album currently available on iTunes and Amazon.com.
