Former Pop Will Eat Itself lead makes new living
BY COLIN ENQUIST
Clint Mansell has become a cult icon for movie-goers who take pleasure in listening to soundtracks or enjoy the way a score can take over a film.. Always in love with music, Mansell started his career as a lead-singer and guitarist in the British band Pop Will Eat Itself. Early in 1986 Mansell and crew recruited Richard March and Graham Crabb to join the band currently known as Wild and Wandering. After switching names to Pop Will Eat Itself, the group recorded their first single “Poppies Say Grrr!” which was released in 1986. Their first album Box Frenzy was released in 1987. The band's most famous song is arguably either "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies" or "X Y & Zee", which are their two highest ranked songs on the U.K. singles chart (#9 and #15 respectively). If you want to include worldwide success then "Def. Con. One" would have to be mentioned ("X Y & Zee" was also popular outside the U.K.) got the most airplay on the U.S. singles chart. In 1995 the band started to disband when Crabb left to start a side project. Ultimately in 1996, the band was finished. This left Mansell free to find other work, which his good friend Darren Aronofsky was willing to supply.
The Aronofsky film π was released in 1998, subsequently launching Mansell’s new career. The soundtrack was very well received in the electronica community even though the general public did not notice him or his score at all. After receiving such a high praise for his score, Aronofsky brought Mansell back to work on his 2000 film Requiem For a Dream. This film score, “Lux Aeterna”, brought him his cult status. The title is Latin for “the eternal light.” Many films have used this song in their movie trailer including Babylon A.D., Sunshine, The Da Vinci Code and most famously The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Not only was “Lux Aeterna” used in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers trailer, it was completely re-orchestrated by a choir and full orchestra. A rabid Mansell and Lord of the Rings fan base wanted a release of this version which they never intended to release, aptly titled “Requiem for a Tower.” This score alone has been in many commercials, TV shows, video games and is also commonly used at sporting events as the song for the team’s entrance videos.
Not just a one hit wonder though; Mansell has created some other superb soundtracks. As his new career begin to blossom, Mansell was becoming much busier. Scoring seven films in 2001 and 2002, not big films but large enough to get him more recognition for good work. Aronofsky and Mansell reunited yet again in 2006 for The Fountain. Mansell garnered more critical acclaim for this soundtrack. The Golden Globes ended up giving him a nomination for Best Original Score. Even though Mansell ended up losing to Alexandre Desplat for his score in The Painted Veil, this nomination helped raise his status in the industry. In 2007 he created the Smokin’ Aces soundtrack which in my opinion was the only thing worthwhile about the film. Aces director Joe Carnahan even admits to receiving blatant threats upon the release of the soundtrack because it was missing much of Mansell’s score. Eventually Carnahan released a “platinum edition” of the soundtrack with all of Mansell’s music. Not surprisingly Mansell returned to work with Aronofsky yet again for his 2008 film The Wrestler. Mansell chose to bring in Slash (from Guns N Roses) to play the guitars in the score. The film received critical acclaim and was nominated for numerous awards. Sadly Mansell’s score was one of the few awards that The Wrestler didn’t get nominated for.
So far 2009 has brought Mansell back to his home country to score the Duncan Jones film Moon. The film saw a limited release in the U.S.A. on June 12th with the film expanding north into Canada on July 3rd and having a wide release in the U.K. on July 17th. Mansell was also traveled to the land of the “land of the rising sun” to work on the adaptation of Blood: The Last Vampire. The film has been released in Japan and most of the Asian cinema hotbeds but we won’t get to see this film until July 10th (limited release) and that is if you are lucky enough to be in one of the cities that gets it! This musician and composer should still have many years of work left in him since he is only 46. Ten years from now we could be talking about Clint Mansell alongside some of the greatest musical composers that the industry has even seen, such as: Max Steiner, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Danny Elfman, John Williams and Hans Zimmer.
BY COLIN ENQUIST
Clint Mansell has become a cult icon for movie-goers who take pleasure in listening to soundtracks or enjoy the way a score can take over a film.. Always in love with music, Mansell started his career as a lead-singer and guitarist in the British band Pop Will Eat Itself. Early in 1986 Mansell and crew recruited Richard March and Graham Crabb to join the band currently known as Wild and Wandering. After switching names to Pop Will Eat Itself, the group recorded their first single “Poppies Say Grrr!” which was released in 1986. Their first album Box Frenzy was released in 1987. The band's most famous song is arguably either "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies" or "X Y & Zee", which are their two highest ranked songs on the U.K. singles chart (#9 and #15 respectively). If you want to include worldwide success then "Def. Con. One" would have to be mentioned ("X Y & Zee" was also popular outside the U.K.) got the most airplay on the U.S. singles chart. In 1995 the band started to disband when Crabb left to start a side project. Ultimately in 1996, the band was finished. This left Mansell free to find other work, which his good friend Darren Aronofsky was willing to supply.The Aronofsky film π was released in 1998, subsequently launching Mansell’s new career. The soundtrack was very well received in the electronica community even though the general public did not notice him or his score at all. After receiving such a high praise for his score, Aronofsky brought Mansell back to work on his 2000 film Requiem For a Dream. This film score, “Lux Aeterna”, brought him his cult status. The title is Latin for “the eternal light.” Many films have used this song in their movie trailer including Babylon A.D., Sunshine, The Da Vinci Code and most famously The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. Not only was “Lux Aeterna” used in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers trailer, it was completely re-orchestrated by a choir and full orchestra. A rabid Mansell and Lord of the Rings fan base wanted a release of this version which they never intended to release, aptly titled “Requiem for a Tower.” This score alone has been in many commercials, TV shows, video games and is also commonly used at sporting events as the song for the team’s entrance videos.
Not just a one hit wonder though; Mansell has created some other superb soundtracks. As his new career begin to blossom, Mansell was becoming much busier. Scoring seven films in 2001 and 2002, not big films but large enough to get him more recognition for good work. Aronofsky and Mansell reunited yet again in 2006 for The Fountain. Mansell garnered more critical acclaim for this soundtrack. The Golden Globes ended up giving him a nomination for Best Original Score. Even though Mansell ended up losing to Alexandre Desplat for his score in The Painted Veil, this nomination helped raise his status in the industry. In 2007 he created the Smokin’ Aces soundtrack which in my opinion was the only thing worthwhile about the film. Aces director Joe Carnahan even admits to receiving blatant threats upon the release of the soundtrack because it was missing much of Mansell’s score. Eventually Carnahan released a “platinum edition” of the soundtrack with all of Mansell’s music. Not surprisingly Mansell returned to work with Aronofsky yet again for his 2008 film The Wrestler. Mansell chose to bring in Slash (from Guns N Roses) to play the guitars in the score. The film received critical acclaim and was nominated for numerous awards. Sadly Mansell’s score was one of the few awards that The Wrestler didn’t get nominated for.So far 2009 has brought Mansell back to his home country to score the Duncan Jones film Moon. The film saw a limited release in the U.S.A. on June 12th with the film expanding north into Canada on July 3rd and having a wide release in the U.K. on July 17th. Mansell was also traveled to the land of the “land of the rising sun” to work on the adaptation of Blood: The Last Vampire. The film has been released in Japan and most of the Asian cinema hotbeds but we won’t get to see this film until July 10th (limited release) and that is if you are lucky enough to be in one of the cities that gets it! This musician and composer should still have many years of work left in him since he is only 46. Ten years from now we could be talking about Clint Mansell alongside some of the greatest musical composers that the industry has even seen, such as: Max Steiner, Jerry Goldsmith, Ennio Morricone, John Barry, Danny Elfman, John Williams and Hans Zimmer.
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