Brass tacks
A little while ago, I happened to watching that scene from 500 Days of Summer. You know the one. JGL has just boinked Zooey Deschanel, so, as anyone else might do, he dances his way to work (the video was posted in a Quora thread, but I enjoy scene, film and song very much). Though I adore the scene for its pure joyousness, there’s one little thing that stands out to me above all else: the part when the marching band come in and play along for a few bars.
Immediately after watching the clip, I listened to the original recording of the song. There was something missing though. It took a minute to realise what exactly, but it clicked: the lack of the brass instruments being played by the marching band.
Brass instruments are one of my musical triggers. Add trumpets, trombones, French horns and/or saxophones to a song and it will increase the chances of me liking that tune exponentially.
A few examples:
‘Stop’ by The Spice Girls (a guilty pleasure, but its their best song by a mile).
‘Sell Out’ by Reel Big Fish (or just about any other ska punk song).
‘Just’ by Mark Ronson and the Phantom Planet dude.
‘For Emma’ by Bon Iver (though I love that song for many reasons).
‘Army’ by Ben Folds Five (again, great for many reasons).
Classical music and orchestral arrangements of other music, such as this.
The Inception theme. Of course.
There are a few Queens of the Stone Age songs that feature brass too, so let’s go ahead and throw those in too.
Like I said, these are just a few examples. Any kind of music with a solid brass section in there and I’m sold. Usually.
