thirsty bitch: Happy Birthday, David Lynch!

Today ThirstyBitch celebrates the birthday of everyone's favorite American surrealist, David Lynch. DL and I have a bit of a checkered past. The first movie I saw of his was Blue Velvet and it really didn't resonate with me. I didn't hate it as much as Roger Ebert did, but I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Next up, I tried Lost Highway, which I was vaguely familiar with because of the popular soundtrack that was released with it. I don't think too many people can blame for not liking that one. After two strikes, I was pretty sure I was done with David Lynch.

Then I watched Mulholland Drive.
The film had been receiving a lot of critical buzz when it came out and since I worked at a Blockbuster at the time, when it came to DVD I was curious to check it out.
Muhlholland Drive is a great movie. I don't want to write another movie review, so we'll skip over that. After Mulholland Drive, I rewatched Blue Velvet and had a new appreciation for it. I cannot say though, if I had changed or if it was simply a case of a movie benefiting from multiple viewings. Next up, was The Elephant Man and The Straight Story. Departures for DL, yes, but still great movies. I devoured Eraserhead and then met my true Lynch love, Twin Peaks. I can barely describe Twin Peaks, I won't lie and say it's a perfect television show; it has its imperfections and weak episodes just like every other show. Twin Peaks, however, is so far above other shows that these sins are much more forgivable.

Anyway, on to the birthday festivities! Since one of my favorite Lynch signatures is his unique use of music, I thought we would wish DL a happy birthday by showcasing the finer casesof music in his work.

First up is, of course, his most famous use of music, "In Dreams" from Blue Velvet. Chilling and heartwarming at the same time, Dean Stockwell is better here than in every episode of Quantam Leap combined, and I love QL.

Next up, is perhaps the second most famous musical sequence. If you haven't seen Mulholland Drive, you may not understand why I like this scene, but there's something pretty cool happening during the number.

At the tail end of this musical salute is two scenes from Twin Peaks, well, one is a scene and the other is the opening sequence. First is a scene that you may think silly since the character is only holding a guitar and you start to hear a bass line and percussion, but I've come to forgive stuff such as this and hopefully you can too (ps, there is a very small spoiler in the clip). Secondly, The Twin Peaks theme is some of the best work that Angelo Badalmenti has done for Lynch.

Not to keep getting on a soap box about Twin Peaks, but both the music and imagery in this opening really help set the tone, more so than most other shows.