music for slideshow

November 7, 2006 11:52 PM

i photographed a high school girls' sports team all season. putting together a slideshow DVD of the best images for the girls to have. what music should accompany the slideshow? i want the girls to like the music but i have a feeling my musical taste (mostly indie rock/folk/singer-songwriter stuff) wont be a hit with them. i'm a bit of a music snob so any suggestions that would please the girls but also allow me to keep my musical integrity intact would be greatly appreciated.

songs must have clean lyrics and do not have to have lyrics that tie into the pics literally. just good background music.

posted by slowtree to media & arts (37 comments total)

Is it an aggressive sport like soccer, or something more graceful like gymnastics?
posted by Typographica at 12:14 AM on November 8, 2006

Eye of the Tiger
posted by Pollomacho at 12:21 AM on November 8, 2006

I think you're making more work for yourself. Unless it's going to be a surprise for the team, why not ask them to pick a song? That way, you can avoid the potential problem of everyone hating the music.
posted by Cog at 12:23 AM on November 8, 2006

little bird - white stripes.
posted by sgt.serenity at 12:51 AM on November 8, 2006

I think we need to know a lot more about the sport and the team. I mean, if the sport is fast paced that wlil be different than, say, fencing. Also, regardless of the sport, if their mood has been cheery and jovial all season we would be facing a different question (perhaps) than if they are all serious and reserved. Also, did they have a winning season? Were there any major shifts that happened among the team this year? Were there any major events in their community that you may want to pay some tribute to (even without photos)? And finally, where are they, geographically?

Yelm, WA would get different suggestions (from me) than Boca Raton, FL.

Also, I think asking the team could be a disaster if you don't know their politics. You might narrow it down to three choices, and play each song and have them vote or something, but having 15-18 year olds pick a song from the ether? No dignity.
posted by bilabial at 1:55 AM on November 8, 2006

that's a total no-win situation. look at the youtube videos, no matter what music people use, they'll always suck. people have different tastes and when you use an old hit, they also have their own memories attached to your choice of music. that's why the popular tv shows all use scores or newly discovered tracks.

seriously ... use something that's either not recognizable, use few brief outtakes to highlight your points or step away from music at all.
posted by krautland at 1:58 AM on November 8, 2006

Queen.
posted by catseatcheese at 3:17 AM on November 8, 2006

make the team captain choose. Awesome way to avoid responsibility.
posted by bluejayk at 3:18 AM on November 8, 2006

i photographed a high school girls' sports team all season.

You dog.

Well, no matter what music you pick, some of them will hate it and think you're a fool for not choosing their favorite band (which does not suck). But if you want some of them to think, "Oh, my gawd! I love that song!" you should try a hit (or hits) from this year or late last year, not a dinosaur band. Female performer. Danceable. Something that takes a cheap emotional shot, yanks on their inexperienced heartstrings.

I don't keep up with music like that, but I have the feeling "Don't Forget About Us" (just from the performer and title) would work on them. Maybe a dance remix? Then they can be looking at the pictures and thinking (or actually singing) "don't forget about us" to themselves. If that song definitely won't work fo some reason, go for something similar: big recent hit that they'll all know, something that has a good beat and expresses a simple sentiment about being together and never forgetting and so on. You want them to feel like hugging each other.
posted by pracowity at 4:11 AM on November 8, 2006

if the sport is fast paced that wlil be different than, say, fencing.
Ehm, what?
posted by fvw at 4:30 AM on November 8, 2006

Do two. One to give them and one for your portfolio. E-Z.
posted by plinth at 4:51 AM on November 8, 2006

The marching band version of American Woman.
posted by FreezBoy at 5:02 AM on November 8, 2006

That Liz Phair song from last year.

I don't remember the title or lyrics, but it was picked up as a bit of a chick power song. Upbeat, might be perfect.

Googlegoogle... ah, Extraordinary
posted by unixrat at 5:02 AM on November 8, 2006

Definitely not Queen.

I would check their MySpace pages to see if you can gain some insight into what they like, even if you have no idea what it is. Then, perhaps you can fade in and out of songs of their liking that might also have an appropriate tempo.
posted by SciGuy at 5:53 AM on November 8, 2006

Use some Beethoven.

And high school girls love Death Cab.
posted by ludwig_van at 6:18 AM on November 8, 2006

Nelly Furtado - Maneater would be good: it's upbeat, pro-women, and a recognizable hit. [youtube link]
posted by catburger at 6:23 AM on November 8, 2006

Dance, hip hop and electronic music are heavily used in sports clips. It doesn't have to be new - I teach middle school and i'm the announcer for sports events and the kids have nostalgia for songs that you wouldn't expect them to. Find some good upbeat music you can stand and just use it. A good rule of thumb is - if they play it in commercials its probably safe.

If you're looking for specifics - Goldfrapp, Basement Jaxx, K7, MC Hammer, Gorillaz - you can always use amazon.com or napster to find things that are 'related' for more choices.

Additionally - ask the cheerleading coach for suggestions. Most of the ones i've met had wierd musical tastes to me but the kids seemed to groove on it.
posted by Fuka at 6:28 AM on November 8, 2006

Do NOT look through the Myspace pages of any of these high school girls searching for music ideas or anything else. It will look creepy, and saying, "I just wanted to know what music they like for this project in which I have been photographing them," will not make it seem less so. If you did do this and picked a song from one of their pages, you'd have to keep from telling ANYONE about it, because it could be seen the wrong way if word got around.

You really have to play it safe in situations like this.
posted by hermitosis at 6:33 AM on November 8, 2006

Dude, DVD with individual images, no music. I've gotten dvds with slideshows before and it's a nice memento, i guess, but not very functional.

Maybe you are trying to protect your artwork here but a) this is high school sports... the images mean a lot more to the team than random internet repositories which pay.03 an image. B) Watermark!
posted by shownomercy at 6:49 AM on November 8, 2006

Find out of there's been a CD they've been listening to regularly while practicing... Every team's different obviously, but when I played HS basketball, we almost always had one of a couple of different mix CDs playing. To this day (10-15 years later) when I hear any of those songs, my mind instantly goes back to those days. I'd have loved it to have a DVD with that soundtrack...

Also - ask the coach. There's a good chance (s)he'll have been subjected to their collective music tastes more than they'd have liked to...
posted by cgg at 7:34 AM on November 8, 2006

Echoing cgg: when I was a high school sports player, we had a warmup tape that we played before each match with specific songs picked by the team ("The Humpty Dance" and "The Joker" by Steve Miller Band were always favorites-- in 1997). Although I hate Steve Miller Band, this would be the music I'd want on the slideshow.
posted by holyrood at 7:41 AM on November 8, 2006

Check out the Jock Jams compilations for suggestions, and think simple, anthemic, singalong, etc.
posted by box at 8:09 AM on November 8, 2006

Outkast; Black Eyed Peas; Destiny's Child/Beyonce. Something with some hip-hop-ness to it, but crossover. Or, if you just can't bear that, then do some singer-songwriter stuff that's been on the radio recently -- Corinne Bailey Rae, Put Your Records On; Alanis Morisette, Crazy (Tony Kanal).
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 8:29 AM on November 8, 2006

The Killers are widely popular, have a typically stoked and/or congratulatory sound, good for that last-day-of-school-we've-vanquished-the-evil-principal victory montage feeling.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 10:03 AM on November 8, 2006

Instead of asking us, ask them. Being that the slideshow is primarily for them, I think their input would be much more helpful than ours. Have each of them nominate one song, and then pick the ones you think fit the slideshow the best.
posted by apple scruff at 10:52 AM on November 8, 2006

16 Millitary Wives by The Decemberists
Yoshimi by The Flaming Lips
The Killers was a good reccomendation
Bandages by Hot Hot Heat
The Go Team, something on "Thunder, Lightining, Strike"

If you want to do something more hip hop or radio pop, I would suggest any song you recognize by Outkast, Kanye, Jay-Z, MIA, or Nelly Furtado.

For something more sentimental, maybe The Shins, or Postal Service

I'm trying to think high school here.
posted by Packy_1962 at 11:52 AM on November 8, 2006 [1 favorite]

Use one of the Eno ambient albums.
posted by Cranialtorque at 3:41 PM on November 8, 2006

There is one answer and one answer only.

The song you seek is Green Day's "Time of Your Life."
posted by booksandlibretti at 4:58 PM on November 8, 2006

The song you seek is Green Day's "Time of Your Life."

That was probably true when you were in high school.
posted by ludwig_van at 6:34 PM on November 8, 2006

Um, that song is still used a lot. It was the last song played at my homecoming dance last weekend. Everyone knows the words.
Anyway, I would figure out either what the team actually listen too if possible, or just find the most popular radio station in your area and listen to it for a few days (if you can do that and not actually give in to the urge to kill yourself). That should tell you what's popular.
posted by MadamM at 6:43 PM on November 8, 2006

Also, All Star by Smash Mouth is still pretty popular and seems to go well enough.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms at 7:26 PM on November 8, 2006

ludwig_van, it definitely was true when I was in high school, and I graduated in 2004 -- have these whippersnappers changed to a more newfangled song already?

I'm not saying that "Time of Your Life" is a great song, or even something I particularly enjoy hearing. I'm saying that if you want background music for a three-minute montage of high-school photos that're supposed to create strong memories for the audience, that's the song you use.

I also recommend it for chasing kids off one's lawn.
posted by booksandlibretti at 7:26 PM on November 8, 2006

I thought I would point out that slowtree wants to "keep my musical integrity intact". I'm not sure if Alanis Morrisette, or "Time of your Life" are suggestions that really fit that stipulation. In the same vein, how dare you suggest "All Star"
posted by Packy_1962 at 8:21 PM on November 8, 2006

Are you in the US? Take a look at the soundtracks from the tv show The OC (here's the first one on Amazon, you should be able to find the later seasons too). I'm guessing that stuff will be reasonably popular but not too cheesey for them. Or try other popular teen shows, but as I understand it the OC has pretty good taste in music.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:23 PM on November 8, 2006

And you definitely want to give them the separate images, in addition to your slideshow.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:24 PM on November 8, 2006

ok. i am not THAT out of touch. i know what music teenagers listen to i just happy to really really not like said music. i was just looking for suggestions from other music geeks who maybe would think of a song or two that i didnt.

having said that, i would rather stick needles in my eyes than have any association with green day or smash mouth. sorry.

and finally, i dont even know what that one guys is talking about:

Dude, DVD with individual images, no music. I've gotten dvds with slideshows before and it's a nice memento, i guess, but not very functional.

Maybe you are trying to protect your artwork here but a) this is high school sports... the images mean a lot more to the team than random internet repositories which pay.03 an image. B) Watermark!

thanks for the advice, but this is a project for school. so, yeah the DVD stays. and by the way, teenage girls love the shit out of pictures and music. especially put together.

the girls are getting a disc of all the images as well. thanks for the (unsolicited) advice, but i got this covered.
posted by slowtree at 10:49 PM on November 8, 2006

Destiny's Child, Independent Women? Killers are cool, don't know if there are any songs with good lyrics for girl-power-sports.

Something retro that the girls would recognize? E.g. Kool & the Gang, Celebration.
posted by ClaudiaCenter at 1:34 PM on November 10, 2006