Quantcast
James Gunn’s real ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Awesome mix – Metro US

James Gunn’s real ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ Awesome mix

Let’s face it, the “Awesome Mix vol. 1” from “Guardians of the Galaxy” — the cassette tape Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) carries with him from his childhood on Earth as he travels through space — is pretty accurately named, with some truly spectacular ’70spop hits (and a surprising emotional heft, thanks to the film). But director James Gunn has revealed that we’re not getting the full picture. Or the full mixtape, as it were. And no, we’re not talking about “Awesome Mix vol. 2.”

In a lengthy pre-Christmas Facebook post, Gunn reveals for the first time the full lineup that Starlord was supposed to be grooving to. It looks something like this (new entries in bold):

“I’m Not in Love,”10cc
“Come and Get Your Love,” Redbone
“Go All the Way,” Raspberries
“Never Been to Spain,” Three Dog Night
“Hooked on a Feeling,” Blue Swede
“Magic,” Pilot
“The Pina Colada Song,” Rupert Holmes
“Livin’ Thing,” Electric Light Orchestra
“Moonage Daydream,” David Bowie
“Fooled Around and Fell in Love,” Elvin Bishop
“Fox on the Run,” The Sweet
“Cherry Bomb,” The Runaways
“Spirit in the Sky,” Norman Greenbaum
“O-O-H Child,” Five Stairsteps
“Surrender,” Cheap Trick

​Now, “Guardians of the Galaxy” is pretty near perfect as is, but even the best summer blockbuster could be improved with a little ELO and Cheap Trick. So why the omissions? Gunn explains:

“Some of these songs were in the first cut of the movie — the mean blue guard danced through the prison listening to ‘Magic’ on Quill’s headphones, and ‘Livin’ Thing’ featured in a montage in the Milano after the gang left the prison. We shot Quill singing ‘Never Been to Spain’ at the Nova guards in an aggressive manner when he was having his mug shot taken, but the winding-up-the-finger gag worked better, so it never made the cut. The rest were never really in, but I thought this would give you a good idea of the complete ‘Awesome Mix’ to which young Peter Quill might have lived his life. Also, in all honesty, ‘ Moonage Daydream’ wasn’t on the original tape — I added it in post-production — but I thought I’d leave it on the list to keep things simple.”

Also, it’s worth pointing out, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “Want You Back” aren’t on the list, even though they feature in the film — except as is shown in the movie, those tracks are on volume 2, so, as Gunn puts it, ​” I didn’t want Chris to be familiar with those songs​”

Follow Ned Ehrbar on Twitter: @nedrick