"What's Your Pleasure, Sir?": Industrial Sample Killfile #2

Almost exactly a year ago, I offered a list of films industrial bands should stop sampling, and listed some possible new sources for dramatic, ominous, or otherwise portentous dialogue which could be lifted to add instant gravitas to the would-be “NWO”s and “Soylent Green”s of the future. While I think it’s still too early to tell if the “Stop Sampling Full Metal Jacket” shirt is working, there are still plenty of flicks we know by heart which keep cropping up again and again. In that spirit, let’s take a second gander at this topic (including a couple of suggestions from readers last time out), intercede in the flogging of a few famous dead horses, and point to some fresher terrain.

“Jesus Wept” – Sample Sources To Retire
Hellraiser
Rivetheads love Pinhead and the gang, but the franchise’s fascination with the co-mingling of pleasure and pain at the limits of experience were starting to wear thin by the time we got to the third installment (and its tacky DJ-themed Cenobite), and though some of the best have borrowed from it in the past (Puppy, Ministry, Leæther Strip, Meat Beat), it’s time to let the gates of hell stay closed for a while.
Blue Velvet
Frank Booth’s quite the character, it’s true. You still run the risk of incurring the wrath of someone channeling him if you make the mistake of ordering a certain Dutch beer at a bar. While it’s been nice to hear a movie well outside of the sf and horror worlds being sampled by the likes of Cat Rapes Dog and Pigface over the years, there’s loads of other Lynchian weirdness to be found. I think Andy gave ol’ Frankie a perfectly fine send-off, so let’s leave it at that.

Taxi Driver
Yet another unhinged, trigger-happy psychopath played by a Boomer icon. Much like Howard Beale’s speech which I indicted last time, Travis Bickle’s “here is a man who would not take it anymore” sounds badass out of context, but the nuance and ambiguity with which the movie treats its subject goes out the window. Also, when a line’s been jacked by everyone from NON to DOA to Xzibit, it’s well past its sell-by date.
Jacob’s Ladder
The final minutes of Tim Robbins’ life play out in four years subjectively in the movie, but he’s been living a half-life that’s over three times as long as that if Oneroid Psychosis’ use of the famous “if you’re frightened of dying” in 1996 is its first appearance (which I doubt). Since then it’s been yoinked by Solitary Experiments, iVardensphere most recently, and perhaps most famously by VNV. That’s enough terminal philosophy for a lifetime.
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“We Are Forever” – Fresh Sample Bait
Portal
Sampling video games is nothing new (hell, the entire chiptune genre is predicated on gaming nostalgia), but as games develop better and better writing, they give us more and more memorable narrative moments which become cultural touchstones. While there have been some samples taken from recent games (Surgyn’s use of Bioshock comes to mind), there’s still plenty of room. What better place to turn than to some lines from GLaDOS, the sullen AI in both Portal games, who still manages to retain an air of passive-aggression even when she’s directly talking about killing you?
Deus Ex
Say, speaking of sampling games, how about nicking from a beloved franchise which has been dealing with several of industrial music’s key interests (cybernetic augmentation, human/machine interfacing, conspiracies) in a classically cyberpunk setting for over a decade? True, while the original Deus Ex might hold more hi-falutin’ talk, the recent Human Revolution prequel has plenty to say about the socio-economic issues and conflicts related to augmentation of the human body which now seem very close indeed. If that ain’t industrial…

Battlestar Galactica
Let’s leave aside just how kickass the first two seasons of the rebooted series were (arguably the best sf television to ever air in my opinion) and stick to its themes. Above and beyond the religious zealot androids on a mission to eradicate humanity and the legendary dogfights you’ve got rich themes of destiny, duty, the inseparability of humanity and its machines, and a suffocating mood of suspicion, accusation, and paranoia which would lend some wonderful tension to electro-industrial numbers. (Of course, everything after the point at which BSG did some sampling of its own with Dylan’s “All Along The Watchtower” is a write-off.)
The Sunset Limited
Holy crap. Watching the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s “two men in a room” play was quite the ride. Tommy Lee Jones makes whatever pretensions towards cynical, world-weary nihilism and misanthropy we each might have indulged in from time to time look like the whinging of babies with wet diapers in comparison to his sermon of despair and futility. We’re talking Seventh Seal, Theodor Adorno, Grand Inquisitor levels of bleak fury which would be great grist for the mill of some seriously dark compositions.

Would you rather listen to an Extize record than a certain oft-repeated sample? Think you know of a movie or game which could lend some oomph to some oontz? Let us know in the comments!