Nathan Thomas
Sons of Anarchy is known for many things. Mayhem, madness, kick ass motorcycles. But one of the most interesting things about the show is the musical history of the soundtrack. Without further ado, these are our top ten favorite facts about the SOA soundtrack we bet you didn’t know.
Number one: Kurt Sutter previewed Marilyn Manson’s Pale Emperor demos
Manson loyalists will argue that the era of recording from Golden Age Of Grotesque to Pale Emperor was solid (if not AS good as his original tryptarch of the late 90’s) that just didn’t have the same commercial appeal. Yet for the non-Manson crowd, these albums didn’t resonate the way his original work did. Therein lies the fleeting paradox of the cultural zeitgeist. Not only must creative work be brilliant, but it must be perfectly timed. Yet in 2015, Manson defied the odds and returned from his brief period of cultural stasis with Pale Emperor.
Some of you might not recognize how ubiquitous this album was. It didn’t land itself on the radio often, and it undersold AntiChrist Superstar and Mechanical Animals. But if you look at the movies and television that came out of 2014-2016, this album was EVERYWHERE. Killing Strangers was the theme to John Wick. Cupid Carries A Gun was the intro to Salem. Pale Emperor marked the return to relevance that Manson had been after for the better part of a decade. Kurt Sutter contributed to the project as well. He served as a test audience as well as contributing lyrics originally slated for Shooter Jennings to the project.
Shooter Jennings as in Waylon Jennings’s son. Just in case you weren’t aware.
Number two: Kurt Sutter wrote “Come Join The Murder”
The ending to Sons Of Anarchy is iconic. This is your time to turn away if you somehow haven’t finished it yet. Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
Safe?
Okay, good.
As we all know, the end of Sons wouldn’t have been the same without the baritone croon of The White Buffalo. A singer songwriter from California who writes with a blend of alternative country, rock, and folk music. But the operatic final song of the show wasn’t an entirely original composition for The White Buffalo (real name Jake Smith. The lyrics were written by none other then SOA creator Kurt Sutter. While Bob Theile (the head of The Forest Rangers) and The White Buffalo helped out with the music side of the composition, it was Sutter that composed the poetry that accompanied Jax on his final journey out of Charming.
Number three: Kurt Sutter Hand Selected Noah Gundersen’s “Family” for the show
If you aren’t already hip to Noah Gunderson, you’re genuinely missing out. The Seattle based singer-songwriter has produced some high quality work over the years. Plus, his talents both as a vocalist and a composer cannot be overstated. Yet it wouldn’t have happened without the Sons. Specifically, it wouldn’t have happened without Kurt Sutter hand selecting Gunderson’s “Family” for season four’s “With An X”. After seeing how well Gunderson’s style fit with his work, Sutter brought Gunderson in for another collaboration on “Day Is Gone”, an original composition for the show.
Noah later went on to contribute “Family” to The Vampire Diaries as well as the song “David” to The Following.
Number Four: Jamey Johnson, Twiggy Ramirez, and Shooter Jennings did a cover together
As addressed above, Shooter Jennings is the son of outlaw country legend Waylon Jennings. But despite being born into a musical shadow the size of colossus, Jennings found his own voice and style that incorporates influences from the likes of like Johnny Cash and David Bowie. Jamey Johnson is a country heavyweight in his own right, with hits on his resume like “The High Cost Of Living” and “In Color”. Twiggy Ramirez, the least known of the trio, is actually a former bassist for Marilyn Manson’s titular band. Funny how those things come full circle, huh?
Fun fact, he also tried out for Metallica around the St. Anger era- go figure!
Did you know all these facts or just a few? Let us know in the comments below!
