Various Artists – Juno: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Rhino)
One of the great things about the movie Juno is how the music plays a vital role in the film itself. But because the record industry is so fucked, it took a label until the first week in January to get around to releasing a soundtrack to it. That’s a full month after the word of mouth on this comedic tale of a sassy teenager contending with an unexpected pregnancy was already in full swing. To be fair, the soundtrack has been available as a digital only release since early December, but there was enough interest in an antiquated format to land the CD release in the Billboard Top 10.
When you see the movie, you will understand why there is a veritable cottage industry sprouting from the film’s wake. You can now get hamburger phones just like Juno’s character and it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a huge resurgence in orange flavored Tic-Tacs.
But it’s the soundtrack that will probably see the biggest benefit from the film, a generation-crossing compilation of anti-folk scene enhancers, classic rock reference points, and mix-tape conversation pieces. And like a good mix-tape, the original motion picture soundtrack to Juno works surprisingly well.