Tag: Music

Björk

JESS: It [their snow-woman] definitely has the most personality. Kind of looks like Björk.

RORY: That’s what we were going for.

Björk Guðmundsdóttir (born 1965), is an Icelandic singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic musical style that draws on a range of genres. Björk began her career at the age of 11 and gained international recognition as lead singer of the alternative rock band The Sugarcubes. After the band broke up in 1992, she embarked on a solo career; she was always more popular in the UK and Europe than in the US.

Her most recent album at this stage was Vespertine (2001), and she had attended the 2001 Oscars wearing a white dress designed to resemble a swan, which along with being from Iceland, might have been factors which inspired Rory and Lorelai to turn her into a snow-woman. That Jess could recognise the snow-woman as being based on Björk shows that he is on a similar wavelength.

(We can see during these scenes that Lorelai and Rory obviously fixed up their snow-woman and gave her a new head, so that she looks like a pretty credible entry for the contest).

Prince Version of Writing

PARIS: Oh. Okay, well, I’ll get out of your way. Call if you need to talk things through, and oh – she uses the Prince version of writing. A letter U for you and a picture of an eye for an I.

The pop star Prince, previously discussed. Some of his song titles are I Would Die 4 U, U Got the Look, and Nothing Compares 2 U, a notation which became common in 1990s songs, and foreshadowed text speak. I can’t find an example of him using a picture of an eye for the letter I, but there are enough references to him doing so that I don’t think Paris is exaggerating.

Charlie Parker and Rite-Aid

BABETTE: Morey hates being the first anywhere. He thinks it hurts his street credibility.
MOREY: Charlie Parker was late to everything.
BABETTE: Charlie Parker had more drugs in him than a Rite-Aid.

Charlie Parker, previously discussed [pictured].

Rite-Aid is a chain of pharmacies or drugstores, founded in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1962 as the Thrift D Discount Center, changing its name in 1968. They have numerous stores in Connecticut, and other US states.

Pixies Reunion

DEAN: Hey Lane. Are you going to this big shindig at the inn tonight?
LANE: Yeah, I’m just trying to trick my mom into not going with me.
DEAN: How’s that coming along?
LANE: How’s that Pixies reunion coming along?

The Pixies are an American alternative rock band founded in 1986, part of the alternative rock boom of the 1990s, with a distinctive sound drawing on punk and surf rock, with often surreal song lyrics. More successful in Europe than their home country, they influenced bands such as Nirvana, Radiohead, and Smashing Pumpkins. They broke up in 1993, but became so popular after disbanding that they reunited in 2004, going on to have sell-out world tours. Lane knows enough about the contemporary music scene that she understands fans are calling for a reunion, and her comment now looks quite prescient.

Molecular Transport Device

LORELAI: I offered to fund the instant invention of a molecular transport device but they just didn’t go for it.

A reference to the 1975 musical comedy horror film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, based on the 1973 stage musical. In the film, the mad scientist Dr Frank-n-Furter (played by Tim Curry) has a Sonic Transducer in his laboratory – an “audio-vibratory-physio molecular transport device”. It is capable of breaking down solid matter and projecting it through space, and possibly time.

A transducer is something which converts energy from one form to another (such as light into an electrical signal). A microphone is an example of a transducer – indeed, a sonic transducer, since it changes sound waves into electrical signals. In the musical, it’s basically a teleportation device. See Beam me up, Scotty.

(Picture shows Dr Frank-n-Furter standing against the Sonic Transducer).

Jerry Lee Lewis

LORELAI: I go on one stupid date, and suddenly I’m the female Jerry Lee Lewis.

Jerry Lee Lewis (born 1935), wild man pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music who shot to fame in 1957 with his worldwide hit, Whole Lotta Shaking Going On, followed by other hits such as Great Balls of Fire. His career was struck by international scandal when he married his thirteen-year-old cousin once removed, Myra Gale Brown, despite still being married to his first wife. After his divorce went through, he and Myra remarried (or … married?) in 1958. Myra filed for divorce in 1970, saying she had been subjected to every form of abuse imaginable.

Lewis has had a career spanning decades of success. His 2006 album Last Man Standing is his best-selling to date, he has a dozen gold records in both rock and country music, four Grammy Awards including a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Hall of Fame Award. He’s been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, and the Memphis Hall of Fame. A film about him was made in 1989 starring Dennis Quaid (based on a book written by Myra), and he is considered one of the greatest musical artists of all time.

“By George, I think he’s got it”

TRISTAN: You don’t want me to tell Dean that we kissed.
RORY: By George, I think he’s got it.

Rory is referencing the 1964 musical comedy-drama film My Fair Lady, adapted from the 1956 Lerner and Loewe stage musical of the same name, which was based on George Bernard Shaw’s 1913 play, Pygmalion.

In the film, phonetics professor Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison), has a bet that he can teach a Cockney flower girl named Eliza Doolittle (Audrey Hepburn) to speak with an upper-class accent. At first she makes no progress, but one day has a sudden breakthrough, leading Higgins to exclaim delightedly, “By George, I think she’s got it”.

My Fair Lady was a critical and commercial success, becoming the #1 film of 1964, and won eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Director (for George Cukor). It is considered one of the greatest musicals, and one of the great films of all time.

Priest in a Madonna Video

LORELAI: So tell me about the big rehearsal.
RORY: We got off to a shaky start, and Louise acts like she’s the priest in a Madonna video, but by the end, we were not half bad.

Rory may be thinking of the music video for Madonna’s 1989 song Like a Prayer, from the album of the same name. Much of the video’s action takes place in a church, and although there’s no actual priest, there’s a saint (I believe it’s St. Martin de Porres) in priestly-looking robes.

No Doubt and U2

DEAN: What do you have to be sorry for?
RORY: That . . . that I didn’t tell you about the rehearsal. And that No Doubt is touring with U2. I know you’re extremely disappointed in Bono.

No Doubt is an American rock band formed in 1986, consisting of vocalist Gwen Stefani, guitarist Tom Dumont, bassist Tony Kanal, and drummer Adrian Young. Their 1992 eponymous debut album made little impact, but their 1995 follow-up, The Beacon Street Collection, sold more than 100 000 copies after they changed to a ska-punk sound. Their 1995 album, Tragic Kingdom, was certified diamond, with singles Don’t Speak, and Just a Girl becoming hits – the first spending 16 weeks at #1 in the US. Their most recent album at this point was Return of Saturn in 2000, although Rock Steady was just about to be released, in early December 2001.

No Doubt were one of the openers for U2 on the third leg of their Elevation Tour – the same one PJ Harvey had opened for earlier. No Doubt were one of the support acts at Madison Square Garden in late October 2001, then the only support act from November 5th to 25th, in California, Texas, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona.

As Tristan invited Rory to the Elevation Tour when they were performing in Hartford, it feels somewhat tactless for her to bring it up while trying to placate Dean. But it may also be reminding Dean that he shares her musical tastes more than Tristan, as both Dean and Rory appear to be U2 fans. He wasn’t before going out with Rory, so perhaps she has influenced him in this regard.