Soundtrack Your Life by Ryan Pak

Soundtrack Your Life

by Ryan Pak

Introduce yourself.

Starting from my childhood, I've been obsessed with music. Perhaps, it was because I was growing up in the Twin Cities at the height of Prince's fame, or because my sister would give me the inside scoop on the music industry when she started to work at Capitol Records, but music has been a huge part of my identity. In high school, I started an online music site, where I reviewed albums and interviewed bands. I started the site with 2 goals in mind: get free music and to score points on my college applications.

My friend created a sleek website and by e-mail bands cold, I somehow ended up interviewing bands that I worshipped and that are still relevant today. The idea for this site probably came from watching Almost Famous and Rushmore, and believing that I was some brilliant hybrid of Wes Anderson and Cameron Crowe. In college, I became a Film Studies major, and I started writing screenplays. I also started listening to a lot of NPR shows, that kind of blurred the lines between radio and what we now know as podcasts. This American Life, Radiolab, and A Prairie Home Companion showed me a world of storytelling that didn't necessarily have to be in the film or TV format. I loved the idea of storytelling in general and I believe that my podcast combines my love of music, film and storytelling.

"Not everyone gets to do what they love, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't keep trying."

- Ryan Pak

Share an experience that has shaped who you are today.

When I was running my online music site, I learned to write interview request e-mails to bands / their publicists. This skill has helped me reach out to guests for the podcast. As a college student, I somehow ended up backstage, talking to Death Cab for Cutie before they’ve became one of the biggest bands in America. I've been able to snag some of my music heroes for the podcast and I probably would've never had the guts if I hadn't done it before.

Tell us about your podcast audience.

We have a great audience of film and music lovers. One of the recurring topics that has come up on the podcast is discussing songwriters who write songs for fictional characters or bands in films. Our audience loves to discuss these writers as well as some titans in the industry that have written multiple Oscar nominated songs.

What makes your podcast unique?

We discuss soundtracks with guests and we ask that the guest have a personal connection to the soundtrack. The guest picks the soundtrack we discuss and sometimes the reason why they picked their soundtrack is more fascinating than the soundtrack / movie itself! This ensures that the podcast doesn't sound like the recitation of a wikipedia page.

Pop Culture Writer Russ Burlingame joins Nicole Barlow and Ryan Pak to talk about the soundtrack to James Gunn’s 2014 film, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 1. It’s the 1st soundtrack to ever hit #1 on the Billboard Top 200 charts with all previously released songs. It’s sold over 3 million copies and was the 2nd best selling soundtrack in 2014 behind only the Frozen soundtrack. Beyond sales, the soundtrack is also partly responsible for the resurrection of the cassette tape.

We also discuss:

James Gunn’s unorthodox method to make sure the scenes worked with the music
Why a limitless budget doesn’t always get you the best needle drops
Dave Jordan – soundtrack supervisor to the entire MCU and more

To follow Russ Burlingame:
Website
Bluesky
Facebook

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