When you watch a trailer for the first time ,you're supposed to be so completely mesmerized by the music that you almost forget to absorb the actual content, right? If so, then I'm doing everything exactly right, because my entire brain right now is consumed with needing to know one thing: what is the song in the Magnificent Seven trailer? There will be plenty of time later for me to marvel over the acting, or to drool over Chris Pratt as a grunged-up cowboy, or to point out that Haley Bennet is all of a sudden everywhere, but that will have to wait. For now, I have one focus, and one focus only, and it's getting to the bottom of that song choice.
It comes in so hot and heavy with those chords halfway into the trailer that I didn't totally recognize it right away, but then I realized that it's not only familiar, but I've actually heard it before, tons of times. It's that old classic "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals, which is a fitting repurposing for a remake like this. However, it's being covered by a hip new duo that you may not have heard of. They're called Heavy Young Heathens, made up of brothers Aron and Robert Mardo, and I haven't called them a band because they aren't one, really. Instead, they focus their formidable talents on composing specifically for film, television, and trailers; in the past, they've created pieces for shows like Punk'd, Are You The One, The Simpsons, and Lucifer, and some movies like Don Verdean and Yoga Hosers that were less familiar to me.
But now they're leaving their mark on a big-name movie, slapping their music into a film starring Pratt, Bennett, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, and Peter Sarsgaard, among many, many others. Meaning this is really their first foray into the top-billed movie world, so now is the moment to catch them while they're hot so you can say you knew them when. Take a look at the movie magic they bring to the Magnificent Seven trailer.
Steamy, no? The song is the perfect fit for the gritty, no-nonsense nature of the trailer, and I can't wait to see if they've created anything for the full movie, and, if so, what. All will be revealed on Sep. 23 upon the movie's release, but I'll be watching the trailer nonstop until then, glorying in this perfect song choice.
Image: Sony Pictures Entertainment
