Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, independent movies used to curate interesting and savvy soundtracks featuring independent, lesser-known artists. Big budget films used to feature fairly predictable top 40 bands, but everyone was still pretty much happy. Then along came the mp3 industry crash of the early aughts, and struggling musicians learned that licensing their music to soundtracks was often lucrative; especially when they weren't small indie films with no budget. High and low disappeared, with everyone struggling to get a piece of the pie. Hence, the "Twilight" saga soon picked up songs from "cool" bands like Radiohead, Beck, Vampire Weekend, Iron & Wine, Thom Yorke, Muse, Metric, The Black Keys, Band of Horses, Death Cab for Cutie, Bon Iver and St. Vincent, etc.
In short, there's really no sense in complaining that good bands often give their music to lame movies that are often antithetical to the spirit of what they're about. So off we go. The soundtrack to "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2" will feature Green Day, Passion Pit, Feist, English singer-songwriter Ellie Goulding (with a track produced by Skrillex) and more. Returning to the "Twilight" fold on the 14-track soundtrack is St. Vincent, who appeared on "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" soundtrack with Bon Iver, Christina Perri who had a sizable hit on the "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1" soundtrack (and is a major twi-hard — she has "bitten" tattoed on her) and Carter Burwell who scored "Twilight" and both parts of 'Breaking Dawn' (Alexandre Desplat scored "New Moon" and Howard Shore wrote the music for "Eclipse"; hey these things pay).
Why Green Day? "When we were asked to be part of the 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn – Part 2' soundtrack, we readily agreed because the films are an insane cultural phenomenon, and we have always been impressed with the way the 'Twilight' soundtracks are so carefully curated," bassist Mike Dirnt told Yahoo. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2" soundtrack album hits record shelves and digital outlets on November 13th. The film hits theaters on November 16th.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 soundtrack tracklisting
1. Where I Come From — Passion Pit
2. Bittersweet — Ellie Goulding
3. The Forgotten — Green Day
4. Fire In The Water — Feist
5. Everything And Nothing — The Boom Circuits
6. The Antidote — St. Vincent
7. Speak Up — POP ETC
8. Heart of Stone — Iko
9. Cover Your Tracks — A Boy and His Kite
10. Ghosts — James Vincent McMorrow
11. All I've Ever Needed — Paul McDonald & Nikki Reed
12. New For You — Reeve Carney
13. A Thousand Years (Part Two) – Christina Perri
14. Plus Que Ma Prope Vie — Carter Burwell