''Music from the Motion Picture Pulp Fiction'' is the soundtrack to

Quentin Tarantino Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...

's 1994 film ''

Pulp Fiction ''Pulp Fiction'' is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, who conceived it with Roger Avary.See, e.g., King (2002), pp. 185–7; ; Starring John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Vin ...

'', released on September 27, 1994, by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

. No traditional

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

was commissioned for ''Pulp Fiction''. The film contains a mix of American

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

surf music Surf music (or surf rock, surf pop, or surf guitar) is a genre of rock music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Southern California. It was especially popular from 1958 to 1964 in two major forms. The first is instrumental su ...

, pop and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

. The soundtrack is equally untraditional, consisting of nine songs from the film, four tracks of dialogue snippets followed by a song, and three tracks of dialogue alone. Seven songs featured in the film were not included in the original 41-minute soundtrack. The album reached 21 on the ''Billboard'' 200, while

Urge Overkill Urge Overkill is an American alternative rock band, formed in Chicago, Illinois, United States, consisting of Nathan Kaatrud, who took the stage name Nash Kato (vocals/guitar), and Eddie "King" Roeser (vocals/guitar/bass guitar). They are widely ...

's cover of the Neil Diamond song "

Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" is a song written by American musician Neil Diamond, whose recording of it on Bang Records reached number 10 on the US pop singles chart in 1967. The song enjoyed a second life when it appeared on the 1994 ''Pul ...

" peaked at No. 59 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Charts & Awards AllMusic (December 26, 2006).

Composition

Tarantino used an

eclectic Eclectic may refer to: Music * ''Eclectic'' (Eric Johnson and Mike Stern album), 2014 * ''Eclectic'' (Big Country album), 1996 * Eclectic Method, name of an audio-visual remix act * Eclecticism in music, the conscious use of styles alien to th ...

assortment of songs by various artists. Notable songs include

Dick Dale Richard Anthony Monsour (May 4, 1937 – March 16, 2019), known professionally as Dick Dale, was an American rock guitarist. He was a pioneer of surf music, drawing on Middle Eastern music scales and experimenting with reverb. Dale was known a ...

's now-iconic rendition of "

Misirlou "Misirlou" ( el, Μισιρλού < tr, Mısırlı 'Egyptian' < ar, مصر ''Miṣr'' 'Egypt') is a folk song from the Eastern Mediterranean region. The original author of the song is not known, but Arabic, Greek, and Jewish musicians we ...

", which is played during the opening credits. Tarantino chose surf music for the basic score of the film because, "it just seems like rock 'n' roll Ennio Morricone music, rock 'n' roll spaghetti Western music." Many of the songs on the soundtrack were suggested to Tarantino by musician

Boyd Rice Boyd Blake Rice (born December 16, 1956) is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the ''Partridge Family Temple'' religious group, co-founder of ...

through their mutual friend

Allison Anders Allison Anders (born November 16, 1954) is an American independent film director whose films include ''Gas Food Lodging'', ''Mi Vida Loca'' and ''Grace of My Heart''. Anders has collaborated with fellow UCLA School of Theater, Film and Televisio ...

, including

's "

". Other songs were suggested to Tarantino by his friends Chuck Kelley and Laura Lovelace, who were credited as music consultants. Lovelace also appeared in the film as Laura the waitress. In addition to the surf-rock rendition of "

", other notable songs include "

Jungle Boogie "Jungle Boogie" is a funk song recorded by Kool & the Gang for their 1973 album '' Wild and Peaceful''. It reached number four as a single, and became very popular in nightclubs. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the number 12 song for 1974, despite ther ...

" by

Kool & the Gang Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. ...

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dram ...

's version of "

Son of a Preacher Man "Son of a Preacher Man" is a song written and composed by American songwriters John Hurley and Ronnie Wilkins and recorded by British singer Dusty Springfield in September 1968 for the album ''Dusty in Memphis.'' Springfield's version was produ ...

", "

Flowers on the Wall "Flowers on the Wall" is a song made famous by American country music group The Statler Brothers. Written and composed by Lew DeWitt, the group's original tenor vocalist, the song peaked in popularity in January 1966, spending four weeks at number ...

" by the Statler Brothers and "Bustin' Surfboards" by

The Tornadoes The Tornadoes were an American surf band from Redlands, California. They were the second band to receive national airplay with a surf instrumental, after The Marketts, with their song "Bustin' Surfboards", released on Aertaun Records in 1962. " ...

, from 1962, which had been one of the first instrumental surf songs to hit the United States music charts after notables such as "Walk--Don't Run" by the Ventures. Excerpts of dialogue include Jules' " Ezekiel 25:17" speech and the "Royale with Cheese" exchange between Jules and Vincent. A two-disc collector's edition of the album was issued in 2002—the first disc contained the songs, including four additional tracks; and the second disc was a spoken-word interview with Tarantino. Woody Thorne's 1961 song "Teenagers in Love" and Link Wray's 1965 single "Rumble" are two of the three songs missing from the collector's edition soundtrack. The last song is unique to the film: it is

Ricky Nelson Eric Hilliard Nelson (May 8, 1940 – December 31, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter and actor. From age eight he starred alongside his family in the radio and television series ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet''. In 1957, he bega ...

's "

Waitin' in School "Waitin' in School" is a rock and roll song written by Johnny Burnette and Dorsey Burnette. The song was recorded by Ricky Nelson, and peaked at number 18 in the U.S ''Billboard'' Hot 100 of 1958. It is considered one of the best examples of Ne ...

" as performed by actor Gary Shorelle, which plays as Vincent and Mia enter Jackrabbit Slim's.

Influence

The soundtrack reached No. 21 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and at the time, was certified platinum by the

Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada (formerly Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)) is a non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It ...

(CRIA), denoting shipments in excess of 100,000 units in Canada. By September 1995, the album had sold over 1.6 million copies in the United States, and by April 1996, sales stood at two million units. The soundtrack helped launch the band

, which covered Neil Diamond's "

" (produced by Kramer) in 1993, into a mainstream market. Sony "received a nice sum" for "

" and

enjoyed a resurgence when "

" was released on the soundtrack. ''

The Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...

'' described why the soundtrack of ''Pulp Fiction'' stood out from all the others: "Unlike so many soundtracks, which just seem to be repositories for stray songs by hit acts regardless of whether they fit the film's mood, Tarantino's use of music in ''

Reservoir Dogs ''Reservoir Dogs'' is a 1992 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino in his feature-length debut. It stars Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Chris Penn, Steve Buscemi, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tarantino, and Edward B ...

'' and ''Pulp Fiction'' exploded with a brash, Technicolor, pop-culture intensity that mirrored the stories he was telling."

Karyn Rachtman Karyn Rachtman is an American music supervisor and film producer. One of the "most influential music supervisors of all time," she has music supervised and/or served as the executive soundtrack producer on albums that have sold over 75 million c ...

was the music supervisor on both ''Reservoir Dogs'' and ''Pulp Fiction''. Analyzing the success of Tarantino's marketing, ''Billboard'' chalked up MCA's compilation to identifying the market niche: "''Pulp Fiction'' ... successfully spoke to those attuned to the hip, stylized nature of those particular films." The eclectic "mix-and-match strategy" is true to the film. "In some cases, like ''Pulp Fiction'' and ''Reservoir Dogs'', which were not geared toward any specific demographic, the soundtracks were still very focused albums", said Kathy Nelson, senior VP/general manager at MCA Soundtracks. "In both cases, the body of work—both the music and the film—has a specific personality." In 1997, Gary Thompson of ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'' said that ''Pulp Fiction'' "reinvigorated surf rock". That statement would be defining for

Del-Fi Records Del-Fi Records was an American record label based in Hollywood, California and owned by Bob Keane. The label's first single released was "Caravan" by Henri Rose released in 1958, but the label was most famous for signing Ritchie Valens. Valens' fi ...

, owned by legendary producer

Bob Keane Robert Verrill Kuhn (January 5, 1922 – November 28, 2009), professionally known as Bob Keane, and also sometimes known as Bob Keene, was an American musician, producer and the founder and owner of the record label Del-Fi Records. He was the ...

; the ''Pulp Fiction'' soundtrack contained two songs that were originally released on Del-Fi: ''Bullwinkle Pt II'' by the Centurians, and ''Surf Rider'' by The Lively Ones. Del-Fi Records released a compilation CD in 1995 entitled ''Pulp Surfin featuring songs by those bands plus sixteen other surf tracks from the vaults. The cover artwork was yet another parody of the ''Pulp Fiction'' film poster. Inspired by the soundtrack, advertisers started to use surf music in their commercials "to help sell everything from burritos to toothpaste", making surf music hugely popular again. More than two years after the film was released, the influence and monetary success was still being felt in the industry. "Mundane commercials using Dick Dale '60s surf licks, the kind made popular again by the ''Pulp Fiction'' soundtrack...following a trend—in this case, a two-year-old hit movie."SHOOT, 10745297, 07/19/96, Vol. 37, Issue 29

Track listing

Collector's edition

A collector's edition version of the soundtrack was released in 2002. It features remastered versions of the original sixteen tracks, along with five bonus tracks, including an interview with director Quentin Tarantino. There are single and two-disc releases of this version, with the track listings being identical; the two-disc version has the Tarantino interview on the second disc. The additional tracks are:

Songs not on the soundtrack releases

* "

" performed by Gary Shorelle (not commercially available) * "Ace of Spades" performed by Link Wray and His Ray Men * "Teenagers in Love" performed by Woody Thorne

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pulp Fiction, Music from the Motion Picture 1994 soundtrack albums Comedy-drama film soundtracks Crime film soundtracks MCA Records soundtracks Pop soundtracks Rock soundtracks Soul soundtracks Surf albums