Not only has the movie Juno been gaining praise from critics and moviegoers alike, but the Juno Soundtrack has hit the number one spot on the Billboard charts ahead of stars like Alicia Keys and Radiohead. It’s a very folky-sounding soundtrack - not exactly my speed since I’m more of a death metal kinda girl (Ok, not really, but I much prefer Tool over Buddy Holly). It makes pretty decent background music though, since it’s mostly melodic guitars and soft vocals. It’s easy to listen to and remember the scenes from the movie, since the music plays so prominently in the movie.
The Kimya Dawson song lyrics sound like something Phoebe Buffay would have played at Central Perk, although they definitely do sound like something Juno MacGuff would listen to. I’m really annoyed by the out-of-synch chorus singing - it honestly hurts my brain. They were cute in small doses during the movie, but I definitely don’t need to listen to this stream of consciousness kind of lyric-writing for an entire CD worth of tunes. The Belle & Sebastian songs don’t annoy me, but I can honestly say I’ll probably never listen to this CD again - it’s not that it’s bad music, it’s just not my kinda thing.
Sonic Youth’s cover of The Carpenters’ “Superstar” is just creepy and dark enough for me to like it, even though I’ve never heard a Sonic Youth song before.
The Mott the Hoople song “All the Young Dudes” is definitely where Marvelous 3 (one of my all-time favorite bands) got the chorus for my favorite song of theirs - “Cigarette Lighter Love Song.” I was predisposed to like this song because of my familiarity with the melody.
The “Sea of Love” cover by Cat Power is a highlight of the soundtrack - melodic, nice vocals, classic song with a new take. Simply a good song. “Tree Hugger” sounds like it was intended to be a children’s song like “The Green Grass Grows All Around” - hence, it’s obnoxious.
The Moldy Peaches’ “Anyone Else But You” has cute lyrics and features in a great scene in the movie, so even though it’s not really my type of music, I’d probably listen to this song again. Although I much prefer the song two tracks later when Michael Cera and Ellen Page, stars of the movie, sing the same song.
If you’re into the whole indie rock music thing, definitely pick this up. I can say, though, that this is definitely not a soundtrack where you’ll like it just because you liked the movie.
Tracks You Can’t Miss:
- Track 9 - “Superstar” by Sonic Youth - Listen
- Track 12 - “All The Young Dudes” by Mott the Hoople - Listen
- Track 14 - “Sea of Love” by Cat Power - Listen
- Track 19 - “Anyone Else But You” by Michael Cera and Ellen Page - Listen
Release Date 11/14/2008 
