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Love at First Bite - Soundtrack Restored? (1 Viewer)

JeffMc

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Well, that sucks. I'm not really a fan of the film having only seen it once when it first came out theatrically. However, I can tell you this, the ONLY thing I remember about the film is that disco scene and "I Love The Nightlife" playing. So, there's no way I'd ever think about buying this DVD if the only scene I remember from the film has been changed because of rights issues. I assume Sony doesn't mention anything about "music being changed" on the DVD case, either. If they're trying to pull a fast one on fans, screw 'em.

On the other side, I just picked up the DVD of LIFEGUARD and am happy to report that Paramount came through and restored the vocal song to the opening credits and final sequence of the film. It was always replaced with a bland instrumental on the old VHS release. The song is as cheesy as I remembered it to be and am glad it's finally back in. Thanks, Paramount, for going the extra mile to fix a pretty obscure title that would have flown under the radar regardless if they fixed it or not. That's the way it should be done.
 

Ted Todorov

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If the above info that Universal is/was overcharging for the music rights, then it absolutely is 100% a greedy studio problem. Last I checked, Universal was a studio. Don't tell me that the movie division has no control over the music division -- they'll cooperate if they have to (see today's WSJ for an article on how Sony's different divisions were forced kicking and screaming to sing with one voice on Sony's attempt to challenge iPod/ITunes.)

I am sure that the vast majority of the music rights are owned by the very same conglomerates who own the studios. They are perfectly capable of making sure the right hand knows what the left hand is doing, and no longer working at cross-purposes.

Ted
 

Carlos Garcia

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To answer in a word..YES! If the music rights holders are blackmailing the studios for more money before giving their rights to use their songs in a movie, then the studios have 3 options. 1. Pay them what they want. 2. Use other songs in the place of the originals. 3. Don't release the movie. I'm sure the studios want to make money, so they'll choose option 2. However, any real fan of a movie or TV show they saw on its original run should be angry when they see it again, only with different music being used. Like I said earlier, I choose to preserve the memory of how these shows and films looked in their original run, not the newly compromised version. I don't respect studios that release altered versions (though I can understand their motives). I fully respect the studios that refuse to compromise, and continue trying to work out the rights issues, and eventually come to an agreement and release the product the way it looked originally.
 

Christian Preischl

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You assume correctly. By the way, there's no mention of Sony anywhere either, this still seems to be a 100% MGM release. I think it was already announced before the MGM sale was finalized so I'm quite certain we can blame MGM for this one. Not that Sony would have been any better.

Chris
 

Christian Preischl

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Well, here's one for ya. I just popped in the DVD again, and heard "I love the Nightlife" after all.

Where, you ask?

In the trailer!! The damn song's all over it. When you see dialogue clips from the film you hear an instrumental version of it, when they show clips of the dance scene (scattered throughout the trailer) it's the song with vocals. And it ain't a cover version either. The trailer runs 3 minutes, and the song can be heard the last 2.5 min!

Chris
 

Carlos Garcia

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So can someone explain to me why they would pay for the rights to use the song in the trailer, but not in the movie itself?
 

Jesse Skeen

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There was a Human League song taken out of "The Last American Virgin" but is the first thing heard in the trailer on the disc. I was extremely pissed since I thought I'd made sure nothing was changed in that movie before I bought it. It seems like MGM has been "forgetting" to put the "Some Music Changed" indicator on their covers.
 

Christian Preischl

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My guess is they didn't have a clue. The version they had is the version they put out on DVD. That it might have replaced music (and that they could fix it) probably didn't even enter their mind.

Chris
 

Ted Todorov

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Why couldn't they just "forget" and leave it in the film itself -- aren't they going to be sued just as badly for the trailer?

Man am I glad I didn't buy this DVD -- I'd be so angry after hearing it on the trailer, I'd be breaking stuff.

This is on par with having an anamorphic wide screen trailer and only a Pan & Scan version of the film on the DVD -- talk about sticking it to their customers...

Ted
 

Mike_Richardson

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Sony didn't take over MGM until July 1st, so anything MGM was working on will still look like an MGM release for all of July at least. MGM's PR people sent out a letter thanking everyone for their assistance, since all of them are now out of jobs! :frowning:
 

Mike_Richardson

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I disagree the instrumental was "bland" -- it's actually one of the principal themes from Dale Menten's orchestral score and worked a whole lot better than the hideous arrangement of that song. After having watched the movie on TV, I absolutely can't stand hearing that song -- it's beyond cheesy.

Sometimes just because it's how it was in theaters doesn't make it better...but to each his own.
 

PopBodhi

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Please, would you have preferred a (c)rap song? The scene takes place in a disco; I don't remember many instrumental numbers being played in discos back then. Yes, I'm that old!:)
 

JeffMc

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Not meaning to derail this thread into a LIFEGUARD discussion, but one last comment - I do agree the vocal song is cheesy - I mentioned that in the other post. But that IS the way the film was theatrically released, good, bad or cheesy. And I believe Menten wrote that song as well, and sings it with a female back-up singer - at least that's what the end credits indicate. He also sings the Paul Williams song "Tide and Tide". I do agree with you somewhat, though, that when I was watching the DVD and heard that cheesy song gain, the thought did come into my head that they may have changed it for video and TV to the instrumental not because of rights issues, but just because the vocal song WAS so cheesy. I'm still glad it's back in - and I do think it works a lot better than that instrumental, especially during the end 'face' credit sequence. But like you said, to each their own.

OK, the floor is back to LOVE AT FIRST BITE....
 

Carlos Garcia

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Does anyone know when Love At First Bite will play on a cable station like HBO or something like that? Since it's obvious that they play the movie with its original music intact, I think I'd like to copy it to DVD and play that version from now on instead of throwing my money to Sony/MGM and letting them think I support their antics.
 

Mark Edward Heuck

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In the case of Universal, they really don't have any control. When NBC acquired Universal, all they got was the studio. The music arm and the videogame divisions are still owned by Vivendi. For all purposes, they are two separate companies and though they share trademarks and cooperate on stuff like soundtracks and game tie-ins, Universal Studios can't tell Universal Music what to do.

As for the fact that MGM wiped songs from movies and not from their trailers...SHHHHHHHHHHH! If we talk about that too much, next thing you know those discs will be pulled off the market and we'll end up with another SWAMP THING fiasco, with neutered trailerless ediions getting released and the originals fetching $100 on ebay. It was a mistake that worked in and out of our favor so to speak.

Look, MGM before Sony did their best to retain original music, but sometimes they got those "ratchet down and cut costs" memos from corporate and some discs got rescored. Nobody likes it, but it's a home video fact of life. And not buying the disc because of missing music is counter-productive, because the only message they'll get is that the movie is not popular period, and fewer films of that type will get considered in the future. If you're a fan, buy the movie and send a very polite but firm letter or phone call to them and explain this specific complaint. This action will be more likely to inspire thoughts of revisiting the title with a music restoration.
 

Jeff Swindoll

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Come back, black chicken. Leave us an egg or something!

Technically, I'm glad I bought Love at First Bite. However, the I Love the Nightlife makes the disco scene much, much stronger. I will add that all of the other jokes are intact ;).

Although it is very annoying that the song is all throughout the trailer. Since alot of the parties responsible at MGM didnt appear to be movie buffs I highly doubt that they even knew that the music was changed.
 

Paul_Scott

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i ordered the disc, with the inclusion of the trailer being a big draw for me.
i don't understand why the song can be technically heard on the disc in one section and not another and this have to do with usage/rights/royalties.


i may just do what i do when i watch the SW dvds and thats ffwd thru the sequence- or i can try to synch up the song on another machine since i don't use the recievers processor for synching my audio and video this should be able to work.
hell of a pain in the ass though-
 

Steve Phillips

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Carlos, The HBO networks had LOVE AT FIRST BITE in heavy rotation a couple of years back. I recorded a DVD-R a while back and just checked it last night. Good news...."I Love the Nightlife" is intact!!!
 

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