In-Advance Analysis of the Twisters Soundtrack

The summer of Glen Powell rolls on. It’s almost July, meaning we are about to flip the calendar from “Hit Man,” starring Glen Powell, to “Twisters,” starring Glen Powell. The former was a success, and the latter also seems all set for success if the rowdy, gloriously goofy trailer is to be believed. I still can’t believe that “Twisters” might well, in fact, be believed but, man, here we are. I think it’s the moment when the Daisy Edgar-Jones character says “I don’t chase anymore” that makes me believe. I’ll judge it when I see it, of course, but boy, a line like that gives me hope that “Twisters” knows what it’s doing, that it gets it. But here’s what I worry “Twisters” doesn’t get – the soundtrack.

The original “Twister” soundtrack, as we have written before, epitomized the fun-loving 90s proclivity of soundtracks as grab bags, a little country and a little rock ‘n’ roll but a little alternative and a little pop and even a little New Age too. The “Twisters” soundtrack, on the other hand, appears not to be a little bit of country so much as just country. I mean, ok, fine, but you’re telling me the Daisy Edgar-Jones character doesn’t listen to Taylor Swift? Or maybe somebody else on the Billboard Hot 100 that we could have more easily convinced to record a song for “Twisters?” Chappell Roan, maybe, pride of Willard in southwest Missouri, not far from the Tornado Alley border? I’ll bet she understands the terrifying power of a rotating column of air.

More than that, if the marketing department insists the “Twisters” soundtrack must be exclusively country, I’m disappointed once again by the lack of Johnny Cash considering everyone describes a tornado as sounding like a train and because of those famous alternating bass notes, every Johnny Cash song is “steady,” to quote June Carter of “Walk the Line,” “like a train.” And if they don’t sound like a train in the manner of a cyclone, necessarily, then, I don’t know, man, how about you call up Sheer Mag and pay ‘em to write a song that does.

Nothing, though, makes me more upset than the presence of a Luke Combs song in the movie trailer. Should Luke Combs have a place in “Twisters?” Maybe. I’m open to it. But. What does the Glen Powell character say in that same trailer? “Sometimes the old ways are better than the new.” And you’re telling me that guy listens to Luke Combs? Not a chance. My guy is a hard country neo traditionalist, 100%. If I was curating the soundtrack, he’d be pointed straight toward the titular twisters with George Strait on full blast.