A playlist inspired by 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' — Windy City Times

A playlist inspired by 'X-Men: Days of Future Past' 

WINTER MUSIC SPECIAL 

Special to the online edition of Windy City Times 

by David Byrne 

2013-12-12

When Twentieth Century Fox released the first trailer to X-Men: Days of Future Past, I was excited to get a glimpse at this anticipated sequel. The storyline has the franchise's key character, Wolverine ( Hugh Jackman ), traveling back to the '70s in an attempt to prevent a murder that leads to a horrific future, where his fellow mutants are hunted down. I was so moved that I decided to create a playlist inspired by the upcoming blockbuster.

Some of the music's themes are despair, hope, time travel and heroes. I wanted to stray from obvious choices like Madonna's "Bedtime Story," Tina Turner's "We Don't Need Another Hero ( Thunderdome )," Mariah Carey's "Hero" and The Rocky Horror Picture Show's "Time Warp." The next step was narrowing down the collection to under 20 songs.

The playlist kicks off with fiery rock anthems from Canadian artists. "Positronic" by The Pack A.D. salutes science-fiction icon Isaac Asimov and paints an image of the Sentinels, which are huge man-made machines used to hunt down mutants and protect humans in the X-Men universe. Jane Child is best remembered for her pop-funk hit "Don't Wanna Fall in Love." Here, I am including her guitar-heavy "Step out of Time" from her sophomore effort, Here Not There.

Vanessa Daou sings coolly on the dramatic "Manifesto," which has an absolutely marvelous version on her compilation Speak/Easy: The Moonshine Mixes ( Joe Sent Me Revisited ). The piece climaxes intensely, as her digitally enhanced voice proclaims, "Only I can save you." This captures how Wolverine solely is trusted by the leader Charles Xavier ( Patrick Stewart ) and his unlikely ally, Magneto ( Ian McKellen ), to accomplish this mission.

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