If you’re between the ages of 30 and 45, chances are you’ve heard a high school friend’s older brother explain one of the greatest pop culture coincidences of all time: that if you play Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” and watch “The Wizard of Oz” simultaneously at the same time, the music matches up perfectly with what’s going on in the film. Spoiler alert: it sort of works and it’s just okay.
Honestly, I’m sick of hearing about it. Sure it was cool when the connection was made in 1995, when physical media was mostly CD and VHS tapes. But in the age of too much content coupled with our collective disassociation from society, it’s time to admit literally any movie syncs up with “Dark Side of the Moon” if you don’t give a shit.
I tried the whole “Dark Side of the Rainbow” one night and I felt like an idiot when I realized the album is an entire hour shorter than the movie, so it’s basically only in lockstep until Dorothy meets the Tin Man! What’s the point then? It wasn’t until the next night when I knocked back six Budweisers and put on “BASEketball” when it dawned on me that 70’s psych rock pairs with anything you want the moment you stop caring about life.
Try it yourself and you’ll see once you no longer care about the outcome of anything how easily the album and any movie are in lockstep. Air Bud? Sure! Robocop? Why the hell not! The state of Minnesota’s anti-sexual harassment training video I was court ordered to watch? Almost too eerily lined up if you ask me.
Today’s straight-to-streaming movies are so goddamn boilerplate anyway, you could blindly use any Netflix romcom and get the same results. If the entertainment industry is going to feed us this slop amidst a dying empire, you might as well spice it up with some decent dad rock.
Go nuts because who even cares at this point! We’re on a floating rock in space hurtling towards mutual self-destruction, so if you want to say “Brain Damage” lines up with the puppet show scene from The Sounds of Music then go ahead, go ahead and live your truth!
I’m done caring. Life is long and there is time to kill today, so let’s try pairing “Wish You Were Here” with “The Room” next.