Politixia
The Fight Club soundtrack is an odd mix of popular and completely original songs that can’t be found anywhere else. David Fincher’s action, thriller, mystery, which stars Ed Norton and Brad Pitt, follows a group of bored, middle-class men realizes they have nothing going on in their life and start getting together to fight out their issues. The soundtrack is as eccentric and in motion as the plot, filled with assortment of genres that are heard throughout the film. It’s a dark movie, but it’s laugh-out-loud funny as well and the songs reflect that.
For the score of Fight Club, Fincher, who started in music videos and was knowledgeable of the music scene, originally wanted Radiohead to produce, but Thom Yorke and the band had just finished touring for “OK Computer” and declined, (via Far Out). Fincher, instead, went with the electronic production duo, the Dust Brothers, to develop the synthy, electro-pop soundscape. Interspersed throughout the film are songs from various artists that are sometimes only heard for a few seconds each. Like many Fincher soundtracks, the point isn’t to fill up the album with hits, it’s to drive the viewer forward until he decides it’s time to stop and listen.
Here’s every song in Fight Club, in order:
- “Coffee Store” by Zak Rolfe Kent
- “Svarga” by Vas
- “Girl from Ypsilanti” by Daniel May
- “Cafeteria” by Cezame Argile
- “Smoke Stack” by Junk Ferry
- “Forbidden To Love” by Guy Moon
- “Easy Mack It Up” by The Odditorium
- “Splendid and 4M15” by Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds
- “Goin’ Out West” by Tom Waits
- “No Love, No Nothin” by Marlene Dietrich
- “Theme from ‘Valley Of The Dolls’” by Helena Bonham Carter, Dory and Andre Previn
- “KDFW News Theme” by Stephen Arnold
- “Tzingany Waltz” by George Fenton and John Leach
- “Where is My Mind?” by The Pixies
When Each Song Plays In Fight Club
“Coffee Store” by Zak Rolfe Kent – This song only plays for a brief moment while The Narrator (Norton) in Fight Club sips from his Starbucks cup and watches an infomercial for hair products. Like a few of the songs on the soundtrack “Coffee Store” is diegetic, meaning it is playing from somewhere within the fictional setting, so the characters should be able to hear the song as well as the audience.
“Svarga” by Vas – This diegetic song plays in the pawnshop over the speakers when The Narrator chases Marla (Helena Bonham Carter) into when she tries to sell stolen clothes.
“Girl from Ypsilanti” by Daniel May – “Girl from Ypsilanti” plays over the hotel welcome video The Narrator watches in his hotel room before he goes back to work. The hotel staff shouting “Welcome!” at the end of the infomercial is a little more memorable than the few seconds of the song.
“Cafeteria” by Cezame Argile – This song plays over the airport speakers as the nameless main character, The Narrator, talks to security to figure out what happened to his suitcase. It’s elevator muzak that’s relatably irritating for anyone who’s been stuck waiting at a help desk or a service line.
“Smoke Stack” by Junk Ferry – Another diegetic song can be heard playing over the speakers when The Narrator first meets Tyler Durden at a bar right after his apartment explodes.
“Forbidden To Love” by Guy Moon – In a fourth-wall-breaking scene, The Narrator explains how Tyler works as a film projectionist, so he can splice frames of explicit images into random scenes. In this instance, he does it during a children’s cartoon that is playing “Forbidden To Love”. This sets up another fourth-wall-breaking joke at the movie’s end when Fincher splices an explicit image into the Fight Club film itself.
“Splendid and 4M15” by Kenneth ‘Babyface’ Edmonds – This song is easy to miss, but it’s playing in the restaurant as Tyler relieves himself into the Cream of Mushroom soup (another example of how unpredictable the man is).
“Goin’ Out West” by Tom Waits – Although “Goin’ Out West” may be playing on a jukebox as Tyler, The Narrator, and the other members head down to the basement of the bar for the first “fight club”, the song does not feel diegetic. This is the first time a song on the soundtrack feels like it’s playing over the film rather than in it.
“No Love, No Nothin” by Marlene Dietrich – This waltzing ballad is playing in Marla’s apartment when the iconic Helena Bonham Carter character calls The Narrator for the first time and glibly lets him know she ingested a large amount of Xanax and needs him to come over.
“Theme from ‘Valley Of The Dolls’” by Helena Bonham Carter, Dory and Andre Previn – After Marla has spent some time at Tyler’s house, sleeping with Tyler/Narrator, the Narrator kicks Marla out. She sings the first few lines of this song as she leaves in an attempt to confuse The Narrator.
“Easy, Smack It Up” by The Odditorium – This is the song playing when The Narrator walks in on the first group of fight club members hanging out in Tyler’s house.
“KDFW News Theme” by Stephen Arnold – There is a news program that turns on when The Narrator enters the room with fight club members, including Jared Leto in one of his best movies. The “KDFW News Theme” leads right into the first mention of “Project Mayhem”.
“Tzingany Waltz” by George Fenton and John Leach – There is one last ambient, diegetic song when The Narrator and Marla meet in the restaurant as The Narrator explains that he has dissociative identity disorder. The explanation provided by The Narrator has faced a lot of criticism as there have been complaints about it spreading misinformation about dissociative identity disorder and upholds stigmas.
“Where is My Mind?” by Pixies – The final song of Fight Club, “Where is My Mind”, is a summation of the themes of the movie. The Narrator has spent the last 20 minutes realizing that fight club has taken over his life. When he finally makes up with Marla, the Pixies song drops to nail the movie’s final scene, which is combined with The Narrator’s famous last line, “You’ve met me at a very strange time in my life.”
Where You Can Listen To Fight Club’s Original Soundtrack
The Dust Brother’s original score for Fight Club can be found on Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, Amazon, and Apple Music. The songs of Fight Club are a little more difficult to find. “Svarga”, “Girl from Ypsilanti”, “Goin’ Out West”, “No Love, No Nothin”, and “Where is My Mind?” can all be found where music is streamed. “Cafeteria”, “Smoke Stack”, “Easy Mack It Up”, “Coffee Store”, “KDFW News Theme”, and “Tzingany Waltz” can be found on YouTube or Amazon. For those who want to hear “Splendid and 4M15”, “Theme from ‘Valley Of The Dolls’”, and “Forbidden To Love”, watching Fight Club is the only way.
