What Awesome Mix Vol. 2 Can Tell Us About Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

No comic book movie has ever had a more beloved and effective soundtrack than James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy. The fun, groovy, nostalgic radio hits of Awesome Mix, Vol. 1 helped to both set the film’s tone, and perfectly reflect that tone back at itself once fans had seen the movie and could recall how elements of the album played out in context.

That made Awesome Mix, Vol. 2 a difficult task: the first soundtrack sold huge numbers, brought some all-but-forgotten hits from the past back into the mainstream, and was widely regarded as a perfect companion to the film. What does a follow-up do?

Well, for starters, it can give pre-release audiences some sense of tone, now that the first has been experienced in context and reasonable assumptions can be made about Gunn’s creative decisions. Will these all be correct? Probably not, but taking a look at the soundtrack as a whole, and a few particular songs on their own, might provide some context going into the movie that few soundtracks would be able to do.

Read on, and if you think we missed anything, hit us up on Twitter @comicbook!

Set to the backdrop of ‘Awesome Mixtape #2,’ Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mysteries of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel cinematic universe continues to expand.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is written and directed by James Gunn (Slither). The film marks the return of the original Guardians, including Chris Pratt (Jurassic World) as Peter Quill/Star-Lord; Zoe Saldana (Star Trek Into Darkness) as Gamora; Dave Bautista (Spectre) as Drax; Vin Diesel (Furious 7) as the voice of Groot; Bradley Cooper (American Sniper) as the voice of Rocket; Michael Rooker (Jumper) as Yondu; Karen Gillan (The Big Short) as Nebula; and Sean Gunn (Gilmore Girls) as Kraglin. New cast members include Pom Klementieff (Oldboy), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby, Everest), Chris Sullivan (The Knick, The Drop) and Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight, The Thing).

Next up for Marvel is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on May 5, 2017. Spider-Man: Homecoming lands on July 7, 2017, followed by Thor: Ragnarok on November 3, 2017. After that Black Panther debuts on February 16, 2018, while Avengers: Infinity War hits theaters on May 4, 2018. Ant-Man and the Wasp is slated for July 6, 2018, followed by Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019.

MORE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2:

• Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 TV Spots Show Baby Groot Saving The Day
• Karen Gillan Wants Nebula’s Infinity Gauntlet Storyline In Avengers 3
• James Gunn Confirms Awesome Mix Vol. 2 Will Get Cassette Release
• Guardians Trilogy Will Be One Fluid Story

SLOW JAMS

The first Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack wasn’t “hard rock” by any stretch, but the general feeling of the songs was often…well, if not aggressive, then maybe “driving” is the right word. There were some thumping bass lines and guitar-driven tunes that gave a sense of momentum and purpose.

That was matched in the film: having to set up the Marvel Cosmic Universe, introduce all the various members of the team, and then fight a villain with godlike powers and a genocidal agenda very much required a constant sense of forward motion.

The softer, more harmonic feeling that dominates much of Awesome Mix Vol. 2 could point to a team that’s a bit more at ease with itself and a more cooperative, less confrontational dynamic than the first film had. That stands not only for the core Guardians, who appear from trailers and official releases to be working more closely as a team, but also for the Ravagers, Peter Quill’s surrogate family, who are no longer chasing the team with a bounty on their heads but instead appear to be — even if reluctantly — on the side of the angels.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Those of us old enough to have made a mix tape for a relationship that was ending know that as you’re overwhelmed with the emotions you’re trying to express, some the songs you seek out will get more explicitly autobiographical.

It feels a bit like that’s what Meredith Quill was attempting here.

Taking the Awesome Mix vol. 2 as an in-story device as much as a stand-alone release, songs like “My Sweet Lord” and “Brandy” seem like they could be, to varying degrees, autobiographical for Meredith.

George Harrison’s meditation on spirituality, “My Sweet Lord” can be read a differently in the context of music being presented to Peter by his mother, who coined the “Star-Lord” name.

In most cases, especially if the music was being played by a person dying of cancer, the lines “I really want to see you/Really want to be with you/Really want to see you Lord” could be read as a person ready to embrace death and move on to the next evolution of existence. In the case of Meredith Quill, it’s likely meant as a message from beyond the grave for her beloved son.

The fact that he wouldn’t listen to it for decades likely didn’t blunt its impact any.

EXPOSITION

The other song we tapped as potentially “autobiographical,” Brandy,” could also be described as expository.

The song, about a woman who could have almost any man she wants but falls in love with a sailor whose true love is the sea and who won’t settle down to join her, feels particularly apt in the context of a woman who had a child with a strange visitor from another planet, who left her while pregnant to return to space.

How that might inform the movie, and whether it would explicitly deal with the specifics of Meredith’s relationship to Ego, is an open question. It’s more likely than not that a writer like Gunn would leave those connections up to the audience to make.

Gunn was recently quoted by Movieline as saying that “Brandy” is one of the most important songs in the film.

THE TEAM

James Gunn has said that Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” is, for the purposes of this film, about the Guardians themselves.

A popular interpretation of the song is that it is about a tortured relationship, with the characters in the song not sure whether the feelings are even real and certainly doubting that they’re healthy, but holding together anyway.

That could suggest that while all the promotional material of the movie has shown a team comfortably in its groove, there’s some strain in that relationship on the way. It could also mean that Gunn has a wildly different interpretation of the song than we do, or that musically it just fit the team scenes in a way to become their anthem.

Ultimately, it’s a song about people who can’t be together, but who choose to ignore that and be together anyway. In the same way, Fleetwood Mac were going through a bad time during the recording of the “Rumours” album, but came together to produce the record (and this song) because while it felt like it was time to break up, their passion for the work they were creating kept drawing them back together.

SELF-AWARENESS

Gunn has described the final song on the album as the Guardians version of Meco’s disco reworking of the Star Wars theme.

Gunn wrote the song with guest artist David Hasselhoff, who performs as part of The Sneepers, a band named for a race of Marvel Comics aliens whose name is a colloquialism for “clitoris” in Icelandic and so whose use was once said to have been forbidden by Marvel’s legal department.

Hasselhoff, who has an alien name here and a cameo in the film, so this is likely part of the movie or at least a post-credits scene, is apparently one of Peter’s pop culture heroes from his childhood, so the winking and nodding at the camera should be pretty signifcant.