High School Musical Original Soundtrack Review
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 03.04.2006
Another kids album hits #1? Is this more Jack Johnson goodness or should you just shoot me now?
When I was young, The Disney Channel was a rare treat. On our local cable channel, it was actually a premium (pay) service. There were a few different time frames when my mom and dad put up the extra cash for it, and I got to enjoy the whacky antics of Mickey, Donald and all the other dumbass characters, and those were fun times. Years later now, well, I can still understand why kids like it (even if it is free now instead of a luxury). It is, actually, one of the last true kids bastions. A place where you're not going to find all the little "winks" to drive adults into thinking "hey, this isn't so bad." The Disney Channel is purely kid driven in a world where that's not necessarily cool anymore. So that's respectable. Of course, I'm not a kid, either. And I'm guessing none of the audience reading this is. (If you are, I apologize for any future use of the word "fuck". Consider this review rated TV-MA). So does the soundtrack to The Disney Channel's recent hit original TV movie have anything to offer to us above the 3 foot mark? (If you're a midget, just find a more specialized review my tiny friend). Let's find out.
Their Story
The Disney Channel original movie High School Musical and its soundtrack chronicle the romance of Troy, a popular high school basketball star, and Gabriella, a smart girl who's is new in town, who meet through their mutual love of karaoke. Their friends, all members of opposite high school cliques, are against the pairing, and the movie shows how the couple manages to rise above their circles and expectations.
The movie is Disney's first stab at a musical, and it is directed by Kenny Ortega, veteran of teen appealing TV shows like "Gilmore Girls" and "Grounded For Life". The movie was written by relative newcomer Peter Barsocchini, while the musical pieces were handled by young actor and former frontman of the R&B trio Nu-Ground, Andrew Seeley, along with a large group of composers.
High School Musical stars Zac Efron and Vanessa Anne Hutchinson, both of whom are young teen actors without previous leading rolls or musical experience under their belt. The cast is rounded out by some other teen actors and actresses with similar credentials.
The movie premiered on The Disney Channel on January 20, 2006, and has enjoyed successful reruns since.
The Album
On January 10, 2006, Walt Disney Records released High School Musical, the soundtrack to their original movie of the same name. The soundtrack features members of the cast performing the songs from the movie. Two bonus karaoke tracks are included.
After seven weeks on the charts, the album reached the top of the Billboard 200 on March 11, 2006.
The Band: 5.5
Zac Efron (as Troy)
Vanessa Anne Hutchinson (as Gabriella)
Andrew Seeley (uncredited, as Troy)
Lucas Grabeel (as Ryan)
Ashley Tisdale (as Charpay)
In an age where the mediocrity of "American Idol" dominates the airwaves, it's not surprising that people could consider the singing on this album as "good", when it's truly no more than inoffensive. Hutchinson and Efron carry the bulk of the vocal duties on this album, and do a passable job, though it's sort of telling that songwriter Andrew Seeley is used as "Troy" in some songs. Of all the vocalists on the album, Seeley probably has the strongest voice, but that's not as much of a compliment as it is a "process of elimination" deduction. The remaining top-billed performers are equally "bleh", though some of their performances do come off a bit more on the poor side. The rest of the cast shows up on the album, too, and you quickly find out why only the 4 "big part" actors got their name on the songs.
As lackluster as the singing is on this album, the instrumentation is worse. Seriously, I've heard elevator music with more soul. Some of the songs really DO sound like a high school musical, with their plodding piano chords and pedestrian orchestration. You may say, Well, Mitch, that's the point, and I'll counter with, No, it's not, dumbass. This is a musical ABOUT high school. The soundtrack should at least sound nice. I mean, it's Disney, for God's sakes. They didn't have the cash to spend on competent composers and session people? I think even the duo of Mr. McLean and Mr. Masters (my junior high and elementary musical teachers) could've cranked this shit out.
The album is rounded out with a guest appearance by P Diddy protégés B5. It's sad that it took an album this bad to make a B5 song stand out, but congratu-fucking-lations B5, you've found a small enough pond to shine.
The Songs: 4.0
1. Start Of Something New (feat. Troy & Gabriella)
2. Get'cha Head In The Game (feat. Troy)
3. What I've Been Looking For (feat. Ryan & Charpay)
4. What I've Been Looking For (Reprise) (feat. Troy & Gabriella)
5. Stick To The Status Quo
6. When There Was Me And You (feat. Gabriella)
7. Bop To The Top (feat. Ryan & Charpay)
8. Breaking Free (feat. Troy & Gabriella)
9. We're All In This Together
10. I Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You (feat. Troy, Gabriella, Ryan & Charpay)
11. Get'cha Head In The Game (performed by B5)
12. Start Of Something New (Karaoke Instrumental)
13. Breaking Free (Karaoke Instrumental)
The mediocrity of the singing on this album is only matched by the atrocity of the lyrics. Yes, I realize that these are kids songs with kid themes, but, honestly, these songs suck, and if your kids like them, well, I hate to break it to you, but they just may be retarded. Or at the least have very bad taste.
One of the biggest problems is the mix of silliness ("Stick To The Status Quo" deals with all the skeletons in the high school kid closets like OMG he likes to bake! OMG the nerdy girl likes to dance) and songs that try to sound like big Top 40 pop numbers ("Breaking Free" and "Start Of Something New") but wind up sounding even less interesting than most pop music of the day. The combination comes off less kiddish and more amateurish, but I'll cut them a little slack as this is a musical soundtrack, and that sort of this isn't so uncommon in the genre. Of course, other musicals have their ballads come off as powerful and their silly songs are, you know, actually funny. I don't think this junk could sound good if they got Barbra Streisand or Bette Midler to do it.
In the end, it's the messages of the songs that take the forefront, and while the sentiment really is a good one (don't give in to peer pressure, be yourself, everybody has their own things, blah blah), the writing is just so schlocky that it just can't make a lasting impression. In songs so poorly written and executed, the messages aren't lost so much as they are completely ignored. Seriously, if you want to get the rival cliques to unite, play them this song and they will. Against YOU, you fucking lame ass!
All in all, the songs from High School Musical are pretty much what you'd expect from your most annoying pep rallies, and if you find a pep rally as a high entertainment, this CD could be for you.
The 411: Another Billboard #1, and another instance of consumers getting it wrong, wrong, wrong. The IDEA of High School Musical isn’t terrible (though it is kind of silly, hasn’t the anti-clique thing been done to death? Didn’t we learn anything from Mean Girls?), but the so-so singing, terrible music and amateur level writing only shines a light on the fact that parents will buy anything for their kids these days if it’s marketed towards them and not offensive. If they’re too old for Jack Johnson’s Curious George stuff, chances are they’re not going to enjoy this trite offering once they hear the “real” music on the radio and MTV.
