The Best 90s Superhero Epic Features Perfect Song Written In Just Two Days By Rock Legend
The 1994 film adaptation of James O’Barr’s graphic novel The Crow has become more than a cult classic, turning into a darkly poetic masterpiece. The dark story follows Eric Draven (Brandon Lee in his final role), a musician brutally murdered alongside his fiancee, played by Sofia Shinas. He is miraculously resurrected by a crow, and transforms into a vengeful immortal spirit, with his face painted white, sets on against those who murdered him and his love.
Burn By The Cure
However, it is not just the dark visuals, emotional story, and action scenes that contribute to the success of The Crow. There is more to it. One of the core elements behind The Crow’s immense success is the crown jewel of the film’s soundtrack, “Burn”, by The Cure. which comes with its own fantastical backstory.
The Cure, particularly frontman Robert Smith, who is known for his signature look that includes dark clothing, dramatic hair, and heavy makeup use, mirrored the brooding look of Eric Draven himself. In addition, their eponymous influence and musical prowess made him and The Cure a natural fit to make the soundtrack anthem.
Heavy Influence
The band already had a heavy influence on O’Barr while writing the graphic novel, with several references scattered throughout its pages. Initially, Smith considered offering the track “The Hanging Garden” for The Crow soundtrack.
However, a meeting with Alex Proyas the director of The Crow, inspired Smith to work on a new song, which eventually became “Burn”.
Fresh off the release of The Cure’s ninth album, Wish, the band was full of creative energy. With Smith and Boris Williams, then-drummer, the song was made in just two days.
Written And Recorded In Two Days
In an interview for Radio 104.5, Smith shared the fascinating story behind The Crow soundtrack anthem “Burn.”
He said, “The whole thing was turned around in like two days”. “I just had the idea and we just recorded like me and him in the studio, very much like I did the Top 1984 album. Actually, he just sort of jammed the drums and I was just playing along.”
From the opening notes of the song, it is obvious that The Crow and “Burn” match. The high-pitched sounds of keyboards foreshadow the ominous atmosphere of the dark journey that lies ahead as Draven returns to his ravaged apartment.
With the crow’s slightly silenced calls and the addition of a rich bass line that sounds like a frantic heartbeat and distorted guitars mirroring Draven’s rage and the film’s high-contrast visuals, it only gets better. For epic superhero films, it is important to catch the atmosphere of the film through the soundtrack, and Burn did just that with incomprehensible ease.
The Lyrics Match
Lyrics that Robert Smith sings, ‘Don’t look don’t look, the shadows breathe, whispering me away from you’, are drenched in sorrow, turning them into Eric Draven’s inner monologue.
The song can be heard in every iconic scene of the film. When Erik paints his face white you can feel the crescendo of the song in every stroke he makes on his face. He then walks towards the window as the crow lands on his shoulder marking the complete transformation. On top of that, as he grabs the window, the leftover shards pierce the palms of his hands, giving him stigmata-like wounds.
The Crow Franchise
The Crow was released when alternative rock ruled the airwaves and “Burn” was a perfect song for this superhero epic. All of the scenes where “Burn” plays would feel empty and the gritty cityscape wouldn’t have that much impact on viewers.
Since the original film in 1994, The Crow franchise had several attempts at sequels and TV series, but none captured the magic of the original.
In 1996 the film The Crow: City of Angeles with Vincent Pérez as a new Crow named Ashe Corven, and Mia Kirshner reprised her role as Sarah Mohr. Despite featuring Iggy Pop and the band Deftones, the film received mostly negative reviews.
Next in line was The Crow: Stairway to Heaven (1998) a Canadian television series with Mark Dacascos taking on the role of Eric Draven. This attempt didn’t find much success either.
The start of the new millennium brought The Crow: Salvation (2000) straight to video, starring Eric Mabius as a new Crow and featuring actors like Kirsten Dunst and Fred Ward. Reviews for this loose adaptation of a novel were mixed.
A New Crow Coming
The most recent take was The Crow: Wicked Prayer (2005), which drew inspiration from a different novel and starred Edward Furlong alongside actors like David Boreanaz and Tara Reid. This final attempt in the franchise received poor critical reception.
Despite all the failed projects and the iconic The Crow original with the song “Burn” as its anthem, the franchise is getting a reboot/remake for its 30th anniversary. Directed by Rupert Sanders, Bill Skarsgård takes on the iconic role of Eric Draven, and FKA Twigs will step into the role of Eric’s fiancee. The film will be released in the United States by Lionsgate on August 23, 2024.
While The Crow will rise once again from the ashes, Brandon Lee’s iconic yet life-ending performance and the original from 1994 remain an untouchable classic, etched in forever as the decade’s best superhero epic.
