Their first choice was Amy Winehouse. But she was too busy doing drugs. Instead, the theme song for the latest James Bond movie Quantum Of Solace will be the first duet in 007 history of 22 films. Sony/MGM announced today that artists Jack White of the rock band The White Stripes, and Alicia Keys, have recorded "Another Way To Die", the movie's theme song which was written and produced by White (who is also featured as the drummer on this track). The soundtrack to Quantum of Solace will be released by J Records on October 28th.
It would have been more amusing if it were a Jack White-Jack Black collaboration.
Comment by Yaz — July 29, 2008 @ 12:36 pm
Couldn’t they call the movie that too? Quantum of Solace has to be the worst title I’ve ever heard.
Comment by Mike — July 29, 2008 @ 12:46 pm
that’s fucking awesome.
Comment by denver — July 29, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
Jack White just jumped the snark.
Are there any artists left with integrity???
Comment by snark — July 29, 2008 @ 12:55 pm
Hey snark — it’s called show business.
Becoming a household name and having a modicum of mainstream success doesn’t mean you’ve jumped the shark and have no integrity. It means more people will hear your other stuff.
I say good for him, but too bad for Amy. That voice was made for a classy, brassy Bond theme!
Comment by DJW — July 29, 2008 @ 1:32 pm
that voice? she’s an impressionist, thats all. it’s not her real voice, shes a londoner for god’s sake! good grief. jack white is a great choice. havent heard from alicia in years but she was good as far as i remember, plays piano too so maybe its just a piano-drums combo.
Comment by paul — July 29, 2008 @ 2:01 pm
It does sound like an interesting combo. I’ll have to check it out.
As for Amy Winehouse, I didn’t even know she sang. All I ever hear about her was about her drug problem.
Comment by Furious D — July 29, 2008 @ 3:02 pm
Good choices, although why is it that, with very few exceptions (Carly Simon, Paul McCartney & Wings, Duran Duran), the popular artists of the day always come up with a terrible Bond song?
Comment by Jon — July 29, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
The best Bond theme song ever, for me that is, Duran Duran’s ‘A view to a kill’. Perfect song accompanied by a excellent video.
Alicia Keys and Jack White..emm..strange combination but will reserve my judgement till I hear the track. I like Alicia’s voice. Jack’s voice sounds like an old froggy suitable to rock songs. Well, we’ll see how this goes
Comment by Armand — July 29, 2008 @ 5:42 pm
Not sure what the big deal is about the Bond theme song since out of 21 movies only 4 stand the test of time. View to a Kill, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me (Nobody Does it Better), and the best Goldfinger.
Comment by Todd — July 30, 2008 @ 12:16 am
“Their first choice was Amy Winehouse. But she was too busy doing drugs.”
I LOVE the snark, Nikkie. But, it’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye. Or a lung.
Comment by peggy — July 30, 2008 @ 12:52 am
Hello,
Busy with the birth of my daughter last sunday but I cannot resist to this one…
QUANTUM OF SOLACE is the first 007 I will not watch since almost 40 years. That gives you a pretty good notion of how much I liked the previous entry.
I used to think that the most important for a Bond theme is that the composer of the score keeps the hand on it in collaboration with the performer. Since CASINO I really don’t care (and Arnold is my favourite composer!)
What was the last effective and unforgettable main title of the series? A VIEW TO A KILL?
Comment by Thierry Attard — July 30, 2008 @ 2:41 am
I agree with Mike that ‘Quantum of Solace’ is perhaps the shittiest movie title of all-time. The best part of the bond movies are typically the theme songs and the opening sequences.
The choice of Keys was inevitable but I hope she toned down her earnestness a bit, after all, the Bond franchise is about a guy who likes to bed as many women as possible in between saving the world with the lift of his eyebrow (at least that was the case in the glory days when Connery was king). Come to think of it, Winehouse’s drugged up jazzy voice would be quite good too, and perhaps the less safe, egdier approach. The duet thing though? That could be real gay.
Comment by Mark S. — July 30, 2008 @ 2:54 am
I can’t wait to see how the work the name of the movie into the lyrics.
Comment by peggy — July 30, 2008 @ 9:00 am
so how the fuck has jack white sold out? thats like saying punk or rap sold out once it become “mainstream.”
a great artist is great no matter what type of “alternative” or “mainstream” creative work they decide to produce. If it satisfies the demands of the reasons & goals of the design intent, whether its “anarchy in the uk,” or “wont get fooled again,” all these “works of art,” were for making a living or profit, in addition to “selling a message,” IN ADDITION TO INFLUENCING SOCIETY.
I dont see any alternative non-mainstream musical acts giving their hard earned money back to the folks who paid them for their works of art in the first place.
and lets face REALITY: to catalague many of the contemporary musical artists into genres anymore is so ridiculous & ludicrous. I mean, even kurt cobain liked different elements of sabbath and the beatles and wanted to fuse them together to create his own music.
to say that j. white is “selling out” because of his involvment with the new james bond movie, shows just how out of touch people are with the entertainment reality we live in today. This isnt even the same style of bond movies that we have seen for the last 20yrs, which in turn, those 1980s/90s bond pics were different from the 20yrs prior.
lets get real folks.
Comment by lu-ee — July 30, 2008 @ 11:36 am
The quality of the title song has nothing to do with the quality of the movie.
Casino Royale was amazing, possibly the best Bond movie ever. That was because of the writing (Fleming’s source novel in particular), direction, and acting (has Bond ever had more chemistry than he had with Vesper?). But Chris Cornell’s theme song was terrible.
Keys and White might as well give it a shot.
Comment by Echo — July 30, 2008 @ 2:04 pm
“For Your Eyes Only” by Sheena Easton was also a great song.
Peggy: To your question, maybe just as well as Octopussy did
Comment by Andrea — July 31, 2008 @ 4:36 pm
People can rag on the title all they want, I think it’s going to be a great movie. You’ve got the most badass Bond ever (maybe not the best, but certainly the toughest), plus I IMDB’d the director, and this guy has MAJOR film credentials. Something like four or five Oscar winners. The guy’s a pro. And now Jack White and Alicia Keys doing the theme song? This movie is going to be CRAZY!
Comment by ChristianH — August 4, 2008 @ 1:37 pm
Well let just hope that the song and the picture is very well mix for a good show.
Comment by Jesse Anderson — August 6, 2008 @ 5:56 am
***If rants annoy you like they annoy me, don’t read!***
Yes, Jack White did sell out. His sound has been changing a lot since the release of Get Behind Me Satan. Then he signs with Warner, and then he realeases a shiny pop/rock album with the rest of the Raconteurs (the second one, the first one is cool). And now this.
The Coca-Cola commercial was cool: there’s always something misterious about Coca-Cola’s hugeness, and the commercial and song were very good and original. But now he’s really crossed the line between ROCKstar and POPstar. AND FOR MONEY! ONLY FOR MONEY! Success has finally bitten a piece of his brain. Meh… it was too good to be true that he and Mag would reamain the ‘widely-known-but-obscure’ duo from Detroit forever.
Comment by yeshedid — September 19, 2008 @ 7:17 pm
So this isn’t as bad as I was expecting. When my friend told me that she heard that Jack white was doing a duet for a new 007 movie with a POP STAR…i nearly choked on my food. Jack White is such an amazing musical genious who has given us so many rad songs over these last 11 years…and more. As for Alica Keys, she is a very talented woman. I really like her style of playing. She is also quite humble. She writes all of her own music, and she still takes piano lessons. Jack White is still my favorite EVER thought haha. But together, i think that they will be a new musical force that no one can complain about as far as im concerned
Comment by Jessica — September 24, 2008 @ 2:59 pm