The Clerks Soundtrack 15 Years On

Fifteen years ago this month, Kevin Smith released his debut film, Clerks. I didn’t see it until 1995, thanks to the fact that it played nowhere near where I grew up (and even if it had, I didn’t have a driver’s license). However, I did see the video for Soul Asylum‘s “Can’t Even Tell,” and owned the soundtrack after having read a review of the movie in Rolling Stone, vowing to see it as soon as I could.

In a freak bit of coolness, the hometown video store actually got a copy of Clerks when it hit video, and my brother and I rented it one night. My folks came home from some function just in time for mom to hear the entire “you fucked a dead guy?!?!” scene. Yep. Not my proudest moment.

Consequence of Sound examines the soundtrack as part of its Cinema Sounds series. It’s a deep dip into the waters of mid-’90s alternative rock, although it also bears mentioning that Bad Religion would hit the majors with Stranger Than Fiction shortly after their inclusion on the soundtrack. A comparison of Smith’s predilection for dialogue snippets with Quentin Tarantino’s love of the same would also have been appropriate.