Awhile ago my roommate and I were discussing Real Genius, one of my favorite light-hearted comedies. For one reason or another — we must’ve either been discussing Val Kilmer or popcorn — I was telling her about the ending. Shocked that she had missed out on this movie, I added it to Netflix and forced her to watch it. While watching it, we discovered that this movie has a really fantastic ’80s soundtrack. A lot of the music is distinctively ’80s, but unlike a lot of music from then, hasn’t aged badly. Since the film doesn’t have an official soundtrack, we found ourselves looking lyrics up on Google in search of these fantastic songs, one of which was Chaz Jankel’s “Number One” (which may appear here later), the other of which was the Comsat Angels’ “I’m Falling.”

The Comsat Angels: “I’m Falling” (download)

What was funny to me was that, when I looked up the band on All Music Guide, the first sentence of their bio said this: “Erroneously regarded as a synth pop band — and, every now and then — as a band that peaked with a song placed in a scene of Real Genius…” There it was, All Music calling me out on how I found out about this song. It made me think about a band I love(d), Death Cab For Cutie, and how most people who know them right now probably know them because of the OC, which I was happy about at the time and now kind of makes me sad. At the same time, it means they’ll probably stick around for longer than they would have had they not met that break — which could possibly be as much of a good thing as a bad one. It’s a double-edged sword, I suppose. Still, I’m glad for Real Genius, not only because it’s such a good movie, but also for introducing me to this band and this song (although the rest of what I’ve heard of theirs hasn’t impressed me, yet… any fans out there who can point me in the right direction?)