10 best needle drops in The Bear season 2
The show cooked up one hell of a soundtrack, with everything from soul bangers to cuts by Chicago heroes
TV Features The Bear
Fak (Matty Matheson) really loves the Replacements. You can tell if you catch him in the background of episode five, if you strain to hear him, his vocals buried in the mix like it’s All Things Must Pass as he chats the electrician’s ear off. He’s like the kid in the back of the classroom with a booklet of Sharpie-ed CD-Rs, talking with his hands and desperate to have his opinions—which are his feelings, who he really is—heard. Validated. The kind today that would have manicured playlists, something for any vibe, for any of life’s moments.
The Bear is the television version of this person, this tendency, this compulsion. Season two’s needle drops seem scrupulously timed, mixed, chosen like a dish plated with tweezers. When Wilco hits, obviously, it’s “Handshake Drugs,” and we see busy mitts at Tweedy’s first mention of “hands.” When it’s Pearl Jam, it is “Come Back,” and the gas is back on, and so is the restaurant. It’s almost a bit much, a bit too completist. In a way maybe not previously seen since The Sopranos. The show is the delightful but overbearing music nerd you are glad to know to ask to deejay your wedding, or backyard cookout, or road trip. Or a late-night first kiss, in an empty kitchen at the end of that aforementioned episode, which is soundtracked, by, yes, the Replacements’ “Can’t Hardly Wait.”
Here are our favorite such musical moments from The Bear’s second season.
11 Comments
I like that era of Durutti Column a lot.
Thats the second “show that I just cant get into , but has a soundtrack that I CAN get into “ in recent times for me , the other big one being Yellowjackets (show is just not for me , but as a collection of 90s and other era tunes its fantastic)https://open.spotify.com/playlist/37i9dQZF1DX9X1KhYXrhYB
Maybe a cheat since it was a callback to last season’s Grubhub/delivery episode, but I love how “Spiders (Kidsmoke)“ plays in the finale when shit hits the fan.
This is the most authentic old school AV Club article/list I’ve read in a long long time. Really, really enjoyed it. Thanks for this <3
Too bad it’s a slideshow.
Oh, the horror!
When the episode during the first season ended on “Animal” by Pearl Jam, I knew this show was something special.
No Replacements, REM or Wilco: no list!
Those should have been 1, 2 and 3. Replacements was the best needle drop; “Can’t Hardly Wait” was literally referenced by Fak in the episode and paid off at credits. “Strange Currency” had me re-listening to Monster. And Wilco, because Chicago.
A lot of amazing songs, but I feel like the use of Nine Inch Nails “Hope We Can Again” was next level: a recurrent theme, conflict enmeshed with beauty, tension and release, in the background of some of the most heart wrenching moments of a season finale. Chef’s kiss usage.
i often come to these lists and think “nah they missed it.” this was good work.