Every so often a scene gets paired with a song that, for better or worse, ends up making it that much more memorable, and this week we’ve spotted almost identical needle drops in a breakthrough British indie and its long-awaited follow up film.
1996’s Trainspotting, adapted from the Irvine Welsh book about the Edinburgh drug scene, was a critically-acclaimed hit and introduced the world to future Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle and his band of strung out misfits played by young UK up-and-comers like Ewan McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller, and Robert Carlyle.
It also marked the nude debut of future Scottish Disney princess Kelly MacDonald, who removes her dress and rides young Ewan to the tune of Blondie’s “Atomic.” The pitch-perfect song choice times out well while we’re fixated on Kelly’s can during the explosive climax, the simultaneous scoring of a football goal on the television, and the flash of bush at the end.
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Twenty years later, Ewan and his now very familiar form are at it again. The world has changed in T2, but what hasn’t is that the Scottish stud still gets the babe, banging Bulgarian beauty Veronika (Anjela Nedyalkova). Also the same is his preferred sex soundtrack, with Blondie front woman Debbie Harry crooning “Dreaming” while he boffs the topless Anjela on the floor.
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The song title even has a multiple meanings at the time because we're also seeing Spud (Ewen Bremner) pursue his dream of a better life off of heroin while helping build Anjela's dream business, right before the song fades away with one last look at her bare breast.
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There’s actually a foreshadowing to this carnal connection earlier in the film when Ewan’s Mark Renton revisits his childhood bedroom and there’s a picture of Debbie on the wall.Danny Boyle’s ability to pair nudity with meaningful music isn’t surprising.Trainspotting singlehandedly breathed new life into Iggy Pop’s 1977 single "Lust For Life", so getting audiences to lust after totally hot naked chicks while listening to one of the sexiest rock singers of the 70s and 80s makes total sense.
Catch Up With Previous Editions of Songs in the Key of Nudity
—Parker Posey Barenaked in 'Beau is Afraid'
—Have We Told You About Sophie Marceau Nude in 'Beyond The Clouds'?
