Music the MVP of ‘Last Dance’
Documentary captures feel of Bulls’ greatest era with its choice of tunes
“The Last Dance” perfectly captures the tenor and tone of the Michael Jordan era, not just of the Chicago Bulls but of basketball as a global phenomenon. It’s a deep dive into the relationships and personalities, their conflicts and a history of the time make it one of the most significant sports biographies of the era.
And while it provides much fodder for the dissection and discussion of the great Jordan and his unrelenting dominance of his team and the game, there is an unintended consequence that makes the 10-hour documentary stand out even more. The music. The series tries to capture in music the feel of Jordan’s last season with the Bulls and of his ascension from teenage rookie to global icon. As wide-ranging as the show is — the final two hour-long episodes will be available on Netflix in Canada at 3 a.m. Monday — so, too, is the soundtrack.
It is hip hop-dominated but it also delves much deeper, just like the show is centred on Jordan even while it branches out into other personalities, other issues, other examinations of the human condition.
“I feel like no one’s really, other than some amateur YouTubers, put together this kind of music with Jordan even though his brand has kind of become synonymous with it today,” Rudy Chung, the acclaimed music director of the Jason Hehir-directed series.
“No one’s really seen his highlights and his clips to this type of music, so I think that’s why people have been feeling it.”
There are what seem to be perfect fits on the soundtrack: “I Ain’t No Joke,” by Erik B. and Rakim, punctuates Jordan’s early years, and maligned Bulls general manager Jerry Krause trying to dance to Kool Moe Dee’s “How Ya Like Me Now” on the team plane is unforgettable.
Two that stand out for Chung are unlikely choices — not the artists but the songs.
“I think for me personally, it either has to be Prince or it has to be Beastie Boys,” he said of the most appropriate fits.
“The reason why I really like both those uses is they’re not the obvious choices even if you were to look at those specific artists.
“If you were to say, ‘Oh we’re doing a show on Michael Jordan, what Prince song would you include?’, I don’t think ‘Partyman’ would be on top of the list, same with ‘The Maestro’ from the Beastie Boys. I feel like there are a lot of other contenders that would come to mind faster for each of those artists but I think each of those work so well.”
The mere scope of musical choices during the production of the series was daunting. So many artists, so many songs, so many legal hurdles to climb to get the rights to use music they wanted. They were all issues Chung and Hehir had to deal with as they whittled down the possibilities.
What they ended up with works.
“We didn’t want this just to be a hip-hop greatest hits soundtrack, you know?” Chung said. “There were a lot of songs on playlists that we were sending back and forth that included all types of music. And, again, as Jason and his editors were putting it together, it just felt like that was the right sound and the right tone for the series.
“There was a wide, wide range of music that was considered, for sure.”
The process of putting music to such an all-encompassing project like a10-hour documentary was indeed a labour of love for the Detroit native.
Chung, 43, grew up on the Bad Boys and ranks the Michigan Fab Five as the second-most influential basketball team of his lifetime. That era in the sport resonated with him.
“There are some projects that I’ve been fortunate to work on in my career where it’s just something that I’m very passionate about,” he said. “I grew up in this era and I grew up watching these games and I knew a lot of these games, I watched these games live and I watched the replays. An opportunity to work on something like this creatively doesn’t come around too often.
“I’ve worked with Jason on a lot of his projects and when he mentioned it to me — I think this was before he was officially brought on — I was like, ‘You know who to call when you need help with music.’ And he did.”