This past Friday, I attended Rose House’s showing of the movie Friday Night Lights. Despite not being a particularly big fan of football, I was definitely looking forward to it throughout the week prior. In part because it was timely (being right before the Super Bowl and all), but largely because of the film’s soundtrack. Barring a few songs featuring other artists, the soundtrack to the movie was written and recorded by the band Explosions in the Sky, a contemporary post-rock band from West Texas. Strangely enough, it was actually through the band that I first heard about Friday Night Lights—they’ve been one of my favorite bands for quite some time, and I was even lucky enough to see them in concert last spring. Since I found out they spearheaded the soundtrack for this movie, it’s been near the top of my (ridiculously long) “movies-to-watch” list.

In spite of my general disinterest in football, I really enjoyed this movie. I was a little bit worried going in; I came from a place where high school football was largely peripheral to everything else going on, and I knew how seriously other places, especially the South, could treat it at times. It was never really a part of my culture—my idea of football for the longest time was “A couple of months out of the year where my dad would yell at the TV a lot because the Giants were always losing.” I was worried that the movie would seem melodramatic to me, given this context. Luckily, that concern ended up being completely unfounded.

I have to believe this is almost entirely due to the soundtrack. Obviously I am biased since I already know and love the band who produced it, but I firmly believe it is true. The soundtrack can make or break a movie, and Explosions genuinely did the movie justice. (1) Being personally asked by the producer of the movie, Brian Reitzell, to tackle the project, (2) being familiar with the book the film was based on, and (3) being from the area the movie was set, you can tell they were genuinely passionate about the project. I think that really bleeds through into the music.

Often times you hear artists being called “sellouts” for writing music for film, but I strongly disagree with that sentiment. Writing a soundtrack presents a whole new set of challenges, and I can imagine it being a difficult, and largely thankless, job. I wish the role of soundtracks was more talked about in the music world. I would love to learn more about their history and the creative process behind making them—perhaps Friday Night Lights is the perfect place for me to start learning.