Zanobard Reviews

Mark Mancina’s boppy theme for Bad Boys is the centrepiece of the score’s charm, with some tremendously ’90s action setpieces and an orchestral/reggae stylistic blend altogether cementing it as one of the better action scores of that time – and La-La Land Records’ new expansion and remastering is simply the impeccable icing on the cake.

Bad Boys is one of Mark Mancina’s finest film scores, and for very good reason. Well, one reason in particular actually – his phenomenal Bad Boys theme. And, La-La Land Records have now discovered stereo tapes for Mancina’s work for the titular 1995 Michael Bay action film, so with their brand new expansion and remaster, to my absolute delight the iconic theme has never sounded better. Said album begins with “Funky Logo – Car Jacking”, and an enthusiastic guitar immediately lets loose with the opening notes of Mancina’s main theme. Instantly catchy and very memorable, the guitar-led motif is quickly joined by emphatic male chanting, hip-hop-esque percussion, upbeat electronics and grand swirls of strings, with the dramatic ensemble then building with increasing volume and fist-pumping eagerness throughout the opening track’s three and a half minute runtime. All-in, it’s just.. such a cool start to Bad Boys. The main theme never fails to make me smile, and this score has plenty of it too – case and point, the subsequent “Bad Boys Main Title – The Heist” is equally standout, as it thunders the main theme back into centre stage for a more orchestral, brass-focused and newly determined rendition before the music turns darker at the three minute mark, with wary percussive action introducing a new and rather tense motif (that we’ll call the action theme for ease). Frantic brass and electronics then usher the six minute setpiece to a loudly in-your-face crescendo close.

All-in, I love those two opening tracks. They sound just so wonderfully ’90s, with that over-the-top action flair all abound (particularly in the Main Title). Anyway, onward – the aptly-titled though sadly short “Funky Brothers To P.D.” leaps happily with upbeat electronics and “Bad Boys” vocal chants, with low-pitched synth then pulling the tone down into moody territory alongside percussive hints back towards the “Main Title”. A fun but again sadly short treat is then up next with “Jojo What You Know” as the Bad Boys theme plays on enthusiastic steel drums and percussion, before the theme then fully returns on its “Funky Logo”-styled chants, electric guitar and electronics as exuberant bookends for the atmospheric “Dead Guy”. After some gentle string and percussive ambience in “He’s The Person I’d Call” and the start of the four minute “Killing Max”, a dramatically in-your-face electric guitar suddenly explodes into frame, hinting toward action setpieces to come with stabs of worrisome brass, frantic strings and shrill vocals also accompanying. A wistful guitar is then the focus of “The Boys Find Max”, with “Into Lois’ Apartment” also continuing this rather atmospheric vibe with high-pitched strings and echoing drums evoking a wary tone. The thirty second “Max Logan’s Best Friend” then also focuses on this rather downtrodden mood at first with quiet strings before hope starts to re-emerge as the Bad Boys theme briefly cameos on said strings and lighter percussion.

Ethereal guitar twangs echo through “Escape From Julie’s”, evoking a rather romantic feel until action then suddenly explodes at the midpoint as an intense electric guitar, rushing strings and pounding drums crash alongside anxious interspersions of the Bad Boys theme. The solemn string plucks of earlier then reprise through the minute-long “You’re Going To Leave Me Alone?”, cementing themselves as a theme of sorts for Julie (Téa Leoni’s character) before mischievous electronic, string and percussive hints toward the Bad Boys theme start to build in “Don’t ‘Honey Baby’ Me”. This more playful side of the instrumentation as well as the now rather cheeky Bad Boys theme also continues into the subsequent “My Bologna Has A First Name”, with light strings playing centrally for much of the cue’s four minute runtime. It isn’t long though before wariness and intensity begin to seep back into the score again, with “Julie’s Got A Gun” apprehensively hinting at a change in tone with moody electronics before “Escape From Club Hell – Ether Chase” then thunders back into action territory proper; the electric guitar once again launches to the forefront here as a ferocious pace kicks into gear, with surging swathes of brass and imposing percussion urging both the action motif from earlier and the Bad Boys theme along with increasing frenecity throughout, making overall for not only an utterly standout action cue, but also one of the best moments on the album.

The melancholic strings of Julie’s theme echo through the serene “We Don’t Want To Lose You”, with the more playful side of the score then re-emerging with the primarily ambient and percussion-focused “I Mean Like Funny”. A cold sense of synthy malevolence then descends for the short and similarly atmospheric “Stake Out – Interrogation” before the more intense percussive side of the “Main Title” returns in “Tailing Lab Tech – Blown Cover” alongside a dramatic surge of brass. The more hip-hop-esque, enthuastically upbeat instrumentation from earlier together with a playful rendition of the Bad Boys theme then occupies the sixty second “Busted”, before action once again thunders into frame with “Footchase”; a slightly slower pace opens this four and a half minute setpiece with both the Bad Boys theme and the heavy percussion from the “Main Title” leading tense orchestra, before the music then quickens and the now brass-heavy action theme builds the ensemble to a ferocious crescendo. The finale of the score begins with the nine minute behemoth “Hangar Shootout”, with quietly low-pitched brass and strings setting a wary scene. Slowly though as the track continues the pace starts to increase, with the tenser elements of the “Main Title” (fully unveiled as a theme for Fouchet, the film’s villain) creeping malevolently in alongside pounding drums.

A rather grandiose electric guitar and the action theme then rise to meet it, with the full orchestra following in tremendously frenetic form as action fully overtakes for the remainder of the highly entertaining setpiece – finally crashing out at the nine minute mark for a deafening crescendo. “Cobra Chase” then picks up where it leaves off with the continually tense electric guitar, in-your-face surges of percussion and strings as the focus until “Fouchet’s Death” finally crashes the action to a close as Fouchet’s villainous motif hounds the orchestra one last time on aggressive brass. With the rapid pace fading, Julie’s theme then gently reprises on quiet strings and piano to close out the track. With the actual film score at an end, La-La Land Records then treats us to a number of excellent bonus cues, starting with “Theme From Bad Boys” (the album version of the opening “Funky Logo – Car Jacking”), continuing across a series of alternate and demo versions of various earlier tracks and finally settling on an absolute highlight; “Theme From Bad Boys (Funky Boys Remix)”, an even longer and entertainingly end-credits-esque take on the main theme with absolutely nothing held back instrumentally – brass, strings, synth, male chanting and heavy percussion all soar sublimely for an absolutely phenomenal conclusion to the soundtrack.

Overall, Mark Mancina’s original Bad Boys is a fantastically ’90s action score, with a main theme that has stood the test of time now for more than thirty years. Said theme, an entertainingly funky and extremely catchy piece to boot, is utilised all across the album in a variety of different tones and styles, proving both its memorability and versatility time and time again – highlights include the tremendously upbeat opening “Funky Logos – Car Jacking”, the more traditionally orchestral and dramatically epic “Bad Boys Main Title”, the Jaimaican-styled, steel drum-focused “Jojo What You Know” and standout action setpiece “Escape From Club Hell – Ether Chase”. The final cue there is of particular note, as the Bad Boys theme is joined by a thunderously intense action motif that also recurs across the score, as does a dramatically dark piece for villain Fouchet (see “Fouchet’s Death” for a great highlight there). Together, all these themes form a dramatically entertaining tapestry that weaves through Mancina’s excellent compositional mixture of upbeat reggae-infused orchestration and fist-pumpingly epic ’90s action flair, and as if that didn’t make Bad Boys stand out enough – La-La Land Records has then come in to lovingly remaster (to the point where the music here sounds amazingly clear) and expand this already delightful score, with a number of alternate cues and the standout “Funky Boys Remix” of the main theme making the two disc set well worth the price of admission. All-in; Bad Boys theme, ’90s action style, all-encompassing expansion – what’s not to love?

Score: 8.5/10

Standout Cues: Funky Logo – Car Jacking/Bad Boys Main Title – The Heist

Buy the 2-CD expansion for Mark Mancina’s Bad Boys here, by La-La Land Records.

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