Songs in the Key of X

Sunday, July 6, 2008

at 8:37 PM

Songs in the Key of X: Music From and Inspired by the X-Files was the first album released in association with the popular television series The X-Files. It contained both music that had been featured in the show, as well as music whose themes were in line with the concepts of the show.

Track listing

1. Hidden Tracks†
2. "X"-Files theme - Mark Snow
3. "Unmarked Helicopters" - Soul Coughing (featured in episode:Max)
4. "On the Outside" - Sheryl Crow
5. "Down in the Park" - Foo Fighters (Tubeway Army cover)
6. "Star Me Kitten" - R.E.M. and William S. Burroughs
7. "Red Right Hand" - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (featured in episode:Ascension)
8. "Thanks Bro" - Filter
9. "Man of Steel" - Frank Black
10. "Unexplained" - Meat Puppets
11. "Deep" - Danzig (featured in episode:Syzygy)
12. "Frenzy" - Screamin' Jay Hawkins (Featured in episode: Humbug)
13. "My Dark Life" - Elvis Costello and Brian Eno
14. "Hands of Death (Burn Baby Burn)" - Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper
15. "If You Never Say Goodbye" - P.M. Dawn
16. X-Files theme (P.M. Dawn Remix) - Mark Snow

† There are two hidden tracks, "Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum (Dread the Passage of Jesus, For He Will Not Return)" by Nick Cave and the Dirty Three, and a version of The X-Files theme by the Dirty Three. In keeping with the cryptic nature of the X-Files, producers used the CD's pregap, so a listener would have to actually manually rewind the first track a full nine minutes to hear both tracks. This is hinted at in the CD booklet - "Nick Cave and the Dirty Three would like you to know that "0" is also a number."

Trivia

• Former Pixies frontman Frank Black (aka Black Francis) contributes a song here. X-Files creator Chris Carter would debut his other series Millennium later in 1996. The show's main character was named Frank Black, after the musician.

• The recording of the Soul Coughing song for this soundtrack, "Unmarked Helicopters," resulted in serious acrimony within the band, almost leading to their dissolution. Frontman Mike Doughty had planned the band's 1996 album Irresistible Bliss to depart from their style for a more new wave sound, and accordingly hired producer David Kahne, with the band finishing the album quickly. Soon afterwards, he enlisted another producer, Steve Fisk, for a recording session for "Unmarked Helicopters," a one-off song for this soundtrack that would not appear on the Soul Coughing album. However, other members of the band, after hearing the results on the X-Files song, insisted that the entire finished album be re-recorded with the new producer. Veteran Tchad Blake, who had worked on the previous Soul Coughing album, had to return to prevent the band's breakup, and the album ultimately contained tracks from all three producers.