It seems the entire internet is in an uproar over the new Wuthering Heights movie…or shall I say “Wuthering Heights,” as fans of the film have pointed out the presence of those tiny quotation marks mark that it’s a loose adaptation.
Today’s critique lies solely regarding the music. I heard Charlie XCX is contributing—my first thought was, well, I’m not necessarily against modern-day artists scoring songs for period dramas.
For example, Sophia Copolla’s Marie Antoinette starring Kirsten Dunst was a pure masterpiece, and it featured Post-Punk and Early Indie Rock. People at the time were offended, but now it’s a cult classic.
So, I really wanted to give this a chance. I listened to the three songs that have been released so far. “House” maybe has something going for it—but I admittedly get bored 30 seconds in because it’s just a deep-voiced guy talking. They had a good idea with the distortion, but I think it becomes too much too fast.
“Chains of Love” has beautiful orchestral bits, but feels like every other pop romance song.
These songs all obviously had someone cinematic giving their input, with the chamber pop elements—trembling, whiny violins. But it still is too pop for me; I like my instruments whiny, not the vocals.
I don’t like to complain without offering a solution, so here I offer how I would have scored the movie (along with photos from a Wuthering-Heights-themed photoshoot; yes, I obsessed with this book).
Wuthering Heights is a volatile, passionate story about two people being destroyed by obsession and selfishness. Pop doesn’t fit the bill here; you need wild, moorish rock. I like the indie influence here because it brings rawness. I’ll take anything unhinged, anything with heartbreak (even if the melody itself is beautiful, like “I Wish I Didn’t Love You).
So, here’s my take in a more indie, post-punk rock direction.
Howlin’ For You by The Black Keys
A very upbeat, sassy song that is, in my opinion, tastefully salacious.
Can’t you see?
Baby girl’s got a hold on me like glue,
Baby I’m howlin’ for you.
This would be stunning in the closing credits, or for a trailer for the movie.
Hero Across the Sky by Blue Foundation
So. Cinematic! And just look at these words:
Stay close to me
Can’t you see
I won’t get old
Crawl down to me
This should 100% be in one of the scenes where Heathcliff is searching for Cathy, demanding she comes back to him. Cathy “won’t get old” because she died at such a young age, and she demanded Heathcliff come to her—”Crawl down to me.”
Covet by Basement
This gives post-punk-in-Marie-Antoinette vibes. It’s harsh and screamy and, to me, feels utterly Wuthering Heights.
You are
Everything
My most
Demanding dream
Good heart and desire to please
I want a fatal diseases
With you
I don’t want to be with you
When I’m with you
I’d place this when they’re wandering around the moors, playing. You can see their attraction to each other. Maybe they fall in the grass, and he places a flower in her hair. You see the sun setting, day after day. They stay out there well past their bedtimes because they so enjoy each others’ company. And yet, their “love” is a fatal disease, a demanding dream.
Wish I Didn’t Love You by Love Spells
In my version of Wuthering Heights, I’d have Catherine and Heathcliff slow dance to this at some point in their teen years. It’s a slower song than some of my other song choices, more romantic. Yet you read the words and they’re so sad.
A haunted slow dance.
All my heart’s ever known is to call you home
I want you, I need you
Will do anything to please you
I wish I didn’t love you
I hope my lips forget
I need something to hold me
When I’m fiending for your kiss
I wish you were a moment
Another thing to spare
I wish your name meant nothing
But it lingers everywhere
A love, cursed. The push and pull. Catherine wishing she didn’t love Heathcliff, yet he lingers everywhere.
Echo of Love by the Shutes
All right, now this one—this must play when Heathcliff overhears Catherine saying it would degrade her to marry him. He gallops away to the chorus, starting at :56. Can’t you just hear it? And Catherine realizes what she’s done, and she runs down the road after him in the rain.
It started with explosions, the sound of bombs in your heart
But just like everything, just like everything the sounds would fade and fall apart
It’s the echo sound of your love, it started strong but it quickly fades
It’s the echo echo echo as your heart beat fades away
Dead by CLOVES
I’d use this for a scene at night of Catherine “rising from the dead.” Haunting Wuthering Heights. Playing hide and seek in the windows with Heathcliff. Or maybe when she appears in Lockheart’s window.
I think I hate you now
When I look back, I really hate you now
Twisted and torn, I’m inside out
Boozy words come the wrong way out
My suffering isn’t over with baby, pacify me
I’m alone and I’m playing roulette with my enemy
Relaxation is strangulation
[Pre-Chorus]
Catch me as I fall
I’m crawling up the walls
Push me to sleep
Don’t talk, talk to me
One Big Nothing by CLOVES
Listen, CLOVE’s songs are so Wuthering-Heights-core. This is another contender for when Heathcliff overhears Catherine. Look at the lyrics:
[Verse 1]
You were standing in the doorway
You weren’t gonna let me leave
And your wild eyes ignited a fire in me
Now all I want is to forget you
And I’m cutting across the pain
And I’ll do anything I have too
[Chorus]
And I’ll do anything I have to, to be far away
Dressed in these lullabies
Tell me I’m someone, somewhere else
I wish away your taste
Live out this alibi, end all my suffering
One big nothing, nothing
One big nothing, nothing
There’s also a perfect chorus for Heathcliff to gallop away to. Absolute heartbreak. Then, cut to Catherine walking down the aisle looking like she’s marching to her own casket.
Bringing the House Down by CLOVES
This one has a fun, peppy vibe, so it needs to be used in a very ironic way. I’d love to see it during a montage of Catherine and Heathcliff meeting up after he returns after his 3-year hiatus. Nelly is shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Edgar is looking suspicious, but Catherine and Heathcliff continue hanging out.
As I try, I try
To keep it together, but you’re bringing the house down
[Chorus]
I can feel it burning out
And I won’t stop trying to fuel that fire in you
Feel it burning out
And I won’t stop trying to keep that fire burning
The Call’s Inside the House by Rachel Bobbitt
Another slower-paced song. This could be when Heathcliff returns to Wuthering Heights after his three-year disappearance. Imagine him racing around, violent chaos, but this sweet slow song is playing. He could be in slow motion, destroying the furniture. The book says his bedposts were bent (this man is feral). This scene could be where it’s shown. Meanwhile, cut in scenes of Catherine in her bedroom realizing he’s back—and yet she’s married. Joy and sorrow mingling.
[Verse 1]
Extending your left hand to the sky
You shook it around and I turned to see why
You’re somebody’s love
You’re somebody’s life
You’re someone I’ve had to rewrite
You’re not mine
[Verse 2]
I dreamt that I saw you again in our home
You asked me forgiveness, said I messed up I know
I was acting all tough, tearing out to the porch
I was acting alright, cause I made sure to lock the door
House of Glass by Cage the Elephant
Oh dude—I would so use this for the trailers. Are you kidding me? Start at :28 and then at :35 put in crazy chaotic scenes—Heathcliff galloping away, Catherine crying, Heathcliff destroying the house, Catherine losing her mind, interspersed with peaceful scenes of the moors.
1:48 is also perfect for Catherine losing her mind. It sounds like someone being torn apart—racked by guilt, desire, selfishness. Disarming noise.
It’s an illusion, this admiration
Of mutilation, my isolation
It’s an illusion, this admiration
Of mutilation
My isolation
My isolation
My isolation
It’s an illusion
I had so much fun rereading the book and researching music to go with it. How would you have scored the movie?
Wallflower Garden 
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