The Power of the Internet in Voting

I watch VH1 sometimes when I’m on the treadmill, and last night they had this special on the top 20 soundtracks. They let people vote online to make up the list. As soon as I hear the title of the show, I figured I had the top 10 figured out. They would include Top Gun, The Bodyguard, Purple Rain, and defiantly Saturday Night Fever.

I was certain that Saturday Night Fever would be #1. I figured it sold a shit load of copies, and half the damn album was hit singles back then. I put Purple Rain in at #2, and The Bodyguard somewhere in the top 5 because it had the most successful single from any soundtrack.
But something weird happened. As I was ready to turn off the TV and head to bed, I had to stop and watch. Saturday Night Fever came in at something like #5! And Purple Rain was even lower on the list. For a minute my mind started racing and coming up with other soundtracks that may have beat it out. I was thinking 8 Mile, Garden State, The Graduate†¦ Then it hit me; they took votes on the Web. So I quickly thought of what would be the most cult soundtrack on the on the Web. Spinal Tap was already played, so that was ruled out. The next best bet†¦Rocky Horror Picture Show. I love being right.

The cool part is that before the hot chick even said who was #1, she confirmed that a fan site of RHPS linked to the voting and skewed the numbers a bit. That kind of puts a new spin on things when you think about it. Rocky Horror surely didn’t produce a lot of hit singles, and I doubt the sales have come anywhere close to a Purple Rain or Saturday Night Fever, but when it comes to people feeling strongly about it, no other soundtrack could hold it’s own against it. I think that’s pretty cool.

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