BEAR MCCREARY is our guest today, and he couldn’t have been more of a delight. From the moment I contacted him about being on the show, he was engaged and excited. He sent me a number of possible combinations of films and themes before landing on the one he went with: Movies that combine rock music and symphonic score on their soundtracks.

Makes sense. After all, McCreary is one of the hardest-working film and TV composers today. His mentor was the legendary Elmer Bernstein, so he learned about film composition from one of the all-time greats, but he’s also a working rock musician who frequently collaborates with his brother Brendan. His breakthrough work was the Battlestar Galactica reboot, and his music was a huge part of that show’s identity. He’s done terrific work for Outlander, Foundation, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. His recent album The Singularity features contributions from guests like Rufus Wainwright, Slash, Buck Dharma, Scott Ian, Joe Satriani, and Corey Taylor. In 2019, he wrote the score for Godzilla, King of the Monsters, a score that my son, a lifelong Godzilla fan, refers to as “straight f*****g fire.”

His three Hip Pocket choices were Highlander, Pink Floyd - The Wall, and Heavy Metal, and I felt it was my moral imperative to choose Phantom of the Paradise as our response film.

Finally, I was in a mood after all of that, so I picked Hedwig and the Angry Inch to join the Hip Pocket Hall of Fame.

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The Hip Pocket is hosted by Drew McWeeny and Aundria Parker.Craig Ceravolo is the show’s bandleader and producer. It is a Formerly Dangerous Production.

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