Production
Although The X-Files: The Album is the soundtrack to the 1998 film The X-Files , only one of the album's songs—"Crystal Ship" by X—is actually heard during the film, briefly playing on a jukebox during a brief scene, [1] while "Teotihuacan" by Noel Gallagher and "Walking After You" by Foo Fighters play over the ending credits. The album's producer, David Was, intended to match the film's tone rather than using the songs as content, leading to several of the artists involved contributing material which would seem "uncharacteristically eerie" compared to their usual work. [1]
Many of the songs on The X-Files: The Album are cover versions or reworkings of earlier material—singer Sting collaborated with the group Aswad to perform a reggae cover of "Invisible Sun", which he had earlier recorded with The Police; Filter's "One" is a rearrangement of a song made famous by Three Dog Night; while Foo Fighters contributed a new version of their song "Walking After You". [2] [3] All but one of the album's tracks are exclusive to the soundtrack, with Björk's "Hunter" having been previously released on the 1997 album Homogenic . [4] Several of the artists on the album's roster—Foo Fighters, Filter and Soul Coughing—had previously contributed material to Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files , the soundtrack album which accompanied the television series; however, Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files, stated before the album's release that although "there are some similarities" between the records, "there are different artists and a different flavor". [5]
The inclusion of a track by the group Ween was spurred by fact that The X-Files star David Duchovny had first met then-wife Téa Leoni through their mutual appreciation for the group; [5] while the Cardigans were approached about contributing material after Carter saw them performing on a tour of the United States. [6] The Filter cover of "One" was deliberately constructed by Was once he realized that Duchovny had ad-libbed the song's opening line during one of the film's scenes. [1] The album's final track—a cover by Dust Brothers of Mark Snow's opening theme for the television series—features a hidden track which plays after a period of silence. The track features a spoken word segment by Carter which explains the series' overarching mythology up to the film's release. [2]
David Eric Grohl is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of the grunge band Nirvana.
The X-Files is an American science fiction drama television series created by Chris Carter. The original television series aired from September 1993 to May 2002 on Fox. During its original run, the program spanned nine seasons, with 202 episodes. A short tenth season consisting of six episodes ran from January to February 2016. Following the ratings success of this revival, The X-Files returned for an eleventh season of ten episodes, which ran from January to March 2018. In addition to the television series, two feature films have been released: the 1998 film The X-Files and the stand-alone film The X-Files: I Want to Believe, released in 2008, six years after the original television run ended.
Hidden Treasures is a compilation EP by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on July 18, 1995, via Capitol Records. The album features songs that originally appeared on film soundtracks and tribute albums. Four of the tracks were released as singles, and three have received Grammy Award nominations for Best Metal Performance. Despite having garnered mediocre or negative reviews, the material on the EP has been credited with helping expand the group's MTV audience in the early 1990s.
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The Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the lineup now consists of Grohl, Nate Mendel (bass), Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear (guitars), Rami Jaffee (keyboards), and Josh Freese (drums). Drummers William Goldsmith and Taylor Hawkins, along with guitarist Franz Stahl, are former members of the band.
Songs in the Key of X: Music from and Inspired by the X-Files is a 1996 compilation album released in association with the American science fiction television series The X-Files. The album contained a mixture of songs that were either featured in the series, or shared thematic elements with it. Songs in the Key of X peaked at No. 47 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart after its release. The album's title is a play on the title of Stevie Wonder's 1976 album Songs in the Key of Life.
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"Walking After You" is a song by Foo Fighters and appears on the band's 1997 album The Colour and the Shape. In 1998 a re-recorded version appeared on The X-Files: The Album, the soundtrack to the original X-Files movie, and was released as a single.
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