The Needle Drop Sessions: Pump Up the Volume & Untamed Heart | Features

At the same time that I wanted my MTV in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I was also a movie-obsessed teenager who practically lived at the multiplex. The movie theater was my home away from home. I’d go see anything that piqued my interest. I routinely watched coming attraction trailers before the main event got underway. Not only did it help me to stay on top of what was coming down the pike, but it also helped me decide which films were a priority to see on the big screen.

The first time I saw the trailer for director Tony Bill’s 1993 romantic tearjerker “Untamed Heart,” starring Christian Slater, Marisa Tomei, and Rosie Perez, it intrigued me in a way I had never experienced before. Usually, a film’s premise, cast, director, or a combination of those things grabs my attention and prompts me to want to see it.

In the case of “Untamed Heart,” it was the absolute banger that played during the film’s trailer: DNA’s still-ingenious, club-infused remix of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner,” a bona fide earworm if there ever was one.

Thanks to MTV, I was somewhat familiar with folk singer Suzanne Vega’s work, namely her hit single “Luka,” featured on her sophomore studio album, Solitude Standing (1987). That album also featured the original acapella version of “Tom’s Diner.”

It was the first time I had ever heard the remix in all its glory, booming through the theater’s speakers. I was instantly hooked. That beat was as smooth as fresh-churned butter, and I wanted more.

It hipped me to the artistry of a well-constructed remix, which artists like Mariah Carey and SWV, to name a few, certainly helped to cement as a legitimate art form in the years that followed. It also turned me onto electronica, where I would later discover artists like Bonobo, Deep Forest, and Philip Glass.

“Untamed Heart” is about an aimless young waitress named Caroline (Tomei) who’s perpetually unlucky in love. That is, until Adam (Slater), an awkward, shy busboy who’s secretly in love with her, comes to her rescue one fateful night after work. Soon afterward, the requisite sparks fly, culminating in an entertaining melodrama armed with a charming romance at its center.