Drive (2011) - The Soundtrack That's Too Cool To Listen To with Pop Culture Writer Chris Deville

About this episode

Chris Deville joins hosts Nicole Barlow and Ryan Pak to discuss the influential soundtrack of the film Drive and its impact on music and culture.

Pop Culture Writer Chris Deville (Stereogum) has just released his first book, Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion, back in August of 2025. He joins Nicole Barlow and Ryan Pak to discuss the soundtrack to the 2011 Nicholas Winding Refn film Drive. Both the film and the soundtrack have become very influential. The film launched Ryan Gosling into a superstar leading man and the soundtrack's influence has permeated into both the indie and pop music space, influencing artists The Weekend, Schoolboy Q, and M83. The soundtrack boasts amazing synthwave needle drops, a great Clint Martinez score, and a bit of both from Chromatics mastermind, Jonny Jewel. All of this is discussed as well as Gosling's rise from the Notebook to the superstar that he is now. For More Information About Chris Deville: Order Such Great Heights Substack Stereogum Instagram Bluesky Twitter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

People in this episode

Hosts: Nicole Barlow, Ryan Pak

Guest: Chris Deville

Topics covered

• soundtrack analysis
• film influence
• indie music
• pop culture
• artist impact
• synthwave

Keywords

• Drive soundtrack
• Chris Deville
• Ryan Gosling
• synthwave
• indie rock
• pop music
• film analysis

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Stereogum, The Weekend, Schoolboy Q, M83

Books & works: Such Great Heights: The Complete Cultural History of the Indie Rock Explosion, Drive

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