I Love (Rainbow) Rock & Roll · 6:17pm Dec 30th, 2018
A few months ago I was talking to Bookish Delight on Discord about the Equestria Girls series, and how time had revealed Rainbow Rocks to be something of a fluke. As to why Rainbow Rocks was so much better than the rest, and why it struck such a chord with me, Bookish pushed me to go into detail, so I did:
I think I mentioned it in the RCL interview, when talking about Rainbow Rocks being my favourite thing - Rainbow and Applejack are absolutely true to life with the bickering guitarist/frontman and bassist dynamic. The bassist is often the skeleton of the band, but they never get the spotlight, so they're kind of always second best. Whereas Rainbow is a spotlight-hog, so that fitted them completely with their back and forth.
Rainbow wanting to do everything herself, as the lead singer and the lead guitarist and the main songwriter, just kind of dragging everyone else along - that was me in high school. But then so was Adagio, with her 'just fucking do it my way, and stop complaining about it, because my way's better' thing. Hours could be spent on Adagio's charisma, intelligence, voice, ruthlessness, looks and so on, but, in short, she's just about everything I'd ever want to be.
There's also how I spent the whole film thinking that the Rainbooms were great, but needed a second guitarist. And then suddenly, at the last minute, Sunset's there on guitar! And the song they then play, with her, is by far their best. That bit was so happy I hardly felt down about the siren defeat.
The lyrics of the Under Our Spell prechorus are I think the sharpest the show's ever had.
The whole idea of the Dazzlings being a manufactured, artificial pop band and the Rainbooms being more authentic, with real instruments, was a great one, as was the allusion to TV talent shows, with the sirens giving thumbs down during the 'failing the audition' line of Battle. It's a classic musical underdog thing, much like School of Rock, where it's the polished band that win, but the raw, passionate one who are more respected and liked. So the siren songs are supposed to be catchy and subtly subversive, to suit their influence, where the Rainbooms' ones try to be fun and energetic.
Sadly they torpedo that idea a bit with some of the Rainboom ones being really cheesy and happy (I like Better Than Ever and Shake Your Tail a lot, but I think Rainbow Rocks (the song) and Awesome As I Wanna Be are closer to how the Rainbooms should sound for the film to make the most sense on that level), and the siren songs aren't just catchy, they're edgy and dangerous in a way that a rock band really should be instead. So the sirens still manage to have the 'bad girl/rebel' factor in a way that the Rainbooms don't sustain.
But what that costs in terms of thematic appeal for the film, it more than makes up for in how wonderful it makes the siren songs. Which aren't overblown orchestral musical-theatre-style songs, like so many other MLP ones! They kind of mix alt-pop with all their synths and layered harmonies with alt-rock guitars, and for Welcome to the Show they aren't far off proper metal.
And all their songs are interwoven with their wordless 'aaah's, so they really do sound like something a siren might sing, and not just another pony song. Especially with how Battle evolves out of the 'aaaah' refrain they used in their opening scene. The most recent work I'd seen sirens in before Rainbow Rocks was the first God of War, and that refrain is nice and close to how they sound in the game.
Then there's the angle of how the movie encourages kids to get into music. Lots of songs through the years have tried to make that sound 'cool,' but not many have managed it. The closest comparison I can think of is between Rainbow Rocks (the song) and Denim and Leather, by Saxon (terrible band, terrible song), and how much more smoothly the Rainbooms get away with spotlighting each instrument within the arrangement of the song itself (in the second verse). Suddenly Rainbow Dash is fronting a rock band, announcing to the world that that's cool, and the rest of the girls are along for the ride, and what an example that sets!
Not to mention how perfectly each instrument lines up with who they are.
They pitched the individual musicianship skill level at what would actually be achievable for people that age who have never mentioned playing before (unlike the Rainbow Rocks shorts, which are virtuoso-level, and so I think best ignored canonically as I prefer the idea of them working to earn that talent rather than being gifted it).
And especially since rock music is dying in mainstream appeal, and has been around long enough that lots of childrens' parents are into it, so it's not young and rebellious anymore, it's great that here is a film saying that it's awesome, with Rainbow as the proof. And, of course, when the sirens get really serious and malevolent, the guitars get louder, heavier, darker, etc, and so we get a fight scene with a metal soundtrack - and it's awesome!
I can't think of any other musical-related things for now, but should also mention how much it meant seeing the sirens.
The movie opens with three of them sitting in a cafe. First we see them singing beautifully, and that they're obviously evil. Then we see the best-hair-ever. And then they actually start speaking. And for the first time there are friendships or family exchanges in MLP which actually look like my own.
So every second of siren interaction was very precious to me, and I was on their side from that moment on.
I remember many years ago watching the Brendan Fraser action adventure film The Mummy. In the climactic fight, he's charged with distracting the enemy, while his colleagues work on how to destroy it. Said enemy has just kicked him the whole length of the room. He falls to the ground from the impact against the wall, hears the request to keep the enemy busy, picks himself up gingerly and winces at his injuries. When I first saw it, my in-character response was a sarcastic "No problem." Sure enough, that's exactly what he says, a moment later.
That was an interesting moment for me, that the writing for the film had aligned with myself enough to give an identical response. It's happened a few other times since, most notably on multiple occasions during Euro Trip. I don't think it's ever happened with anything from My Little Pony before or since, but when Sonata and Aria start bickering in the corridor outside the cafeteria, and Adagio cuts in front of them saying "You have to excuse them," my immediate thought was that the explanation I'd give was that they're idiots.
And then she said exactly that. Totally on my wavelength. My kind of siren
This was fun to read! Good analysis. (Though you have blasphemed against Saxon and must be condemned unto the wrath of Muzak for thy blasphemy.)
For what it’s worth, I think most of EqG has its place. Rainbow Rocks is definitely the standout, but you kinda need EqG1 and Friendship Games and Forgotten Friendship to get Sunset’s whole redemption arc. Though out of those, Friendship Games stands out to me as the one where I can’t stand the central plot but I love all the ancillary stuff and worldbuilding that ends up happening around it. And even as vapid as Movie Magic is for the most part, I have to love it forever for putting our human heroines in the Power Ponies outfits.
4988185 I know this one starts out a little antagonistically, but I wasn't really going for a 'bash the other EG bits' theme. Not much, anyway. But, if we're on that subject, then...
I hated Friendship Games. Hated it to bits. Only saw it the once, and had to spend three days talking myself down from writing an angry fix-fic. It was like the creators looked at a list of bullet points about why Rainbow Rocks was so good, but didn't actually understand any of them, and tripped over their own feet trying to replicate them.
And I have to say I really don't think anything after Rainbow Rocks adds anything new to Sunset's character that isn't already implied by the final scenes there, battling the sirens, writing to Pri-Twi, and playing Shine Like Rainbows with the group. Everything that follows for her is predictable and easy to extrapolate from those scenes.
So, for me, Legends of Everfree repairs some of the Friendship Games damage, making Sci-Twi a little more tolerable, but my overall reaction was 'meh.' And we all know the first movie is flawed to the point of being really not very good. I agree, that one is a necessary part of the arc for Sunset, and various other things in Rainbow Rocks, and I think it and Rainbow Rocks make a great pair. But only one of them is a great movie. So that leaves 1 out of 4 as actually good?
And then the things to have come since, well... EG doesn't seem to do well with shorter runtimes. The three Magic specials were bad. They felt like kids' TV, in a way that FIM and the EG movies really don't, with the tone and music changing every thirty seconds. And our everyday schoolgirl heroes also won a dance contest despite not being dancers, became famous for a while, and gained superpowers
The shorts were worse.
I agree, Forgotten Friendship was much better. Roller Coaster wasn't though.
I'm not a comic books fan, so the Power Ponies thing did nothing for me. Maneiac had some good potential, but the show never really used it. Better to put her as a fictional girlfriend for a tentacle fetishist, I think.
Ooh, Saxon, hm, ok. So, imagine you have two cardboard boxes wrapped in identical wrapping paper. One contains the fountain of eternal youth and a bottomless pit of money, and the other is empty. That's how I see Saxon, as an Iron Maiden fan above all else. They have the same packaging, both in look and instrumentation, but one has one/several of the best songwriters in recent history at their heart, and the other... doesn't. Going on the other titles from Heavy Rock, I'm totally with you on many of the bands there. But not Saxon. Never Saxon!
'...And The Band Played On' does have both a great title and a catchy riff (the one played at the same time as the "Just before dawn" first line), but that's the most positive I can be?
4988208
Yeah, I didn’t mention Legend of Everfree earlier, but I like it pretty well also. It was certainly a big step up from Friendship Games.
I tried watching Rollercoaster once. Tried. It’s the only MLP G4 content that I just haven’t been able to make it through.
Well I suppose it’s time to confess that my defense of Saxon is partially motivated by my possible designs on turning Heavy Rock into the middle story of a trilogy.
I’m likely going to try writing a prequel called Heavy Duty (inspired by the Judas Priest tracks Heavy Duty & Defenders of the Faith) in 2019, and I’ve been considering pulling from Saxon for the inevitable sequel: Heavy Metal Thunder. 
But who knows, none of this might happen...
4988215 Legend of Everfree was definitely better than the other two, yeah, and it pulled the franchise as a whole into a better shape. But I don't think it actually offered that much on its own. I don't remember any of the songs, for example, and the villain was very understated.
Roller Coaster of Friendship was an odd one. Again, they seemed to be trying to repeat the success of Forgotten Friendship, with a longer special, but had missed most of what made that one good. Vignette was joyfully sociopathic but also really annoying. And the ending, which it sounds like you thankfully missed, sounded like a first draft.
I'd love to see more of human Limestone playing bass, but I guess the prequel couldn't really have much of that. I worry, when people mention expanding things, that there isn't enough story there to support it all, but I'd guess you've already got stuff planned for all that? I think I'd suggest taking 'heavy metal thunder' from Steppenwolf lyrics instead of Saxon ones
Or, you know, 'Heavy Metal (Or No Metal At All)'
4988226
Ooo, Steppenwolf would be cool!
And yeah, I wouldn’t do it unless there’s a legit story there. But as time goes on, I’ve had enough bits of story start popping into my head to make me think there might be.