The musicians that changed life for Oliver Stone

While some of the more controversial moments in Stone’s career have been relatively inflammatory and irked many from across the political spectrum, in a world where having an opinion is becoming increasingly complex, objectively, kudos goes to him for continuing to do so. What is interesting, though, is that although Stone is known for being a touch divisive, there have been many moments where he’s been mightily agreeable and offered lucid and well-informed accounts of history.

One area in which he is particularly well-versed is music, which plays a crucial part in his story. For a brief summary of his journey, he might have studied film and first found fame as a screenwriter on Midnight Express and Scarface, but it wasn’t until 1986’s Platoon that he asserted himself behind the camera. He was 40 when it came out. Kicking off his trilogy about different aspects of the Vietnam War, which then spawned Born on the Fourth of July and Heaven & Earth, these films resonated with audiences as they delved back into a cultural history that changed the world, as well as the trajectory of Stone’s life.

Stone might have only found success as a filmmaker in his 40th lap around the sun, but he lived a wild life before then. His Vietnam films resonated because they were extracted from his personal experiences. I don’t think any other notable auteur of his generation can claim to have fought in the bloody and effectively pointless conflict, been twice wounded in action, and won over ten awards for his gallant efforts in the process.

Yet, this accounts for only one part of Stone’s story. Before his military efforts, he had briefly been to Yale and deeply ensconced in the countercultural spirit. After service, he enrolled at New York University and graduated with a BA in film in 1971. Another unbelievable aspect is that one of his teachers was the great Martin Scorsese. 

It was during this era, in his mid-20s, that Stone was also a drug dealer, selling speedballs and driving taxis in order to stay afloat and writing two scripts a year, hoping to catch his big break. Of course, that would come, but during this hedonistic period of great uncertainty, fuelled by a relentless passion for his craft and a desire to stay alive – balancing long nights script-writing whilst selling drugs to a coterie of colourful characters – Stone’s life was soundtracked by the Motown artists Black servicemen had first shown him in Vietnam. This was the music that got him through the existential perils of conflict, and it would soundtrack him pummelling through the wall into the next chapter of his life, albeit with the strong scent of marijuana clinging to his clothes. 

When speaking to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013, Stone gave one of his most full-bodied accounts of music. He praised the Cleveland Museum and noted how, after first hearing The Temptations, The Supremes, Sam Cooke and Smokey Robison in the jungle, he was “never quite the same”. Of course, some of these would appear on the Platoon soundtrack. 

Celebrating the museum recognising the efforts of both male and female Black musicians in the Delta and later in centres such as Memphis and Detroit, he said: “By the time I come into the picture, it’s 1960s with Motown, which I heard for the first time in Vietnam actually, because all the Black soldiers are playing it, didn’t know who these people were but when you hear The Temptations and The Supremes, you’re never quite the same, and Sam Cooke, Smokey Robinson… Anyway, it was a pleasure to go back in time. Nice collection, nicely done.”

Clearly, Oliver Stone’s not just some Hollywood lunatic, impressed upon by the trappings of fame and longtime drug use. Music is inextricable from his life and times.

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