“Phew! I haven’t felt that good since Archie Gemmill scored against Holland in 1978!”

Take a good book, try to turn it into a good film and then create a soundtrack which works isn’t the easiest thing on the planet to do. Generally, the film is constrained by the running time and the fact that you remove the imagination factor, that thought process we all have which conjures up images which never translate to the screen successfully. We’ve all been there. Then try to add a soundtrack which compliments and evokes the essence of the work and you can get bogged down in things that just don’t hang together and compliment each other. Get it right and you have that Holy Grail moment, the trinity of the individual facets which allow for discussion and enjoyment on so many levels.

Irvine Welsh’s 1993 novel Trainspotting had all the ingredients to spark discussion on its own, even without being made into a film – let alone having a soundtrack added to it. As a work it was very faithful to areas of Edinburgh at that time and graphically portrayed the huge issue of drug culture and the AIDS epidemic. Controversial, too bloody right it was. Did it glorify drug taking and the ends to which people went to feed their addiction or was it a portent of what would happen if you did. Kill or cure? Those are questions which have been discussed in the last 30 years since the book and film hit their collective audiences. It’s brutal in its individual portrayal of the characters, hilarious when it needs to be with carefully written humour, both gallows and slapstick, and harrowingly repulsive depending upon the individual’s point of view.

The film from 1996 (yep it’s almost 30 years old) was directed by Danny Boyle. If you’re not familiar with his work, probably the most familiar piece that people would generally be aware of was his opening ceremony at the 2012 London Olympics. That transformation from a green and pleasant land to the beginnings of the industrial revolution was ingenious and magical. The humour and affection given to the NHS was outstanding. You can see in that work the same level of detail and thought that went into the various scenes in Trainspotting. Who can forget the toilet scene in the bookies or the crawling baby, as Renton goes through his self imposed heroin withdrawals? The beautifully crafted dialogue which sets the scene so well and the choice of music for the soundtrack are both excellent.

“We called him Mother Superior on account of the length of his habit.”

From the opening scene running down Princes Street, the aforementioned opium suppository toilet scene, and all the way to the closing credits, the soundtrack is sublime. Carefully culled from three time periods, it frames the film so well. Take the opening dialogue which cuts to the scene of Renton and Spud running hell for leather along the crowded street. The choice of Iggy Pop’s “Lust for life” sums up the need for thrills and sets the film off at break neck speed. ‘This is going to be fun’ is what we are all thinking. The use of Brian Eno’s “Deep Blue Day” in the ethereal swimming sequence, book ended by the most disgusting toilet on the planet, shows us quite graphically the agony and ecstasy of where drugs can take people. Probably the most striking use of music is Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day”… Renton needing ‘One last fucking hit’ drops into a heroin induced stupor before being sucked down into the grave, eventually being spat out of it in hospital. Irony is there for all to see and hear too. And so the film goes on, punctuated by carefully selected pieces of 70’s drug culture, 90’s Brit pop and 90’s techno – dance. Soundtracks are an interesting beastie. Not many are mutually exclusive film and tune combinations. In Trainspotting Danny Boyle got it so right. It’s a great assemblage of works which all stand on their own as fantastic pieces of music. Once you have seen the film they take on a different meaning. It’s difficult to hear and enjoy a piece without the mind wandering to a specific scene.

So is it a film which glorifies the taking of drugs or shows how abhorrent it can be? For me it’s a fairly honest portrayal of that part of Edinburgh society in the 90s, it does neither, it just tells a story. At times hilarious, at times mind numbingly sad. From the James Bond air rifle scene which cracks me up every time I watch it (click here if you need reminding of it) to the demise of the squeaky clean ‘Mikey’. A great film of a great book with an exceptional choice of soundtrack.

Iain, February 2025