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Music

A Brief History of Brad Pitt Being Earnest About Music

It's tough to get more serious than Frank Ocean fandom, but you'd be surprised.

This weekend, extremely famous person Brad Pitt (or a pre-recorded video of him) was captured acting alongside Frank Ocean at FYF Festival. Notably coiffed in his Fight Club-era hairdo, Virtual Brad is the picture of pensiveness, which makes sense given his narrative this year has involved the seeking of solace in Frank's music. However, Pitt's been a passionate fan of music of all genres since forever. I know, right? People liking music other than Frank Ocean? It's nuts. Collected here are a few highlights from the man's illustrious career of liking things and portraying the like of those things ("things" = music). It also bears mentioning that his immortal shout-out in Shania Twain's "That Don't Impress Me Much" may outlast most of these.

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Brad Pitt Being a Cool 90s Alt Rock Dude

The 90s were BP's heyday, as he starred in numerous classics and, uh, Meet Joe Black. During this time, he wanted the world to know that he was super-into the very serious rock music of the 90s. Old interviews, as archived by this incredibly designed Brad Pitt fan site, reveal that he pumped himself up for Interview with the Vampire by listening to Mazzy Star, Blind Melon, and the Smashing Pumpkins, as well as a deep love for Soundgarden ("greatest band in rock 'n' roll," he says) that began with True Romance in 1993 and continued right up to this year, when he introduced the band at a charity event. He also apparently called Radiohead "the Kafka and Beckett of our generation" during promo for Fight Club, but that's forgivable. It was 1999, everyone was feeling philosophical.

Brad Pitt Doing Nonsense in 'Burn After Reading'

Burn is, IMO, the most Coen Brothers of Coen Brothers capers. A lot of well-edited foolishness and murder occurs and spirals out of control, amounting to exactly squat in the end. Everyone has a good time regardless. Pitt's character Chad Feldheimer is an idiotic personal trainer who spends the first half of the film as an adorable mascot before gruesomely biting it. Despite this, the character of Chad is best known for always playing unheard music from his earbuds and dancing, thus possibly making him the most avid music fan in Pitt's character oeuvre. YouTube shitposters are still making him listen to Richie Hawtin.

Brad Pitt as a Shrimp Judging the Musical Taste of Matt Damon, Who Is Also a Shrimp for Some Reason

Yeah, Happy Feet was a thing. It's entirely possible that Will (the shrimp that is Pitt) is just sick of the outdated memes that Bill (the shrimp that is Damon) keeps bothering him with. That or Will/Pitt would rather just throw on Automatic for the People and just vibe out. R.E.M. was truly the Frank Ocean of its time when you think about it.

Phil has enjoyed every single Brad Pitt performance he's seen, even 'Tree of Life.' He's on Twitter.