On Pride

From the liner notes to the Rocky Soundtrack - by Sylvester Stallone - 1976


When I wrote the script for Rocky,I wanted passion music. I wanted a symphony of powerful men, of lonely women, of thick-necked losers, of human ships that crash in the night. Of love. Of courage. Of dignity cast in bronze.

I only wished the music could come from inside me, but I was born with ears of stone. Bill Conti shook everyone's hand [at the initial consultation] and walked out the door. Three weeks later, Conti walked in the door with music under his arm.

The music began.
I was sweating.
I am impossible to satisfy, I thought.
I was cheering!

How did this thin man with an Afghan dog, seize the soul of every character and set it to music?! Then it dawned on me. Simple. How could I have not known at our first meeting that he was brilliant: Bill Conti is Italian.

What you gonna do when you get outta jail?

Too bad there's no video for Linda -one of the best songs ever as far as I'm concerned. Sampling Genius of Love waaay before that Mariah/ODB jam (but after the Grandmaster Flash sample back in the day) from Mellowman Ace's 2nd album 'The Brother With Two Tongues'. Great album, the radio wanted to play Linda but I think I heard the label insisted on playin' Welcome to my Groove or one of the harder rhyme tracks. Here's the original video of Genius from the Tom Tom Club. Designed by James Rizzi, Directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel. Have some fun.