Set in a northern mining town, against the background of the 1984/’85 miners’ strike, Billy Elliot is the inspirational story of a young boy’s struggle against the odds to make his dream come true. Still, Marc Bolan and T Rex are where the heart of the soundtrack lie, and there's a great selection of tunes from him, including not just the omnipresent "Get It On" and "Cosmic Dancer," but the non-LP singles "I Love to Boogie," "Children of the Revolution," and the wonderful "Ride a White Swan." These great songs, when paired with Weller and "London Calling," make the soundtrack to Billy Elliot more infectious than the film itself. One of the most celebrated, award-winning musicals on stage today, Billy Elliot has been dazzling London’s West End for almost a decade, and has captivated audiences worldwide. Weller is represented by the Jam's "Town Called Malice" and two from the Style Council, "Shout to the Top" and "Walls Come Tumbling Down." It's a classic paired with two period pieces, and he comes off well all the same. It's a pair that doesn't seem to work well together on paper - the Slider and the Modfather share a fondness for Northern soul and nice clothes, but their boogie and sophisti-pop appear to be polar opposites - but it all works well here, since they're both terrific singles artists.
There are a couple of stragglers here - Stephen Gately, Eagle-Eye Cherry, and the Clash have a song a piece - but for the most part, this is devoted to two great British pop stars, Marc Bolan and Paul Weller. Set against the background of the 1984 Miner's Strike, Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell) is an eleven-year-old boy who stumbles out of the boxing ring and onto the ballet floor. Set in the 1980s during the miners’ strike, the film follows a young boy as he finds a new love for ballet, going against his familys working-class traditions. But, if you can ignore that dialogue and concentrate on the music, you have a real nice disc of British pop. Billy Elliot is one of the most critically acclaimed and culturally significant British movies of the past several decades. Like any soundtrack with aspirations of being hip, the soundtrack to the heart-warming Brit comedy-drama Billy Elliot is peppered with dialogue from the film - a tactic that was entertaining in 1993, when Reservoir Dogs popularized it, but it had lost its charm by 2000.