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Today I watched the retro-meta-iconic power walk scene in Reservoir Dogs again, which features the song "Little Green Bag".

This song by the Dutch George Baker Selection reached only no. 21 in 1969 on the U.S. singles charts, and their other productions were utterly unremarkable. It was probably not part of the "collective U.S. musical subconsciousness", at least not in its mainstream.

How did Tarantino choose that song? He probably didn't have "song scouts" back then presenting finds to him. (Does he now?) Did he simply choose from songs he knew, possibly after some digging of his own?

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    Only tangentially related, but I spoke to Edgar Wright about the music choices for Last Night in Soho & they were 'songs he'd always wanted to use in movies'. Nothing more, nothing less. His own personal choices. I could imagine Tarantino to do the same kind of thing. No researchers necessary; his pick.
    – Tetsujin
    May 4, 2022 at 17:55
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    Tarantino lived in Amsterdam for several months, and he wrote Pulp Fiction there.
    – BCdotWEB
    May 5, 2022 at 7:45
  • @BCdotWEB That's interesting! the George Baker Selection may have been on the radio there.
    – Peter - Reinstate Monica
    May 5, 2022 at 8:20

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Reservoir Dogs has two credited music supervisors plus one credited assistant music supervisor. It’s possible their work was limited to obtaining clearance (licensing) for songs chosen by Tarantino, but it’s also possible if not likely they participated in song selection (maybe not the assistant).

One thing music supervisors often bring to the table is a comprehensive knowledge of extant music. Along with that, most music lovers have songs, albums, bands, and genres that they love but which were never top hits. Both directors like Tarantino and music supervisors can be motivated to explore their musical knowledge and collections for music that they understand, feels right for the moment, but isn’t overplayed. Lately a lot of “summer blockbuster” movies seem to use the same cues for the same situations. Auteurs like Tarantino want to have a more original and particular voice and tone in their films, so they are just as likely to place obscure tracks in their films as hits.

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