Underworld Hired as Musical Directors of 2012 Olympics in London. Yes, Really.

Posted on Dec 7th 2011 2:00PM by Joshua Ostroff
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Courtesy of Underworld

When you think of 'Trainspotting' -- with its heroin addicts, dead babies crawling along ceilings, Ewan McGregor's surrealist toilet dive and rave beats thumping away as a voice chants "Lager! Lager! Lager! Lager!" -- you think of world-class amateur athletics, right? Well, now you will.

Underworld, the duo of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith behind that iconic electronic track 'Born Slippy,' have just been named the musical directors of the 2012 London Olympic Games by their longtime collaborator, 'Trainspotting' director Danny Boyle, who is helming the opening ceremonies. Underworld will be responsible for soundtracking the entire three-hour ceremony next July.

Smith and Hyde have also written music for Boyle's films 'A Life Less Ordinary', 'The Beach' and 'Sunshine' as well as the acclaimed 2010 National Theatre production of 'Frankenstein'.

'What's interesting about working with them is how much broader their taste is than you might imagine," said Boyle in a press release issued Dec. 7 by the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games.

"With 'Frankenstein' we really saw how far we could take a broader approach than we'd used together on the films."

"We want to leave people with a musical memory of the show rather than a purely visual one," added Hyde. "It's a great honour to be asked to do this and one we're taking very seriously -- it's certainly not something we'll get the chance to do again."

A couple years ago, the UK press reported that Damon Albarn was in the running for the musical director gig, but today's announcement of Underworld seems a more, dare we say, appropriate choice considering the duo's history of making people work up a sweat, even if on the dance floor rather than the race track.

The choice is also another unexpected feather in the Olympics' cool cap after Canadian techno legend Richie Hawtin was hired to write original music for the Torino Winter Games' opening ceremonies in 2006.

Watch Underworld's 'Underneath the Radar' Video

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