Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack album to the 1999 film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me released on June 1, 1999, through Maverick Records. The album was produced by Danny Bramson and Guy Oseary and featured a compilation of rock and pop songs, performed by high-profile artists such as Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Mel B and R.E.M. It featured the Grammy Award-winning single "Beautiful Stranger" performed by Madonna, which was a chartbuster upon its release. The album was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling around 1.5 million units in the U.S.
Contents
Release
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (Music from the Motion Picture) released on June 1, 1999, eleven days prior to the film's release, through Maverick Records. Another album titled Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (More Music from the Motion Picture) was released on October 26, 1999.
Singles
The song "Beautiful Stranger" was performed by Madonna and released as the lead single on May 19, 1999. A music video accompanied the release, which was directed by Brett Ratner and featured Myers as Austin Powers alongside Madonna. The song was a critical and commercial success, topping numerous charts and received multiple accolades. An extended play, including the previously released remixes of the song was released to all streaming outlets in May 2021.
The second song from the album to be released was Lenny Kravitz's cover version of "American Woman", originally performed by the Canadian rock band the Guess Who. It was first issued on May 25, 1999, and then released as a part of the 1999 reissue of Kravitz's album 5. The cover reached the top 20 in Australia, Finland, Italy, New Zealand, and Spain, as well as number 26 in Canada and number 49 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Kravitz's version is slower and softer than the original, without the signature guitar solo; he later said to Randy Bachman that the reason why he skipped the lead guitar part was "I couldn't get the sound. I couldn't get the tone." The music video (directed by Paul Hunter) featured actress Heather Graham (who starred in The Spy Who Shagged Me); the original political themes of the song were largely replaced by sex appeal. In 1999, Kravitz and his band were joined by The Guess Who for a live performance of "American Woman" at the MuchMusic Video Awards. It was also used as the theme song of the Madusa monster truck in monster jam events.
"Word Up!" was released as a single on June 28, 1999, after the album's release. It was performed by Mel B and produced by Timbaland.
Reception
Rating three stars out of five, Gina Boldman of AllMusic called it "a worthy purchase for fans of the Powers films and the '60s sound celebrated in them." For the second album, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it "the record is actually more consistent than its predecessor, and just as entertaining—even if it isn't exactly necessary and sort of feels like an afterthought." Orlando Weekly based critic wrote "packed with clever versions of classics, groovy new music and lots of fun, this is sure to be the soundtrack of the summer."
Score album
The original score to the film composed by George S. Clinton was released on November 7, 2000, through RCA Victor records label. It was combined with the score for the predecessor, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, with tracks 9–16 (2–10 in this list), represent the score composed for The Spy Who Shagged Me.