It is loud. It is messy. Honestly, it is a bit of a miracle that it even works. When Milos Forman decided to bring the "tribal love-rock musical" to the big screen in 1979, the hippie movement was basically a corpse. Disco was king. The Summer of Love was a decade-old hangover. Yet, the music from Hair the movie didn't just recapture a moment; it re-engineered it into something that sounds surprisingly muscular even today.
Most people think they know these songs. You've heard "Aquarius" at a thousand karaoke nights or in a grocery store aisle. But the film version is a totally different beast than the original 1967 Off-Broadway cast recording or the 1968 Broadway smash. It’s crunchier. The orchestrations by Galt MacDermot—the original composer who actually stuck around for the film—feel more cinematic and less like a psychedelic jam session.
The Galt MacDermot Secret Sauce
Galt MacDermot wasn't some flower child. He was a clean-cut guy with a background in church music and African rhythms. This is why the music from Hair the movie has a rhythmic backbone that most "rock" musicals lack. Take a song like "Hashish." In the film, it’s a rhythmic explosion. It isn’t just about the lyrics; it’s about the syncopation.
The movie soundtrack benefited from 1979 recording technology. We are talking about deep bass lines and crisp percussion that the '60s recordings couldn't touch. When Treat Williams—playing Berger with a manic, beautiful energy—starts singing "Donna," there is a funkiness to it. It’s not just folk-rock. It’s soulful.
One of the biggest shifts between the stage and the screen was how the songs were re-contextualized. In the play, the music is non-linear. It’s a "happening." In the movie, Michael Weller’s screenplay forced these songs to do heavy lifting for the plot. "Manchester, England" becomes a character study for Claude (John Savage), rather than just a quirky solo. This change is polarizing for purists. Some hate it. Others think it’s the only reason the story makes sense to a modern audience.
The Power of "Easy to be Hard"
If you want to talk about raw vocal power, you have to talk about Cheryl Barnes. Her performance of "Easy to be Hard" is arguably the peak of the entire soundtrack. Here’s the crazy part: Barnes wasn’t even a professional actress at the time. She was working as a maid in a hotel when she was discovered for the film.
Forman wanted authentic voices. He didn't want "Broadway" voices.
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When Barnes sings that track, she isn't just hitting notes. She’s interrogating the hypocrisy of the anti-war movement. The song asks how people can care so much about "the bleeding crowd" but "have no time for their friends." It’s a brutal, emotional gut-punch. The arrangement is stripped back compared to the stage version, letting her vibrato do the heavy lifting. This is a recurring theme in the music from Hair the movie—the arrangements are often more sophisticated, leaning into R&B and soul rather than just hippie psych-rock.
Reimagining "Aquarius" and "Let the Sunshine In"
The bookends of the film are the two most famous songs in the catalog.
"Aquarius" opens the movie with Ren Woods singing in Central Park. It’s iconic. The choreography by Twyla Tharp changes how we hear the music. You aren't just listening to a song about astrology; you are watching a cultural shift. The way the brass kicks in during the second verse? That’s pure MacDermot gold.
Then there is the ending.
In the stage play, "The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)" is a somewhat bittersweet, abstract ending. In the movie, it is a devastating tragedy. Because of the "switch" between Claude and Berger (a plot point invented for the movie), the music takes on a haunting, funereal quality. When the crowd gathers in front of the White House to sing "Let the Sunshine In," it isn’t a happy hippie anthem. It’s a protest. It’s a scream.
The vocals on the film soundtrack are layered in a way that feels massive. It’s a wall of sound. If you listen closely to the 1979 soundtrack album, you can hear the influence of disco-era production—the drums are tighter, the mix is cleaner. It gave the music from Hair the movie a longevity that many 1960s soundtracks lacked. It felt contemporary in '79, and somehow, it feels less dated now than some of the synth-heavy soundtracks that came out just five years later.
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Why the Omissions Matter
Interestingly, the movie cut several songs from the original show. "The Bed," "Dead End," and "Black Boys/White Boys" were either shortened or significantly altered. Why? Pace. Milos Forman was a filmmaker first. He knew that what works on a stage—where an audience is trapped in their seats—doesn't always work on film.
By cutting the "fluff," the remaining music from Hair the movie feels more essential. Every song that made the cut serves the narrative of Claude Hooper Bukowski’s journey from Oklahoma to the Vietnam-bound army.
The Longevity of the Sound
Why are we still talking about this?
Because the music is actually good. Beyond the "Age of Aquarius" hippie-dippie tropes, MacDermot was writing world-class melodies. "Good Morning Starshine" is a perfect pop song. "I Got Life" is an incredible anthem of self-assertion.
The film's version of "I Got Life" is particularly famous because of Treat Williams dancing on the dinner table. The brass section in that specific recording is aggressive. It’s defiant. It’s everything the movie is trying to say about the clash between the establishment and the youth.
Wait, what about the actors' voices? Usually, when you put movie stars in a musical, the quality drops. Look at Les Misérables (2012). But in Hair, the cast actually had pipes. Beverly D'Angelo (as Sheila) brings a folk-rock clarity to her parts. John Savage has a vulnerable, almost trembling quality to his singing that fits the "lost boy" persona of Claude perfectly. They didn't over-polish the vocals in the studio. You can still hear the breath and the grit.
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Cultural Impact and E-E-A-T
When looking at the legacy of the music from Hair the movie, musicologists often point to Galt MacDermot's influence on hip-hop. This sounds weird, right? But MacDermot is one of the most sampled composers in history. Artists like MF DOOM and Run-D.M.C. have dug into his catalog.
The movie soundtrack specifically is a masterclass in "theatrical funk."
It’s important to realize that the film was a flop initially. People in 1979 were tired of hippies. They wanted Star Wars and Grease. But over decades of cable TV airings and the rise of home video, the soundtrack found a second life. It became the definitive version of these songs for a whole generation of Gen X and Millennials who never saw the original Broadway run.
What to Do Next
If you actually want to appreciate the music from Hair the movie, don't just watch the clips on YouTube. The compression kills the low end.
- Find the 1979 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Most streaming services have the remastered version. Put on a pair of decent headphones. Listen to the bass line on "Hair." It’s incredible.
- Compare the "Aquarius" versions. Listen to the 5th Dimension’s pop version, then listen to the Ren Woods film version. Notice the grit. The film version isn't trying to be a radio hit; it's trying to be a cinematic overture.
- Watch the "Easy to be Hard" sequence. If you only have five minutes, watch Cheryl Barnes’ performance. It’s a masterclass in how to act through a song. No flashy camera work, just a woman singing her heart out in a single location.
- Dig into Galt MacDermot's other work. If you dig the vibe of this soundtrack, check out his album Woman. You’ll hear where the "Hair" sound came from. It's all about that funky, soulful, slightly weird rhythmic foundation.
The film might be a product of its time, but the music has somehow managed to escape the "period piece" trap. It feels alive. It feels dangerous. And most importantly, it still makes you want to stand on a table and scream about having your own teeth and eyes and soul.