Scott Martin releases guitar-centric cover of “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” and goes viral by paying homage to the legendary Ennio Morricone

Scott Martin

Hailing from the heart of Brooklyn, Scott Martin is a renowned guitarist who aims to keep rock n’ roll alive by transmitting passion and personal evolution with classic songwriting, stage presence, and Elvis-reminiscent aesthetics. His core interest in guitars opened the door to him exploring the depths of the instrument and what makes it tick - from playing to modifying to building and everything in between. After his songwriting and touring career with Bulletproof Messenger – a popular mid-2000’s rock group – Scott then developed a successful solo career, releasing his debut single "Head Over Heels" in 2017. Since then, his music has been featured in American Songwriter, Bands Do BK, and New Music Weekly to name a few; in 2022, he signed an artist contract with Spectra Music Group.

When the world shut down, Scott dedicated the time to study and learn new techniques and most importantly, how to record and produce music by himself – a key transitional moment which helped elevate him to a new level as an artist. In 2020, he created a guitar-centric cover of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" famous Spaghetti Western theme music that is now trending on YouTube and Instagram, garnering over 5 million views. By popular demand, Scott Martin is now releasing a full-length version of his viral cover of the legendary Ennio Morricone composition, and he is also releasing a full rock’n’roll album with his band "Scott Martin & The Grand Disaster" in June.

   

But how did a hauntingly nostalgic homemade cover hit 4.5 million views in the span of a few weeks?  

Western movies always had a special appeal to Scott Martin since he was a kid, he watched all of the Spaghetti Westerns with his dad who is sincerely passionate about them. Little did he know that one day his recreation of one of the soundtracks would go viral on the Internet and remain viral for months! He shares: “I grew up watching all of these westerns with my dad who was almost obsessed with them, probably because they reminded him of the movies he watched in his childhood, when a sort of cowboy nostalgia was very big in American culture. I watched “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” many, many times as a kid. And I really, really loved Clint Eastwood!”. Scott thinks many people have similar memories about watching these movies with their family and that is one of the strongest emotions music can give somebody: the wonderful sense of nostalgia – arguably one of the reasons why people are loving his cover of the legendary “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” theme music by Ennio Morricone so much. 

In April 2020, while the world shut down, Scott Martin sat in his Brooklyn apartment and took the time to rewatch the entire Sergio Leone trilogy – and found himself obsessing over the guitar sounds and soundtrack production. He became deeply curious about how the music was made and so, he started studying the various sounds, and ended up creating a short cover of “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” from scratch. Setting up all the recording gear was the biggest challenge, as it was the first time he ever produced and recorded something on his own, yet he fully succeeded in recreating the main theme by using a combination of modern and classic guitars which gave a unique vibe and captivating sound to the recording. 

In December 2022, the cover blew up on YouTube, gaining more than 35K views in the span of a few days. In celebration of this, Scott shared the video with friends on Instagram. He did not expect in the next few weeks that this post would also become viral – gaining more than 5 million views, 180K likes, 40K shares and over 60K new followers. The reel audio went viral, as well, and has been used in over 3K reels as of today. 

People started asking him to do a full-length cover of the iconic tune and he didn’t hesitate to take on one of the most difficult undertakings of his career – one that would normally scare off anyone. Scott shares: “Nothing could be more inspiring that making people happy by working on something that you know you are capable of. Stepping into the challenge to recreate Ennio’s music as a rock pop guitar player was almost madness but also a labor of love because we lost him fairly recently and I’m a big admirer of him and his music”.  To begin, Scott charted all the instrumentals into guitar parts, finding it both incredibly challenging and interesting to intimately dissect and study. He spent countless hours figuring the puzzle out, creating something slightly different from the original tune instead of just a copy of the cover. 

He says: “I wanted to keep this sounding like something that Scott Martin would do and not just clone the orchestra from the soundtrack. The hardest thing I've probably ever had to learn, and play, was the trumpet solo that comes in, in the middle because the trumpets are triple tonguing, they cross over each other. To play it on guitar was very, very difficult, especially with a clean tone – it took me about two weeks to get it right and I'm very proud of being able to do it. I didn't spend so much time trying to be perfect with the one-minute original cover from 2020 that went viral because I was aware of my limitations as a musician, as a composer, and as a producer at the time. I’m incredibly excited to now be able to release a full length version of it, because after much more time spent in studying, and gaining more experiences and lessons learned, I’ve definitely evolved since then. The whole experience has been incredible and fun, and I can’t wait to see what people will think about it.” 

The official full-length cover is now available on YouTube and all platforms where music is streamed and sold.

Read my interview with Scott Martin back in 2021: Part 1 and Part 2

Scott Martin

Instagram: @scottccmartin

Linktree: Scott Martin

For all inquires contact Maria Gigante at scottmartinmgmt@gmail.com