Two Years After 'Winter Soldier,' Anthony Mackie and Chris Evans Still Debating Music
Captain America (Chris Evans) has adjusted to modern-day life by the time the events of Captain America: Civil War unfold. Much of the credit goes to the pop-culture tips from his partner-in-crimefighting, Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie), which included Nirvana (the band) and Troubleman (the Marvin Gaye soundtrack), given to the freshly thawed superhero in 2014’s Captain America: Winter Soldier.
Falcon’s days of recommending tunes to Cap are over, but a debate over the musical preferences of the actors who play the two heroes rages on. “I recommend music to Chris, not Cap,” Mackie said on the Atlanta set of Civil War. “Strange taste, dawg,” he added with a grimace. “Strange taste.”
Related: The ‘Godfather’ of Superhero Movies: On the Set of 'Captain America: Civil War’
Evans is a classic rock guy, and Mackie is a classic soul guy, and the latter, at least, has very strong feelings about his tastes. “I’ve tried to help him understand,” Mackie explained. “The greatest band in music history — pound for pound, they invented the crescendo — [is] Earth, Wind & Fire. I don’t care what nobody say, I’ve never been sitting on my couch and was like, 'Man! Put on that Doobie Brothers CD!’ Never happened. And I love the Doobie Brothers, all right?”
Let him continue: “Earth, Wind & Fire is the greatest band of all time. If you don’t believe it and have iTunes I will give you 40 bucks. Download 40 songs and it’ll blow your mind.” Mackie added that the band’s founder, Maurice White, who died in February, was “the greatest songwriter of all time.”
Asked to retort, Evans fired back, “He thinks Earth, Wind & Fire are better than the Beatles!”
Mackie so badly wants Evans to accept Earth, Wind & Fire as his sonic saviors that he’s even begun to troll his costar in the press. In a June interview with E! News, Mackie was asked to describe the perfect woman for the single Evans; the ensuing headline suggested that she “Better Like Earth, Wind & Fire.” That’s because Mackie told the outlet, “He really loves Earth, Wind & Fire… Like we were talking one day and he put on Earth, Wind & Fire and he said it’s the best band of all time. So Chris just dances around to Earth, Wind & Fire all day. It’s really weird.”
Related: Anthony Mackie Didn’t Know He Was an Avenger Until He Saw 'Age of Ultron’
Second only to Earth, Wind & Fire — the funk-soul legends behind tracks like “September,” “Let’s Groove,” and “Shining Star” — in Mackie’s book is R&B crooner Lionel Richie. “You can’t get a girl with Lionel Richie? You’re a loser,” Mackie told us (and presumably Evans). “All of my high school years, every time I wrote a girl a note it was literally 16 bars of Lionel Richie [lyrics] and then I would sign it 'Anthony Mackie.’ She would be, 'Oh my God. You’re such a poet.’
"I’m just saying, call your girl and recite one of Shakespeare’s sonnets and she’s going to go, 'What the f–k are you talking about?’ Call her and recite one Lionel Richie song. You’re going to be tazing her off you. Real talk.
"Lionel Richie. Earth Wind & Fire. That’s it.”
Now more than ever, we need this Captain America-Falcon buddy comedy to happen:
