We all love soundtracks, right? Weird and cool needle drops that help create an atmosphere or illuminate a theme or just go really well with the action of the plot. I get a little annoyed by the ridiculous amount of song snippets creators today tend to put in their shows, but I still like a good soundtrack. So that’s the Question this week: What’s your favorite?
I must say, while I don’t want to limit your answers, I limited mine. I didn’t consider movies (and I only considered movies; television shows, to me, don’t really have “soundtracks,” because they run so long, which is not to say I don’t love a good theme song or want to limit you if your favorite is a television show) where everything is sung — my absolute favorite soundtrack of all time if I considered this is the score to Jesus Christ Superstar. I mean, come on:
A movie like that is in the subset of just straight musicals, which I also didn’t consider. I mean, I like The Music Man and The Sound of Music as much as the next guy, but I don’t really think of those as “soundtracks.” They’re just sung dialogue. Grease would probably be my favorite, mostly because of that killer theme song:
No, when I think of “soundtrack,” I think of a regular, spoken-word movie with music in the background. Sometimes the characters can hear the music, most of the time they cannot. If you want to include musicals in your consideration, feel free — I have no problem with that. I just think of them a bit differently. I also tend to lean towards ones that have mostly original songs, but it’s not a complete dealbreaker. And if you want to list scores instead of soundtracks (as Eric did in the comments!), feel free. I like scores, but I don’t think of them too much except as theme songs to the hero. But they’re certainly in consideration!
This is difficult for me, because I like so many soundtracks. When I thought of this question, my mind went immediately to Pump Up the Volume, the 1990 film in which Christian Slater plays a high school underground DJ, just because music is such a bit part of the movie. While I like the soundtrack, I don’t love it, and I moved on. John Hughes always had some good soundtracks, and the one for Some Kind of Wonderful is pretty good, mainly because of the cover of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Lick the Tins which plays over the closing credits:
Obviously, movies about singers will probably have good soundtracks, so I thought of Almost Famous, but had to move on from that, too, because I don’t think it’s that memorable (you may disagree). I don’t see as many new movies as I used to, so anything recent was out. What to do, what to do!
Finally, I narrowed it down to a few. Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? has a killer soundtrack. It’s a bit too close to an actual musical for me, though.
I really like The Crow‘s soundtrack, even though it’s so very gloomy:
One of my favorite underrated movies is Hardware, which has some excellent songs on the soundtrack, but they’re not original, so I don’t think I can count them:
I have the same issue with Magnolia, which also has a great soundtrack. Aimee Man wrote some songs for the movie, but some were older. It doesn’t disqualify it in my mind, but it is a ding against it. Still, this is a superb scene:
My favorite soundtrack, though, is the one for Singles. It hit at a time when grunge was huge (people said Crowe was cashing in on the trend, but he filmed it before grunge blew up, so he was just ahead of things) and when I was really into that style of music (I still am, to a degree, but back then, when I was 21, I was really into it), and the soundtrack just slaps hard. Not all the songs are original, but enough are, and the ones that aren’t are pretty damned awesome (Crowe gets points from me for using “Crown of Thorns” by Mother Love Bone, which is an amazing song). The two bookends of the album are probably the best originals: “Would?” by Alice in Chains and “Drown” by Smashing Pumpkins (which isn’t original for the soundtrack, but it’s the first time the band recorded it).
So that’s my answer. Was this an excuse to post a lot of nifty songs? Well, sure, but I’m still interested in your answers! Will you guys probably come up with ones that I’ll say, “Oh, yeah, I forgot about that one”? Of course — that’s part of the fun of these Questions! Thanks for participating, everyone!
Easy: the Superfly soundtrack. Best soundtrack ever, best album by Curtis Mayfield.
A close runner-up: To Live & Die in LA, all original music by Wang Chung (I’ve written more extensively about my fondness for the movie, soundtrack and novel at this very site many years ago.
A few other most excellent soundtracks:
The Warriors
Shaft
Music for the Native Americans
Trouble Man
Dr. No
Paris, Texas
p.s. … as for Hardware and Ministry, I think the topic has come up here before (I agree about the former, it’s a good, largely forgotten movie), but the album that track, “Stigmata,” is from, Land of Rape and Honey, is so damn good. Definitely my favorite by Ministry.
Yeah, that soundtrack to To Live and Die in LA is pretty keen.
I keep meaning to write about Hardware, but I haven’t yet. It’s a very cool movie.
I’m kind of partial to American Graffiti, lots of classic tunes. A nice slice of Americana.
Dirty Dancing was another good one.
I just don’t like “I’ve Had the Time of My Life,” and it was played so much during my formative years that I grew to hate Dirty Dancing and everything associated with it (even though I still haven’t seen it). I know the soundtrack is pretty good, though, but I get PTSD whenever I think about it! 🙂
For me it’s The Blues Brothers.
I see that movie once every year.
When it comes to original scores:
John Carpenter’s The Thing
Aliens
The Abyss
The Fly by David Cronenberg
Those scores are pretty good, sir! I forgot to mention that favorite scores count, too, so I added it in!
I like The Blues Brothers music, but I’ve never seen the movie!
Never seen The Blues Brothers? Rectify that immediately!
Yeah, I know. It was the tiniest bit before my time, and as I got older, it just wasn’t easily accessible. By the time it was, there was a lot of other stuff to catch up on! I’ll get around to it one day!
Edo beat me to it- To Live and Die in LA for me. Second would be Blade Runner by Vangelis. Absolutely beautiful examples of the new technology of the era, one pop and the other experimental/classical, but both great synth records that shaped the tone of their films perfectly along with the story and visuals.
Blade Runner’s is really neat. And whenever my wife and I ever hear anything remotely resembling spooky synths on a soundtrack, we ask where Vangelis is!
Someday I will get around to creating a playlist of all the single great songs on otherwise forgettable soundtracks…
“Something Wild!” is my clear winner, followed by “Romeo + Juliet” (both its soundtrack and its score).
“Rocky Horrow Picture Show” is a musical, yes, but I’ll throw it in.
“Harold & Maude” deserves a mention.
I listen to lots of scores, since they make great background music while working:
The Crow (the score)
Cinema Paradiso
Twin Peaks (various)
Trouble In Mind
Stormy Monday
Brideshead Revisited
Batman Begins
Blade Runner (and Vangelis’ “Themes” collection)
Millennium (TV Series)
The Stunt Man
Amelie
…and, yes, selections from The Incredible Hulk (TV Series )
I’m sure I’ve forgotten plenty.
Something Wild does have some cool songs on it!
I don’t mind if y’all submit musicals, I just don’t think of soundtracks for musicals in the same way! That being said, Rocky Horror is a lot of fun.
It’s an instrumental, but I like the music from “The Power”. Ah, that cymbalom.
As an anime fan, my choice is the soundtrack from Macross Plus (originally a 4 part made-for-video series followed by a movie version)
It was this soundtrack, with it’s quality and variety, that made Yoko Kanno noticed leading her to becoming one of the top anime soundtrack composers .
I have the 3 soundtrack cds in my collection and a short cd (4-tracks) – attributed to a character from the series (which is the only one featuring the sinister song “Borderline ” [which virtual singer Sharon Apple performed as a mermaid])
I will add that my CD collection also includes the soundtrack to Batman
These might boring and obvious choices but Purple Rain and Saturday Night Fever are so good they almost transcend the movies they’re from.
Also shout out to the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie for both its soundtrack and original score which could’ve only been made in 1990.
Saturday Night Fever is superb, I agree.
I agree that Purple Rain is excellent, but like a lot of musicals, I tend not to think of that as a “soundtrack.” But yes, it’s amazing.
I would go with Blade Runner and To Live and Die in LA, but would also add Akira. That is just amazing.
One of my favorite soundtracks is for a movie that I almost walked out of, because I was so bored with the bad acting, from Michael Pare, and a messy story. The film is Streets of Fire, which is a weird mix of a kind of musical and a kind of jukebox soundtrack. The music is far better than the film, with some Jim Steinmann epic tracks, some Blasters, Ry Cooder, The Fixx and the one hit, Dan Hartmann’s “I Can Dream About You.”
I would also throw out Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado as an excellent soundtrack and also the film Grosse Pointe Blank. Any film with The Clash, Pete Townsend, The English Beat, Violent Femmes, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, The Jam and The Specials is totally awesome!
I don’t remember Akira’s music that much. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that movie — I should watch it again.
Streets of Fire is an excellent choice. It’s so much fun when the soundtrack is miles better than the movie.
There are 3 for me:
The Crow (although it is a little front-loaded, the second half is not as strong as the first). Standout tracks are Burn by The Cure, NIN cover of Joy Division’s Dead Souls, and Darkness by Rage Against the Machine.
Judgment Night – very influential in that it mixed up hip-hop with hard rock/metal before nu-metal was really a thing. All tracks are collaborations between hip-hip artists and rock/metal artists. Standout tracks are Just Another Victim by Helmet & House of Pain, Judgment Night by Onyx & Biohazard, and Another Body Murdered by Faint No More & Boo-Yah Tribe.
Lost Highway – coincidentally also one of my favourite movies. Might not count under your guidelines since it is not fully made up of original material, however it is a banger! Standout (original) tracks are I’m Deranged by David Bowie, The Perfect Drug by NIN, and Eye by Smashing Pumpkins. Also has great use of songs by Rammstein!
Judgment Night is a cool choice.
My criteria for myself is a soundtrack with more originals, but if it isn’t for you, that’s cool!
I haven’t watched a movie in a long time, so Im really rusty(like me commenting here, stupid job leaves no free time) but I’ll suggest one from a show: the soundtrack for FLCL is great. Basically a full álbum by the pillows, a japanese rock band, really good stuff, look it up
I haven’t heard of FLCL, so thanks for the information!
I hope you can comment here more often, but I get it. We appreciate it when you do! 🙂
I have to nominate O Lucky Man. I quoted the title song under my picture in my college yearbook.