Ten Deep 08.06.09: Movie Soundtracks
Posted by Owain J. Brimfield on 08.06.2009
Plug in your headphones as Owain J. Brimfield concocts a movie mix tape, with a look at the ten best movie soundtracks!
Welcome to week 41 of 'Ten Deep'! We're back after an unexpected and irritating one-week hiatus, after my computer contracted a particularly nasty virus that forced me to reformat. Well, I guess these things need to be done anyway, but a warning to everyone, if you get something called System Security 2009, run for the hills. Anyway, we're back to our regular schedule now. It turns out that the slightly briefer format of our previous column wasn't to its detriment, as the video inserts brought the commenters out in droves to discuss the best movie monologues. Let's look back with some:
Reactions and interactions
A few people were unsure about the inclusion of Van Damme, but I'll stand by it - while the quality of the monologue itself isn't necessarily up there with the rest, the fact that it comes from an actor who has spent the past twenty years displaying acting skills on par with a wooden plank is a stark revelation.
Naturally, there was a wide, wide array of suggestions from you good folk, so I won't mention them individually, but I'll talk about a few of the more frequently suggested monologues.
Ed Norton in The 25th Hour would have been one for the golden rule omissions if I had included the "notables" last week. The movie has been on my rental list with LoveFilm (the Brit equivalent of Netflix) for about two years and for some reason hasn't yet been sent. I'll see if I can bump the priority based on those comments.
Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross - I ummed and aahed about this one for ages trying to decide whether it was in fact a monologue, but eventually relented when I thought to myself that the most infamous line ("Fuck you, that's my name") only comes about as the result of an interjection from another character, of which there are several. It's certainly a very special scene, though.
John Belushi in Animal House is one that made the shortlist, but I needed to trim off about a dozen speeches to get the final list so this is one that didn't make the cut. I almost bought this on DVD yesterday and now I'm wishing I had.
Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate - much as I, and apparently many others, enjoy a slice of prime Pacino ham, I thought the list needed some real meat.
Kudos to MadLiberator for the off-the-wall suggestion of Bill Duke in Predator, which I hadn't considered but encouraged me to go rewatch that film.
Michael L drops in a bit of trivia to inform us that Peter Finch's famous "mad as hell" tirade in Network was accomplished in two takes, which is some achievement. Thanks for that nugget.
Some kind words from Too lazy to Log In who, pleasingly, enjoys the column in spite of disagreeing with the choices. Thanks, and that indeed is what 'Ten Deep' is all about.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, Fenris informs me that the column is an "absolute joke" by sole virtue of the fact it includes nothing from before the 1970s. I stand in awe of your unassailable logic, sir.
Moving on!
This week we're moving into the land of the aural soundscape, or the soundtrack if you will. A movie's soundtrack can make or break it, no doubt about it; there's a reason there's a Grammy award that goes to the music supervisor of the film with the most astutely pieced-together soundtrack each year. Mind you, there's a Grammy for damn near everything, so maybe that's not the best example. The point stands though, and besides, there's no one who doesn't mark out when they hear one of their favorite songs suddenly blasting on the big screen in support of the movie they're watching. Of course, the flipside is that this week's list will undoubtedly be even more subjective than most, as we're combining both taste in music and taste in film, but I think all the bases are covered. Oh, and the requisite caveats - no musicals allowed (Lucas already covered that in an older edition of the column) and no films where the songs are performed as a central part of the narrative (so bye-bye Once, This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, Eight Mile and, sadly, The Blues Brothers). So don your headphones, we're going audiophiling.
Please note this is NOT the top ten movie scores, that will come next week. This is only soundtracks.
As always, there's one golden rule: if I haven't seen it, it's not allowed on the list.
This week's golden rule notable omissions: The Big Chill, Singles, Slumdog Millionaire, Superfly
Honorable mention: Heavy Metal
The clue is in the name. Any aspiring rocker should seek this one out.
Honorable mention: Easy Rider
Certainly one to get your motor running; the sound of the 60s was rarely better captured.
These links throughout the column will open YouTube vids in a new window for your listening pleasure, by the way. I'm nothing if not considerate, giving you guys plenty of opportunity to listen to these songs and tell me how poor my choices are. Our first entry this week is Garden State, directorial debut of Scrubs' Zach Braff (as he will undoubtedly be referred to for the rest of his career, poor lad), and one of the few comedy films ever to portray the state of New Jersey in a positive light. It's more of a romantic comedy than an out-and-out gigglefest though, and one aimed squarely at the indie hipster market rather than the usual target demographic for rom-coms (eg. 18-30 females with a single-digit IQ). Braff plays an emotionally detached twentysomething who returns to his New Jersey home for his mother's funeral and finds himself falling in love with a pathological liar played by Natalie Portman (those being the very best kind of pathological liars), who may just be able to awaken him from his consistent emotional apathy. The movie has a very definite flavor, and while it's not quite as satisfying a film as you feel it could have been, it's a surprisingly assured star vehicle for Braff. The man himself shows a great understanding of how to utilize music in a motion picture, having compiled the entire soundtrack himself by hand, and winning a (deserved) Grammy in the process. Although there are moments where the message the music is intended to convey is rather more overt than it needed to be (Remy Zero's 'In the Waiting Line' played over a disconnected drug trip, for instance), for the most part the hip young indie romantics' lo-fi love story is complemented superbly by the music. Iron & Wine's rather lovely cover of The Postal Service's 'Such Great Heights' feels like it was written specifically for that moment when you wake up in bed with Natalie Portman.
Not having grown up in early 1960s America, I can only speculate as to the accuracy of George Lucas' ode to teenage life in swingin' California back in the day. That's right, George Lucas - remember when he made some good movies that weren't Star Wars? Didn't think so. However, even though my own teenage days were a world away from those experienced by Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard and the rest in American Graffiti, the movie still evokes a palpable second-hand nostalgia for the days of the sock hop and cruising the strip, and other such olden days American pastimes, and a large part of that is due to the inspired soundtrack choices. Harking back to the days when rock music still held the "n' roll" suffix, Lucas uses the soundtrack here as a framing device for the exploits of our four young protagonists on their final night following graduation. Guided by the voice of legendary broadcaster Wolfman Jack, with whom Lucas had a fascination as a child that's clearly evident here, the characters bop and swing through a variety of misadventures that always find them drawn back to the songs on the radio - indeed, one of the key scenes sees Dreyfuss' character, desperately searching for a mysterious blonde, present his dilemma to the DJ to broadcast her details on the airwaves. The selection of rock n' roll classics present in the film is simply staggering, with virtually every notable artist from the time period present in some shape or form (with the only significant exception of Elvis). Comprehensiveness is but one asset of the soundtrack though; the real genius lies in the way the songs and Wolfman's radio broadcast are interweaved with the narrative, giving the impression that youth and rock n' roll are simply inseparable, and making even a cynical modern rocker like myself wish he'd been around to give the decade a try.
The second week in a row that Tarantino's masterpiece features in 'Ten Deep', and while the soundtrack of Pulp Fiction may not have had quite the same impact on pop culture of the 90s as did Samuel L. Jackson's monologue from last week, it remains one of the vital soundtracks of the decade, and one of the charmed few that managed to take on a life of its own outside of the film that helped create it. QT is known for his eclectic and esoteric musical choices when it comes to soundtracking his movies, as proven in his debut feature which managed to single-handedly turn 'Little Green Bag' and 'Stuck in the Middle With You' into iconic cultural touchstones. Pulp Fiction did the same for surf guitar and 'Misirlou', which despite being covered by a thousand other artists apart from Dick Dale (including the abominable Black Eyed Peas version), remains synonymous with Tarantino's unique flavor of exciting 90s cinema. While surf rock does have somewhat of a stranglehold over the film, with cuts from The Tornadoes, The Centurions and The Lively Ones also making an appearance - and thus your mileage may vary, as while the genre is eminently suitable to provide the sounds of a QT bout of stylish violence and excess, it's certainly not for everyone - elsewhere there are some diverse selections which make you wonder how in the hell Tarantino managed to not only dream up such a bizarre compilation, but also make it work supremely well in the context. But then again, who else but the man who created a cinematic revolution could throw Kool & the Gang and Link Wray against the wall and make them form a cohesive whole? One of the most important soundtracks, from a young male demographic perspective, of the past twenty years.
The only entry this week where the soundtrack was compiled entirely by one artist, a practice that more often than not can lead to a dilemma whereby if you hate the artist, you'll hate the soundtrack (and thus the film), and vice versa. However, when it comes to a recording duo as legendary as S & G, it's a bit of a different matter, for the two possess somewhat of a musical Midas touch, a signature sound of vocal harmony so achingly lovely they can convey a lifetime of wistful melancholy in a single lyric. The perfect choice, then, to accompany Mike Nichols' study of an aimless, sexually uncomfortable young, yes, graduate and the older woman with whom he embarks upon a risky affair. With the accompanying recorded soundtrack release helping propel the erstwhile folk rockers to the top of the charts (unseating The Beatles, no less), The Graduate is a pitch-perfect example of a movie and a musical artist helping raise one another to previously unforeseen heights. While it's docked a few points for overusing the endlessly poignant 'The Sound of Silence' and for abbreviating 'Mrs Robinson' just a bit too heftily for what is one of the 60s' great pop songs, the soundtrack still flows with a grace and ease that's difficult to achieve with a conglomeration of various artists instead of one very accomplished artist. Apparently Nichols had to force Simon to write enough material for use within the film, with the origins of 'Mrs Robinson' intended by Simon for another meaning entirely. Let's just be thankful that Nichols had an astute ear and turned out to be persistent enough to get the full set of songs. For many, The Graduate was part of the sound of a restless youth, and the fact that it's impossible to look at Anne Bancroft ever since without thinking of Paul Simon's wonderful "woo woo woo" is testament to its enduring spirit.
This one may well be the dark horse of the list, but I could hardly leave it off given that the soundtrack to William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (to give it its slightly overbearing full title) is jam packed with alt-rock classics from my formative music-listening years a decade and a bit ago, as well as a barnstorming cover of Candi Staton's 'Young Hearts Run Free'. The film itself, an almost painfully modernized rendition of the Bard's most famousest work, may not be director Baz Luhrmann's finest outing behind the camera (that honor, of course, going to Strictly Ballroom... no, no, just kidding, Moulin Rouge), but when it comes to the aural accompaniment Romeo + Juliet goes out of its way to prove that for all its modernist trappings, it's not nearly as pretentious as some would have you believe. Although the overriding theme of the music is, naturally, love in a modern world (the theme is driven in fast and hard with 'Lovefool', Garbage's '#1 Crush' and the rest), the moments away from the slabs of solid gold pop-rock are the best, with the pensive, wild-west-tinged 'Talk Show Host' (remixed by Nellee Hooper, who also worked on the score) and a choral rendition of 'Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)' marking the moments where the film plays towards the tragic elements of the story. The real kicker comes at the closing credits, where after having enjoyed a film with, for the most part, a pretty uplifting soundtrack, Romeo and Juliet meet their fate and are played out to the strains of 'Exit Music (For a Film)', which may well be one of the most crushingly depressing songs ever written (as snappishly parodied in the final season of Irish sitcom Father Ted) and is the musical equivalent of a slow dose of cyanide... in a good way. While the film itself may well be looked back on these days as almost a period piece, attempting to capture the zeitgeist of 1996 with some heavy MTV influences, it's actually a work of more substance, and nowhere is that more accurately reflected than in the film's soundtrack.
If ever a soundtrack perfectly captured the mood of a film, it's Lost in Translation. Sofia Coppola's story of Bill Murray's world-weary and laconic actor, adrift in a place he doesn't know and a culture he doesn't understand with precious little to stave off the isolation, is perfectly encapsulated by the laidback and ambient soundtrack, and it's one of the primary factors that make the film one of the best of the past decade (of course, it also helps that the opening shot is of Scarlett Johansson's rather shapely derriere, which if you ask me is the way that every film should start). As Murray meets his young muse Johansson and develops a burgeoning relationship, the platonic love story plays out to the strains of a soundtrack that manages to embody both location and atmosphere to a fastidiously accurate degree. Star of the (aural) show is Kevin Shields, he of My Bloody Valentine fame, whose several contributions to the soundtrack prove the grounding point of the movie's music and set the tone upon which the other songs build to create a languid and mellifluous sonic structure. The inclusion of Air's low-key instrumental 'Alone in Kyoto' would, in any other movie, have lost points for such a glaringly unsubtle demonstration of song choice, but the composition itself is tight and appropriate enough that such concerns aren't warranted. However the musical landmark that proves the most memorable is Phoenix's 'Too Young', an irresistibly upbeat pop tune that nevertheless is imbued with sufficient melancholy to render it perfectly suitable to accompany Murray and Johansson's "romance". I fear that I'm becoming quite pretentious with all this sonic waffle, but Lost in Translation really does prove that a carefully constructed soundtrack can elevate a film to a higher plane. For those of you who ever wondered what it would sound like to advertise whiskey in Japan, then this is your answer.
I must hasten to admit that disco music is by no means the sort of thing I listen to on a regular basis, but you surely can't deny the success of Saturday Night Fever, the best selling soundtrack album of all time and progenitor of at least thirty seven uniquely identifiable dance crazes that swept the dancefloors of America, nay the world, in the late 70s following the film's release. Okay, so I'm hyperbolizing somewhat with the latter statement, given that I know precisely squat and diddle about this genre of music, but the former is a verifiable fact. Of course, popularity is never a fully reliable indicator of eminence, but in the case of SNF it's one of those times when public interest actually did manage to coincide with a superior quality product. The film, of course, follows John Travolta's rise to fame as a philandering funkster with a particularly fine groove (for a honkey, at least), and his quest to see just how many chicks he can boff via the power of his shiny white dress suit and superfly dance moves (answer: all of them). Yet, for as insubstantial as the plot appears to be, the movie is utterly compelling thanks to the raw disco power of its soundtrack. The Bee Gees are the most notable artist to be featured, holding particular interest for me since one of them bought a house next door to my friend Big Rob. No word on whether said popster gardens in the nude or anything salacious. Pretty much every tune of theirs featured here makes you want to bust some moves and sing along in a ridiculous falsetto, which I can guarantee every one of you has done to 'Stayin' Alive' at some point. The classics come thick and fast, with the legendary 'Disco Inferno' being the pick of the non-Gees crop. The simple fact that makes the soundtrack so brilliant is that the film presents it in such an uncomplicated manner: look how much fun it is to dance to these awesome songs, and see how cool you too can be if you listen to them. Even hairy metalheads like myself can't deride the boogie.
For its own sake, a movie about a music snob who owns a record store better have itself a decent mixtape, or it's going to fall flat on its face. Thankfully for fans of Nick Hornby's novel, High Fidelity provides just as good a soundtrack as its reputation would dictate. With around sixty (give or take) songs appearing throughout the film, encompassing artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Stereolab, Aretha Franklin and The Chemical Brothers, it's clear a lot of man-hours were spent on researching what by its very nature had to be an intricate collection of music. John Cusack as the film's protagonist Rob is a man who pretty much defines the term audiophile, from running a record store to organizing his record collection autobiographically, to eventually setting up his own record label, so it's clear that the tunes that accompany the man's series of adventures in romance and retail has to be top-notch in order for the conceit to pass muster... and it proves just that. Whether referencing songs directly (the great scene where Rob shifts some copies of The Beta Band's latest album by playing their record in the store, and the movie grossly cheats by skipping directly to the catchiest part of the song, or Jack Black's inspired rendition of 'Let's Get It On') or in passing (an imaginary conversation with Bruce Springsteen in which Cusack seeks some lovelife advice from the Boss), High Fidelity knows exactly what piece of music to play at any given moment, with even relatively obscure numbers like Harry Nilsson's 'Moonbeam Song' cropping up at just the right time to feel satisfying. While the film's characters maybe musical elitists, the soundtrack at least draws on the right side of that particular character trait with a cornucopia of classics representing everything that's good about being choosy with your tunes.
This is the one entry in the list that I was worried might contravene one of my criteria from the outset, since the leads' performance of 'I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow' in their persona of The Soggy Bottom Boys does drive a few key events in the film. However, I relented in the end, since the performance isn't quite as central to the narrative as in some of the aforementioned excluded films, and besides, what a shame it would be to leave this one out. The story of escaped convicts George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson on the hunt for a giant red herring of a pot of gold takes in a variety of older-than-old school American music from country and bluegrass to gospel and the blues, with some ethereal vocal harmonies from the likes of Alison Krauss and Ralph Stanley providing the unassuming backdrop to a modern-day retelling of Homer's Odyssey. The depression-era setting of the film is the perfect melting pot for a blend of traditional music quite unlike anything else in this week's column, and it's partly for this idiosyncrasy that it's listed so close to the top this week. Despite the vast majority of the recordings being performed by contemporary artists, each and every song evokes the old-fashioned sounds of the Deep South with a style unmatched by anything else in memory. While ostensibly it's the Boys' soundtrack (fronted in real life by bluegrass musician Dan Tyminski, although Clooney does a pretty good job of miming), it's the incidental offerings from the likes of Krauss and Chris King (appearing in the film as a thinly veiled take on legendary bluesman and inveterate soul-seller Robert Johnson) that play a greater part in establishing O Brother as one of the most unique and memorable soundtracks in all cinema.
I have to confess I haven't watched Dazed and Confused in years and years, but even the briefest dalliance with attempting to recall the film simply brings back the endless stream of classic rock that sweeps through the film. I'll have to betray my allegiances to rock music here, but for me there's simply no surpassing the collection of greats to be found on this film's soundtrack. Richard Linklater certainly knew what he was doing when he set out to chronicle the lives of a group of schoolkids in the mid-70s, because hot damn did he get the song selection right. Just take a gander at the artists present - Aerosmith, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, ZZ Top, Sweet, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Black Sabbath, Peter Frampton, Kiss, Ted Nugent, Foghat... it's as impressive, if not more so, than the list of the ensemble cast who would go on to become stars, and it works pretty much as a "greatest hits" compilation of the premier popular rock songs to come out of the decade, and what's more it's the perfect genre with which to soundtrack the rambunctious and infectious energy of the last day of high school. The film is, in many ways, to the 1970s what American Grafitti was to the 1960s, an affectionate portrait of teenage life that realizes that music is the premier instrument (forgive the pun) through which to examine the ins and outs of young people at any age, in any place. It just so happens that, sorry, the mid-70s had better songs than the early 60s. Controversy! Still, I'm going to stand by that, and if you can't watch 'Dazed and Confused' and leave the film tapping your foot and playing air guitar, you probably don't cast a reflection. And besides, if 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' isn't the perfect accompaniment to freshman hazing, then I don't know what is.
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And finally…
Feeling aggrieved or elated at this week's ten picks? Then let me know! The magic of the interweb allows you to post your comments right here on this very page, and if they're especially insightful (or idiotic), I may even respond in the next column. Be sure to tune in next week for another edition of 'Ten Deep', but until then - keep watching the skies.
Posted By: thedouce (Guest) on August 05, 2009 at 11:17 PM
Missed on a few essentials:
The Crow
Ghost Town
Posted By: Yoni (Guest) on August 05, 2009 at 11:23 PM
No Blues Brothers? No Forrest Gump? Not even honorable mentions? That was a gross oversight.
Posted By: Craig (Guest) on August 05, 2009 at 11:27 PM
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Soundtrack and Forrest Gump Soundtrack.
Posted By: mr_awesome (Guest) on August 05, 2009 at 11:39 PM
You missed two that should be obvious;
1. The Big Chill
2. Judgement Night
I would lose Dazed and Confused and Saturday Night Fever and add those two. But besides that, great list.
Posted By: Joe (Guest) on August 05, 2009 at 11:42 PM
Forrest Gump?
Watchmen?
South Park?
Okay maybe not "South Park," even though it rocks.
Posted By: Guest#7701 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 12:11 AM
Great list, I love all the soundtracks on that list, with the exception of High Fidelity, which I haven't seen yet. Personally my top ten would include all of Tarantino's films' soundtracks, I think his soundtrack for Jackie Brown is the best. And thank you for including Romeo+Juliet, Talk Show Host is probably the best Radiohead song ever!
Posted By: Guest#4688 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 12:17 AM
Good list, though no respect was paid to the masters of the soundtrack...Wes Anderson and co. Every film he has directed was accompanied by an awesome soundtrack.
Also props to the Death Proof soundtrack.
Posted By: Guest#7930 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 12:20 AM
No "Crow" = bogus list.
Posted By: Peter (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 12:56 AM
Props for including O Brother. Good work.
Posted By: MBD (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 12:58 AM
I've always liked Love Actually's soundtrack.
Posted By: The Great Capt. Smooth (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 05:40 AM
Singles is better than your entire list.
Posted By: guest (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 07:20 AM
Blues Brothers
Forrest Gump
Almost Famous
PCU
Posted By: Marksman (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 07:27 AM
The Crow DEFINITELY deserves to be on this list. Props for adding High Fidelity & Garden State which are also awesome scores.
Posted By: M:-X (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 08:07 AM
When you know a bit about the bands they discuss in High Fidelity, it makes some of the jokes more amusing, like how "Dry the Rain" is one of the few good Beta Band songs (while most of the rest of their stuff is rather lame). However, Dry the Rain is a great song on its own, and even better: this Soundtrack has 2 Velvet Underground songs on it.
Posted By: Madcap Unlimited (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 08:10 AM
Major props for selecting 'Dazed and Confused' as your number one. I feel like that soundtrack gets overlooked by a lot of people. Both volumes contain a who's who of 70's rock Gods. I was bummed out when I purchased to album hoping that it would have 'Sweet Emotion' on it and it didn't. I heard rumors from people at the time that it wasn't on the soundtrack because the film makers had goofed and the song hadn't come out yet during the time that the movie was set. This was incorrect however as Toys in the Attic (the album from whence Sweet Emotion came) actually came out in April of 1975. The movie takes place in the Summer of '76. Must have been a copyright issue.
Posted By: HBK (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 08:14 AM
Great list. Some suggestions:
1) Say Anything
2) Fast Times at Ridgemont High
3) Heavy Metal
Really nice column!
Posted By: scott04 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 08:16 AM
Why the Pulp Fiction soundtrack should be higher: IT HAS A DUSTY SPRINGFIELD SONG ON IT. (I'd suggest the original Casino Royale ST for the same reason, and it has some great Herb Alpert tunes too)
#1 Crush from R+J...whenever I hear it, I always think of the Beulah video from ECW that used that song.
Posted By: James (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 08:21 AM
Man, what about the Crow OST?? i love that album and the movie..
Posted By: Sedusp (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 08:38 AM
Last Action Hero and the Crow both had kick ass soundtracks.
Posted By: Captain_America (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 08:45 AM
The Vol. 2 soundtrack for Romeo + Juliet deserves a mention as well. The Craig Armstrong score is in full force and with the dialogue interjections, the album plays like an opera. Great stuff...
Posted By: Sirois! (Registered) on August 06, 2009 at 08:46 AM
Singles soundtrack, no mention at all?
Posted By: buddy (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 09:36 AM
dazed is #1...hell yes
its like an ipod playlist of classic rock awesomeness
Posted By: Guest#7765 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 09:39 AM
You left off Brando's "I could've been a contender..." last week.
This week you leave off "Judgment Night" ,"The Crow" & "Forrest Gump". How can I take anything you say seriously?
Posted By: MydniteSon (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 09:42 AM
Woot!! for High Fidelity!
Posted By: tris (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 10:50 AM
Any film whose soundtrack which I, a then 24 year old and my uncle who was 72 at the time can enjoy, deserves to be mentioned. Thank you for including O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Posted By: Antigomus (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 10:53 AM
how about queen of the dammned
Posted By: punish (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Where the Hell is PURPLE RAIN!!!
Posted By: neilx (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 11:41 AM
Good looking out for your list – all great soundtracks.
I would include “Purple Rain” in there as well. I mean, Prince...C’mon...It’s F’N PRINCE!
Posted By: The 8th Samurai (Registered) on August 06, 2009 at 12:02 PM
Yeah...you forgot the Power Rangers Soundtrack...
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher Ground
Devo - Are You Ready?
Van Halen - Dreams
Shampoo - Trouble
The "Free Ride" (cover)
Snap! - Power
Not to mention the main theme!
such a rocking soundtrack...not even kidding!
Posted By: James (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 12:23 PM
Where is the 8 Mile Soundtrack? Oh that's right, I forgot I was looking at a list compiled by a writer for this site. My bad
Posted By: El Chupa Nibre (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 12:38 PM
What happened to Grease 2? I'm a cool rider
Posted By: guest (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 01:04 PM
what about Reproduction, Cool Rider, DO IT for our country? Classics if I ever heard one.
Posted By: Michael Carrington (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 01:11 PM
1.) Queen Of Th Damned
2.) Resident Evil (the first one)
Posted By: kornwookie85 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 01:13 PM
There are three obvious omissions:
Singles-snapshot of every band that mattered in Seattle at the height of grunge-Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Chris Cornell, Mudhoney, plus Paul Westerberg, and the Lovemongers and Jimi Hendrix!
Last Action Hero: admittedly the soundtrack was better than the film, but the soundtrack drove all of the good parts of the film. AC/DC (Big Gun), Megadeath (Angry Again), Def Lep (Two Steps Behind), two Alice in Chains song (What the Hell Have I, Little Bitter), Queensryche (Real World!), Tesla, Aerosmith all contributed quality tracks to this one.
Transformers Soundtrack-fantastic cheesy 80's soundtrack. Stan Bush's Dare and "The Touch" are just awesomely bloated and over the top, Vince DiCola beautiful synth instrumentals, and three bands trying to be Quiet Riot in N.R.G (Instruments of Destruction), Lion (trying to make something out the TF theme song and the movie plot-so, so bad), and two songs from Spectre General (Hunger, Nothing's Gonna Stand in Our Way) plus Weird Al's Dare to Be Stupid and you have a perfect 80's soundtrack.
Posted By: Cory (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 01:34 PM
You can toss Lost in Translation and probably Garden State.
The Big Chill is an unforgiveable ommission. And I'm thinking that some of the blaxplotation films of the 70's could get some love - Superfly or Shaft being at the top of the list.
Posted By: BobbyC (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 01:59 PM
did anyone actually read the bit where he said that he only includes things that he is personally familiar with? it is entirely possible that the omissions many are complaining about either, in his opinion, are not good enough for his list or are soundtracks he is unfamiliar with.
try reading all the bits before the list. quite educational.
as for my opinion, the ONLY thing that i like about tarantino is his soundtracks, i would have tossed out garden state and included Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. May not necessarily qualify, but it is a fantasticly subdued score.
Posted By: Darth Mortis (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 02:23 PM
the soundtrack to the Spawn movie.
Posted By: no sir jenkins (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 02:36 PM
swordfish
valentine
queen of the damned
scream 3
None of these 411?!?
Posted By: Guest#4194 (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 03:56 PM
What about Oliver Stones "The Doors"?
Posted By: russ (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 04:12 PM
How you skipped over both "Singles" and "Airheads", I will never know.
Posted By: sprawlandbrawl (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 04:14 PM
There's been mention of Prince and the Revolution's "Purple Rain" soundtrack (and I totally agree that it's one of the best movie soundtracks ever), but what about Prince's "Batman" soundtrack? Okay, I'm somewhat serious and somewhat joking with that. That's more of a personal favorite I suppose.
But there are a few I have to mention aside from those. They're definitely favorites, but I don't know if I consider every one of them to be some of the best ever:
- The Matrix
- Mortal Kombat
- Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (definitely better than the movie, IMO, but I don't think I'd throw it in the "best ever" category.)
- Outkast's "Idlewild"
- Daft Punk's "Discovery" for Interstella: 5555 (although I feel like I'm cheating on that one.)
- Pink Floyd's "The Wall" (see Daft Punk.)
- Batman & Robin (see MK:A.)
- Batman Forever
And then there are movie scores, but that's another list for another time.
Posted By: justwaveyourhandsintheair (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 04:42 PM
Purple Rain,Grosse Point Blank, Singles and so many more. This list is bogus.
Posted By: Frank (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 05:08 PM
Purple Rain,Grosse Point Blank, Singles and so many more. This list is bogus.
Posted By: Frank (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 05:10 PM
Almost Famous.
Posted By: Matt (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 05:41 PM
gross point blank
into the wild
control
Posted By: doomhands (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 06:34 PM
Goodfellas is the best!
Posted By: Drew (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 07:03 PM
C'mon how could you leave out Forest Gump, Judgment Night, or Natural Born Killers?!
Posted By: Guest (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 07:39 PM
Watchmen definitely deserves to be on here. You talk about Lost in Translation perfectly capturing a movie, I got goosebumps when "The Times They Are A-Changin'" started to play.
Posted By: Blode (Guest) on August 06, 2009 at 10:31 PM
Some of the people posting comments should really read the WHOLE article before complaining, as stated by Mr Brimfield, "no films where the songs are performed as a central part of the narrative (so bye-bye ... sadly, The Blues Brothers" also
"As always, there's one golden rule: if I haven't seen it, it's not allowed on the list.
This week's golden rule notable omissions: The Big Chill, Singles, Slumdog Millionaire, Superfly"
Posted By: Sgt. Cockburn (Guest) on August 11, 2009 at 04:01 AM
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