There's a bunch of them, but off the top of my head:
The Graduate - Simon and Garfunkel Harold and Maude - Cat Stevens Blade Runner - Vangelis World Traveler - Willie Nelson, etc.. Macarthur Park - (various)
I guess I'm thinking more about a soundtrack that was integral to the film or you couldn't imagine the film without that music.
For one I just have to go with the Forest Gump soundtrack. The tracks were so in tune with the times of the movie and for us older ones it bought back even more memories of those times. For me it was the perfect reflection of the times the movie was set in.
And while I know it isn't for everybody, I loved the Soundtrack of O Brother Where Art Thou. It seems a lot of people agree because it made it to #1.
While it's a lesser know film I also really like the soundtrack to Dazed and Confused. Set in the summer of the mid 1976 when kids of my age thought cruising was some great pastime and it was the year I turned 18. It's filled with songs of that era we heard on the radio.
And who could forget the Goodfellas soundtrack?
I'm sure the soundtracks people favor will vary greatly depending on their musical interests and age but these are some of mine.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I agree on Brother where art thou and Dazed and confused, I think it's the soundtracks that get me to sit and watch it again when I stumble upon it on the TV on a weekend.
We don't have to agree with each other, to respect each others opinion.
I haven't seen The Commitments in years - a good one.
Agree with O Brother....
I haven't seen nor heard of the Pat Garrett one. I'll check it out.
Another few after thinking about it a bit more:
Honeysuckle Rose Bringing Out the Dead (Van Morrison, etc) American Hustle (Ellington, CTA, ELO)
A film like The Descendants, though (whether you like George Clooney or not), could not have existed as it did without the fantastic Hawaiin soundtrack.
BTW, for those who have seen it - I remember Ann Margret does one of the most brilliant, insane and schizoid dance numbers I've ever seen. Too lazy to pull it from YouTube.
BTW, for those who have seen it - I remember Ann Margret does one of the most brilliant, insane and schizoid dance numbers I've ever seen. Too lazy to pull it from YouTube.
We saw Ann Margret do a production of Best Little Whorehouse here in Baltimore. She was fun.
There are so many that it's hard to choose. Might have to do installments. I like a lot of the ones already mentioned, such as Goodfellas, American Hustle, The Bodyguard, Dazed and Confused. I like Quadrophenia over Tommy, but that's just me. "Love, Reign o'er Me" is a truly powerful and beautiful song.
I have a couple of others for now.
Apocalypse Now Pulp Fiction The Breakfast Club Lion King
I remember reading something about Tarantino and his choices of music for his movies. I can't find that article now, but here is an excerpt from another article that might be good enough.
Quote
Certain directors harness the embalming emotional catalyst of music more readily and profusely than others. Quentin Tarantino is one of those directors.
“One of the things I do when I am starting a movie, when I’m writing a movie, or when I have an idea for a film,” Tarantino writes for the liner notes of his soundtrack compilation, “Is I go through my record collection and just start playing songs, trying to find the personality of the movie, find the spirit of the movie. Then, ‘boom,’ eventually I’ll hit one, two or three songs, or one song in particular, ‘Oh, this will be a great opening credit song.’”
With that in mind, is there a more immediately memorable title sequence in movie history than that great Dick Dale bass insanity, ‘Miserlou’, that blasts off Pulp Fiction to a sonic blitzkrieg of excitement?
The anticipation of action is in place before the opening credits have even faded, as Tarantino explains: “Having ‘Miserlou’ as your opening credit is just so intense. It just says, ‘You are watching an epic, you are watching this big old movie just sit back.’ It’s so loud and blearing at you, a gauntlet is thrown down that the movie has to live up to.” He is undeniably right too; the song offers a first impression that is branded on the viewer’s sensibility throughout.
It is a firm introductory handshake that reveals a lot about the person the hand is attached to. Pulp Fiction then goes on to impart many more iconic movie music moments, in twisting dance scenes backed by the perfectly curated ‘You Never Can Tell’ by the rock music luminary Chuck Berry, or the hi-fi sexy tension punctuator ‘Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon’ by Urge Overkill.
Tarantino dabbles in the realms of musical foreshadowing, action enhancement, stirring coalescences of drama and sound and sometimes the simple and reliable movie embellishment of a great song being preferable to silence between scenes. If you can afford Al Green’s sumptuous soul sensation ‘Let’s Stay Together’ then why not toss it in the mix?
Such poignant deployment of soundtrack moments is, however, a fine art. Tarantino illustrates how these scintillating scores that transport ‘edge-of-your-seat-stuff’ from tired cliché to tangible reality, don’t come without due forethought, “When you do it right and you hit it right then the effect is you can never really hear this song again without thinking about that image from the movie.” That is a notion that could certainly be applied to ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ by Stealers Wheel, a song that is now forever tethered to the grisly image of ear slicing for anyone who has ever seen Reservoir Dogs or tuned into the golden oldies on the fictional K-Billy radio station.
Tarantino describes the monumental importance and craft of the soundtrack as “just about as cinematic a thing as you can do. You are really doing what movies do better than any other art form; it really works in this visceral, emotional, cinematic way that’s just really special.”
The other thing that comes to mind is the difference between a soundtrack constructed of existing music vs. an original score. An original score is easier to forget I think, but maybe equally powerful.
I already mentioned the Blade Runner stuff, but (after looking through my DVD collection) a couple scores stuck out:
Solaris (remake) Paris, Texas - Ry Cooder Requiem for a Dream
Also, as far as musicals (as lampdogg brought up), the original scores like Rocky Horror are right up there. Even if you don't like the movie, the soundtrack is classic.
Because of my undying love for Olivia Newton-John, I'll bring up Grease. Only about half of it was original, but who cares?
Purple Rain was a pretty great soundtrack, as was Saturday Night Fever. (disco has grown on me slightly over the years)
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
Purple Rain was a pretty great soundtrack, as was Saturday Night Fever. (disco has grown on me slightly over the years)
You're right about Purple Rain in the sense that it was more than just important to the movie, but absolutely necessary. I saw it once years ago, and I can't tell you one thing about the story. But I'd still recognize some of the songs. He was a talented guy.
As far as disco goes, I think it gets a bad rap sometimes. Like any other genre, there is good and bad. Good = Bee Gees, Heatwave and a few others. Even Average White Band and Earth Wind and Fire dabbled in it, and it sounded good. Bad Disco = most of the rest of it.
I forgot to add the Easy Rider soundtrack to one of the classics.
Purple Rain was a pretty great soundtrack, as was Saturday Night Fever. (disco has grown on me slightly over the years)
No man....disco was cool to put down, but it was darn good to dancing music. Kind of like bluegrass or rock-a-billy. People put it down, as they are tapping their foot to it.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
That's the thing about music. People with varying tastes in music see things differently. As with most genres of music there were some good disco songs. As on overall genre I found it extremely lacking. In every genre there are certain groups, singers and bands I like and those I don't. Disco had far more artists I didn't care for than those that I did care for. But I do understand that there are others who don't share that view.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
I mentioned it above, but for Ry Cooder fans: his soundtrack for "Paris, Texas" was excellent, sparse and good for the desert. Harry Dean Stanton 's best, imo. A fantastic movie with fantastic guitar.
I never knew much about the Kronos Quartet before the film "Requiem for a Dream", but that was a powerful, original score. The last ten minutes alone will disturb you for weeks.
My lady friend also reminded me about the documentary "American Hollow". We rewatched it awhile back. Bill Frisell composed the score. Musicians will recognize his name.
Sometimes minimal sounds work for the film better.
Okay, now you've gone and done it! Now I'm going to have to stream the movie Paris Texas again on HBO plus. Rye Cooder is fantastic and so is that movie.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
Eddie and the Cruisers had a pretty good soundtrack as well. John Cafferty is really underrated.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
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