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Top 15 Movie Soundtracks
Last week, Turner Classic Movies published a list of the 15 Most Influential Film Soundtracks. The earliest entry on the list is King Kong (1933) and the most recent is Star Wars (1977). TCM made their selections based on several criteria “including the impact they have had on how music is used onscreen to tell a story and on the methodology of song selection. Their influence is also defined by their impact on pop culture.”
Apart from the fact that there are a handful of films on the list—Alexander Nevsky (1938), Blackboard Jungle (1955), A Hard Day’s Night (1964) and Saturday Night Fever (1977)—that I’ve never seen, I have no quarrel with the TCM list. I can point to a particular piece (or cue) in each soundtrack as having some influence on me personally, even if it’s just as a pop culture reference that I can be certain a majority of people will understand. Fifty years after the release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, you’d probably be hard-pressed to find someone under the age of thirty (and maybe younger) who doesn’t associate a certain, screeching violin cue with an impending shower stabbing. As far as I can tell, every soundtrack TCM lists is very qualified to be there.
On the other hand, I have no desire to queue up Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho score when I’m driving around or relaxing on a Sunday afternoon. As influential as that score might be, I don’t find it particularly enjoyable. What makes a soundtrack influential and what makes it one of my favorites are two very different things. So here, in chronological order, are my Top 15 Movie Soundtracks (of OMG, EVAR!). Why fifteen? Because I’m dividing them into two separate lists: Scores (typically instrumental, composed and conducted by a single person) and Ensemble Soundtracks (typically comprised of songs by various artists).
Top 10 Movie Scores
- Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by John Williams. What does this soundtrack have that the original didn’t? A little ditty called “The Imperial March”, that’s what. Bum-bum-bum, bum-pa-bum, bum-pa-bum…
- Blade Runner (1982) by Vangelis.
Vangelis’ score for Chariots of Fire (1981) may have won the Greek composer an Academy Award, but Blade Runner resonates more powerfully with me. I’m tempted to give his score for 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) an Honorable Mention, but I wouldn’t want to come off as a Vangelis fanboy. - Akira (1988) by Shoji Yamashiro. This is an album I play when I want to be alone, mostly because the sound of it is generally enough to drive my wife from the room; I suspect it has something to do with the mildly-discordant vocals or the occasionally cacophonous (and arrhythmic) percussion.
- Batman (1989) by Danny Elfman. The soundtrack album for Tim Burton’s Batman features music by pop legend Prince, which I felt was a waste of perfectly good magnetic tape. Thankfully, Warner Bros. also release Danny Elfman’s excellent score, which has since been used in Batman: The Animated Series as well as the LEGO Batman video game. In the years immediately following Batman, much of Elfman’s work for film and television sounded very Batman-like—especially his scores for Darkman (1990) and The Flash (1990)—but he seems to have broken free more recently and his score is still one of my very favorites.
- The Hunt for Red October (1990) by Basil Poledouris. Sadly, the official soundtrack album for The Hunt for Red October is incomplete and the tracks are not arranged in the order in which they appear in the film (they were apparently rearranged to allow them to fit properly on a two-sided cassette tape). It’s still a powerful, dramatic score; quite possibly Poledouris’ best work, though fans of Conan the Barbarian (1982) might disagree.
- The Last of the Mohicans (1992) by Randy Edelman and Trevor Jones. Sweeping, romantic, dramatic and sometimes frantic, Jones and Edelman’s score has a lot going on, and it all works pretty well. The closing tune (“I Will Find You”) from Irish group Clannad is icing on the cake.
- Medicine Man (1992) by Jerry Goldsmith. I’ll be honest: I wouldn’t know genuine Brazilian music if it bit me on the ass, but Goldsmith’s score for Medicine Man—filled with perky flute, percussion and strings—certainly evokes a tropical rain forest feeling to me (malaria not included).
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) by Tan Dun. Perhaps the most melancholy score ever associated with a kung-fu movie; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon does have has its up-tempo moments, but it is Yo-Yo Ma’s mournful cello that makes the music memorable.
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) by Howard Shore. Nothing short of “epic” could describe Shore’s score to the first in Peter Jackson’s eighty-four hour trilogy.
- Batman Begins (2005) by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer. Rather than stick with Danny Elfman’s “classic” Batman motif, the reboot of the caped crusader took the music in an entirely new direction. The result is a deeper, darker sound, every bit as suitable to the dark knight detective, if not quite as hummable as Elfman’s theme.
Top 5 Ensemble Soundtracks
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). Sadly, no official soundtrack has ever been released for this movie. Choice songs include “Danke Schoen” by Wayne Newton, “Twist and Shout” by The Beatles and “Oh Yeah” by Yello.
- The Crying Game (1992).
Choice tracks: “The Crying Game” by Dave Berry, “The Crying Game” by Boy George, and “Stand By Your Man” by Lyle Lovett. - Blown Away (1994). Choice tracks: “In the Morning” by Big Head Todd & The Monsters, “Return to Me” by October Project, “With or Without You” by U2, and “Take Me Home” by Joe Cocker and Bekka Bramlett.
- Magnolia (1999). Choice tracks: “One”, “Deathly”, “Save Me” and “Wise Up”, all by Aimee Mann, and “Goodbye Stranger” by Supertramp.
- O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000). Choice tracks: “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” by Chris Thomas King, “Didn’t Leave Nobody But the Baby” by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Gillian Welch, “In the Jailhouse Now” by The Soggy Bottom Boys (featuring vocals by Tim Blake Nelson).
Honorable Mention
- Legend (1985) by Tangerine Dream, featuring “Is Your Love Strong Enough” by Bryan Ferry and “Loved by the Sun” with lyrics written and performed by Jon Anderson. The original European release of Legend featured a score by Jerry Goldsmith, but that was replaced with the Tangerine Dream score for the U.S. release. I’ve not heard much of the Goldsmith version, so I don’t know whether it deserves an entry of its own.
- The Princess Bride (1987) by Mark Knopfler.
The simple, guitar-driven theme works exceptionally well, even if some people think the lyrics Knopfler sings over the end credits are corny. - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) by Wojciech Kilar. I have to be in a particular mood to listen to this score, namely the mood to gnaw on Winona Ryder’s jugular vein.
- Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004) by Edward Shearmur. Heroes don’t come much pulpier than Sky Captain, and Shearmur’s score is full of bombast and bravado, a perfect pulp anthem.
- Rogue (2007) by François Tetaz. An honorable mention for the score from a film about a killer crocodile? Yes, indeed. My love for killer croc movies is well-documented, but even I was a bit surprised.
- Moon (2009) by Clint Mansell. I know what you’re thinking: You only saw this movie a week ago, Johnson. Is Mansell’s score really that good? I think it is, yes, though I have to admit that I don’t actually own the album. Yet.
But What About…?
Here are a handful of films that may or may not have great soundtracks, and why they’re not on any of the lists above.
- The Godfather (1972) by Carmine Coppola and Nino Rota. This one consistently makes “Top X Movie Score/Soundtrack” lists, so why didn’t I include it? Simple: I’ve never seen the movie.
- The Blues Brothers (1980)
featuring songs performed by The Blues Brothers, James Brown, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and various other artists. Why didn’t I include it? Because it’s a musical, that’s why, and musicals don’t count. Ditto for Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Chicago (2002). Who says musicals don’t count? I do. And that goes double for animated musicals. - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) by John Williams. The collected film scores of John Williams would probably make up 30-60% of this list, but if I’m limiting Vangelis to a single entry it’s only fair that Williams be limited to one, too. So Raiders isn’t eligible; nor are Jurassic Park (1993) and Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone (2001).
- Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Dead Man’s End (2003-7) by Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer. I love the zippy, synthabrass, swashbuckling anthem, but I wanted to limit myself to one Zimmer score and Batman Begins took the ring.
Did I leave something off these lists? Of course not; they are all exhaustive and complete. However, I understand that such things are entirely subjective, so by all means feel free to nominate your own scores and soundtracks, point out how ego-centric it is that my lists are confined entirely to films that were released within my own lifetime and otherwise call into question my judgment and musical taste.
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Website: http://kjtoo.com/
About The Secret Lair
The Secret Lair is a podcast and blog which follows the real life adventures of Kris Johnson and Chris Miller. Together with their staff of contributors and countless minions, they seek to dominate the planet, or at least the tri-county area, using the twin weapons of Discussion and Overwhelming Opinion. And zombies. And maybe a Death Ray. Or two.
The Patriot! I have never seen the movie, but whenever I hear the score I immediately think “Wow, that’s good, I need to find out what it is and buy it…” It is excellent, sweeping, epic, and I need to buy it. I also really need to buy a couple of the ones you mentioned (particularly Princess Bride & Skycaptain)
@Nycteris — The Patriot is another score by John Williams and falls under my arbitrarily-imposed “One Entry Per Composer” rule. That said, I’ll have to go back and listen to it, as I cannot recall its epic, sweeping excellence off the top of my head. Really, I only remember The Patriot for having the best Mel Gibson Flip Out Moment of any film.
Two personal faves of mine, not in your “exhaustive” list, are Angel Heart which has a great noir feel to it and Koyaanisqatsi which is awesome!
I also really liked The Rocketeer, but I am not sure it ranks with “the best evar”.
I’ll throw down with:
Constantine: Great for its weirdly compelling atmosphere.
Dark City: Dynamic and Dark.
@Chris Miller — I love Dark City as a movie, but I can’t remember any of the music off the top of my head. Trevor Jones (The Last of the Mohicans) was the composer on that one. As for Constantine, I don’t think I found anything compelling about that movie, but perhaps I need to hear Badelt and Tyler’s score without the Keanu Reeves accompaniment.
@Nycteris — I was looking for a James Horner score worthy enough of being included on the list, and The Rocketeer was in the running, as was some of his work for the Star Trek films, but ultimately I just couldn’t recall enough of the music to justify slotting Horner in; I probably should have given him an Honorable Mention for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
@David Mead — I’ve not seen either film you cite, and I’m having a hard time believe something Koyaanisqatsi even exists, but the all-knowing Wikipedia informs me that it does and that Philip Glass composed the score. As it happens, Glass almost got a co-nod with Burkhard Dallwitz for The Truman Show. Almost.
I offer one of my personal favorites: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen!
Some others to add to the list:
Seeing as I’m a big fan of Clint Mansell’s soundtracks, I’ll point out some of his other works. The ensemble soundtrack (I really like the distinction in terms) for PI is an excellent primer into electronic music.
Mansell’s soundtrack for ‘Requiem for a Dream’ included the Kronos Quartet, and a theme called ‘Lux Aeterna’ that’s been remixed into so many different formats (seen in a symphonic version in the trailer for the Two Towers, for one). Haunting violin stuff.
And of course there’s The Fountain. One of my favorite scores ever, I think. Surging symphonic chords, somber piano moments, emotional swells.
Koyaanisquatsi does indeed exist, though it was very rare and hard to find until only a few years ago when it was re-released on DVD. Before that it existed mostly on carefully-guarded VHS, which is how I saw it back in college.
Related to that, with another good soundtrack, is the movie Baraka. It was shot and directed by Ron Fricke, who was the head cinematographer on Koyaanisquatsi, and is in a similar style (music and visuals, no narration or plot), but considerably more uplifting in places (i.e. it doesn’t end on an exploding rocket). Highly recommended to see at least once in a lifetime.
Where is requiem for a dream clint mansell
Kudos for having Blade Runner at number two!
I would be remiss not to say that I am one of those who thinks that Basil’s “Conan” is his better work, but “Red October” is most excellent, too.
I personally would have put Howard Shore’s “Fellowship” at the top rather than the bottom, followed by Vangelis’ “Blade Runner” and Williams “Star Wars” stuff. And if I were to pick a Jerry Goldsmith work, I would have chosen “Rudy” instead – but that is just my “Notre Dame as my alma mater” bias showing (considering I was on campus for my senior year while they were filming the movie). Of course, Goldsmith’s “Rudy” work gets played at times other than showings of the movie itself, including various other movie trailers, and the Olympics broadcasts. So it can’t be all that bad, really…
Other than that, this is a great list – well done!
@Chris — Thanks for the comment! Alas, I’ve never seen Rudy, mostly because it triggers my “Eww! Sports Movie!” gag reflex. In terms of Poledouris soundtracks, I think Miscellaneous G would agree that Conan is superior, but I love, love, love the soundtrack for The Hunt for Red October.