What makes a great soundtrack?
The marriage of action with visuals?
The creation of a unique atmosphere?
The use of familiar music in an unexpected way?
The introduction to a genre or artist you’ve never heard before?
Any of these would work for me – you will very rarely find all in one movie but any one can make the difference between a good movie and an out-and-out classic.
Here is a list (with a few clips) of sixteen of my favourites in A-Z order.
Note : not one of them is by the ubiquitous Hans Zimmer!
BLUE VELVET
Roy Orbison’s In Dreams seemed an innocent song of unrequited love until Lynch included it the movie as nasty Frank Booth’s favourite tune. Other highlights are Bobbie Vinton title tune and the gorgeous Mysteries of Love.
THE CROW
A check list of kick-ass indie metal bands (The Cure, NIN, Rage Against The Machine) alongside Jane Siberry’s poignant It Can’t Rain All The Time.
FEARLESS
Peter Weir’s movie is memorable for me because through it I discovered the amazing recording of Gorecki’s No.3 Symphony , used in the movie during the plane crash sequence.
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY
Ennio Morricone and Sergio Leone was a match made in heaven and this is a truly unforgettable movie/soundtrack.
KOYAANISQATSI
Phillip Glass has written some great scores (Mishimi, The Thin Blue Line, Hours etc) but this is surely his masterpiece; a breathtaking fusion of sound and vision as we watch the planet on a fast forward path to self-destruction.
THE LIMITS OF CONTROL
Jim Jarmusch is one of the great rock’n’roll directors and he gives the music a central role instead of confining it to background musak. Tracks by Boris and Sunn 0)) and Schubert on the soundtrack work brilliantly.
MARIE ANTOINETTE
A high risk move on the part of Sophia Coppola to mix 18th century music with 20th century pop but she just about pulls it off. Includes Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Strokes, Bow Wow Wow and many more.
MORVERN CALLAR
Great novel, so-so movie, ace soundtrack. The songs are from the mixtape of the dead author, gifted to Morvern as a ‘remember me this way’ gesture before topping himself. Includes Can, Aphex Twin, Broadcast + Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra’s Some Velvet Morning.
O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
The Coen Brothers co-opted T-Bone Burnett to produce the songs here and the music of old weird America never sounded so great.
PSYCHO
Impossible to imagine Hitchcock’s thriller without Bernard Hermann’s amazing score. The shower scene would not have been so famous without those shrieking violins and the opening credits are some of the best ever
PULP FICTION
Tarentino floors you from the outset with Dick Dale’s surf guitar Miserlou on the opening credits and Chuck Berry’s You Never Can Tell in the memorable Travolta/Urman dance number is simply perfection.
QUADROPHENIA
Forget Tommy – this is The Who at the peak of their powers and a fine movie to boot.
STRICTLY BALLROOM
One of the best feel good movies ever.
TAXI DRIVER
Martin Scorsese used to have his finger on the pulse when it came to movie music (in the days before he wrongheadedly recruited DiCaprio as the new De Niro). Getting Bernard Herrmann to soundtrack this movie is just one of the reasons why it is his finest film.
TRAINSPOTTING
The inspired use of Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life and Underword’s ‘Born Slippy’ are reason alone for including this in the list.
WINGS OF DESIRE
Wim Wenders has a bad habit of making lousy movies with great soundtracks (e.g. Until The End Of The World, Lisbon Story) This is a great movie though and a beautiful score topped by Nick Cave at his most decadent.
This is just the tip of a huge iceberg, there are loads more than come to mind even as I write this post (The Wizard of Oz, True Stories, Juno etc etc)…… the beat goes on.
