Friday, June 5, 2009

What are the five best movie soundtracks?

23 comments:

Aimee said...

Xanadu
Flash Dance
Dirty Dancing
Singles
Grease

Cate said...

Singles
Empire Records
Almost Famous
Across the Universe
O Brother, Where Art Thou?

John said...

My brother collects and listens to movie scores, so some of those have rubbed off on me. Thus I'll answer this question differently to be an ass.

1. Edward Scissorhands (Danny Elfman)
2. The Dark Knight (it's Hans Zimmer and his underlings)
3. Glory (James Horner)
4. Scent of a Woman (Thomas Newman)
5. I need to put John Williams on this list so I'll just say Jaws

Awful Announcing said...

Empire Records, Judgment Night (Rap-Rock before Limp Bizkit), Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction and Garden State.

Oh and I'd add Karate Kid II, because it has the best song ever created in The Glory Of Love, but the rest of it is terrible.

John said...

How dare you Awful...how dare you! If one sone must be remembered from Karate Kid, it's "You're the Best Around"

My brother corrected my list since all of you clearly care. Don't worry, we will be posting this on an Ain't It Cool News forum quickly, then telling all the ladies about it at the bar this weekend.

Shawshank Redemption (Thomas Newman)
Edward Scissorhands (Elfman)
E.T. (Williams)
Glory (Horner)
The Thin Red Line (Zimmer)

beenu said...

1. SINGLES!!!!!!!!!!
2. empire records
3. pulp fiction
4. wedding singer
5. can't hardley wait

Awful Announcing said...

You're the best around is a great anthem, but Glory of Love is just beautiful.

Quick question: Are we saying there's a difference between soundtracks and scores? I approve of anything done by John Williams, but a soundtrack to me has to have words.

Leslie said...

Reality Bites (One of the two CDs I wore out in my lifetime.)
Empire Records
Garden State
Twilight (I seriously can't stop listening to it. The shame...)
And maybe, Forest Gump. (I am still debating my fifth choice.)

Leslie said...

I agree, a soundtrack has songs with words. And You're the Best Around will be in my head for the rest of the day. Thanks, dudes.

Unknown said...

Purple Rain
Pulp Fiction
Rocky Horror
Shaft
Goodfellas

Awful Announcing said...

Oh and I forgot Can't Hardly Wait. When I worked at Tower Records, I put that CD in all the time and people got pissed at me. But there really isn't a better collection of genres....

1. Graduate - Third Eye Blind (remix)
2. Can't Get Enough of You Baby - Smash Mouth
3. Dammit - Blink 182
4. I Walked In - Brougham
5. Turn It Up / Fire It Up - Busta Rhymes - (remix)
6. Hit 'Em Wit da Hee - Missy Elliott/Lil' Kim/Mocha (remix)
7. Swing My Way - K.P. & Envyi (remix)
8. Flash Light - Parliament
9. It's Tricky - Run-DMC
10. High - Feeder
11. Tell Me What to Say - Black Lab
12. Farther Down - Matthew Sweet
13. Can't Hardly Wait - The Replacements
14. Umbrella - Dog's Eye View
15. Paradise City - Guns N' Roses

John said...

Yeah, I wanted to be different with the scores. So soundtracks...

Pulp Fiction
Death Trap
Casino
Dazed and Confused
Romy and Michelle's HS Reunion

Leslie said...

AH! John, that is my fifth choice.

Leslie's final top five:
Reality Bites
Empire Records
Garden State
Twilight
Dazed and Confused

Awful Announcing said...

Okay this is too hard. You need to make it a top ten.

John said...

Two honorable mentions should be the Virgin Suicides and Fight Club (for dust brothers and giving "where is my mind" more cred).

Also, The Departed, for it's awesome use of the Van Morrison/Floyd Comfortably Numb...though that's the song that lead to the death of (SPOILER ALERT) christopher on Sopranos

Awful Announcing said...

Hahaha. I have the Virgin Suicides s-track in my changer right now. Completely forgot about that one.

Martin Andres Austermuhle said...

"Singles." The Chris Cornell song "Seasons" is awesome. "State of Love and Trust" rules.

"The Crow." Mostly B-sides from pretty solid heavy and industrial bands. "Milquetoast" by Helmet rocked my world.

"Mo' Money Mo' Problems." My brief hip-hop phase when I was 14. Still a good soundtrack, though.

"Forrest Gump." How can this not be on everyone's list?!? I don't really love the songs on it since I'm not a huge classic rock fan, but it's a double-album of pretty solid hits people!

Awful Announcing said...

Oh I'm adding the "Friday" soundtrack as well.

Aimee said...

Purple Rain should have been second on my list. Kelly thank you for that.

I'll also add:
Living Out Loud (I love the Queen)
Thank God It's Friday (I love the disco)

W said...

Grosse Point Blank
Reality Bites
Singles
High Fidelity
Say Anything

Unknown said...

Anything Tarantino. Apparently he has a lot of input in the soundtracks and they are always excellent, even if the movies aren't.

P.S. Agree w/ John's statement about Van Morrison's cover of Comfortably Numb in The Departed. Thought it was better than the original. Pink Floyd purists will crucify me for saying that.

Scottie said...

I'm with Martin on this one...when I saw this question this morning, the first one to pop into my head was The Crow...the first, like, eight songs on there are awesome.

Rounding out the list:
Goodfellas - as far as I know, this is the first instance of Scorsese not using a score at all...it's got everything you could want, except Gimme Shelter, which is a huge song in that movie

Pulp Fiction/Reservoir Dogs - same concept, gangstas and 70s tunes, and no score

Singles - again, I'm with Martin...State of Love and Trust = Phenomenal

Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet - Heartbreaking love song by Des'ree (Kissing You), kickass Radiohead B-Side (Talk Show Host) and Shirley Manson playing full on stalker (#1 Crush)

Honorable mention goes to Forrest Gump, Empire Records, Can't Hardly Wait...Clueless wasn't bad either (TWO Radiohead tunes!)

Scottie said...

HOLY CRAP! How did I miss Purple Rain???