Friday, May 4, 2007

Part Drei: Movie Soundtracks

One would think that a really successful merger of music and film would be the cases where you can't hear the music without immediately drawing a connection to the movie, and vice versa. While this might not always be a good thing; i.e. it might not necessarily equate to said movie being among your favorites, at least it is an indication of a successful soundtrack. Off the top of my head, I can at least list the following cases where this applies* (*Results and Opinions may vary):

  • Star Wars (all of them) - Duh.....
  • Titanic - "Near, Far, Where-eeeeeeeeever you Are.."... not a favorite, but I sure know where it's from
  • 8 Mile - Rockin' movie and a kick-ass soundtrack. The version of Sweet Home Alabama is priceless...
  • Shine - Rachmaninoff and
  • Immortal Beloved - Gary Oldman as Beethoven - fantastic incorporation of music. One of my favorite movies as well
  • Rock Star - Sometimes this reminds me of the gigs we used to play - awesome music in this movie
  • This Is Spinal Tap - ..other times, this is how I remember gigging :-(
  • School Of Rock - ...but this is probably closer to how it really was
  • Top Gun - Not a big fan of Tom Cruise, but it's impossible to think about this movie without hearing some of the accompanying music
  • Rocky (all of them) - Survivor, James Brown and Vince DiCola......
  • Bill & Ted's movies - ..Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey, respectively. Keanu Reeves playing himself...but dude used Steve Vai for the soundtrack, so I remember...
  • Wayne's World I and II - Totally resuscitated Bohemian Rhapsody, Foxy Lady etc. Excellent, Party Time
  • Sleepwalkers - I only include this because they used "It's A Monster" by Extreme in the soundtrack..
  • Crossroads - Never mind that this movie is about the Robert Johnson legend - it's got Steve Vai!!! And Eugene's Trick Bag sent thousands of aspiring guitarists back to their bedrooms...
  • Last Action Hero - AC/DC is included, but the main attraction for me is "Angry Again" - one of my favorite Megadeth songs of all time, and a great crowd pleaser
  • Shocker - Crappy flick with soundtrack from Megadeth - "No More Mr. Nice Guy"
  • Karate Kid Part 2 - I can't even think about this movie without hearing "Glory Of Love" with Peter Cetera. This movie was hyooge when I was in the 6th/7th grade.
  • The Adventures of Ford Fairlane - Dice doing "Ain't Got You"...
  • Flashdance - Hey; I never said nothin' about having to like the movie...
  • Fame - The TV series was infinitely better than the movie.
  • Friday The 13th - ....yeah, I know......
  • Terminator - You know what I'm talkin' about
  • Deer Hunter - Cavatina was also the theme song for some demented Norwegian television program for children
  • So I Married An Axe Murderer - Totally 90's, with "There She Goes" and Spin Doctors. Also with Mike Myers' Scottish thang and beat poetry. Party On...
  • Doors - Jim Morrison is probably the most overrated lyricist and frontman this side of Cobain.
  • The Bodyguard - Haven't even seen the movie, but boy do I ever know what the main song from the soundtrack is..
  • Grease - Duh again
  • Ghostbusters - Someone ought to pay Huey Lewis and the News every dime of royalty from this theme song...
  • Neverending Story - Again, I haven't seen the movie, but Limahl has made a living out of this one song.
  • Pulp Fiction - ...the horrible "Twin Peaks" music......
  • James Bond - ..i suppose these atrocities should be mentioned...
  • The Good, The Bad and the Ugly - Spaghetti Western movies in general
  • 2001: A Space Odyssey - Also Sprach Zarathustra
  • Pretty Woman - not a favorite, but...
  • Dirty Dancing - Patrick Swayze extravaganza
  • Notting Hill - Good stuff............

Revised and expanded edition, now including:

  • Blues Brothers - memorable stuff for sure. Why on earth didn't they include their version of the Tammy Wynette classic "Stand By Your Man" on teh soundtrack?
  • The Godfather - How could I overlook this one.......
  • Days Of Thunder - Anyone remember the hit "Show Me Heaven" with Mariah McKee from way back in 1990?
  • Beverly Hills Cop - Throwback to when Eddie Murphy had teh ratings
  • The Way We Were - Annoying, but true
  • Walk The Line - How could I forget?
  • More?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Blues Brothers !!!!!!!
The best soundtrack of all times !!!!

Anonymous said...

A great TV show for music (not only): Gilmore Girls with Interpol, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, REM... in some episodes !!

Anonymous said...

Never mind Steve Vai in Cross Roads. It got Ry Cooder! Haven't it been for the Ralph "Karatee Kid" Macchio playing the young aspiring guitarist, this could have been a good movie. Paris, Texas is another good sound track by Ry. And with David Lindley playing alongside, you can’t go wrong. The complete soundtrack is based on Dark Was The Night. soundtrack made this tune a standard for every acoustic slide guitarist.

Anonymous said...

Ok. So far vi have:
Part one -
Part Deux -
Part Drei -

What's next?
Part Quattro?
Part Fire?
Part Cuatro?
Part Delta?
Part Tetra?
Part Quadra?

Anonymous said...

Vi=we
It's Fridag...

Wilhelm said...

Blues Brothers is now added to da list, yo.

Paris, Texas is a strange book, by the way. Isn't Ry Cooder the dude who refused to pay American musicians and resorted to expliot local talent in Cuba? Cheap mutha-watchyo'-mouth....