Movies

Weekly survey: What’s you’re all time favourite movie soundtrack

Since we’re right in the middle of summer blockbuster season, it’s probably a good time for this question: What’s your favourite movie soundtrack of all time?

I’m pretty sure that the first album I every got was the original score to Stanely Kubrick’s 1968 classic, 2001: A Space Odyssey. I remember being very disappointed that “Also sprach Zarathustra”–the famous octave-jumping Richard Strauss composition used as the opening theme–was less than two minutes long. The rest of it–save for a lovely rendition of “The Blue Danube Waltz” was–far too weird and esoteric for me.

Because I’m from originally Winnipeg, it’s a rule that I have to be into the soundtrack from Phantom of the Paradise. For reasons no one has ever been able to explain, Brian DePalma’s schlock-rock masterpiece was embraced by Winnipeggers more than anywhere else on the planet.

When I got to university, my friend Candace introduced me to a weird German punk film called Cha-Cha starring people like Herman Brood, Lena Lovich, and Nena Hagen.

Weird, I know. But that’s the world of soundtracks. They can be very…abnormal.

So I put it to you: What are your favourite movie soundtracks or scores of all time?

 

 

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

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26 thoughts on “Weekly survey: What’s you’re all time favourite movie soundtrack

  • I was born in 1980 and one of my favourite films as a younging was this BMX film called RAD. I loved the music!! The music would draw me in and get my blood pumping during the action scenes. It wasn’t until I was older I found out this american film (that was filmed in Canada) had a lot of this Australian artist John Farnham songs. (I’m still looking for a vinyl copy). In my teens I thrashed my copy of the Spawn soundtrack. Hated the movie, loved the soundtrack. Love the mashup of artists on this one. Lastly, I can’t leave out Eddie Vedders Into The Wild or The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and and to finish my top 5 is I Am Sam with its awesomeness of Beatles covers.

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    • The Spawn soundtrack was spectacular but the ground on that format was laid down with The soundtrack from Judgement Night, years earlier

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  • Trick or Treat (1986) soundtrack by Fastway
    24 Hour Party People, great music and love how the film was shot.
    Who can resist Purple Rain back in the day?

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  • The Blues Brothers…classic rhythm and blues.
    And Footloose…can’t help but tap my foot to the title track.

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  • Although it wasn’t officially a soundtrack, I’d have to go with Queen and the “A Kind of Magic” album. Six out of the nine songs were used in the movie “Highlander” either as is or in an alternate version.

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  • The Crow has got to be one of the best movie soundtracks of all time. The Cure, NIN, STP, Rage, Violent Femmes, Rollins, Pantera! Never has got much better for me in terms of a near perfect movie soundtrack in a movie!

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  • I’ve enjoyed many movie soundtracks, but I have to say the Singles soundtrack may be my favourite. It was the first to come to mind when I read the question.

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  • I have not listened to the Crow soundtrack in ages but that has to shoot to the top of the list. That was an awesome soundtrack

    Gross Pointe Blank is excellent and keeping on the John Cusack theme, High Fidelity had a pretty good soundtrack.

    And if we leave words out of it…anything John Williiams did – Think Jurassic Park, Schindlers list

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  • I know I’m dating myself but Pretty in Pink was great. Plus, to this day, I still listen to The Blues Brothers Movie with that killer version of Think.

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  • Grosse Pointe Blank
    A Clockwork Orange
    Trainspotting
    to name a few… and I completely agree with @Saunderosa

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  • Probably Judgement Night because The crossover phenomenon was still pretty new and all those metal bands with all those rap artists made for a pretty great listen.

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  • Great survey! The Crow definitely on
    my list but also Until the End of the World and Pump Up the Volume…

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  • I couldn’t get enough of The Crow soundtrack for well over a decade. Hot on the heels of The Crow is Natural Born Killers. That one for its wider range of music genres. Surely the tie between those is Trent Reznor Of course, diverging a bit, but not too far from NIN, Charlie Clauser did some great work scoring and putting together music for a show called Numbers. Staying in the vein of TV, Sons of Anarchy had a great string of songs throughout the show…introduced me to Alt-J. Also Person of Interest had a great selection…introduced me to The Kills. Back to the subject, movie soundtracks, Blues Brothers has to be up there. That was a movie supposedly put together to provide a vehicle for the music. By the way, there’s a great beer from Mikkeller called Otis, My Man! But again I digress. Tying the Belushi angle, Animal House was a great collection of old tunes.

    BUT, BY FAR, my favorite soundtrack has to be for Tron Legacy by Daft Punk is my absolute favorite soundtrack. I thoroughly enjoy it!

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    • I put natural born killers away above the crow… you missed lost highway which might be better than either of those.. I love that people included clockwork orange.. the one that I thought of first.. without hit songs or pop music … twelve monkeys.. epic..also anything Clint mansell does is righteous

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  • As terrible as the movie was, the Daredevil soundtrack was actually extremely good. It directed me to one of may all time favourite bands (Boysetsfire). The Tron:Legacy soundtrack is also spectacular! How can you not appreciate a fully Daft Punk ST. Same with the soundtrack for the first Underworld move (the 2nd one is decent too). The last one that I listened to on a very regular basis was The Punisher. Mediocre (but still fun) movie. Great tunes.

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  • The first movie soundtrack I fell in love with was Remember the Titans. My love of Cat Stevens grew from that one. Other classics include The Blues Brothers, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, Pretty in Pink, and Kinky Boots (the movie not the Broadway version). Also I should point out I was born in the late 80s so my musical tastes are clearly on the eclectic side.

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    • “Peace Train” was a great song to be used in that movie. So may other great tracks to listen to. Cat Stevens is pretty spectacular artist.

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  • I remember watching a CBC movie in the mid 90’s called Little Criminals. Soundtrack for the movie was great. I doubt it was commercially available.

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  • For a stand-alone? Singles. It was everything my friends and I wanted at the time. Defined our Summer.

    For a soundtrack that makes the movie? Both “Goodfellas” and “Casino”. Part of Martin Scorsese’s genius is borrowing the emotion of songs to lend added power and drama to the scenes. Both movies are fantastic… but would they feel the same without all that awesome music? James Gunn does the same thing with “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 1 & Vol 2”. Great movies, but not as fun to watch without the music.

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  • Escape from LA. I was 15 or 16 years old. I can’t even remember how I ended up with the soundtrack – I think maybe it was a Columbia Music House situation. But it introduced me to some of the bands that provided the soundtrack to my own life for the next 20 years and counting: Tool, Stabbing Westward, White Zombie, Ministry, Clutch, Deftones, Butthole Surfers…

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  • My favourites would definitely have to be; The Commitments and Empire Records Soundtracks. I would agree with all the people who said; The Blues Brothers (Rawhide cover always seems to stick in my head) and I enjoyed all the Beatles covers from I Am Sam.

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  • I love the soundtracks for the movies The Lost Boys and Heavy Metal

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  • Some great titles already mentioned, but I also remember really loving Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and Forrest Gump. For a score, Requiem for a Dream and Interstellar are fantastic.

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  • The Judgement Night soundtrack is the best pure soundtrack of all time. Star Wars or Conan the Barbarian are the best film scores. The Flash Gordon Soundtrack kind of straddles score and soundtrack in its own weird way, and its awesome too.

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  • Dazed and Confused was an awesome collection of ‘70’s hits

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