Rule was simple: one score composition / original film song per year of its release. No more; no less. Started from 1957 as I found it a real struggle going any further back without breaking the pattern and skipping a year here and there. Stopped at 2020 since I'm still diving into a bunch of films that I haven't seen yet.
Now I know how Meryl Streep felt in Sophie's Choice. Completely killed me not being able to include a bunch of tracks that I love, but couldn't make the cut. The sixties and seventies were way too tough, while the successive decades appeared to go with a compilation formula as well as a seperate score album.
Cool thing about working on this list was seeing the popular music trends at the time and how they changed our perception of film soundtracks being solely exclusive to movie buffs and the like.
Probably going to remember a bunch of tracks after I hit the "Publish" button, no doubt.
Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock (Jailhouse Rock, 1957)
Bernard Herrmann - Vertigo Theme (Vertigo, 1958)
John Barry - Main Title (Beat Girl, 1959)
Bernard Herrmann - The Murder (Psycho, 1960)
Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling in Love (Blue Hawaii, 1961)
Monty Norman - James Bond Theme (Dr. No, 1962)
Henry Mancini - The Pink Panther Theme (The Pink Panther, 1963)
Mikis Theodorakis - Zorba's Dance (Zorba the Greek, 1964)
Ennio Morricone - For A Few Dollars More Main Theme (For A Few Dollars More, 1965)
Ennio Morricone - The Ecstasy of Gold (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, 1966)
John Barry & Nancy Sinatra - You Only Live Twice (You Only Live Twice, 1967)
Ennio Morricone - Man With A Harmonica (Once Upon A Time in the West, 1968)
John Barry - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (On Her Majesty's Secret Service, 1969)
Johnny Mandel - Suicide is Painless (M.A.S.H, 1970)
Lalo Schifrin - Scorpio's View (Dirty Harry, 1971)
Bobby Womack - Across 110th Street (Across 110th Street, 1972)
James Brown - The Payback (The Payback, 1973)
David Shire - Main Title (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, 1974)
Michael Masser - My Hero is A Gun (Mahogany, 1975)
John Carpenter - Main Title (Assault on Precinct 13, 1976)
Goblin - Suspiria Theme (Suspiria, 1977)
Goblin - Zombi (Dawn of the Dead, 1978)
Fred Myrow & Malcom Seagrave - Intro and Main Title (Phantasm, 1979)
John Williams - The Imperial March (The Empire Strikes Back, 1980)
John Carpenter & Alan Howarth - The Duke Arrives / Barricade (Escape from New York, 1981)
Vangelis - End Titles (Blade Runner, 1982)
Grandmaster Caz - South Bronx Subway Rap (Wild Style, 1983)
Harold Faltermeyer - Axel F (Beverly Hills Cop, 1984)
Robert Tepper - No Easy Way Out (Rocky IV, 1985)
Stan Bush - The Touch (Transformers: The Movie, 1986)
Gerard McMann - Cry Little Sister (The Lost Boys, 1987)
Ice-T - Colors (Colors, 1988)
Public Enemy - Fight the Power (Do the Right Thing, 1989)
Flavor Flav / Public Enemy - Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya Man (House Party, 1990)
Akira Ifukube - Godzilla's Theme (Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, 1991)
Dr. Dre introducing Snoop Doggy Dogg - Deep Cover (Deep Cover, 1992)
MC Eiht - Streiht Up Menace (Menace II Society, 1993)
Warren G feat. Nate Dogg - Regulate (Above the Rim , 1994)
Dr. Dre - Keep Their Heads Ringin' (Friday, 1995)
Tito & Tarantula - After Dark (From Dusk Till Dawn, 1996)
Mobb Deep feat. Big Noyd & Rakim - Hoodlum (Hoodlum, 1997)
Half-A-Mil - Some Ni@@az (Belly, 1998)
Kool G. Rap & RZA - Cakes (Ghost Dog, 1999)
Clint Mansell feat. Kronos Quartet - Lux Aeterna (Requiem for a Dream, 2000)
Pharoahe Monch - Fuck You (Training Day, 2001)
John Murphy - In the House, In a Heartbeat (28 Days Later, 2002)
Ludacris - Act A Fool (2 Fast 2 Furious, 2003)
Charlie Clouser - Hello Zepp (Saw, 2004)
Reinhold Heil & Johnny Klimek - To Canada (Land of the Dead, 2005)
Dario Marionelli - Evey Reborn (V for Vendetta, 2006)
Rose McGowan - Two Against the World (Planet Terror, 2007)
Nathaniel Mechaly - Pursuit at the Construction Site (Taken, 2008)
Mike Armstrong - Main Title Theme - (The House of the Devil, 2009)
Henry Jackman & John Murphy - Flying Home (Kick-Ass, 2010)
Power Glove - Hunters (Hobo With A Shotgun, 2011)
Paul Leonard-Morgan - The Rise of Ma-Ma (Dredd, 2012)
Mica Levi - Love (Under the Skin, 2013)
Disasterpeace - Old Maid (It Follows, 2014)
Tom Holkenborg - Brothers in Arms (Mad Max: Fury Road, 2015)
Sweet Tempest - Mine (The Neon Demon, 2016)
Oneohtrix Point Never - Leaving the Park (Good Time, 2017)
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Death and Ashes (Mandy, 2018)
Bobby Krlic(?) - ????? (Midsommar, 2019)*
Mondo Boys - Find Me in the Fall (The Mortuary Collection, 2020)**
* Wasn't included on the soundtrack album. Not 100% sure if it was by the same composer or not.
** Listed as a 2019 movie according to IMDb. Absolutely don't agree with that at all since it didn't get a proper public release until the following year. Also, there aren't even any user reviews from 2019 on its own website. Keeping it as a 2020 film.
Intentionally omitted a bunch of big scores that were once faves from the list as I can't stand listening to them during recent years for whatever the reason. Hoped to get some lesser recognised compositions in there and still couldn't manage it. Also, some tracks were a bit of a grey area and I wasn't sure if they were breaking the rule or not. Here are few honourable tracks I wish I could have included:
Bernard Herrmann - Twisted Nerve (Theme)
(Twisted Nerve, 1968)
Bruno Nicolai - Sabba Sequence 2
(All the Colours of the Dark, 1972)
Badder Than Evil - Hot Wheels (The Chase)
(Gordon's War, 1973)
Tangerine Dream - Betrayal
(Sorceror, 1977)
Ronnie Hazelhurst - Are You Being Served? (Movie Theme)
(Are You Being Served?, 1977)
Charles Bernstein - Bath Attack
(The Entity, 1982)
Eric B. & Rakim - Juice (Know The Ledge)
(Juice, 1992)
Holy shit! Good work. I'm just gonna assume that you're correct on every one of these except for Brad Fiedel's Dream Window as the 1986 pick, Juice as the 1991 pick, and UGK's Pocket Full Of Stones remix as the 1993 pick.
ReplyDeleteTrue story, the best thing to come from Godard's entire wanky career is this theme.
Apparently, Juice's soundtrack was released on 31.12.91; the very last day of the year. Felt a bit of grey area to me if I included the Eric B. & Rakim song while either the G.O.A.T Godzilla theme or New Jack Huster would lose out from that one day.
ReplyDeleteFair play on Brad Fiedel and UGK, though.
I was thinking New Jack Hustler too.
ReplyDelete'94 is a difficult year for me too because there's so many hall of fame Death Row soundtrack classics to pick from:
Lady Of Rage - Afro Puffs
Thug Life - Pour Out A Little Liquor
Snoop - Murder Was The Case remix
Tha Dogg Pound - What Would U Do?
Dre & Cube - Natural Born Killaz
DJ Quik - Dollars & Sense
Really difficult to choose anything from the Above the Rim soundtrack. So many classic jams on it.
ReplyDeleteOther soundtracks copped in '94.
Got the Murder Was The Case album. Still not seen the film.
Interview With the Vampire and Eazy-E's Luv 4 Dem Gangstaz off Beverly Hills Cop III. Bought that without hearing it first :)
Same here re: the Murder Was The Case movie.
ReplyDeleteCan we get Ronnie Hazelhurst's Are You Being Served movie theme as an honorable mention for 1977?
Added it. It's way more faithful to the original in comparison to that Rising Damp movie theme.
ReplyDeleteAlso put the Twisted Nerve theme in the honourable vids, 'cause it really is a personal favourite of mine.
And I have only just now realised that I've been spelling Bernard Herrmann's surname wrong all my life.
ReplyDeleteDouble R like Ruff Ryders.
ReplyDeleteTried to go as far back as Herrmann's The Day the Earth Stood Still score.
ReplyDeleteDo a list, blud!
It seems like too difficult a task doing movies. Which is why I applaud you for it.
ReplyDeleteOh well. All good.
ReplyDeleteTurned out to be less of a headache than that 90s Non-Rap List. That was a nightmare.
Can't even imagine trying to work out what my favourite movie score from 1957 would be 🤯
ReplyDeleteVery slim pickings when it comes to 1957 and much of the fifties.
ReplyDeleteTorn between King Shark and the Clyrax or Watermelon Song if 2021 got a look in. Still not through with that year, though.
ReplyDeleteHonourable mention for 1966 - 13 Women by The Renegades in some Finnish movie.
ReplyDeleteBig influence on their fellow Brummies Black Sabbath, apparently.
Can't really notice any influence there, cool track though.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Finnish films, have you seen Dogs Don't Wear Pants from a couple of years ago? Turned out to be pretty good.
Other faves from '66:
Ennio Morricone - Silhouette of Doom
Luis Bacalov & Rocky Roberts - Django
Herbie Hancock - Bring Down the Birds
Could also add theme to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly too, but I much prefer The Ecstacy of Gold over it, tbh.