DigMo!

The Importance of Soundtrack

Posted on 04. Jan, 2009 by DigMo in MIA

Well back to the musing about the link between and film. Firstly if you are looking for an en-depth study of film or a look at the relationship between twentieth century classics and the charts this is, perhaps the wrong post for you. Instead I thought I would list the films I have watched based solely on the advertisement of their soundtrack.

Naturally there are a few films with significant soundtracks that are exceptions to the rule. There are also a few interesting movies on there and one or two that it took courage to admit to.

I’ll deal with the exceptions first. Having watched Top Gun at a very young age I really loved the guitar based theme track. Asking around I was told (incorrectly) that Joe Satriani recorded the music. Having not heard of Joe at that stage I bought ‘Surfing with the Alien’ and have been a fan since. In reality though Joe did not provide the soundtrack to Top Gun but a guitarist named Steve Stevens who is actually Billy Idol’s guitarist.

The video for the theme is linked to below mostly for the great guitar track but secondly for the entertainment provided by the outfit, seriously Steve ? (YouTube Link) I’d say the stylist was probably sacked after that one.

The second exception is Tim Burton’s Big Fish. Actually that isn’t fair, It is Daniel Wallace’s Big Fish. I had watched this film three times before I realised that Pearl Jam had recorded the end credit music “Man of the Hour” written specifically for the film.

Anyone who hasn’t seen the film has missed out on a really great movie. The author of the film (who is a friend of Amuze) Daniel Wallace’s website is also well worth visiting.

One final exception is the brilliant use of R.E.M.s ‘Sweetness follows’ in the movie Vanilla Sky during a cross cutting scene towards the middle, as well as a number of other great tracks from a range of artists… I guess you have to see it. So, what films have I watched because of the music. Well, confessions out of the way first.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 3
I saw this at a stage where I was even close to the being the 18 rating associated with this movie (so I don’t appear overly old) I had to see it as rock band Dokken wrote the theme track “Dream Warriors”

Musically it might not be everyone’s cup of tea but there is no doubt about it George Lynch was one of the most influential guitarists of the time. For me though the best bit about the film was the credits. Perhaps I was too young to understand the film but didn’t scare me, well, perhaps the nurse scene did a little.

Days of Thunder
Described as Top Gun on wheels Days of Thunder was famous for “Show me Heaven” by Maria McKee. Maria was not our attraction though but the great John Waite. Waite famous for “Missing You” in the late 80s had, had at this stage joined class rock band Bad English.

Bad English was ballad focused rock made famous by a number of songs written by Diane Warren. The soundtrack was good and film was alright, hey, it was 1990.

I am Sam
I am Sam is a fantastic film featuring the great Sean Penn. The soundtrack featured a series of Beatle’s covers by bands such as Stereophonics, Ben Harper, Eddie Vedder, Neil and Liam Finn.

The songs are scattered throughout the film adding massively to the mise en scene of an already brilliant movie. If you have not seen this film it is definitely worth a watch, if you love the Beatles then it is a must !

Rain
I’ve already covered Rain on here in past musings. Rain, an New Zealand film features the atmospheric music of Neil and Liam Finn and also Lisa Germano. Liam’s track ‘Lucid Dream’ is nothing short of brilliant. The soundtrack for this film is fantastic from the outset holding the same beauty as the cinematography of the film. A educational study guide is available for this film. The guide looks at the film from a media studies point of view rather than a Moving Image Arts but it is definitely worth looking at. The resource is available here.

Into The Wild
The award winning epic by Sean Penn features a full soundtrack by legend Eddie Vedder. I can’t say anything more than I have already, this really does have to be my album of the year. Subsequently I also discovered recently that the video for “Guaranteed” is now available on iTunes. The full movie as also been added to iTunes to rent or buy and it is definitely worth seeing for the combination of sound and picture. One of the songs used in the film has also been used in the Stand up to Cancer Ad (here).

Reign Over Me
Hard to believe this is an Adam Sandler film. I say that as a big Sandler fan but this is not what you would expect from a Sandler film…. it is dead serious throughout. It features a cover of the Who Track “Reign Over Me” my Pearl Jam. Reign Over me is a pretty good film with a brilliant title track that is pretty hard to get hold of.

I admit only three of the films listed I would consider favourites (Big Fish, Rain, Into the Wild) but the point of the most was to demonstrate the movies watched due to the soundtrack.

There are probably more films I watched down to the music. I admit to buying The Usual Suspects soundtrack but I don’t tend to listen to it on a regular basis. I haven’t included Purple Rain as it was just too obvious nor have I included “Singles” as Eddie Vedder makes and appearance, so again too obvious. I do have a copy of the Antz soundtrack for “I can see clearly now” though and it is a great movie too. Anyone anything to add ?

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Tags: Big Fish, Moving Image Arts, Soundtrack, watch