So a couple of weeks ago I recorded a couple of episodes of my friends podcast, Last Jedi on the Left with Aaron Lewis and I mentioned that I'm not really a movie guy... like I enjoy watching movies but I'm not as into the artform as I am music but what I wanted to do today is have a bit of a chat around that moment that music and movies meet....not the concert film or documentaries or biopics... we'll get to those at somepoint but the humble soundtrack.
A collection of songs that are used throughout the film to convey somekind of emotional weight that that the scene requires, to highlight the importance of a plot point to a characters arc or just a banger tune over a montage
For the podcast I've picked my 5 favourite soundtrack albums and in doing so there's developed a kind of pattern....so you have musicals - they might be stage adaptations or original movie musicals, or the majority of Disney animated movies so things like Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables, or Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman or Hugh Jackman in Happy Feet
Then you get the soundtracks albums that consist songs that are already out in the world but work perfectly as a needle drop or background to events going on on screen so things like the Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas or The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter in Martin Scorsese’s Casino or even The Rolling Stones Gimme Shelter in Martin Scorsese’s The Departed
Other versions of the soundtrack come from musical biopics which are usually greatest hits collections of the featured artist, occasionally performed by the actor like say Oliver Stones The Doors. There's songs specifically written to be performed by the onscreen band or artists, then there's whole original soundtracks written and performed specifically for the movie so Kendrick Lamars Black Panther Soundtrack, Bjorks Selma Songs for Dancer in the Dark, Bob Dylans soundtrack to Pat Garret and Billy the Kid.
The rest of the time it's a just a collection of cool songs that are in the film or kind of adjacent to the film I think all the cool kids had a copy of the Pulp Fiction soundtrack to go with poster on their wall, same thing with Baz Luhrmans William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet and of course Trainspotting
So before we get to my favourite Soundtracks I thought I'd have a google and see what the internet thinks
The UK Official Soundtrack Album Chart for this week has the following as the most bought or streamed so at
5. Rite Here Rite Now OST - Ghost
4. Purple Rain
3. The Greatest Showman
2. Deadpool and Wolverine
1. Joker Folie a Deux
So in 2021 The Ringer compiled it's top 50 Soundtracks and despite some weird picks lower down, Judgement Night being at number 48 and The Muppet Movie way down at 44, their top 5 went
Superfly
Goodfellas
Pulp Fiction
The Lion King
Purple Rain - and being honest, when I think of Purple Rain I don't think of the film, which I've only seen once and thought, yeah its alright, but it's a really good album, like really really good and lets be honest...if it wasn't attached to the film or the film never got made then the record would still be an all timer wouldn't it?
Just last month, September 2024, The Rolling Stone put out their 101 Greatest Soundtracks of all time...a few things to compare here, the previous list from The Ringer had both Velvet Goldmine and Do The Right Thing in their top 20 but they only scrape into the Rolling Stone list at 97 and 98, while The Crow only makes number 73. I guess it's about the demographics of the readership, seemingly the over 55 dudes who love classic rock and still pop for Creedence in a vietnam film....anyway they gave us a Top 5 of
Saturday Night Fever
A Hard Days Night
Jimmy Cliffs The Harder They Come
Help
Purple Rain
Because I'm a 45 year old bearded country bumpkin and being fully aware of the target audience of some of publications I've used in the past I went looking for a different point of view ( yes kids, they exist!)
So in 2023 Cosmopolitan compiled 53 greatest soundtracks of all time including wonderful mentions of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox story at 14 and 15 and Purple Rain all the way down at 38
Their Top 5 goes
Legally Blonde
Back To The Future
Moulin Rouge
Turning Red
The Barbie Album
I had a tough time picking some of these and I have quite a list to pick from so I'll just quickly go through a few honourable mentions The first one that popped into my head was Scott Pilgrim vs The World and it's just a lot of fun and while Leon said earlier about The Blues Brothers I thought this was kind of adjacent to it, almost a partner piece if you will and thats The Commitments, its a fun film with loads of musical tidbits throughout, loads of quotable lines and some really, really good songs
Everyone knows I love Neil Young and his soundtrack to 1995s Dead Man is a cool album and while we're on westerns I will admit to enjoying the title track from Jon Bon Jovis Blaze of Glory...its silly and pompous and Jon Bon getting his "I really want to be a cowboy but I'm an italian american from New Jersey" thing on and I my favourite film of all time is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid which features Raindrops Keep Falling on my head.
Also on a kind of country theme, the soundtrack to Hunger Games prequel The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes was really surprising and features Olivia Rodrigo on the lead single but amazing tracks by the films lead Rachel Zegler, her voice is amazing and the songs have that real rootsy folksy quality that a lot of the best country music holds on to...there's also tracks on there by Flatland Cavalry and one of my recent favourites Charles Wesley Godwin...the film is alright but the music and the soundtrack album are really really cool.
A few more, very quickly, so my daughter was 4 in 2013 and 7 in 2016 so Disneys Frozen and Moana were in heavy rotation, as were the soundtracks to Tangled and The Princess and the Frog and all of them occupy a little portion of heart....obviously thats with the rose tinted nostagia vison because at the time it got pretty annoying! I remember we went camping on Dartmoor back in around 2016/2017 and got caught in a massive storm and while the boys slept through it we had to cycle through those 4 albums , plus the best Disney album in the world ever to keep her settled down. so yes....I do know the words to Let It Go...and its a banger
So onto my Top 5 Movie Soundtrack Albums and I'm not getting too deep into these because we all know I'm pretty basic so in no particular order I've gone with
Josie and the Pussycats...its just a lot of fun, 2001 pop punk with easy nods to acts like Blink 182 and Avril Lavigne in terms of sound. I think we forget how much light punky pop was about back then, kind of a pallet cleanser after the Nu-metal boom and before My Chemical Romance went to the eyeliner shop. Also I know I mentioned a fondness for Winona Ryder earlier but I have similar thoughts about Rosario Dawson as well.
I don't know if the Crow invented goths but it definitely gave them a style guide and also I way in for those of us not quite that commited...black hair dye was as far as I got but I watched this film so many times and the soundtrack is every 90s kids favourite isn't it? but when you've got brandon lee getting all his warpaint on to The Cures Burn or running the rooftops to Nine Inch Nails, it all works perfectly in the movie and they all sit together nicely on the album...sidenote, that Pantera track is brutal.
Change of tone next I guess and I know I spoke about Disney earlier but one that I love and will always love is The Jungle Book, King of The Swingers, Bare Necessities, and my favourite Colonel Hathi's March...its just great and on the album you get some of the incidental music or the score I guess and also on the vinyl version I've got it comes with a storybook built into the sleeve which is a really cool addition
Next up the soundtrack to Cameron Crowes love letter to Seattle, Singles...the film was accused of being a cash when it came out in 1992 but had been shot in 1991 and was finished about 6 weeks before the release of Nevermind which of course blew up that whole seattle scene. The soundtrack gives us two sides of Chris Cornell, the blistering Birth Ritual and the beautiful Seasons, we get what at the time were 2 b-sides but have gone on to be classics from Pearl Jam with Breathe and State of Love and Trust, Seattles own Jimi Hendrix features as do tracks from Screaming Trees, Alice in Chains and Smashing Pumpkins and maybe most importantly for a young Robbie, two songs from Paul Westerberg, Dyslexic Heart and Waiting for Somebody which would ultimately lead me to The Replacements.
The final pick from me is Eddie Vedder’s Soundtrack for Sean Penn’s Into The Wild. It's just a really good album in its own right and it fits perfectly for the film because it entirely written FOR the film...so apparently Sean Penn showed Vedder a rough cut of the film and asked him for a song or two and by all accounts he came back with loads and loads of stuff so Penn just didn't ask anyone else because it fit so well. It's one of those things that tick all my boxes...the original tale of Chris McCandless documented in Outside magazine and then in John Krakauers Book (one of my favourite books) the film is really good and the soundtrack is amazing and while they all give the urge to drop everything and live in the woods and mountains like our tragic hero, together they just give this perfect representation of his story.
So thats my little visit to the silver screen, hope you enjoyed it, if you're enjoying the show please give it a share around the place, I know I keep saying it but if you can just text a link to a mate that might be better than 100 social media likes or shares. I'm really enjoying making the show again after a break and slowly over the next few weeks we'll start putting the gang back together so there will be a few different voices joining me to talk nonsense, currently in the works theres some Springsteen and Rancid stuff with our Sam, Leon will be back to chat about Iron Maiden and Supergrass, Jamie wants on to talk about the wonderful Zach Bryan and it's really not long now till I get to go and see Jason Isbell...I'm sure I'll be telling you all about that...loads.
Ranked! My Top 5 Soundtracks