My top ten best movie soundtracks (IN MY OPINION – NOT YOURS)!

Should I one day go through my music library to see how many rock albums (I don’t count an artist’s or rock band’s greatest hits as an album) and movie soundtracks I own and/or have on iTunes, I will not be surprised if the number of original motion picture scores, whether inspired by Broadway productions or music heard in the film/and or stage plays outnumbers the albums from rock bands. I am afraid if time allows in the coming years I might have to write a second or third follow-up to this blog listing another twenty soundtracks I never get tired of listening to.

The following below are my top ten soundtracks for now. Like my top ten rock albums, they are listed in the order based on the year they came out from the latest to oldest. Should you get bored reading my long-winded blog (being the lone editor of my blog gives me freedom to write whatever the Hell I want to blog about and how long), I took the liberty of posting the youtube links showing movie clips that incorporated those scores that made them emotionally memorable enough to make me go out and buy those soundtracks.

1) "La La Land" (2016) – Various Artists: The 2016 musical didn’t win the best picture Oscar it deserved (the film DID win at first) that just about everyone expected to see win. The award instead went to a movie barely anyone saw, much less remember. The best picture for that other movie I honestly don’t recall (WHO THE HELL DOES???) was nothing more than a shallow attempt to show how “Hollyweird” and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is diversified when recognizing black actors and actresses and other minorities. All that move did was prove how hypocritical they still are in their supposed embracing of other nationalities.

Oscar night 2017 was not, however, a complete embarrassment. I celebrated less than zero-point zero percent of the telecast when La La Land’s soundtrack brought home two Oscars for Best Achievement in Music written for motion pictures for composer Justin Hurwitz and for original song, "City of Stars" (though the song, "The Fools Who Dream" is what should have won). What makes a movie musical flawlessly successful not only rests on whether every song on the soundtrack is worth hearing numerous times but also if the film gives the viewer characters they care about. "La La Land" delivered both. I will not be surprised if several years from now a stage play version of the film comes to Broadway let alone high school. The soundtrack certainly has “Broadway” written all over it. Here’s to the fools that dream.



2) "Tron: Legacy" (2010) - Daft Punk: I didn’t care who the composer was when I bought the "Tron: Legacy" soundtrack to Disney’s 1982 sequel in early 2011. I bought it because I was hooked on the score watching it. I had no idea who the French music group, Daft Punk, was when I had the soundtrack playing at work one night. A former co-worker in the cubicle next to me though couldn’t contain her excitement upon hearing it as she immediately knew who the artists were.

Like John Williams’ score for "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980), the recordings I heard on "Tron: Legacy" reminded me of several scenes throughout the film. The slow-moving majestic score for "Adagio for Tron" reminded me of the moment when the older Flynn (Jeff Bridges) disappeared into the digital world. While the piece, "Outlands", brought back memories of the younger Flynn (Garrett Hedlund) being rescued by a computer warrior (Olivia Wilde) as she raced to the older Flynn’s hideout.

The fact the soundtrack failed to get an Oscar nomination for Best Original Score in 2011 is yet another one of many examples of how the powers-that-be who run the Oscars don’t give a rat's ass what audiences want to see nominated and win. Could the declining ratings the telecasts get every year be because audiences have had it with the "Hollyweird" elite pushing their personal politics into most every movie made and no longer know how to make a film viewers might actually like?

3) "Give My Regards to Broadstreet" (1984) - Paul McCartney: – There I said it! The soundtrack for what most everyone thinks is the worst movie musical ever made (like as though this is the ONLY one????) is on my best list because it was not only a joy to hear Paul McCartney deliver re-interpretations of such Beatles classics as "Yesterday", "Here, There and Everywhere" and "The Long and Winding Road" among them but also original hits from his band, Wings. One thing worth noticing on the 1984 album. Whereas all The Beatles songs said “Lennon-McCartney” on the Fab Four's albums, the ones played on this release say “McCartney-Lennon.” I guess even after John Lennon’s assassination in December 1980 McCartney still wasn’t over the disintegration of The Beatles' breakup in 1970.

4) "Purple Rain" (1984) - Prince and the Revolution: – I have not seen "Purple Rain", the movie, since it premiered on the pay-tv movie stations in the mid-80s. Nor did I see it on the big screen like I had planned after Prince died in April 2016. I will likely not see it again until Warner Bros. releases it one day on the 4K Ultra Blu-ray disc format. I bought the "Purple Rain" soundtrack, which won the Oscar in 1985 for Best Original Song Score a week after the artist’s death on a whim when I happened to see it displayed on the front checkout counter at a local Barnes and Noble. I suppose my hearing the sexually suggestive lyrics of "Darlin Nikki" playing throughout the bookstore helped.

5) "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (Newly Expanded Edition (2022) – Original Release (1982) – James Horner: In order to rise to the top of their A game one has to start from the bottom first. Prior to 1982 when Oscar winning composer James Horner released his score to "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" much of what he contributed to movies in the years prior like "Krull" (1982) were not as memorable as the ones he’d compose later in the mid-80s and 90s for notable blockbusters ("Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984), "Apollo 13" and "Braveheart" (1995), "Field of Dreams" (1989), "Titanic" - 1997) before dying in a plane crash at 61 in 2015 (Horner was also a pilot). Like any notable motion picture score, "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" evoked memorable moments from the Enterprise battling the starship Reliant to the ending climax of seeing Spock’s coffin on Genesis. The newly released 2022 expanded edition by La-La Land Records now includes that one piece missing from the 1982 vinyl release - Scotty (James Doohan) playing "Amazing Grace" on his bagpipes.

6) "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) – John Williams: - The double vinyl LP of "The Empire Strikes Back" was the first album I bought almost a week after the long-awaited sequel’s theatrical release on May 21, 1980. Having heard "The Story of Star Wars" on vinyl three years before upon its 1977 release which featured dialogue and sound effects heard in the theatrical film, I expected to hear the same listening to "The Empire Strikes Back." I admit it. I was naïve back then and had no idea what it meant when the word “soundtrack” was on the front cover of a movie album.

At the time I bought the soundtrack, I hadn’t seen "The Empire Strikes Back" in theaters and didn't see it until early June that summer. My disappointment at having to only hear Oscar winning composer John Williams' musical score didn’t last long, however. "The Imperial March" was the first segment I listened to on side 2 which clearly evoked ominous emotions that this was the theme song for Darth Vader’s Empire forever changed my attitude. Within a week I had the double album playing while building with LEGOs.

Despite a longer “composer’s cut”, so to speak, of Star Wars, Empire and "Return of the Jedi" (1983) being released in 1997 on compact disc in honor of the original’s 20th anniversary that featured unreleased music, I find the original 1980 double-vinyl album (Yes, I own the 2018 remastered version on CD) more nostalgic. Especially the back cover which was the planned unaltered “Gone with the Wind” style theatrical movie poster by artist Roger Kastel that showed characters Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett and Cloud City. The powers-that-be at 20th Century Fox called the poster “too busy” according to Cinemasterpieces and went with the version seen today featuring the main cast. Less than ten copies of Kastel’s unused poster supposedly exist. Cinemasterpieces is among the businesses selling the print at a going price of $35000. Anyone got over 35k they can loan me? You’ll get your money back three times over at the time of my death! Trust me! I’m good for it!

7) "Xanadu" (1980) - Olivia Newton-John and Electric Light Orchestra (ELO): Back when I worked at the Blockbuster Video stores as a lowly underpaid customer service representative from 1988 to 1996 who made less than $5 bucks an hour (as opposed to the $15 bucks an hour today’s spoiled brats demand to be paid working at McDonalds) one of the things I did as a means to pass the irritable boredom on Sunday mornings and early afternoons being forced to stand behind the register for eight hours was having the 1980 musical flop playing on the televisions along with the beloved animated musical, "The Yellow Submarine" (1968), that featured The Beatles.

My reasoning for playing "Xanadu" had nothing to do with my liking the box office dud which earned six Razzie Awards winning one for Best Director in 1981. To date, I still haven’t seen the musical in its entirety which has gained cult status in the 40 years plus since its theatrical release. I just liked hearing the soundtrack that featured Olivia Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra. Despite my still not having seen it, "Xanadu" still has the distinction of being like so many other movies I’ve seen countless times I have playing in the background just to have something to listen to while doing something else. Hence the reason I had it playing on those Sunday mornings at Blockbuster.

The soundtrack which made Double Platinum in 1980 featured five top 20 singles that included Olivia Newton-John’s "Magic", "Xanadu" and "Suddenly." The album was what I had playing in the car on my way to work August 9, 2022, after hearing that the actress/singer passed away the day before at age 73 following a 30-year battle with breast cancer.

8) "Saturday Night Fever" (1977) – Bees Gees and Various Artists: That 1977 movie about what happened “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” was not the only blockbuster to capture audience’s attention. The difference is while "Star Wars" brought home six of the ten Oscars it was nominated for in 1978 which included Best Music – Original Score, the most recognition the Bee Gees got with the release of the double vinyl album soundtrack to the John Travolta starred disco drama, "Saturday Night Fever", were Golden Globe nominations for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for “How Deep Is Your Love?”

The soundtrack sold over 45 million copies in its day and was reportedly the top selling record until Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" in 1984. I have no doubt when the Oscar nominations were announced in early 1978 that moviegoers bitched about the Bee Gees and "Saturday Night Fever" being snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for best song and soundtrack. Was The Bee Gees failure to win at the Golden Globes for Best Original Score and Best Original Song of "How Deep Is Your Love?" the reason it didn’t make the Oscar list? Or was the reason that in order to be nominated for best original soundtrack the album has to feature one group and not multiple artists? The Bee Gees and the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack didn’t get the Oscar recognition they and the album so deserved. There is, however, no mistaking the recording winning a Grammy for Album of the Year, making the list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and being added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress in 2013 for long-term preservation.

9) "Rocky" (1976) - Bill Conti: Released in fall 1976, I was surprised to learn not only was Bill Conti’s soundtrack not up for best original score at the 1977 Oscars, but it only received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, “Gonna Fly Now,” and lost. Bill Conti’s Oscar due wouldn’t come until 1984 when his score for "The Right Stuff" (1983) won best original soundtrack at the academy awards, a score that is sadly missing several music segments heard in the '83 film. Conti's 1983 soundtrack album along with the compact disc is the only version devoted listeners can hear. Like Vangelis’ Oscar winning 1981 musical score, "Chariots of Fire", where the opening showing British athletes running on the beach – a sequence parodied in several films since, the same has been done with “Gonna Fly Now” on the "Rocky" soundtrack. I wonder given how “Hollyweird” these days doesn’t embrace movies with religious themes if maybe the reason Conti’s score for "Rocky" was snubbed is because it featured such music like "Marine’s Hymn" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy" that evoked patriotism. No way is “Hollyweird” going to nominate a soundtrack that makes the USA look good – a “Hollyweird hates America” belief that was as prevalent in 1976 as it is today, if not worse.

10) "Jesus Christ Superstar" (1970) - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice: The 1970 rock opera composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice completed 800 performances before heading to the big screen in 1973 directed by Norman Jewison. I’ve always believed in order for a Broadway stage musical to be a complete success there should not be a single bad song heard. When a Broadway musical is brought to the big screen the movie should feel like you are watching an actual film, not something carried over from the stage. I didn’t get that feeling watching the '73 adaptation. Something about seeing a group of actors getting off a bus in the middle of the Grand Canyon, I assume, and start bursting out in song and shabby garb singing and reenacting Jesus Christ’s last days before his crucifixion just did not work. The movie version cries for a remake but no one is going to touch a “religious” project in “Hollyweird” with a production cost that will exceed over 100 million if they really want to make it believable. Then again, controversy sells. The Broadway version painted Judas as a more sympathetic figure and ironically, listening to the double album, the character is clearly the one who steals the show. By the way, if you don’t know who Murray Head is listening to the one song he does on this album as King Herod, perhaps you might know or have heard the one-hit wonder he performed back in the mid-1980s called “One Night in Bangkok.”

©8/10/22