Hi, everyone! I apologize for a fair amount of inactivity in recent times, I have just had a lot on my plate. Since I'm assuming many people are still in quarantine (myself included), I decided to get back on a huge movie-watching kick. Across the many movies that I've seen, I've begun to notice how music plays such an important role in filmmaking. Any time a music supervisor incorporates a needle drop into a film, it should have a purpose. It should make the audience feel a certain emotion, for it's something that will likely leave an impact on that viewer once they finish a viewing. That's the case for me, at least. Sometimes, I might not even remember watching a movie because it didn't have good music. If a song gets featured in a movie and I really like it, I might be more inclined to give it a slightly better score. I've spent the last few days compiling a list of some of my favorite movies and their soundtracks, and I hope you can find something enjoyable on this list.
Just for specification, I'm speaking about SOUNDTRACKS, which is music that is not original compositions that you may hear from guys like John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or Danny Elfman. In truth, that's a list of it's own. Anyways, enough talk, let's get on with the list!
Scott Pilgrim Versus The World (Edgar Wright, 2010)
While Scott Pilgrim already has a great score by Radiohead member Nigel Goodrich (shoot, I'm already misleading you), the soundtrack is really something else. I could go on about how much I like the grungy, Beck-written track “We Are Sex Bob-omb” that plays over the opening credits, or the various rock cuts from the likes of Broken Social Scene, T. Rex, or The Bluetones. For a movie that relies so much on a specific visual style, the music adds a nice bit of complement to what’s going on in the foreground.
Baby Driver (Edgar Wright, 2017)
Edgar Wright is just killer when compiling soundtracks, and I could talk about each of his movies’ music all day. I love Baby Driver so much, and music really made the viewing experience more memorable. This is one of Wright’s more eclectic outings, as he included genres that ranged from garage rock (“Bellbottoms” by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), deep cuts from the soul genre (“B-A-B-Y”, “Baby Let Me Take You In My Arms”), and even a little bit of jazz with a Dave Brubeck cut! It’s not out of the question to say that a significant amount of effort was put into making this soundtrack. P.S., isn’t it funny how Simon and Garfunkel released a song of that same name… which brings me to my next favorite soundtrack!
The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)
This is one of my favorite films ever, and it uses a variety Simon and Garfunkel compositions to make it even better. What’s not to like about that, right? Watching this movie for the first time a few years ago got me into so many tracks that I hadn’t yet heard. This included “April Come She Will”, “Scarborough Fair”, and the alternate version of “The Sounds of Silence”. They have all since become some of my favorites from these classic rockers. If I'm not mistaken, this movie is in YouTube's free movie library (with ads). Go watch this whenever you have some time!
mid90s (Jonah Hill, 2018) I know I'm picking a fair amount of contemporary films, but I firmly believe this is an essential. Jonah Hill completely committed to the 90s bit when he was making this movie. I mean, he picked some INCREDIBLE cuts to get featured on here. You’ve got an astounding mix of East and West Coast hip-hop bangers like “93 Til Infinity" by Souls of Mischief and “Tearz” by Wu-Tang Clan. Punk music from the Pixies and Bad Brains. Hell, even that random-ass Hungarian song Kanye sampled on “New Slaves” gets featured in this thing. Without a doubt, the curation for mid90s made this movie feel all the more personal, because I was so genuinely surprised to hear tracks I love have a brief moment in the spotlight.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chobsky, 2012)
Like mid90s, Perks of Being a Wallflower is another phenomenal coming of age film. Fun fact- it's actually directed by the author of the book! It's a more gloomy film, so there’s a lot of grungy, slow heat that makes the final cut. I was turned on to a lot of tracks that I hadn’t known about before, like “Teenage Riot” by Sonic Youth, “Tugboat” by Galaxie 500. As ironic as it sounds, even the oft-overplayed “Come on Eileen” gives this movie a great boost of energy. Plus, you can’t forget the incredibly memorable truck scene with one of the greatest tracks ever (“Heroes by David Bowie) playing in the background.
Rushmore (Wes Anderson, 1998)
Along with his signature visual style, Wes Anderson is known for crafting some wonderful soundtracks to accompany his films. He fills each film up with a lot of classic rock bands, usually a lot of crate-digger songs that may have gone undiscovered otherwise. After writing a rough draft of the soundtracks I wanted to include, I hopped around various websites to see what else people put on their respective lists. Rushmore’s soundtrack was consistently a top-10 pick, and rightfully so. It's packed to the brim with musical highlights, “Here Comes My Baby” by Cat Stevens, “Oh Yoko!” by John Lennon, and “I Am Waiting” by the Rolling Stones to name a few. They were some of my favorites from the movie, and ones that I always love hearing on my Spotify playlists.
Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson, 2001)
I think I prefer Wes' curation for this movie over Rushmore’s. The times that you’ll be rocking out during this movie is innumerable. You’ve got legendary tracks like “Rock the Casbah” and “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard”, plus some deep dives from the folk genre like “Needle in the Hay” by Elliott Smith or “Fly” by Nick Drake. Out of all the songs on here, though, “These Days” by Nico is by far the best one you'll hear. A friend of mine showed me a few years ago, and I was practically gawking when I heard the first few seconds of that badass opening guitar riff play. I hope you’ll be just as excited as I am about Tenenbaums and its soundtrack.
Harold and Maude (Hal Ashby, 1971)
This cult classic, like The Graduate, utilized the work of a sole musician: Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens. Before watching this, I kind of dismissed him as one of those mediocre rock artists that my parents or people in that generation would call “legendary”, but they’re actually sort of right. After watching Harold and Maude, I went on a tear into some of his other music. He is actually quite talented and can craft some awesome slow jams. You’ve got some really great songs songs like “Trouble”, “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out”, even the now-popular “Don’t Be Shy” plays a huge role in this movie. I think this movie may not have been one of my all-time favorites without his music being there. Also, thanks, cinema, for helping me change my opinions on artists I didn’t like before!
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
Ok, this is a really cliched pick to put on this list, but I don’t care. It’s just that good. Not only is Pulp Fiction an outstanding movie, but Quentin Tarantino is another one of those directors that has a hefty knowledge of hidden music. He uses that to his advantage to help his viewers enjoy his films even more. Of course, you have the classic opener “Misirlou” by Dick Dale, which has now become such a revered song today. You’ll hear classics like “Son of a Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield” or “Let’s Stay Together by Al Green”. Then, you have the hidden gems, most importantly “You Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry. I think there are very few movies that use music to this extent, so that’s why it’s become of of my favorite curations out there.
Chef (Jon Favreau, 2014)
As some of you might remember from my vinyl collection post, you may have noticed that I have this in my stack. If we’re going off personal favorites, this one might be the cream of the crop. I'm not lying when I say I would probably be writing for at LEAST two or three pages for this one. The influences on this thing are so diverse, as it features Latin, jazz, dance, etc. Chef turned me into so many different types of music that I probably wouldn’t have discovered otherwise. In fact, even when I'm cooking sometimes, I'll throw this on in the background. It's not very often that I'll be playing a movie's soundtrack in my everyday life. I’m not even going to spoil what’s on this soundtrack because I want you to experience it for yourself. There’s two volumes of this thing, but the first album has more bangers in my opinion. I hope you make it a priority to watch this thing and savor this soundtrack as soon as you can!
Did you find anything on this list that you knew? Was there something I didn't feature that you thought should be on here? If so, feel free to reach out to me! Music discussion is always encouraged here! I hope everyone is staying safe, and remember folks, as hard as it may seem... STAY INDOORS! We'll see you back here real soon with some more bazzreviews content!
To keep up with other movies I'm watching, go follow my Letterboxd account, https://letterboxd.com/thebazz28/
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