Great Movie Soundtracks V1.0

[Revan]

Various Artists - Pretty in Pink (1986)
Pretty in Pink was a defining moment in '80s culture with a soundtrack to match. The film itself was your typical flick about the complex nature of teenage love and the often tricky navigation through high school's frighteningly judgmental social waters. The story was written by Reagan-era Hollywood wonder kid John Hughes, and it starred Molly Ringwald, Jon Cryer, Andrew McCarthy, Harry Dean Stanton, and James Spader. The soundtrack was also a who's who of the decade's cutting-edge pop music scene. Contributors include OMD ("If You Leave"), Echo & the Bunnymen ("Bring on the Dancing Horses"), The Smiths ("Please Please Please, Let Me Get What I Want"), New Order ("Shellshock"), and INXS ("Do Wot You Do"). Of course, the most famous track is the Psychedelic Furs' remake of their 1981 classic "Pretty in Pink."


Various Artists - Repo Man (1984)
Repo Man is without question one of the greatest films to have emerged during the 1980s. With Los Angeles as a backdrop, this cartoonlike movie tells the tale of a wayward youth employed as small-time automobile repossession man…sounds harmless until you toss in the FBI, CIA, aliens, and televangelism. The soundtrack features now-classic punk-rock anthems by Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, Fear and the Circle Jerks (who actually have a cameo in the film as a less-than-impressive lounge act). The film is a holy artifact of cult film collectors, and it was produced by ex-Monkee Mike Nesmith, which drives up the hip value tenfold.


Peter Gabriel - Passion (1989)
The Last Temptation of Christ was an ambitious film for veteran director Martin Scorsese. The director set out to chronicle a version of the life of Jesus, told from the point of view of Christ himself. A great deal of controversy surrounded the film, because it exposed Jesus as a man--a man subject to every form of temptation that humans face, including fear, doubt, depression, and the greatest sin of all, lust. Such a daring film required an extraordinary soundtrack. Former Genesis member Peter Gabriel not only composed an original score, but also created a full-fledged album that simultaneously perfected the film and popularized "world music."


Various Artists - Lost in Translation (2003)
Lost In Translation is, on the surface, a film about the extreme culture shock between East and West. But at its core, the film confronts deeper themes of alienation, loneliness and, conversely, companionship. The film's soundtrack embodies its dual nature. Many of the tracks are cold and sterile, yet simultaneously warm and inviting. My Bloody Valentine's reclusive Kevin Shields provides luminous atmospherics and (shockingly) four original tracks. Death in Vegas supplies a slow-burning epic, Air tosses in a futurist Asian-inspired Muzak piece, and The Jesus and Mary Chain make an appearance via their licensed classic "Just Like Honey." The album works as a stand-alone component, but this flowing collection of music really works best in the film. Just watch the movie.


Various Artists - Easy Rider (1969)
Easy Rider expressed the story of a fractured American society through a couple of hippies that blow their drug-deal profits on a cross-country trip to attend New Orleans' Mardi Gras. This adventure in low-budget filmmaking could not afford a traditional score, so Dennis Hopper reached out to the artists he heard playing on the road during 1968. These included classics like Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild" and "The Pusher," and The Band's "The Weight," and the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "If Six Was Nine." The soundtrack also features The Byrds, a solo outing from Roger McGuinn, and a non-accredited Bob Dylan on "Ballad of Easy Rider." This is some serious mainstay rock and a soundtrack that should occupy every collection.


Ennio Morricone - Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Ennio Morricone is an Italian composer who scored a ridiculous number of films. The man is considered a genius and is worshipped for his sparse composition style best represented by his classic spaghetti Western soundtracks. In 1968, he created the score for one of director Sergio Leone's greatest films, Once Upon a Time in the West. Morricone wrote the score under the direction of Leone before filming began. The elegiac music emphasizes the film's operatic grandeur and seduces with a grandiosity that seems to fill the vast desert valleys that consume the screen.


Isaac Hayes - Shaft (1971)
In 1971, the self-appointed "Black Moses" scored one of the most beloved of all blaxpoitation films of all time, Shaft. The soundtrack's crown jewel is the coveted "Theme from Shaft," which no doubt has never seen a collapse in royalties from soul radio. The remainder of the soundtrack is a testament to the impressive talent of Hayes' background group the Bar-Kays. With tracks that stretch close to 20 minutes, Hayes and the Bar-Kays churn out epic down-tempo ballads and slow-roasted funk that remain powerful to this day.


Various Artists - Garden State (2004)
This is less of soundtrack and more of a mix tape you might find in that really cute indie girl's car. You know the one...the one who is not too cool that she only listens to obscure psychedelic rock and references German pro-rock bands. But, rather, the one that bops her head along to harmless good-times-yet-strangely sad pop tunes. Yeah, this is her album. Coldplay, the Shins, and Iron & Wine fit snuggly alongside the smooth electro of Zero 7 and Thievery Corporation. This soundtrack not only works perfectly with the film, but it is also fantastic for oceanside drives with that cute indie girl…you know the one.


The Bee Gees - Saturday Night Fever (1977)
By the time Saturday Night Fever hit the silver screen, disco was all but dead. The decadent music that once thrived had been swept away to Europe and predominately gay clubs. All that changed when the Bee Gees provided the soundtrack to the low-budget film about a young man who escapes the pain of his ordinary existence by donning a white suit and shaking some serious booty. By now you know all the classic Bee Gees tracks: "Stayin' Alive," "How Deep Is Your Love," "Night Fever," and "More Than a Woman." These songs' now-ubiquitous nature does not, however, diminish their shimmering disco brilliance. In fact, the songs force a sense of awe for the timeless pop genius they evoke.