The Importance of Soundtrack

Recently, I rewatched Guardians of the Galaxy. Great movie, but it raised some questions in me, one of them being just how important is a great soundtrack to a movie? In my opinion, it is one of the most important parts of a film, the backbone of it all. What would Jaws be without the iconic theme? Or Star Wars? I'm sure they would be fine movies. The Kill Bill battle against the 88 would have been just as entertaining without the catchy pop track in the background, correct? So many instances where I picture myself watching my favorite scenes without brilliant ambience such as Dark Knight highway chase and amazing Zimmer composition, or even hilarious songs such as Bump and Grind in Without a Paddle. Pulp Fiction would be a fun story without the amazing soundtrack, right? 500 Days of Summer? I honestly do not think so. Maybe I am the only one who thinks so, but I think the soundtrack is one of my favorite parts of any movie. Ever. What are some of your favorite scenes where the soundtrack enhanced the experience for you? One of mine was in James Gunn's Super after a brief encounter with trouble when the two "heroes" have a spur of the moment intense romp and you see just how desperate they both were to be wanted and a song titled "Let Your Body Decide" is playing on her CD player and it is just a perfect scene in my opinion, but wouldn't be much without that perfect song. By itself, the song is borderline awful, but in that space and time, it was perfection. I would like to know some of your favorite scenes. It may help me find more instances where I lose myself in a movie like you yourself have after hearing musical bliss. Thanks for reading!

Halloween is the best example for the importance of a soundtrack for one of the best horror movie of all-time. This theme still give me nightmares.

I can count on one hand the number of films where the soundtrack was a standout element. Max Steiner and John Williams head up the gold standard for this underrated art IMO, but they are a lot of great scores out there...Henry Mancini struck gold with The Pink Panther and I love the music in The Road to Perdition, Driving Miss Daisy, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005).

I didn't realize I doubled posted about this in another movie music thread...

The music and score in Drive is the "most well suited to my ears" work I have heard to this day. Nothing else comes to mind except T:2.

Some of the best music scores are the ones that you don't hear.

A lot of my all-time favourite films have amazing soundtracks and I'm not even trying to deny they partake in these films' greatness. The scenes just wouldn't be the same without the score. Can you imagine Valuska's monologue NOT summed up by Mihaly Vig's tender piano notes. Can you think of introduction scene to Aguirre without Popol Vuh's soundtrack? NO Karaindrou in Angelopoulos, NO Badalamenti in Lynch, NO Artemyev in Tarkovsky, NO Nyman in Greenaway, NO Morricone in Leone, NO Mansell in Aronofsky, NO Goblin in Argento, NO DRAGON SOUND IN MIAMI CONNECTION?!

One of the reasons why while loving both music and films, I always put movies above music is that the latter can have both music and images and combine them to achieve much more than the sole audio form of music.

As of horrors... I still think that the scariest soundtrack is silence, because sounds, any sounds, suggest there's something out there. Scary, or not, friendly, or not. There IS something. Silence, on the other hand... Just think of Space Odyssey. It unfolds the ultimate horror of space. Strauss is cool, too. And I think that a horror movie with a happy life-affirming soundtrack juxtaposed to sinister and dark themes would only enrich these themes and make the overall experience only more horrific. Summing up, happiness and then silence... Come to think of it, John Cage's 4'33'' is the best soundtrack to the horors of life.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

The great composers of film don't get anywhere close to the amount of recognition they deserve. A lot of times, the music just changes everything. There are many movies where one of my favorite parts is the soundtrack, while there are others that are made unwatchable by poor placement of music.
I do often wonder why soundtracks aren't appreciated more. They bring so much life to a film, but are never recognized the way writers and directors are.

Just wanted to say that I love this. Especially in horror movies, less is more. The tracks that really get under my skin are the one that are just a few repeated plucks on a string instrument, or that constant buzzing sound in Eraserhead.

I can imagine these directors' works without these artists, but just the thought terrifies me. Maybe it's because we're used to it now, other artists could probably have replaced them, who knows (or maybe they couldn't). I think it's safe to say though that what these musicians did was they complemented the visions of these directors extremely well, which is why the scores are so iconic now

Can you imagine, on the other hand, someone doing a score for a Tarantino film? This is why it's so great when a director has full control and they know what they're doing.

Morricone would make a kick-ass soundtrack to a Tarantino flick.

For something like Basterds or Django he could have, but then again he already used loads of Morricone in those

There's definitely some iconic uses of songs in film. Singin' In The Rain as heard in A Clockwork Orange. Jessica Rabbit singing 'Why Don't You Do Right'. The Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack to The Graduate.

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You cannot have it both ways. A dancer who relies upon the doubtful comforts of human love can never be a great dancer. Never. (The Red Shoes, 1948)

Can't imagine Star Wars having any other soundtrack.....

I probably like the soundtrack more than the musical score in most movies.

"Mulholland Drive" and "Pan's Labyrinth" would be nothing without amazing soundtracks.

Star Wars and Indiana Jones are nothing without their amazing Williams scores

When I think of the sounds of Star Wars I believe that it's the sound design that makes it for me. The sound of the light sabers, Darth Vader and the Tie Fighters etc. etc...
I remember seing some outtakes from the original Star Wars on youtube and it was completely silent. It really felt like a B-movie.
The soundtrack is obviously amazing too of course, but the sound design for me is the really innovative and groundbreaking part of it's sound.
I saw some interview with the sound designer and he said that the tie fighter sound is a mix of an elephant roar and a car, then played backwards and then distorted. Pretty cool...

Suspiria would have been nowhere near as successful as it has been without its soundtrack. To a lesser extent, the same applies to Deep Red!

Yeah, it's vital. Locations are sometimes described as like another character in the film; the score is like that too. One of my favourite films, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, has a score that to me is integral to the film's success (not financially). That's why I was – to be frank – disgusted that on the special edition Michael Kamen's work only received a cursory mention. It's one of the most perfect film scores I can think of, and I think my favourite sequence rather than scene is the flashback to the Sultan's palace. Unbelievable in the cinema I can tell you.

Another film score that comes to mind is Howard Shore's for Crash. I think it's brilliant because it captures exactly the mental illness that's going on.

I think sound is the most important part of any film because it has a huge influence on what impact a movie leaves on you. If you had comedy music during Psycho, for example, it would create a more ironic 'black comedy' tone as opposed to its more thriller roots. Or if Monsters Inc was replaced with a horror soundtrack it would no longer be that all-ages family movie but a scary animated one.

Unless it's a musical, I strongly disagree. Music is supplemental, not the "backbone" of the movie.

Honestly, the idea kind of disgusts me. Music can be very influential, but I have an awful suspicion that a lot of garbage is excused because of the backing music.

Like Beyond The Black Rainbow. The freaking awesome music just made me hate it more because the rest of that utter tripe didn't deserve it.