48 comments

48 Comments

• 

  Without a doubt it has to be Cameron Crowe. A true master of fitting the perfect track to the emotion on screen.
  Buckley’s Last Goodbye on Vanilla Sky for instance – perfectly placed as Cruise leaves the apartment of Cruz on a total high.
  Crowning glory has to be Almost Famous though. Given the subject matter he must’ve racked his brains for suitable tunes – consider how many there must have been!
  The beautiful “Cortez The Killer” by Neil Young playing as they’re off the plane and walking through the airport corridor – the harmonica taking you off to be alone with your thoughts and going through what they’ve just been through on the plane

  groovyf — October 8, 2006 @ 2:59 pm
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  my two favorites are wes anderson (or more accurately, mark mothersbaugh, who does music supervision for him) and cameron crowe (and/or wife nancy wilson, who does it for/with him), but personally, i felt like elizabethtown was kind of a letdown for me. i mean, i love ryan adams as much as (if not more than) the next guy, but this soundtrack was just a bit too adams-heavy for me, especially since it seemed to all be fairly well known songs from the same era. if pressed to make a decision between the two, as much as i LOVE wes’ soundtracks, i’d probably have to go with cameron and nancy. music is an integral part of the films both make, and both have put out some sensational soundtracks, but three of my top five musical moments in film all come from crowe movies. those three, in order of awesomeness (or is it awesomeosity?) are:

  1. the “tiny dancer” singalong on the almost famous bus
  2. john cusack putting himself on the line by defiantly holding up the boom box in say anything
  3. tom cruise walking into an empty times square with “everything in its right place” from vanilla sky.

  thinsafetypin — October 8, 2006 @ 10:56 pm
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  Add my name to the chorus of Wes Anderson devotees.

  His selections for the Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums, and Life Aquatic albums might seem eclectic at first, but the mix of classic tracks and original music by Mark Mothersbaugh always gets to the emotional core of the films.

  To top it off, his choice to have Seu Jorge cover David Bowie songs for Life Aquatic was one of sheer brilliance.

  Oh man, I can’t wait til The Darjeeling Limited!

  litreofcola@gmail.com — October 8, 2006 @ 11:51 pm
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  wong kar wai: see ‘fallen angels’ or ‘chungking express’

  Anonymous — October 9, 2006 @ 2:53 am
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  Is there any doubt it’s Cameron Crowe? Are there anymore films where you remeber scenes from certain songs than Crowe. FOr no other reason than Jhn Cusack holding the radio over his head for Ione Skye in Say Anything.

  As my 16-year-old iece said, “It made my heart hurt.” That, my friends, is having an affect on someone.

  And there are more of course. “Secret Garden” from Jerry Maguire, “Tiny Dancer” and “My Cherie Amour” from Almost Famous also come to mind.

  With his music background, Crowe should know how to use music. But no one does it better, but Scorsese comes pretty close.

  Hal Morris — October 9, 2006 @ 7:59 am
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  while i agree that CC has a great ear for music, i felt like elizabethtown was an extended music video cut instead of a movie. there were some great songs, but i feel like some of the music was force fed to me & took away from where the scene was trying to go. if you take that out of the equation i would give him the nod overall, but i have to give mr. braff props for capturing the soundtrack of the moment with garden state.

  kristen — October 9, 2006 @ 8:54 am
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  I second (third?) Quentin Tarantino. The soundtracks for Pulp Fiction and Resevoir Dogs are spot on stylistically for their movies (in addition to having some good music).

  Even though it’s not a movie soundtrack, the very first O.C. Mix is pretty darn good and could compete with anything Zach Braff has done. Seriously, it had Alexi Murdoch, Joseph Arthur, Jem, South, The Dandy Warhols, and Spoon long before anyone was talking about any of them. It was a virtual who’s who from KCRW. I’m not advocating for the other 3 (4?) iterations of the “O.C. Mix,” but volume 1 was pretty amazing for its time.

  Many folks can argue for Cameron Crowe, and maybe he should win just because I think he makes movies just so he can make a soundtrack.

  And if I could award a “special recognition prize” it would go to Richard Linklater for creating mixes for each of the characters in Dazed and Confused and sending them to the actors before production so they could get a feel for their character. Pretty damn cool.

  szg — October 9, 2006 @ 9:26 am
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  Stereogum posts a related list, and a video clip that i’ll never get tired of seeing.

  heather — October 9, 2006 @ 4:05 pm
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  While I always enjoy Cameron Crowe’s musical prowess (it seems as if he chooses the music and then writes the movie around the cuts), with choices such as Paul Westerberg’s “Dyslexic Heart” in Singles, Ryan Adam’s “English Girls Approximately” in Elizabethtown, or even the deleted Led Zeppelin scene in Almost Famous, you can’t go wrong with choosing him. If I had to go with a stellar music career, it would be him. On the other hand, my favorite singular movie soundtrack choice is Brad Siberling’s Moonlight Mile. The use of the Rolling Stones’s “Moonlight Mile” in the bar scene brings the dual mourning between Jake Gyllenhall and Ellen Pompeo’s characters to the forefront and binds them in a way that I doubt could be done with words alone. I also love the addition of Bob Dylan’s “Bucket of Rain” and the conclusion with Van Morrison’s “Sweet Thing” to wrap this movie up nicely. I think I choose this soundtrack because I doubt this movie would be anything but a forgettable drama to me without the musical choices. These songs give this movie a depth and emotional intensity that may have otherwise been lacking in key areas of the film. And thanks to you Heather, this is a fun contest. I have enjoyed reading everyone’s choices, whether I win or not!

  Brett — October 9, 2006 @ 11:58 pm
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  Coppola’s forgotten “One From The Heart” soundtrack is my favorite. Kind of a jazzy Tom Wait’s version of “In The Wee Small Hours”. A great late night album.

  Dave R — October 10, 2006 @ 6:43 am
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  It’s gotta be Michael Mann, hands down. The man has such a keen ear for soundtracking his underworld noir. Just watch ‘Collateral’- the scene where there’s a really tense moment between Cruise and Foxx in the cab when they both stop to see a grey wolf walk across the street, just as Audioslave’s awesome “Shadow On The Sun” kicks in. Or in the equally superb ‘Miami Vice’, Mogwai’s “Auto Rock” sounds even more heart-wrenching when combined with the knowledge that even though they love each other, Colin Farrell’s and Gong Li’s characters can never be together.
  Seriously, I could go on, but I won’t. I know it, you know it. I’m sure his middle name’s ‘The’…
  (Kudos on the fantastic Blog, by the way, keep up the good work!)
  Cheers…

  Cousin Walt — October 10, 2006 @ 9:12 am
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  I scrolled through the comment list and was completely shocked not one person said who i was thinking.

  Jon Brion.

  Seriously though….

  This man can both compose a soundtrack and make a soundtrack from regular songs.

  Magnolia-The aimee mann focus was a heartbreaker in the movie

  Punch-drunk love- Well put together. try “here we go”

  I Heart Huckabees- The quirkiest, thoughtful, fun soundtrack ever.Try “didn’t think it would turn out bad”.

  Lastly Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind- This one gets me every time, i still listen to it often. Try that Beck song, “Everybodys got to learn sometime”

  He also had a part in the Break-up soundtrack which is heavy on Old 97′s Rhett Miller. Whom hes friends with and helped out with both of his solo albums.

  Seriously, ANYONE?

  JON BRION FOR PRESIDENT

  he has my vote

  -N

  Nathan — October 10, 2006 @ 10:23 am
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  I am not even going to look at the other entries because I know someone else already said Quintin Tarantino complies the best soundtracks. They may have already said that it is not so much because of the music, but because of the authenticity. Allow me to elaborate.

  Tarantino soundtracks have the feeling of an old mix-tape that a boy would make for a girl he was trying to get with. “Son of a Preacher Man”, “Let’s Stay Together,” and “I Got Cha!” all have this seductive apeal to the fairer sex.

  Tarantino soundtracks are timecapsules without the obvious clasic rock drivel that anyone can replay in their heads. Where else can you find the Stylistics, an Oak Ridge Boys sone that isn’t “Elvira”, or instrumental surf music that isn’t “Wipeout”.

  That’s it. You can contact me via The Merkinpatch

  The MERKIN MAN — October 10, 2006 @ 10:41 am
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  I have to agree with Cameron Crowe. The “In your eyes” scene from Say Anything will almost always be in my top 5 list of best film moments ever.
  The “Tiny Dancer” scene from Almost Famous really brings tears to my eyes, and Bruce Springstein’s “Secret Garden” just makes Jerry Maguire for me. Elizabethtowne, despite the fantastic performance of My Morning Jacket in the film itself and on the soundtrack, goes to Racheal Yamagata’s beautiful smokey alto rendition of “Jesus was a Crossmaker”.

  Jim Jarmusch also gets a mention, for his entirly composed by The RZA soundtrack to Ghost Dog, and the jazzy african score to Broken Flowers.

  And again to preach to the choir, Sofia Coppola has done amazeing things with music to promote mood and perfectly complement cinematography, mostly I am speaking of Lost In Translation. Kevin Shield’s origional pieces haunt me every time I watch (Which is alot, it being one of my favorite films). They seem infused at the most basic level with that sense of lonliness and isolation that seems to permiate the entire film. Also, Choosing to close with Jesus and Mary Chain is perfect in my opinion. And whats not to love about Bill Murrey doing a fantastic Brian Ferry?

  There are also a coupel of TV shows I would metion as having fantastic soundtracks, But as I am unsure of whom to give credit to, I will simply drop the names Joss Whedon and Rob Thomas respectivly and let you, the reader, figure out which shows I refer to.

  Kendrian — October 11, 2006 @ 12:02 am
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  A lot of the same names are popping up– which is just a testament to their skills– but I’ve got to go with Martin Scorsese. The man uses popular song to SCORE his films, for crissake! You can watch an entire film of his & just listen to the soundtrack alone, admiring how he blends one song into the other– sometimes within the same scene (the helicopter sequence in Goodfellas comes to mind). And as one poster already mentioned, he uses everything from classic rock to Motown to opera equally effective. The opening to Raging Bull & Casino are particularly beautiful. And I think he should get royalties everytime the Rolling Stones sell an album featuring “Gimme Shelter.” Marty OWNS that song! Hell, he used it TWICE in ONE scene in The Departed & it still had a great effect! Lastly, he often uses said songs to choreograph the action on screen. Case in point: “Layla” in Goodfellas. That one scene should seal the deal for any naysayer! It’s one thing to play a catchy song over a scene or compile a hip soundtrack, but to actually take a popular song and use it to CHOREOGRAPH a scene as effectively as Marty does… well, it’s just genius. I bet no one ever thought to associate “Layla” with mafia corpses before Goodfellas came along. Scorsese has the most amazing ears.

  Anonymous — October 11, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
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  Stanley Kubrick:

  -the Beethoven in A Clockwork Orange (particularly the menage a trois scene)

  -Paint it Black at the end of Full Metal Jacket. As well as ‘The Bird is a Word’ in that film

  -The Blue Danube during 2001, and of course, the music when the monolith is shown

  -Oh god, what about the end of Dr. Strangelove? The song ‘We’ll Meet Again’ as you are watching a mushroom cloud?

  enoch — October 11, 2006 @ 2:48 pm
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  Peter Coquillard
  for the movie NOWHERE 1997
  radiohead
  massive attack
  the the
  chuck d
  seefeel
  portishead
  adorable
  NIN
  +more
  remember, it was 1997 not 2006

  for the movie kicking & screaming-1995
  nick drake
  freedy johnston
  bob marley
  alex chilton
  they might be giants
  the pixies

  jimmy dale gilmore

  FoeWeel !!! ??? — October 11, 2006 @ 5:36 pm
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  If ever, I was very much impressed by a recent german independent movie called emmas glück (emmas luck, as a not so rough translation) which included three songs: one by azure ray, one by kristofer âström, and one more which I don’t recall now. anyway, even the lyrics fit the story (which I won’t spoil here), not to speak of the mood… I mean, they even used Kritofers song twice, once during it and then in the end credits. you noticed it and were just glad to be able to listen to it again. so go watch the movie and be impressed…
  arnulf (koehncke ett gmx dot de)

  arnulf — October 12, 2006 @ 3:37 pm
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  As the catalyst for this question is the new Sofia Coppola film, it is only fair to mention Brian Reitzell, Coppola’s composer/music supervisor/much much more.
  Brian’s work on The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette aside, he has helped muscially sculpt the soundtracks for a lot of other non-Coppola films.
  On Friday Night Lights he helped provide a non-traiditonal score for a big studio film by bringing in Explosions in the Sky. He worked with Tim Delaughter from The Polyphonic Spree for Thumbsucker. Most recently he worked with Britt Daniel from Spoon on Stranger than Fiction.
  He’s doing something above what many traditional composers or music supervisors are doing, in that he pulls songs and artists together, then writes music to provide a fully cohesive musical body for the film.
  There’s more, but I think I’ve made my point.

  4score — October 12, 2006 @ 5:16 pm
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  He doesn’t use modern pop music, but few put together a better soundtrack than Woody Allen. Even if his movies are sometimes less than perfect, his soundtracks are flawless. The music always complements the movie, rather than overshadowing it and he has a knack for finding the right song to capture the mood, from Diane Keaton singing “Seems Like Old Times” in Annie Hall to “Cheek to Cheek” in The Purple Rose of Cairo. The opening scene of Manhattan, set to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, is maybe the best juxtaposition of music and images ever, with the fireworks and the sunrise right in step with momentum of the music. I’m gushing, I guess, but watch it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyY4EUR4by8

  Lauren — October 14, 2006 @ 12:41 am
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  oops, email:laurenoc1026(at)gmail(dot)com.
  sorry!

  Lauren — October 14, 2006 @ 1:14 am
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  first of all. i haven’t read all the others, and yet i’m sure i agree with them. braff, coppala, crowe… they’re all great. no arguments there.

  random addition to the list? the I AM SAM soundtrack. at least for it’s interesting viewpoint. telling this story entirely thru covers of beatles songs. it fits well in the movie, in my opinion. and well, you love covers. so if you haven’t checked it out – it may be worth a look.

  http://www.amazon.com/Am-Sam-Inspired-Motion-Picture/dp/B00005TT77/ref=pd_sim_m_1/102-5422404-6112960?ie=UTF8

  a — October 14, 2006 @ 12:43 pm
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  3 names
  scorsese-the title credits of raging bull.that is cinema
  wes anderson-the suicide scene with needle in the hay
  that is atmosphere
  and
  coppola.sofia?nooooo francis
  the end in apocalypse now
  it’s an intro to a great film and a hell of a character

  i like owen pye — October 17, 2006 @ 10:02 pm
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  It has to be Quentin Tarantino. Pulp Fiction not only set a mark in movie history, but it also ser a mark in movies soundtracks’ history. He turned the soundtrack an element so strong that it becomes independent from the movie (who doesn’t have the Pulp Fiction OST CD?), and yet it matches the movie beautifully.
  Need I say more? Ok, so I will: Kill Bill.

  Dri — October 19, 2006 @ 8:12 pm
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  I didn’t have the necessary hour and a half to read through all these (knowledgable) entries, but did anyone happen to catch “Laurel Canyon” and hear Mark Eitzel’s semi-score? How about Low doing the entire score for “Mothman Prophecies?” Also, don’t forget Michael Andrews’ (again, don’t know if anyone already mentioned it) contribution to “Me and You and Everyone We Know?” That score made that movie, or as director Miranda July said in the liner notes, it “added the yellow” to the film.

  Anonymous — November 6, 2006 @ 5:02 pm

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