What Film Composers Do You Dislike? Let The World Know Here!

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

Try "Shoot High, Aim Low", "I'm Running", and "Endless Dream".

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

I like Horn and Rabin's production, and compositionally they're not bad, but I've always hated Jon Anderson's voice.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

In that case, listen to "Drama": a 100% Anderson-free zone.

[Sharkissimo 1,973]

Listening to it now...

So much better without Anderson and Wakeman.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

"Machine Messiah" is fantastic!

[nightscape94 965]

As said, 'hate' is strong word but these composers do nothing for me or worse, grate on my nerves.

Trevor Rabin

Kevin Kliner

Brian Tyler

Steve Jablonsky

Tyler Bates

Christopher Beck

John Debney

Clint Mansell

Michel Rubini

Carmen Dragon

David Arnold is borderline, but is saved by a couple of good scores/cues.

Can't say I've heard many of those composers' works, but Trevor Rabin was a much better "composer" when he was in Yes.

Not a Yes fan as you know, but I agree.

Rabin sucks. He may be a good engineer, but he's a bad composer and guitarist. Especially if you compare him to Steve Howe.

[Kühni 485]

.

[Gnome in Plaid 219]

 

 

As said, 'hate' is strong word but these composers do nothing for me or worse, grate on my nerves.

Trevor Rabin

Kevin Kliner (sic)

Brian Tyler

Steve Jablonsky

Tyler Bates

Christopher Beck (sic)

John Debney

Clint Mansell

Michel Rubini

Carmen Dragon

David Arnold is borderline, but is saved by a couple of good scores/cues.

I'd agree with you on most of those, but Clint Mansell?  Sure, he's written some bad scores (World Traveler, Knockaround Guys), but at his best (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, Sahara), he's better than anybody not named Williams, Shore, or Horner working today.

 

Sorry, but those scores are just not my cup of tea ('Lux Aeterna' is nails-on-a-chalkboard for me, and The Fountain is what imagine they pipe through PA systems in hell's waiting room, along with Elbow's One Day Like This and Barry Manilow Greatest Hits). I prefer Pop Will Eat Itself.

 

Not familiar with David Wingo, but Marc Streitenfeld and John Murphy are great picks.

 

To each their own, I guess.  I first listened to Mansell's score for Requiem for a Dream shortly after I read the book (which I read shortly after Last Exit to Brooklyn) and my first reaction was "My God, this is Hubert Selby's literary aesthetic distilled into musical form."  Much like Selby's writing, I can understand people not liking it, but I happen to love it.  As Darren Aronofsky wrote in the forward to a new edition to the novel, "[selby] writes about the darkness.  It is in this darkness where Selby flips on his flashlight and searches for our humanity."  And I think Mansell understands that perfectly.  Hell's PA system is a perfect way to describe Meltdown (not The Fountain), and I mean that in the best possible way:

 

The Fountain is a much more accessible score, and it's one of my all-time favorites.  First Snow: I really can't fathom someone disliking this.

[Lewya 360]

Dislike is a strong word, but here are 20 composers I largely don't care for aside from the exceptions which I have singled out:

 

Klaus Badelt: I like some of The Promise and Rescue Dawn, but that's about it.

Steve Jablonsky: I like parts of the first Transformers and Steamboy was kind of OK.

Tyler Bates: I can't think of anything I have liked.

Michael Giacchino: I kind of like some of Lost, parts of the Medal of Honor scores, some of The Incredibles and the occasional surprise cue here and there.

Ramin Djawadi: I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really

David Arnold: I like some of Independence Day and the occasional surprise cue here and there.

Junkie XL: I like some of Mad Max: Fury Road and the occasional surprise cue here and there.

Rupert Gregson-Williams: I can't think of anything I have enjoyed really, but he has his moments I guess.

John Debney: I like parts of Cutthroad Island and Lair and the occasional surprise cue here and there.

Trevor Rabin: I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really.

Marc Streitenfeld: I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really.

Joseph Bishara: I can't think of anything I have liked.

Christophe Beck: I can't think of anything I have liked.

Brian Tyler: I can't think of anything I have really liked, but the occasional surprise cue here and there can be pretty nice I guess.

David Wingo: I can't think of anything I have liked, it is just kind of there, it doesn't do anything for me.

Harry Gregson-Williams - I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really.

Steven Price - I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really.

Bear McCreary - I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really.

John Murphy - I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really.

Henry Jackman - I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

I dislike Randy Edelman.

[Thor 7,495]

Stunned by the amount of absolutely BRILLIANT composers mentioned in this thread, but to each their own and all that.

[Lewya 360]

Pretty good call on Edelman, but I would still file him under, "I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really" category, he has some good cues to his name. 

 

Graeme Revell is another composer I largely don't care for, but he has done some good work to be honest. I like some of Out of Time, Dead Calm, The Crow etc. The song in Strange Days is one of the best things Revell has done. All taken together, I do like Revell more than most of the composers I have mentioned - he has done more good work than most even if he might be a more miss than hit composer for me as a whole.

 

Jeff Rona would probably be filed under "I like the occasional surprise cue here and there, but no score in its entirety really" category as well, but truth to be told, I haven't heard enough of his work. I remember liking some of Generation Iron.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

I tend to find Alan Silvestri largely boring to listen to on CD, the sole exception so far being Predator 2. 

 

And I'm still convinced Child's Play 2 is more a Shirley Walker score than Graeme Revell.

[Thor 7,495]

1 minute ago, kaseykockroach said:

I tend to find Alan Silvestri largely boring to listen to on CD, the sole exception so far being Predator 2. 

 

To that, and other picks in this thread, I only have one thing to say:

 

 

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

The score serves the film just fine, but I found Roger Rabbit a dull listen compared to Horner and Broughton's joyful contributions to the badly battered babysitter bunny legacy. 

[1977 1,743]

On 14 May 2014 at 9:40 PM, Muad'Dib said:

I miss personalities like Herrmann's. But I keep thinking he wouldn't be able to make it in today's ruthless industry.

 

I'm sure he'd tell them all to F off!

 

 

As others have said, hate is not the word I'd choose (Yoda said it leads to suffering, after all).

 

I've had a hard time understanding the love for Maurice Jarre, but I'm hopeful he'll "click" with me at some point.

 

Alexandre Desplat is obviously insanely capable and his scores exceptionally polished, I just find them oddly soulless.

 

Randy Edelman is not really my cup of tea, his themes seem so bland to me.

 

Cliff Eidelman's themes and writing for action I enjoy, but a lot of his underscore is really minimalistic and unengaging to me.

 

I enjoy Zimmer's late 80's and early to mid 90's stuff, and adore The Prince of Egypt but everything thereafter I find insufferable (especially considering the hype around his work).

 

The worst for me is this droning sonic wallpaper stuff (Reznor/Ross being the prime suspects). If filmmakers want this kind of crap in their films they should just forego music altogether and focus on sound effects.

 

Sometimes my opinion will change about a specific composer. I wasn't too keen on John Powell (probably because all I was really exposed to was his animation stuff), but thanks to the suggestions of Thor and others at FSM, I've started to click with his more serious fare.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,516]

On 18/05/2014 at 6:59 PM, nightscape94 said:

Rabin sucks. He may be a good engineer, but he's a bad composer and guitarist. Especially if you compare him to Steve Howe.

 

Are you joking, dude?; Steve Howe scribbles all over Yes. He is frequently flat, and his technique has not improved, nor progressed, one iota,  since THE YES ALBUM. Rabin was the best thing to happen to Yes, since Wakeman joined...and joined...and joined...and joined 

[Thor 7,495]

1 hour ago, kaseykockroach said:

The score serves the film just fine, but I found Roger Rabbit a dull listen compared to Horner and Broughton's joyful contributions to the badly battered babysitter bunny legacy. 

 

ROGER RABBIT is mickey-mousey pants! But he's got, like, a zillion great scores that are also wonderful listening experiences.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

Eight Legged Freaks is the only John Ottman score that's delighted my ears. 

[John 2,032]

While by no means a bad composer, the only scores by Danny Elfman that I can bring myself to listen to are Batman and Pee-wee's Big Adventure, with the latter being my favorite of the two.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

Yeah, not that big into Elfman either. He's great at main themes, but his albums otherwise tend to be unengaging when said themes aren't on. There are personal exceptions for me though. I absolutely love Batman Returns all the way through and I love Mars Attacks' theme so much I happily put on the whole album just to hear it. The Tales from the Crypt theme is of course a classic. Heck, I'd buy The Frighteners or Nightbreed if they ever got released expanded with better sound quality. 

But something like Beetlejuice drops dead for me after the opening cue. 

[Bayesian 1,363]

Carter Burwell has never elicited much interest from me, for some reason. 

[gkgyver 1,645]

Randy Edelman?

The hell?

 

 

[NL197 368]

Kindergarten Cop is too charming to have any dislike of. 

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

No one disses Anaconda while I'm around! 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

On 9.3.2018 at 11:02 PM, Scintillating_CA said:

Carter Burwell has never elicited much interest from me, for some reason. 

Maybe, because he makes a real orchestra sound like a synthetic orchestea by robbing every trace of dynamics from it? His compositions are also always the same and extremely easy - a lot of people in this forum have more talent than Burwell, I bet.

[Kasey Kockroach 2,344]

I tend to find Elfman imitation scores to be better orchestrated and executed than most actual Elfman, confessedly (Horner's Casper is one example that comes to mind). 

[Brundlefly 2,385]

45 minutes ago, kaseykockroach said:

I tend to find Elfman imitation scores to be better orchestrated and executed than most actual Elfman, confessedly (Horner's Casper is one example that comes to mind). 

Like Sweeney Todd? When I saw that movie I initially thought "that's too perfect for Elfman".

[The Illustrious Jerry 3,356]

I was never really on board with Elfman yeah.

[Richard Penna 3,686]

On 3/9/2018 at 9:41 PM, JohnSolo said:

While by no means a bad composer, the only scores by Danny Elfman that I can bring myself to listen to are Batman and Pee-wee's Big Adventure, with the latter being my favorite of the two.

 

I'm barely into Elfman outside of Sleepy Hollow plus a handful of tracks from a few other scores.

 

His zany side doesn't appeal to me at all - Hollow's dramatic sound really stood out to me when I was first getting into scores, and I've never really heard that sound again, outside of maybe Terminator Salvation.

 

I can't think of anyone I consistently dislike. Most composers I'm aware of have at some point written something interesting, even if it's surrounded by mush.