Earliest Film Score Memories?

[Arpy 4,145]

Not sure if there's a thread on this yet (if there is please merge) but what is/are your earliest film score memories? It might just be a single cue, a single portion of a cue...

 

I grew up in the 90's so there are three distinct memories of film music before I knew I liked it, or engaged in it:

 

- The Wicked Witch of the West's Theme from The Wizard of Oz, a weird memory I know, but back then as a child I'd always sing or hum that theme whilst riding my grandparent's broom around the kitchen (I was four/five!)

 

- Darth Vader's Theme/ The Imperial March - My dad showed me the OT on VHS and I instantly loved this theme. No one could escape that theme, who doesn't know it?

 

- Batman Forever Theme - Back then I loved those films (today it's a different matter) and Batman was a huge part of my childhood and that theme that plays as Batman crashes through ceilings, races around in the Batmobile - that theme was what I identified with the character.

 

 

[Chen G. 3,944]

Its a curious thing, for me, because I was never aware of music in film as music. It was always such an integral part of the impression and the emotion of the scene that I never thought of it as music per se.  I mean, I was humming the Minas Tirith theme to no end for the better part of four years, without understanding what I was doing. The first time I was aware of music in film as being music was the company theme in An Unexpected Journey, because of the shift from source to underscore to end-credits song.

 

The first theme that I ever hummed was, I believe, the Superman theme.

[Incanus 5,713]

My earliest clear memories of noticing film music must be the 1987 film Masters of the Universe's main title and Skeletor's theme by Bill Conti (I was a massive fan of the toy line and comics) and the chanting of "Hook, hook give us the hook!" to the tune of John Williams' Hook theme from Hook from 1991. I became fully and powerfully aware of film music when I saw Jurassic Park for the first time in theater in 1993, which made me a film music fan for life.

[Quintus 5,399]

There's a cassette tape recording of my 7yr old self humming the Raiders March. 

[Incanus 5,713]

6 minutes ago, Quintus said:

There's a cassette tape recording of my 7yr old self humming the Raiders March. 

Oh yes that is another one I remember from the late 80's with me and friends humming the march after watching the Temple of Doom when we ran outside and pretended to be Indiana Jones. I remember us watching the sacrificial scene (the kiddy friendlier edited TV version) with our own hearts in our throats but not one of us so brave as to admit that we were scared!  

[Quintus 5,399]

The influence of Williams on a young mind can not be underestimated. I think I've managed to impart the bug on my 4yr old lad, who often cites the Superman theme as being his "best song". There's four children in our house, and on some evenings in the week we will have YouTube on the TV for the last half hour before bedtime so that they can take turns to have their song choices on. The girls will all pick pop songs but Bruce will, without fail, demand Superman when it's his turn. I've even got him preferring the longer prologue version, heard as the newsreel curtains open at the start of the film! The rolling timpani which follows and then the rumble of the ostinato, paint wonder and awe on his face, it's a real pleasure to see it. I think this will be his own earliest memory of film music. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

The DOCTOR WHO theme, in 1967, and, yes, I did hide behind the sofa.

This was closely followed by a trip to the pictures, to watch THE JUNGLE BOOK, also in '67.

My first memory of JW music, would be LOST IN SPACE, LAND OF THE GIANTS,  and THE TIME-TUNNEL, from '67-'70, followed by THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, in '73, and, cementing my love of all things Williams, THE TOWERING INFERNO, in '75.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

2 hours ago, Arpy said:

Not sure if there's a thread on this yet (if there is please merge) but what is/are your earliest film score memories? It might just be a single cue, a single portion of a cue...

 

I grew up in the 90's so there are three distinct memories of film music before I knew I liked it, or engaged in it:

 

- The Wicked Witch of the West's Theme from The Wizard of Oz, a weird memory I know, but back then as a child I'd always sing or hum that theme whilst riding my grandparent's broom around the kitchen (I was four/five!)

 

 

It's definitely Wizard of Oz for me.  I was so scared of the Witch when I was very little, my siblings would chase me around "singing" the Witch's theme.

 

[bollemanneke 3,338]

My first score memory is desperately wanting the Harry Potter 4 soundtrack after watching the film in the theatre. Williams only started growing on me in the past three years.

[Jay 37,300]

My earliest film score memories along with the recollections of many late-2000s board members are here.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

6 year old me playing Duel of the Fates with the "do do" voice setting on the Casio keyboard.

[Bellosh 3,390]

For me it was the 'British Relief' cue from Temple of Doom.

 

When I was little I would watch Temple of Doom almost every Friday night for a good few months and I would always, just always keep rewinding the music at the part where the British Troops arrived.  It was really something the day that Concord Set released in 2008 to get that cue.

 

Same with the riding off into the sunset Last Crusade end credits.  Even at a young age, I could tell the difference between the Raiders March (Indy theme I called it...) in all of the movies, and the version in those end credits/scene was just incredible to me.

 

Also, everything in E.T.

[Jay 37,300]

16 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

For me it was the 'British Relief' cue from Temple of Doom.

 

When I was little I would watch Temple of Doom almost every Friday night for a good few months and I would always, just always keep rewinding the music at the part where the British Troops arrived.  It was really something the day that Concord Set released in 2008 to get that cue.

 

Such a great little fanfare!

[John 2,032]

I suppose for as long as I could remember, I've been interested in film scores. When I was young, I used to watch E.T. nearly every day on VHS, and I always loved the parts when Williams' music was front-and-center in the film. It's still one of my favorite film scores ever.

 

 

Ah, I see many of the people who posted before me also say their fascination with film music started with Spielberg/Williams movies. A brilliant pair, those two are.

[Disco Stu 15,495]

I also have to mention the wordless choir as Bambi searches for his mother in the snow.  This music had a profound impact on me.

 

 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,504]

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I notice a distinct similarity of this music, to the "ice" music in A.I.

[Brundlefly 2,385]

Harry Potter

Land Before Time

Multiple Disney Scores

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,488]

Some of my earliest memories are Batman (1989) and Hook. I saw Hook the weekend it opened (maybe the day?) and I still remember the music from the swordfight. A big reason why I started getting CDs was because I would use the Talkboy from Home Alone 2 to record film and TV music, complete with dialogue and sound effects of course. I spent many mornings and evenings trying to get the best possible recording of the NBC News music.

[Holko 9,499]

My earliest memory I actually have of recognizing and wanting an actual film score (not songs) was Morricone's Occhio Alla Penna/Buddy Goes West. Bud Spencer was one of my childhood heroes, and this was my favourite movie of his, and Morricone definitely isn't at his worst in it, a lot of memorable pieces!

 

As for my known earliest encounter that I have no distinct memories of but has become an integral part of my subconscious, that would be Broughton's Homeward Bound. This was one of the first movies I ever obsessed over as a tiny kid, I watched it over and over and over. A few months ago I rediscovered the score and a lot of moments caused me INSANE deja vu or flashbacks or something along these lines. It made me truly nostalgic for the first time for my own early childhood instead of others' (through 80s movies and such).

[Thor 7,473]

I really can't remember. A ton of TV themes, obviously, but you asked for film scores. 

 

I think the first time I actively sought out a soundtrack was for TWIN PEAKS -- made a cassette copy from a friend's CD. This would be around 1990.

[James 119]

The "first" times I realized the music in the movies was in "Batman Returns", "The Jurassic Park" and "Jaws".  I wanted own all them. I was very young at the time, but the theme for the Batman, Penguin, the dinosaurs park and the motif for the shark  haunted my dreams and nightmares  for weeks.