Nick Parker

Perhaps this is a point that has been made in this thread if not years prior, but I find it so strange that when Williams (or apparently other composers like Powell) uses certain devices in recent years, or does things with a certain economy, some immediately launch into the belief that they have been stricken with the "RCP virus" and that their writing has been "tainted". Especially considering that some of these Williams has been using for decades!
 
Is it really so much a stretch, for example, to believe that No Man's Land was written by the man who wrote On The Tank? Or that the man who wrote Munich also wrote Black Sunday thirty years prior? If anything, I find it very inspiring that a composer with the magnitude of John Williams, after decades upon decades of experience in fields of music that can be very dense and complex, still tries to find the Occam's Razor of what makes a piece of music "speak" to a listener and/or filmgoer.

True story: I bought this CD about ten years ago when I was in high school, and was listening to it on the school bus one day when a stoner kid sat down next to me. Even through my headphones I could hear thrashing music blaring out of his earbuds. He looked me and asked what I was listening to. I gave my headphones to him and played track 10, which begins with that beautiful piano solo. The kid absolutely loved it, and from that day we became very good acquaintances throughout the rest of high school.
 
John Williams talks about the surprise of people still going to concerts to listen to Star Wars, but he never talks about random high school kids becoming friends over a Razzie nominated score!

True story: I bought this CD about ten years ago when I was in high school, and was listening to it on the school bus one day when a stoner kid sat down next to me. Even through my headphones I could hear thrashing music blaring out of his earbuds. He looked me and asked what I was listening to. I gave my headphones to him and played track 10, which begins with that beautiful piano solo. The kid absolutely loved it, and from that day we became very good acquaintances throughout the rest of high school.
 
John Williams talks about the surprise of people still going to concerts to listen to Star Wars, but he never talks about random high school kids becoming friends over a Razzie nominated score!

True story: I bought this CD about ten years ago when I was in high school, and was listening to it on the school bus one day when a stoner kid sat down next to me. Even through my headphones I could hear thrashing music blaring out of his earbuds. He looked me and asked what I was listening to. I gave my headphones to him and played track 10, which begins with that beautiful piano solo. The kid absolutely loved it, and from that day we became very good acquaintances throughout the rest of high school.
 
John Williams talks about the surprise of people still going to concerts to listen to Star Wars, but he never talks about random high school kids becoming friends over a Razzie nominated score!

True story: I bought this CD about ten years ago when I was in high school, and was listening to it on the school bus one day when a stoner kid sat down next to me. Even through my headphones I could hear thrashing music blaring out of his earbuds. He looked me and asked what I was listening to. I gave my headphones to him and played track 10, which begins with that beautiful piano solo. The kid absolutely loved it, and from that day we became very good acquaintances throughout the rest of high school.
 
John Williams talks about the surprise of people still going to concerts to listen to Star Wars, but he never talks about random high school kids becoming friends over a Razzie nominated score!

Uh oh, you ain't gonna flex that rhetoric muscle, are you? There's a composer thread in General Discussion where your piano doodling would be most eagerly awaited by me.
 
 
This line of reasoning reminds me of this (the first minute or so):
 
 

- See below

True story: I bought this CD about ten years ago when I was in high school, and was listening to it on the school bus one day when a stoner kid sat down next to me. Even through my headphones I could hear thrashing music blaring out of his earbuds. He looked me and asked what I was listening to. I gave my headphones to him and played track 10, which begins with that beautiful piano solo. The kid absolutely loved it, and from that day we became very good acquaintances throughout the rest of high school.
 
John Williams talks about the surprise of people still going to concerts to listen to Star Wars, but he never talks about random high school kids becoming friends over a Razzie nominated score!

True story: I bought this CD about ten years ago when I was in high school, and was listening to it on the school bus one day when a stoner kid sat down next to me. Even through my headphones I could hear thrashing music blaring out of his earbuds. He looked me and asked what I was listening to. I gave my headphones to him and played track 10, which begins with that beautiful piano solo. The kid absolutely loved it, and from that day we became very good acquaintances throughout the rest of high school.
 
John Williams talks about the surprise of people still going to concerts to listen to Star Wars, but he never talks about random high school kids becoming friends over a Razzie nominated score!

True story: I bought this CD about ten years ago when I was in high school, and was listening to it on the school bus one day when a stoner kid sat down next to me. Even through my headphones I could hear thrashing music blaring out of his earbuds. He looked me and asked what I was listening to. I gave my headphones to him and played track 10, which begins with that beautiful piano solo. The kid absolutely loved it, and from that day we became very good acquaintances throughout the rest of high school.
 
John Williams talks about the surprise of people still going to concerts to listen to Star Wars, but he never talks about random high school kids becoming friends over a Razzie nominated score!

True story: I bought this CD about ten years ago when I was in high school, and was listening to it on the school bus one day when a stoner kid sat down next to me. Even through my headphones I could hear thrashing music blaring out of his earbuds. He looked me and asked what I was listening to. I gave my headphones to him and played track 10, which begins with that beautiful piano solo. The kid absolutely loved it, and from that day we became very good acquaintances throughout the rest of high school.
 
John Williams talks about the surprise of people still going to concerts to listen to Star Wars, but he never talks about random high school kids becoming friends over a Razzie nominated score!

Perhaps this is a point that has been made in this thread if not years prior, but I find it so strange that when Williams (or apparently other composers like Powell) uses certain devices in recent years, or does things with a certain economy, some immediately launch into the belief that they have been stricken with the "RCP virus" and that their writing has been "tainted". Especially considering that some of these Williams has been using for decades!
 
Is it really so much a stretch, for example, to believe that No Man's Land was written by the man who wrote On The Tank? Or that the man who wrote Munich also wrote Black Sunday thirty years prior? If anything, I find it very inspiring that a composer with the magnitude of John Williams, after decades upon decades of experience in fields of music that can be very dense and complex, still tries to find the Occam's Razor of what makes a piece of music "speak" to a listener and/or filmgoer.

Awwwwwww yeah, baby, now that decision would put Kathleen Kennedy back in good graces!
 
Nick- who finds it funny that Kennedy has been a respected film producer behind some of the most beloved and popular films for decades, then after becoming Lucasfilm president  gets treated as some nasty nobody newcomer by disgruntled Star Wars fans

Perhaps this is a point that has been made in this thread if not years prior, but I find it so strange that when Williams (or apparently other composers like Powell) uses certain devices in recent years, or does things with a certain economy, some immediately launch into the belief that they have been stricken with the "RCP virus" and that their writing has been "tainted". Especially considering that some of these Williams has been using for decades!
 
Is it really so much a stretch, for example, to believe that No Man's Land was written by the man who wrote On The Tank? Or that the man who wrote Munich also wrote Black Sunday thirty years prior? If anything, I find it very inspiring that a composer with the magnitude of John Williams, after decades upon decades of experience in fields of music that can be very dense and complex, still tries to find the Occam's Razor of what makes a piece of music "speak" to a listener and/or filmgoer.

Awwwwwww yeah, baby, now that decision would put Kathleen Kennedy back in good graces!
 
Nick- who finds it funny that Kennedy has been a respected film producer behind some of the most beloved and popular films for decades, then after becoming Lucasfilm president  gets treated as some nasty nobody newcomer by disgruntled Star Wars fans

Perhaps this is a point that has been made in this thread if not years prior, but I find it so strange that when Williams (or apparently other composers like Powell) uses certain devices in recent years, or does things with a certain economy, some immediately launch into the belief that they have been stricken with the "RCP virus" and that their writing has been "tainted". Especially considering that some of these Williams has been using for decades!
 
Is it really so much a stretch, for example, to believe that No Man's Land was written by the man who wrote On The Tank? Or that the man who wrote Munich also wrote Black Sunday thirty years prior? If anything, I find it very inspiring that a composer with the magnitude of John Williams, after decades upon decades of experience in fields of music that can be very dense and complex, still tries to find the Occam's Razor of what makes a piece of music "speak" to a listener and/or filmgoer.

Of the current heavyweights I'd probably pick Chris Young. If you want exotic, grimy and grotesque, he's your man.   
 
I still haven't quite warmed to Beltrami, even after Gods of Egypt, but given his resume he'd be an obvious choice.

I wonder if rather than quality per se, it might pertain more to your pet topic ASMR Titanic erectile dysfunction realism and relatability, Jerry. I saw the two live-action Street Fighter movies over the past couple of weeks, and I was very struck by their difference in tone. Both are bad movies, no question, but the 90s one had so much outlandish confidence and swagger, it wasn't afraid to use lines (and sets, costumes, performances, music, etc.) that were very colorful and bold. I could lob out at least ten quotes from that movie immediately, which are indelibly linked to the barnstorming performances of dudes like Raul Julia and Jean Claude Van Damme (something Stefan refers to above this post). 
 
But the newer one from the late 00s? Everything is so toned down, and muted. "Loud and proud" is a dirty phrase: most of the lines are bad, but there's no zest, it's just inoffensively lame. Delivered by actors with no zeal or commitment, it's all very down to earth, as if they were afraid to be too broad and "theatrical". I could maybe give you one or two quotes, and I would have to concentrate.
 
A very specific example, yes, but I hope I made my point clearly enough for you to understand and respond.

I hate The Lost World, John Williams really phoned it in. Such generic percussion, only a composer who has something to hide uses that. I don't actually know what separates generic from non-generic percussion, but I hear a lot of drums and so I instantly know it's bad. 

I hate The Lost World, John Williams really phoned it in. Such generic percussion, only a composer who has something to hide uses that. I don't actually know what separates generic from non-generic percussion, but I hear a lot of drums and so I instantly know it's bad. 

It may be true that for someone with little to no real musical talent it is, at the extreme surface level, easier to fake the Zimmer sound than it is Williams', but from a perspective of real musicianship, both can be faked pretty easily.  And in both cases, the fake will never possess the real soul or expression of who it is imitating.  So I wouldn't say that Zimmer is easily copied, bearing that in mind.  Zimmer's music moves me quite deeply and the imitations don't, however similar they may be in a superficial sense.  Hence the many shitty knockoffs of Zimmer's music...and yes, of Williams' too.  You don't see anyone running around successfully mimicking either of those styles, not with any real substance.  As always, composers should want, and be allowed, to write what they are naturally inclined to.

What makes those titles worse is that I could see some of them being used on a Giacchino album.

"Nothing's more Star Wars than brass triplets, right? I'll make sure I do it again and again to let people know they're listening to Star Wars!"

To be fair, Bruce Broughton can be hard to top.

To be fair, Bruce Broughton can be hard to top.