Ever tried to subtly let a person know just WHO Williams is?

[Quintus 5,399]

You know, people might whistle a tune of Williams, or perhaps they might mention how they liked the music of a particular film.

I've had instances like these many times and I nearly always try to carefully educate them as to just who is responsible for writing all the film music they don't realise they actually know. Its normally met with a sentence that basically means 'Meh'.

But sometimes, just sometimes, a person will question it, show signs of understanding, even appreciation (usually after I've given them the popular score roll out).

My closest friends and family ALL know the name John Williams, purely because I've persistently drilled it into their heads. But the thing is, nearly all of my friends are now avid fans of the man, once realising the effect he had on their individual love of film and even musical tastes.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

But the thing is, nearly all of my friends are now avid fans of the man, once realising the effect he had on their individual love of film and even musical tastes.

You ever Played Knights of the Old Republic II?

You really have influenced your surrounding companions!

[Ollie 1,059]

No I don't.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

I was not asking you anyway

[Ollie 1,059]

I was answering the question posted in the thread title Luke.

[Henry B 50]

Most of my friends are familiar with my "sad obsession" with John Williams. I've introduced plenty of music to them, like The Lost World (which "sounds like Star Wars"). I do credit them, however, with introducing me to Andrew Lloyd Webber, or at least, Phantom.

[violin123 0]

I try to tell my friends who John Williams is but it's kinda hard with 16/17 year-olds these days... :roll:

Everytime my friends get into a conversation about music, I usually feel left out

[BigMacGyver 0]

There are only few instances where I educate folks during a harmless conversation. Recently, a colleague asked me who that person on my working pc's desktop background is (I have the great williams painting up) and I replied: It's John Williams, the guy who composed Jaws, Star Wars, War Of The Worlds (to mention a more recent example) and all spielberg films.

He stumbled something like: "But... but... Hans Zimmer did... did... I thought..."

I guess he wanted to connect Zimmer with Spielberg or one of the films I mentioned, which was where I interrupted him and destroyed his illusions by saying just: "No!"

He quickly got out of it by asking me more about Hans Zimmer. That was one of the few instances where I kind of really educated someone.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

only if I was afraid they might think Im a geek, or nerd, and frankly I don't, so I just say I am a John williams fan.

[Joe Brausam 214]

Most of my friends are familiar with my "sad obsession" with John Williams. I've introduced plenty of music to them, like The Lost World (which "sounds like Star Wars"). I do credit them, however, with introducing me to Andrew Lloyd Webber, or at least, Phantom.

I was actually quite saddened the day I was introduced to Phantom. I didn't enjoy the music too much.

[Henry B 50]

I hear that a lot.

But I guess we should return to the topic of the thread.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

I was answering the question posted in the thread title Luke.

D'OH

sorry. :oops:

[Dean1700 4]

So what about when someone who says they like the Star Wars music (but doesn't really know who JW is) but tries to sing/whistle/perform The Imperial March?

Do you:

a) Tell them "They sound like a goose!";

B) Tell them "No no no no no. You're doing it wrong!" and show them how is ACTUALLY goes;

c) Tell them "You know that is the man who did the music to Jaw, Harry Potter, Superman, Indy movies, won 5 Oscars, 4 Golden Globes, 16 Grammys and has received more nominations for awards than they've had roast dinners!";

d) Remain silent and let them do an injustice to JW's music;

d) Thump the living christ out of them for doing an injustice to JW's music.

[Ollie 1,059]

Most of my family and friends don't really care what music I listen to.

They know I collect film scores but since I listen to other types of music that's what we usually discuss. My best friend is a Williams and film score fan but he despises the message boards although he visits from time to time. So we discuss film scores when we get together.

My son has an appreciation for film music, he likes Williams, Goldsmith and Akira Ifukube. My mom loves Williams, my wife is getting interested in it since she met me, my sister likes Williams, my daughter could care less.

But Joe said it as well as I could.

[Richard Penna 3,694]

My parents and brother all know I'm into scores. My mum particularly is aware I like Williams, and my brother knows I'm a massive fan of Tom Newman (and he even likes some of his stuff too - he can tell the title cue from Shawshank Redemption from two rooms away).

My dad however, just came into my room while I had 'It's Deserted' from King Kong playing, and while waiting for my brother to join us, said 'that must be Lord of the Rings'. I plainly corrected him, but I guess he's not a million miles away...

And jedimaster - I know what that feels like. My grandad thinks he can hum the Jurasic Park theme, but he never gets the melody quite right - instead of dum dum dummmmm dum dummm, it's dum dum dummmm dum dum dum with him.

My brother also got it wrong when making a dance remix of the main themes, but he claims he had to change it slightly because of the rhythm.

[deimos 0]

For me it's so difficult to make people you undertand you like the music from certain films that I just don't care anymore. For instance, I remember one day when I was with some friends, some of them no so friends so they didn't know me that much. So my cell phone rings, with Cantina Band 1, and they asked "Hey, what's that tune from?, I heard that before". At my answer, they dodn't even think that I could actually like the music from Star Wars but just Star Wars itself (both things are true in this case).

But my point is I think many people can't understand you might like the music for itself and not because of the movie it comes from, so it's really hard to tell them, "Yup, it's from John Williams, he's a great film composer.

[King Mark 3,631]

I just don't try to convert people anymore.I did make a copy of the 2 c.d. set of Superman the movie recently for a friend who likes the Krypton music.I hope he listens to all of it.

K.M.

[Eric_JWFAN 11]

I think more people knew who John Williams was in the 80s than today (percentage-wise). Sad but probably true. I can't imagine having that kind of career, and yet still not be an absolute household name.

[Vaderbait1 1]

If someone mentions they like some of Williams' work (usually in a movie), I'll mention that it's John Williams, the guy who scored (insert other famous movie theme they'd know here) and they're like. "Really? That's cool." They usually don't like to get in a big discussion about it, but his music really stands out, even to the uninitiated. Once they start connecting the dots they can actually pick out his unique style. I had a friend once recognize a movie score as John Williams after I "informed" them the way I described above, simply because the style sounded similar.

[Red 75]

Yes, I have. Most people that I have talked to already know who he is, but then again, I don't normally talk to people about film music.

[Indiana_Fett 0]

I play some tunes from my iPod for my friends, because they know I like Williams. When my friend play World of Warcraft, he'll ride that Griffin thing to some city, and I'll play "Buckbeak's Flight" and he'll laugh because he thinks the music (not having any knowledge of the music's original use) is very appropriate.

[KingPin 201]

So what about when someone who says they like the Star Wars music (but doesn't really know who JW is) but tries to sing/whistle/perform The Imperial March?

Do you:

a) Tell them "They sound like a goose!";

B) Tell them "No no no no no. You're doing it wrong!" and show them how is ACTUALLY goes;

c) Tell them ."You know that is the man who did the music to Jaw, Harry Potter, Superman, Indy movies, won 5 Oscars, 4 Golden Globes, 16 Grammys and has received more nominations for awards than they've had roast dinners!";

d) Remain silent and let them do an injustice to JW's music;

d) Thump the living christ out of them for doing an injustice to JW's music.

All of the above!!! LOL

But I was never subtle, at least with my family, about who JW is. They used to have to put up with me blasting his music in my room, or on the computer, or on the Bose stereo on top of the piano, at all hours of the day. And speaking of the piano, I would typically only play stuff by Williams (Sabrina was the most common), or I would take my Signature Edition scores, blast the music on the Bose, and play the piano part with the CD. Yeah, my family is well aware of who JW is. And a few of my closest friends, and a co-worker, are also JW fans, although not to the extent that I am.

[orrakul 0]

I'm tired of people constantly being surprised that I like listening to "background music", or wonder how I can listen to music without lyrics.

[Melisande 0]

I guess I've got good friends/acquaintances. Everyone I've mentioned him to at least knows who he is, and most think it's cool that I'm a fan of his music (and some are even fans themselves!) Maybe there's hope for LA after all

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

My best friend is a Williams and film score fan but he despises the message boards although he visits from time to time.

Are we so despicable?!

[Ollie 1,059]

No most of you are just idiots.....

I have made a couple of CDR's for my 4 year old nephew featuring cues that are soft and full of good melodies which my sister said he enjoys listening to. Of course Williams is featured quite a bit.

My next task will be a Superhero CD because he loves running around saying "I'm Batman" or flexing his muscles saying he's Superman.

[Marcus 390]

Williams is more of a household name than any other film composer in history. Maybe most of today's teenagers don't associate his name with his legendary music, but mature audiences certainly do. And we shouldn't forget that Williams is one of America's most internationally renowned and celebrated classical musicians. I think it is important to remember that Williams comes out of a classical tradition, after all, and as such belongs to a different ray of the "limelight" than, say, Zimmer or Elfman.

[Jediwashington 59]

Oh, my girlfriend ticks me off in this aspect. She thinks Williams is a hack that copies everything he does. I've shown her almost direct copies in classical music from different composers, but she still thinks he takes everything from different places. That's not even why I like him though. His melodies, beautiful, but yes, he's guilty of a little copying, like every other composer.

What I love about his work is all the background stuff. All those little runs, the chords, the perfect range for the instruments. These aren't orchestrators work, it's his. She knows who he is, but almost refuses to like him. someones feeding her classical opinion trash.

Anyway, yes, I've had to explain Williams to people all the time. They usually just go "Oh, really? That's neat" and that's the last I hear of it. But for several people, I've instilled a new obsession in them. Still, some people sit there and roll their eyes, as if they would rather see the films with just sound effects and voice and only an occasional compilation score. Losers.

I don't think most people realize how much they like Williams...

~JW

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Oh, my girlfriend ticks me off in this aspect. She thinks Williams is a hack that copies everything he does.

And I always thought there was never any reason to slap a women?

[Red 75]

Everyone knows Star Wars or Jaws, but not everone knows who wrote it.

[Indiana_Fett 0]

Oh, my girlfriend ticks me off in this aspect. She thinks Williams is a hack that copies everything he does. I've shown her almost direct copies in classical music from different composers, but she still thinks he takes everything from different places. That's not even why I like him though. His melodies, beautiful, but yes, he's guilty of a little copying, like every other composer.  

What I love about his work is all the background stuff. All those little runs, the chords, the perfect range for the instruments. These aren't orchestrators work, it's his. She knows who he is, but almost refuses to like him. someones feeding her classical opinion trash.

Anyway, yes, I've had to explain Williams to people all the time. They usually just go "Oh, really? That's neat" and that's the last I hear of it. But for several people, I've instilled a new obsession in them. Still, some people sit there and roll their eyes, as if they would rather see the films with just sound effects and voice and only an occasional compilation score. Losers.

I don't think most people realize how much they like Williams...

~JW

Tell your girlfriend to name specific pieces and their composers before this has any merit.

[JWfangirl1992 18]

B.

I have a friend who says she'll try anything and makes me listen to random broadway play soundtracks and when I try to get her to listen to one John Williams track she flips out so....I snuck onto her computer put my superman cd in then uploaded it into a playlist and titled it Superman. They I figured she'd just delete it so I changed her On-The-Go 2 Playlist into Superman and titled the on the go 2 playlist Superman, I wonder how long it will take her ....OMG OMG OMG JOHN WILLIAMS!!! CHANNEL 2 JOHN WILLIAMS LIBERTY FAN FARE!!...nevermind the PoPs are just playing it.

[Maestro 147]

I'm pretty sure - nay, absolutely positive - that a girl closing her mind to the Maestro is a dealbreaker.