What introduced you to J.W.'s music?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,528]

Here's a thread that should have only positive responses, because it concerns the genesis of a love affair. The question is simple: how did you come to know the music of John Williams (or Jerry Goldsmith, or James Horner, or John Barry, or any number of your favourite composers, for that matter)?

Me? I went to see "The Towering Inferno" at the cinema, in 1975, and I was hooked. I saw the film a further 4 times at the cinema, liking the music more and more, until my dad bought the album for me. As he gave it to me, he said: "I don't think you'll like this". Oh, boy, was he ever wrong. 35 years later, my love affair with the music of J.W. knows no sign of letting up, and I hope that it never does!

[Quintus 5,399]

Jurassic Park.

Soon after buying the cassette recording I learned that this Mr Williams fellow had done one or two other notable scores.

[ChuckM 1]

Okay, so if I am understanding the thread correctly, you're asking which movie introduced us to each of our favorite composers?

Here's the quick list of examples I can think of off the top of my head.

David Arnold - Independence Day

Danny Elfman - Batman

Michael Giacchino - The Incredibles

Jerry Goldsmith - Airforce One

James Horner - Project X

Steve Jablonsky - Steamboy

Michael Kamen - Robin Hood

John Powell - Evolution

Alan Silvestri - Back to the Future

Shirley Walker - Final Destination

John Williams - Star Wars

Hans Zimmer - Gladiator

[Charlie Brigden 7]

Two things: The RETURN OF THE JEDI book and tape, and a dog-eared second hand LP of EMPIRE. Never looked back after that.

[crocodile 8,012]

Hearing The Imperial March on TV. It gave me chills. And, I guess, watching Jurassic Park for the first time made its impact too.

Karol

[Incanus 5,714]

When I as a 12 year old saw Jurassic Park for the first time in theater. Journey to the Island made a lasting impression. After that I began to pay attention to this thing called film music and astounding amount of my favourite films had score by the man called John Williams. Naturally I was interested and wanted to hear more. And now I have to recognize (as he has been ever so bitter because I have not mentioned his input) that my younger cousin actually helped me on the way by recording me a casette of Star Wars music which further solidified my fascination and he actually had the JP soundtrack CD which I of course listened endlessly whenever I was visiting him.

And then slowly I started to notice scores and listen to soundtracks from other composers as well. Funnily enough stumbling on other composers for the first time has not left such a vivid mark on me as my first encounter with JW's music. I just slowly became more aware of the different composers as my interest grew.

[Ollie 1,059]

This question has been asked numerous times and my answer is always Star Wars back in 1977.

In fact I did a little flashback in May about becoming a fan of film music:

http://jwfan.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=17678&st=0&p=573082&hl=memories%20of%20a%20film%20score%20fan&fromsearch=1entry573082

[Wojo 2,453]

The question is simple: how did you come to know the music of John Williams (or Jerry Goldsmith, or James Horner, or John Barry, or any number of your favourite composers, for that matter)?

I think it started with my ears. They felt something, something they had not before since... It moved to my brain. And my eyes got wide. My pulse sped up while my breathing slowed. Moving further down, my hands started to tremble. Then my feet lifted. Slowly at first, then more rapidly. A beeline to my parents. Down on both knees, my mouth pleaded -- nay, begged -- for a $60 box of four round discs of plastic with a tall book. That's what started it all.

[Datameister 2,042]

Star Wars. 'Nuff said.

[Trent B 337]

Star Wars. 'Nuff said.

[John Crichton 4]

Star Wars SEs.

[Maglorfin 196]

Seeing Superman, ET, Home Alone and Jurassic Park as a kid did it for me. Especially the first two.

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,265]

Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum.....

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Jurassic Park on cassette, technically. But it was The Phantom Menace and Attack Of The Clones that started the whole collecting and expanding.

[BurgaFlippinMan 7]

old worn out VHSes of Star Wars....when I was 4 or 5

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

Jurassic Park in 1993...

[Richard Penna 3,688]

Initially JP, then Harry Potter.

[indy4 155]

Somebody gave me the soundtrack to TPM as a gift, knowing I liked Star Wars. I liked it, but it was later, when I recieved By Request as a gift, that I really became interested in film scores and John Williams.

[Diego 21]

Star Wars, Empire and Jedi definately, even as a 4 or 5 year old I used to ask my mom to put the double SW LP on the turntable. However I was stuck on Star Wars music for a long time, so the score that got me into more Williams music was Last Crusade. Honorable mention goes to the "By Request" CD which I also played a lot as a child.

[Uni 306]

Two things. First, when we were kids, my brother and I used to roller skate in our basement to the Zubin Mehta recording of the Star Wars suite. I had the primary themes of the film committed to my heart (not to mention the grandeur of the movie itself) by the time I was eight years old or so.

The second event was far more significant: When I was in my freshman year of high school, my Honors English teacher turned off the classroom lights one day, put a candle on the table at the front of the room to serve as a sort of "focal" point, and played the music used in Carl Sagan's T.V. show Cosmos. She told us to let our minds visualize in tune with the music and write whatever came to mind. This exercise didn't just "click" for me--it awakened me to a whole new experience of creative expression. I went home that night and pulled out the only two symphonic albums we had at the time--2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I figured the music of the former was both too organized and too abstract (if you know the film's "score," you'll be able to make sense of that statement). The latter had been one of my favorite films for years, though for whatever reason I'd never thought to sit down and just listen to the music by itself.

Now I had a reason to do so.

I went into the basement and hooked myself up to one of those contraptions that held your ankles and allowed you to pivot over and hang upside down--sort of like the thingy Vickie Vale sees Bruce Wayne hanging from in their overnight scene from the first Batman movie, only mine also had a backrest attached to it. If you adjusted the height settings just so, you could balance in the middle, lay flat, and sort of sway a little back and forth. Made it feel like you were floating. So I strapped myself in, set up the record player next to me and, being the brilliant sort of person I am, turned all the lights out. The point was to see if I could visualize to the music the same way I had done in class.

Well, it worked. Too well. It inspired images, all right, and for the first couple of pieces it was a fascinating experience. Then "Barry's Abduction" kicked in, and I couldn't get through it. It was too terrifying. The music was indeed creating visuals, and you can imagine the sort of visuals that piece would evoke in a particularly creative mind like my own. It took a couple more tries over the next few days, but eventually I did make it all the way through . . . and it was an absolutely amazing experience. While it was a bit random and disconnected, it had a common thread running through it, like an especially vivid dream.

I began to wonder if I could continue to use music in the same way, but instead of letting it dictate the direction of the unfolding action, I wondered if I could find a way to "steer" events in a certain dramatic direction--use the music as inspiration, but apply a more disciplined approach to the emerging story. I figured movie soundtracks would make the best grist for this, since they had been composed with dramatic pretense in mind. So I started collecting scores like crazy, starting (of course) with the complete works of John Williams: first Superman, then the Star Wars films, then E.T., and so on. I used them in this fashion for several years, and developed a few hundred stories along the way. Most were hackneyed ripoffs of stories from literature, or from the very movies whose music was inspiring them, but some were genuinely original pieces of work. This was the genesis and evolution of my entire storytelling passion.

Eventually I'd memorized every note of most of these scores and began to appreciate the music for its application to each original film, and then to appreciate it as music in its own right. I stopped using them for personal inspiration years and years ago--though I do still play the appropriate mood music when I write.

So there you go. That'll teach you to ask deep questions like that. . . .

Dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum dum.....

Why do you always have to be s'dang critical, Cos? We are not dum! We're all very, very smar!

- Uni

[Maxxie 1]

If memory serves, I think I became seriously interested after hearing Jurassic Park and Back To The Future: Parts II & III.

[Sandor 797]

I was already "into" John Williams music at a very early age. I was lucky enough to grow up with the original Star Wars Trilogy, the first Indiana Jones films, E.T., etc. I was always fully aware of John's most famous music.

I didn't become a "full time fan and collector" until 1992 though. I had rediscovered my love for Star Wars and had bought the soundtracks of SW and ROTJ. It was the Charles Gerhardt recording of The Empire Strikes Back that pushed me over the edge. I was officially a fan afterwards and have been ever since.

[Red 75]

I feel like I've answered this question before...

Hook, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones did it for me, especially Hook.

[Ollie 1,059]

Now you're gonna confuse me, I'll think you're Ray with that avatar.

[Red 75]

Now you're gonna confuse me, I'll think you're Ray with that avatar.

Well, Ray hasn't been here for quite a while, and besides, mine has a bunny in it.

[Wojo 2,453]

But it's a white rabbit. You're Red Rabbit. I'm confused.

[John Crichton 4]

That's no ordinary rabbit!