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What composers and which scores kicked off your love for the soundtracks?


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21 hours ago, JNHFan2000 said:

For me it was Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl and more specifically the track 'One Last Shot'

 

A great soundtrack to start out with. I think the first movie has at least 7 main themes! 

 

I love pirate period thriller stuff like Pirates otC, Count of Monte Cristo and Monkey Island.

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The first scores which opened my eyes to film music were Horner's American Tail scores.  I was a classical nerd who had thought that real music ceased to be written around 1920.

Then, I heard some John Williams (Far and Away) and Miklos Rozsa (Ben-Hur) on the radio.  I was super impressed.

And then I absolutely fell in love with Superman.  I was hooked.

The concert works of Rozsa and Williams are what led me to appreciate more challenging classical works as well.  

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In 1984, Temple of Doom in the cinema was the first time I took notice of the music and learned the name of the composer, John Williams. Later that year I saw Empire Strikes back for the first time in a rerun and stayed as the only person in the cinema over the whole end credits because I loved the music and wanted to listen until the end. Those 2 scores defined my Soundtrack hobby and are still among my favorites.

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  • 1 year later...

First scores that I remember noticing in the film: Batman Returns, Jurassic Park, Hook.

First soundtrack album: The Lion King

First Williams album: Star Wars Trilogy (Skywalker Symphony).

First Williams score album: The Lost World 

 

Karol

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So far... I may be the old man here. (Bespin seems to be in the running.)

 

My first score was my Dad's record or Grand Prix by Maurice Jarre. This would have been 1972ish.

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We grew up with the LP for The Sound of Music.

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I didn't see the film until years later. (Come to that I didn't see Grand Prix for decades.)

 

Also we had Mancini's The Pink Panther. I only ever listened to the title.

 

Oh, and introductory Lee Holdridge (kinda)!

Neil Diamond - Jonathan Livingston Seagull (Soundtrack) - Amazon.com Music

 

I remember seeing The Island at the Top of the World in grade school.

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When I heard the music for the airship I recognized the style immediately. I didn't know who Maurice Jarre was yet, but that was my first hint that this music was written by individuals and they sounded like something.

 

Growing up I knew TV themes (Six Million Dollar Man, Star Trek, The Incredible Hulk) but I didn't really pay much attention to underscore.

 

Then:

STAR WARS. And CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. And BATTLESTAR GALACTICA. And so on and on and on. (Superman, The Black Hole, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, Tron...)

 

Star Wars was the first LP I picked out at the store (although it was my brother's birthday present). I'm not sure how Close Encounters ended up at our house but I'm glad it did. (With the 45!)

 

Everyone probably thinks they were born at the perfect time for film scores. But I really was! ;)

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Temple of Doom and E.T.

 

As a kid I would rewind ToD to listen to the British arrival and Return to the Village scenes just to listen to the music.

 

Same with the bike chase scene in E.T.

 

As far as listening to scores the way I do now, when Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out it made me want to listen to the Indy scores and the rest is history. Slowly realized I loved pretty much anything by John Williams and slowly got into other composers.  

 

But the seed was definitely planted with those moments of rewinding VHS tapes.

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I remember buying the vinyl for TMNT II The Secret Of The Ooze when I was around 12… I don’t think I identified as a “soundtrack guy” that young, but that was certainly the start of something.

 

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Next phase was when the SNES arrived. Besides being fascinated by the graphics I was blown away by the sound! I remember finding the cheat to Super Star Wars where you could access the soundtrack as a kind of midi-player and browse through the tracks… I’d do that instead of playing, just lying on the floor listening to music.

 

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I loved the soundtrack to other games as well and used to pause the game just to be able to soak ion the music. Donkey Kong Country, Killer Instinct, Mario Paint (!).

 

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Then I purchased John Williams Conducts John Williams The Star Wars Trilogy which was my first CD ever. I didn’t even have a CD player! I listened to it on weekends while visiting stepdad.

 

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After getting a CD player, in quick succession a few other JW OSTs followed… Jurassic Park. What an eye opener!), E.T., Hook, Superman.

 

I remember I bought the Arista 4CD box of the Star Wars Trilogy around then as well.

 

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The rest is history…

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1 hour ago, Jurassic Shark said:

But how tall are you?

 

6'6". Just shy of 2m.

 

20 minutes ago, rough cut said:

Next phase was when the SNES arrived. Besides being fascinated by the graphics I was blown away by the sound! I remember finding the cheat to Super Star Wars where you could access the soundtrack as a kind of midi-player and browse through the tracks… I’d do that instead of playing, just lying on the floor listening to music.

 

04BA0A0F-DC06-448D-B5C7-EA6F0BA11D10.png

 

 

This was remarkable. It wasn't just generic Star Wars themes. It was actual Star Wars music! You could hum along with The Little People Work just because you knew the soundtrack!

 

20 minutes ago, rough cut said:

After getting a CD player, in quick succession a few other JW OSTs followed… Jurassic Park. What an eye opener!), E.T., Hook, Superman.

 

I remember I bought the Arista 4CD box of the Star Wars Trilogy around then as well.

 

60879CA6-7DBD-4116-9095-F3DE8E5381DD.jpeg

 

 

That still gives me chills. This was... I can't even compare it to anything. Especially since I wasn't on any message boards or anything. One day I went to the music store and there it was! Vader and Luke's final duel! All the missing music from the 2 LP Empire that wasn't on the CD! (Well, except for the space slug...) The destruction of Alderaan! DRAWING THE BATTLE LINES! Ahhhhhhh. I need to lie down.

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28 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:
33 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

6'6". Just shy of 2m.

 

Jeesus Christ!

 

Nah: Jesus was about 5 foot 5 inches (1.7 meters) tall, or the average height seen in skeletal remains from males there at the time.

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My dad had some film score albums amongst his massive CD collection when I was a kid. If I remember correctly, he had The Lion King, Twin Peaks, Braveheart, all three LOTR, A.I., HP1 and that JW Greatest Hits 1969-1999 compilation, which was the most played one.

 

I wasn't much of a film music fanatic back then, but I was definetly aware of the power a great score can have over a movie or TV show. When I was 8 or 9, me and some friends were trying to write a play, and I remember listening to the Zimmer tracks in the Lion King OST in order to use them as our score... lmao. 

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My dad had the soundtrack of Live and Let Die at home, on vinyl of course. That was the only soundtrack in his collection.

 

A Hard Day's Night on 8-tracks (the American release including the instrumentals) does it count as a soundtrack? :P

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3 hours ago, Amer said:

Superman: The Movie 

Excellent choice, Amer :)

 

 

9 hours ago, Bespin said:

...instrumentals...

"instrumentals"?

 

 

9 hours ago, Bespin said:

...does it count as a soundtrack? 

Of course it does, and a very good soundtrack it is, too!

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20 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

That still gives me chills. This was... I can't even compare it to anything. Especially since I wasn't on any message boards or anything. One day I went to the music store and there it was! Vader and Luke's final duel! All the missing music from the 2 LP Empire that wasn't on the CD! (Well, except for the space slug...) The destruction of Alderaan! DRAWING THE BATTLE LINES! Ahhhhhhh. I need to lie down.

 

 

There have been AMAZING expansions, and we'd all like the Star Wars scores fine tuned by Matessino.  But nothing, NOTHING will ever compare to the quantum leap expansion the Arista set presented.  Growing up Star Wars, and knowing ALL. THOSE. CUES. buried under the dialogue and sound design.  Finally hearing them in crystal clear sound.  That handsome box set with Lukas Kendall's notes.  The artwork on the discs pairing the mastery of Ralph McQuarrie with John Williams.  The unassuming minimalist black on charcoal covers.

 

For us old timers (I am 50 this year) , there will never be an experience like this, that opened the door for possibilities for future expansions.

 

[Honorable mention for the DCC Raiders!]

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https://filmscoremonthly.com/board/posts.cfm?threadID=70286&forumID=1&archive=0

 

 

Screenshot_2022-03-05-18-23-16.png

5 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

@Bespin The UK release is songs only; no instrumentals.

The US releases are TRUE soundtracks.

HELP also.

Not those pseudo soundtracks put out in UK

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The first soundtrack I "purchased" was a tape copy from an LP of Kilar's DRACULA.

Up until then I didn't know that the music of films existed and you could buy it and listen at your home.

So, before that I had made a mixed tape with my cassete player that I connected to my TV and VCR and recorded music from movies, mainly end credits or main titles. I remember the tape contained E.T. end credits, Superman main titles, Batman Returns, The Simpsons opening theme (:P),Star Wars throne room and finale, a couple of Academy awards music sequences from the best score category and I don't know what else..

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For the young people growing up in that era, yes. 
 

My Star Wars is someone else’s Jurassic Park, and someone else’s Harry Potter. 
 

This thread is really wonderful to see so many younger listeners share their stories alongside  the older fans. 

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The first time I realized film music was a thing was when I saw Star Wars in VHS as a kid. Then, the scores that cemented my interest in film music afterwards were Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Titanic (all seen at the movie theatre), and The Mission (seen at home). I still remember the impression that all these scores made on me. When the SW prequels, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter appeared, I already was a film music fan.

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