What is your favorite score to a Spiderman movie?

[WampaRat 1,105]

What’s your favorite? Is it Danny’s? Chris Young’s? James Horners? Hans Zimmers? Michael Gia’s? Pemberton’s?

(Gosh, there’s been an insane amount of Spider-Man composers in the last 20 years) 
 

So many great scores for your friendly neighborhood wall-crawler.

[Not Mr. Big 4,639]

Spider-Man 2 in film.  Spider Man 3 on album.

 

[Jay 37,351]

No love for John Paesano's score to the game?

[bored 309]

It's really close between Spider-Man (2002) and Spider-Man 2, but I love the way Elfman builds on his themes in the 2nd film. Especially the new extended version of Peter Parker's theme to reflect the film's emphasis on Peter's character instead of Spider-Man's. 

 

 

18 minutes ago, Jay said:

No love for John Paesano's score to the game?

 

It's good, just not nearly as good as Elfman and Young's scores for me. 

[WampaRat 1,105]

23 minutes ago, Jay said:

No love for John Paesano's score to the game?

Tried to limit it to just the theatrical releases. But I’ve heard great things about that one!

[Thor 7,494]

Not a particularly big fan of any of them, but if I had to choose, I would pick SPIDER-MAN 2 easily. So has the majority, I see now.

[Edmilson 7,435]

I like almost all of these scores, but I voted for the first SM by Elfman because I loved that movie as a child... lol.

[TheUlyssesian 2,478]

Danny Elfman made an immense contribution to the Spiderman films.

 

At their best, film scores can actually add production value to a film, making them seem grander and more expensive than they are. Williams does this all the time.

 

But Elfman too. His scores in the Spiderman films definitely provide that sense of scale and awe and wonder. It is very good work. Modern superhero scores could learn a trick or two from him. 

[blondheim 1,157]

Having rewatched Spider-Man 2002 recently, I can verify that it is a modern masterpiece and an incredible career achievement for Elfman.

[mstrox 6,651]

Hard to choose between Spider-man and Spider-man 2.  Spider-man 2 is probably better overall but the first has those little Moments that are so excellent (costume montage, first web, the chase after the wrestling match) and which aren’t really matched in that second score.  I went with part 1.

 

All the rest of the scores are either so-so or awful (HANS).

[Jay 37,351]

Christopher Young's score so-so? Come on now... 

[mstrox 6,651]

So-so would be an upgrade from my initial impressions.  I’ve really only heard it in the movie since it’s never been released and I remember haaaaating it at the time.  I have since very recently seen a fan-made iso of a scene towards the end, which seemed fine but shruggy, and rewatched the opening titles which pivot from the good Elfman stuff to some not very good other stuff at the midpoint. 

[saulocf 79]

1. Spider-Man 3 (Young)

2. Spider-Man 2 (Elfman)

3. Spider-Man (Elfman)

4. Far From Home (Giacchino)

5. Amazing (Horner)

6. No Way Home (Giacchino)

7. Homecoming (Giacchino)

8. Amazing 2 (Zimmer)

9. Spider-Man game 

10. Into Spiderverse (urgh) (Pemberton)

[HunterTech 989]

Wow, that's almost my own list, though I haven't given Paesano a proper listen, and would probably bump up TASM1 to second place.

 

Spider-Man 3 remains my personal favorite score period, so it's an easy pick for me.

 

The more interesting question is which of the two Elfman's I like more, since they have their different strengths. SM1 has the stronger identity and standout cues, but SM2 really hits it with the emotional core. They represent what makes Elfman a generally appealing composer to me.

 

The rest remain positive, if a bit more mixed. Horner I love, but don't listen to often unfortunately. Giacchino I really want to like more, but ultimately ends up being relatively decent for me. Zimmer is a wonderful guilty pleasure, but I find myself incapable of putting him particularly high. Pemberton I'd need to hear again, but I honestly wasn't too impressed with his entry.

[WampaRat 1,105]

I guess I need to really listen to Spider-Man 3. I thought it was fine. I remember being more sad that Danny didn’t score it and it seemed obvious that Christopher Young was trying to tap into Elfman’s Batman/Darkman mode for the Venom/Symbiot theme. 
 

Can I ask what makes Spider-Man 3 so special for fans of the score? Is it the Sandman stuff? That’s kinda pretty I suppose. (It certainly can’t be the film itself that elevates the score!😆)

[bored 309]

21 minutes ago, WampaRat said:

Can I ask what makes Spider-Man 3 so special for fans of the score? Is it the Sandman stuff? That’s kinda pretty I suppose. (It certainly can’t be the film itself that elevates the score!😆)

Well the fact that it keeps all of the original themes is a huge part of it for me. It's one of the few times where I think it was necessary to bring in additional composers to bring back Elfman's love theme. Young's is good, but there's no topping the original.

 

As for Young's material, it's just so memorable and distinct for me. You can hear echoes of Hellraiser, and some of his other work very easily, the action writing is phenomenally exciting, and while his use of his own and Elfman's themes are often far more straightforward than the previous two scores, he executes it with such intensity and bombast that it makes up for that.

 

The black suit is a fantastic theme, sounding epic and powerful with a touch of villainous, Sandman's theme is course and rough like sand itself (insert Attack of the Clones meme here), as well as having a unique structure to it, plus of course well fitting emotional themes for Penny, and Marko himself that fit very well into the Spider-Man films' sound. Then you have Venom's theme which still hasn't been topped, being a pure horror piece that seems to be an inverse of Spider-Man's theme (going down a minor third rather than up one in the beginning), with elements of the black suit theme. Young also composed a new Peter Parker theme that's more simple, which I think makes perfect sense as Peter is not nearly as responsible, and isn't even his normal self for most of the movie. We even get two new themes for Harry, one being more simplistic and noble sounding, and one that seems to be a hybrid of Elfman's Goblin, and Young's Harry themes that plays when MJ kisses him and leaves. 

 

Obviously I can't speak for anyone else's reasoning, but that's mine. Young just did a great job at being loyal to Elfman's work, while not only forming his own identity, but composing a plethora of thematic material that elevates the series' musical complexity and ensures the score never gets boring for me. 

[saulocf 79]

The 

38 minutes ago, WampaRat said:

I guess I need to really listen to Spider-Man 3. I thought it was fine. I remember being more sad that Danny didn’t score it and it seemed obvious that Christopher Young was trying to tap into Elfman’s Batman/Darkman mode for the Venom/Symbiot theme. 
 

Can I ask what makes Spider-Man 3 so special for fans of the score? Is it the Sandman stuff? That’s kinda pretty I suppose. (It certainly can’t be the film itself that elevates the score!😆)

The action music (specially the climax). The themes. The unused love theme. The way that it respects the previous scores and sounds like one of them, while still sounding like Young. Elfmans themes themselves never sounded better (Goblin theme for Harry’s attack, or the main theme during “Saving MJ”). A 5 star masterpiece

[bruce marshall 1,315]

12 hours ago, Thor said:

Not a particularly big fan of any of them, but if I had to choose, I would pick SPIDER-MAN 2 easily. So has the majority, I see now.

That one and ASM are cream of the crop

3 hours ago, WampaRat said:

I guess I need to really listen to Spider-Man 3. I thought it was fine. I remember being more sad that Danny didn’t score it and it seemed obvious that Christopher Young was trying to tap into Elfman’s Batman/Darkman mode for the Venom/Symbiot theme. 
 

Can I ask what makes Spider-Man 3 so special for fans of the score? Is it the Sandman stuff? That’s kinda pretty I suppose. (It certainly can’t be the film itself that elevates the score!😆)

Tbh

The film was such a mess I couldn't bother giving the score a serious listen

Not the composers fault.

 

 

 

Fyi

The OT makes it sound like you are asking which is our favorite SM poll!😄

 

Try this

Poll: What is your favorite score to a Spiderman movie?

[publicist 4,643]

Horner and Zimmer. Not because they are particularly great, but my affinity for the others (that i've heard) ranges between zero and 1.

[crocodile 8,003]

I like them all. The new one I've only heard in the film. Or kind of heard because it is not mixed very loud a lot of the time. 

 

Karol

[publicist 4,643]

9 minutes ago, crocodile said:

I like them all.

 

Like a long-running tv series you can't escape it, just by sheer exposure. But starting with the two Elfman's, highly celebrated back then, i just don't hear either a great deal of distinction or inspiration, musically-speaking. Certainly gets the job done, but without the inexplicable fetish many guys have for this particular franchise it would just have been lost to the ages (like so many other over-busy Elfmans for flop movies). 

[JNHFan2000 2,958]

I really do hope that someday an album for Spider-Man 3 is released. I still can't believe that there wasn't a score release for a big movie like this.

 

I truly hope that it happens soon. Maybe 2027, when the movie is 20 years old. hahah

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,433]

They are almost all great

1. Far From Home (I'm such a big fan of Mysterio's theme)

2. The Amazing Spider-Man (that's my Horner's fan side speaking)

3. Spider-Man 2

4. Homecoming

5. Spider-Man

6. Into the Spider-Verse

7. Spider-Man 3 (don't like the movie and the absence of official release doesn't help to make it grow on me)

8. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (only one I don't like)

 

I don't rank No Way Home as it's still too fresh for me

[badbu 123]

the first one is still the best spidey score! :-) 

[Tallguy 3,385]

You know, I love Horner's Amazing Spider-Man just because it's a beautiful score. There is certainly no detracting from Elfman's achievement.

 

But it was when I heard Academic Decommitment that I said "THAT'S SPIDER-MAN!" Listening to No Way Home I'm amazed at how in one theme and the various ways it's used you get all the aspects of Spider-Man. It's a little goofy, it's jazzy, it's youthful sounding. Then it kicks in and it's ACTION and HEROISM. And it can't be a Spider-Man theme if you can't make it a little sad sometimes. What can I say? It swings!

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Horner's score is leaps and bounds better than any of the others.

Zimmers is utter garbage

[Tom Guernsey 2,283]

34 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

You know, I love Horner's Amazing Spider-Man just because it's a beautiful score. There is certainly no detracting from Elfman's achievement.

 

But it was when I heard Academic Decommitment that I said "THAT'S SPIDER-MAN!" Listening to No Way Home I'm amazed at how in one theme and the various ways it's used you get all the aspects of Spider-Man. It's a little goofy, it's jazzy, it's youthful sounding. Then it kicks in and it's ACTION and HEROISM. And it can't be a Spider-Man theme if you can't make it a little sad sometimes. What can I say? It swings!

I think that sums up my feelings on Giacchino's Spider-Man theme, it captures some of the youthful goofiness of the character. Horner's score is probably better music and his theme is (as I've said before) for me the most memorable, but it's almost too gracefully heroic for the character. Not that it sounds wrong in context, but Giacchino's somehow moulds best to the various guises, particularly sounding a little bit cheekily flippant which really works for the character.

[JNHFan2000 2,958]

I especially like how you can hear Giacchino's Spider-Man Theme grow along with the character.

In Homecoming the theme is more playful and goofy with a pinch of drama.

In Far From Home it has a more serious and dramatic side.

And in No Way Home it's heartbreaking and heroic.

 

That for me is one of the biggest reasons I like Giacchino's Spider-Man scores soo much.

 

Besides this his themes for Vulture & Mysterio are incredible. His love theme from the first movie is sweet but for the 2nd is truly goreous.

Plus all the sub-themes and motifs he has written are all great.

 

As for the other Spider-Man scores. Horner's & Zimmer's I both really like. Shame the same theme wasn't used, but oh well.

 

And in Elfman's & Young's scores I actaully like all the villain themes more than I do the Spider-Man theme. The villain themes are, to me, much more developed in a way. They get more variations I think.

 

That said, for me the music of the Spider-Man films are all amazing and some if the best music written for film this century.

[Bespin 8,480]

My Top 3 are definitely the two of Elfman + the James Horner one.

 

That's the only three I have in my CD collection!

 

Visualy, my favourite Spider-Man is Tom Holland, but that's another subject!

[Disco Stu 15,495]

1 hour ago, Bespin said:

 

 

Visualy, my favourite Spider-Man is Tom Holland, but that's another subject!

 

You're only about 50 years older than him ya perv!

[Bespin 8,480]

50??? FY!!!

[WampaRat 1,105]

I still think Giacchino’s Vulture theme is one note away from Jerry Goldsmith’s theme from The Omen: Final Conflict.

 

But I also agree about his Spidey theme having a sense of youthful fun/snazziness. I prefer it in that mode over his “Lost-sad” version.

[HunterTech 989]

On 15/12/2021 at 6:24 PM, WampaRat said:

Can I ask what makes Spider-Man 3 so special for fans of the score? Is it the Sandman stuff? That’s kinda pretty I suppose. (It certainly can’t be the film itself that elevates the score!😆)

It's everything. The themes are fantastic and incredibly well utilized. The action material is top notch, having the fluidity and propulsion that more recent scores wish they had. It's emotional in a way that is just right and not overwrought. It's so incredibly well paced and with little filler that it's partially ruined the medium for me. All in all: just the perfect score for my tastes.

You could maybe blame this on nostalgia a bit, but given how other scores from the period don't hold up as much for me (plus the fact I'd only be familiar with much of it fairly recently), I feel it's just that good. A great shame there is no official release and the bootleg situation is so messy (though not if you know where to look ;)), since there is a lot one can appreciate better on its own terms.

 

Just for funsies (mostly because @Stark asked), I did a large thematic breakdown for just this specific score:
 

Spoiler

Returning themes:
-Main Spidey theme
-Responsibility/Uncle Ben(?)/original Peter theme
-Goblin theme
-Original love theme (theatrical cut only) [Lurie and tracked]
-Original Aunt May theme (theatrical cut only) [tracked, Debney variant unused]
-Broadway theme (theatrical cut only) [Lurie, unused in SM2]
-Debney apartment piano ambience motifs (theatrical cut only)

 

New themes:
-Alien trifecta:
 -Symbiote ambience/SFX
 -Black Suit Spidey theme
 -Venom theme
-New Peter theme (diminished in theatrical cut)
-Main Sandman theme
-Penny theme part 1
-"Rebirth" theme/Penny theme part 2
-Distress theme
-Possible Harry death theme
-New love theme (Editor's Cut/Alt. Score only)
-New Aunt May theme (Editor's Cut/Alt. Score only)
-Possible Debney love theme (theatrical cut only) [partially used]
-New Goblin themes(?) [Honestly don't know what people are referring to with this one, since I can only hear Elfman's in both standard and extravagant arrangements. Maybe give me some pointers here?]

 

[bored 309]

8 hours ago, HunterTech said:

I did a large thematic breakdown for just this specific score:

Nice breakdown! Just curious as to what themes you're referring to when you say the "Broadway theme" or the "Alien trifecta"? As for the question about the new Goblin and Harry themes, I'll try my best to at least explain what I see as the new themes for Harry.

 

As I said before, the first is a very simple motif, and is outlined in "Harry Comes Home":

 

 

It is then elaborated as a full theme for Harry's Death. 

3:50 - 5:30

 

The secondary theme is the very beginning of the Goblin theme, that continues into the basic motif of Harry's theme rather than the rest of Elfman's original Goblin theme. It's introduced when Peter visits Harry in the hospital in the Editor's Cut, and has far more appearances than Harry's friendlier theme. 

 

 

 0:00 - 1:11

 

0:00 - 0:17

 

0:23 - 0:34 (with Spidey Ostinatos underneath)

 

The rest of the time Harry is scored with Elfman's Goblin theme as far as I know, but it's still impressive to me how much thematic mileage Young got from this movie. 

[WampaRat 1,105]

Had a couple weeks and revisited Danny’s first two Spider-Man scores.
 

When I was in high school I was in the camp that thought Danny didn’t write a “memorable theme” for our wall crawler friend. I’d listened to the OSTs on and off. Even poked around recording sessions on YouTube. 
 

Perhaps it’s hindsight/nostalgia/my evolved musical tastes or all of the above. (Its also due to the recent films score by Gia not grabbing me)But dang. I now feel Elfman’s scores are mind-blowingly great and should be regarded right alongside his Batman work. Complex and dense as all get out. The Spider-Man theme is adapted and stretched in all kinds of subtle (and not so subtle) ways. It’s not as immediately punchy or hummable as his Batman theme (which is what fans were Initially hoping for). But it swings and glides and skitters all over. An absolutely perfect musical identity.

 

I feel this was a great cross section of Elfman’s musical style. I know he’s continued to evolve even more since these early 2000s efforts (perhaps lost a bit of his musical personality along the way :/) 
 

Anyhoo. Just appreciating how terrific these scores are 20 years later. Perhaps in another 20 I might appreciate Gia’s efforts more. 

[DemonStar 57]

I like all of them, but I voted for Danny Elfman's first Spider-Man score for its nostalgic value. We were first shown the movie in school all those years back; I still remember the music from the "Parade Attack" scene.

 

It would be great if LLL or any other label manages to release a box set of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy scores.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

In the early 00s it looked like a new GOLDEN age of Marvel movies was upon us.

SPIDEY, X-MEN ....

But, it turned out to be short lived; pretty much peaking with TFA/ AVENGERS.

IMHO

[ChristopherYoungFan121 2]

Definitely Christopher Young's score for Spider-Man 3. It is by far the most dynamic score of the Spidey flicks with pieces of all sorts. Some are epic, others romantic, jazzy, heartbreaking, menacing, inspirational, and redemptive. Not only that but I feel that he took Danny Elfman's score for the first two Spidey flicks and elevated it while simultaneously adding his own unique themes including the Black Suit Suite (arguably just as iconic as Spidey's main themes), Venom's theme, Sandman's theme, and of course New Goblin's theme. One of the worst parts of Spider-Man 3 is how they rejected Young's majestic theme for Peter and MJ and instead recycled Elfman's theme for the two from the previous two films despite it not fitting the tone of the third film in the slightest. 

 

https://youtu.be/iBA6kt3ooUU?t=65

 

Overall:

1. Spider-Man 3 - Young

2. Spider-Man 2 - Elfman/Young

3. TASM - Horner

4. Spider-Man - Elfman

5. Far From Home - Giacchino

6. Homecoming - Giacchino

7. TASM 2- Zimmer (Usually a big fan of Zimmer's work, but his score for TASM2 was just such an earsore. Apart from Electro's theme, this score just gave me a headache)

 

Too early for NWH, but its somewhere in the top 4

[Edmilson 7,435]

Yeah, SM3 is a terrific score. I wish Young scored more superhero movies...

[ChristopherYoungFan121 2]

On 14/1/22 at 5:08 PM, Edmilson said:

Yeah, SM3 is a terrific score. I wish Young scored more superhero movies...

I agree, but his work on Ghost Rider is pretty good! http://cuebycue.blogspot.com/2016/04/ghost-rider-young-2007.html?m=1