Poll: Why are you buying and listening to motion picture scores?

[GerateWohl 4,322]

I recently reflected part of my behavior and found out, that when I am really excited about a score, I tend to react on that by buying additional scores, maybe of the same composer, that I am not so excited about.

I started off by purchasing soundtracks, that I really got a connection to by experiencing them in the cinema and feeling enflamed by them. Later on I made some good experiences by getting soundtracks of movies I hadn't seen. 

Then sometimes I just got a score edition because it was rare or cheap. The number of reasons increased which resulted in a collection of which I cannot really state that each piece is really precious to me. So, I wondered, what is my motivation and what do others think? How much do we have in common etc.

Anyway, I am interested.

[Jay 37,271]

Balance only has one l

[LSH 968]

There's no simple "I like film music" option...?

[GerateWohl 4,322]

2 minutes ago, LSH said:

There's no simple "I like film music" option...?

No. I don't let you get away with just that.

[Edmilson 7,376]

I've been listening to film music for over a decade now, it's part of my personality. 

[Thor 7,458]

Good topic, Gerry!

 

It is, however, one with a complex answer. None of the options in the poll fit me, necessarily.

 

My love of soundtrack albums stems from other forms of music, not really films -- so an extension of my interest in progressive rock and electronic music originally. I'm attracted to them because they have a great concept feel (if arranged properly), much like a prog rock album or a classical symphony. However, as opposed to classical music, film music has a higher degree of "directness" about it. It needs to, because it has a set time within to develop and needs to get to the musical/emotional point quicker. Not much time for ornamentation in the classical sense. This immediacy is an attraction to me.

[Andy 4,071]

I've been soundtrack collecting for the better part of my 50 years.  

 

Phase 1: Get LPs of movies I really like (the score probably having a lot to do with why I like the movie)

Phase 2: Notice who composed the scores in my small collection

Phase 3: Seek out more soundtracks by those composers, still within films that interest me

Phase 4: Branch out into more and more composers, still within "my genres". 

Phase 5: Buy a score from a composer of a movie I don't really care for, but I like the music.

Phase 6: Buy a score from a composer of a movie I've never seen.  I am now a Film Music Fan

Phase 7: Buy expanded scores from Phases 1-6

Phase 8: Complete my JW collection

Phase 9: Pursue JW non-film work collecting

 

Somewhere along phase 7, I grew to really appreciate the older score expansions more than modern new films.  I see so many others interested in modern film scores, and I'm sort of envious, that there's something missing in me that I'm not feeling the interest.  I sort of feel my enthusiasm for film music in general peaked but is now diminishing.

 

But it all started with a childlike love of movies, mostly scored by JW.

[bollemanneke 3,334]

It's really simple: I buy scores I loved when watching the movies they belong to, but not to revisit the movies. Also, I hardly listen to pop music and although I do have a small classical collection, which is still growing, the complete lack of rules/structure in film scores still really appeals to me. The only thing that matters there is the story, nothing else.

 

Hang on, that's not right: my classical collection is bigger than my score collection, oh dear.

[Anthony 572]

It's one of the few types of music that gives me goosebumps on tap.

[crocodile 7,979]

It brings me aesthetic and intellectual pleasure. 😀 

 

Karol

[Naïve Old Fart 9,490]

Why? Because I have no life, and no friends. End of.

[mrbellamy 6,270]

Once upon a time when I was a little boy, I watched movies and I liked movies, and I heard music in them and I liked the music, and I wanted to listen to it. So I bought the soundtrack. Sometimes it still happens pretty much like that. 

 

Eventually I noticed some people wrote more than one soundtrack that I liked, because I was a big boy who could read the cover. So I wanted to hear soundtracks not just because I had already heard them in the movie and liked them, but because it seemed likely that if I listened to a soundtrack by John Williams or Danny Elfman or James Horner, then I would like listening to it. So I bought the soundtrack. Or borrowed it from a library. Or I stole it. Violently. Sometimes I can still hear the screams. The pleading. The jewel cases hitting the floor. Sometimes it still happens pretty much like that. 

 

Sometimes I would listen to the music without even watching the movie. Sometimes I didn't even want to watch it. Sometimes my parents wouldn't even let me watch it. And I would say "why not" and they would say "because it's rated R" and I would say "why" and they would say "go to your room" and I would cry and listen to the soundtrack for Schindler's List. And I would plot my revenge against them. Sometimes it still hap-- well, no. It's been many quiet years now since I had to do that. 

[LSH 968]

43 minutes ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Why? Because I have no life, and no friends. End of.

 

Yeah alright, this.

[GerateWohl 4,322]

9 hours ago, Thor said:

My love of soundtrack albums stems from other forms of music, not really films -- so an extension of my interest in progressive rock and electronic music originally. I'm attracted to them because they have a great concept feel (if arranged properly), much like a prog rock album or a classical symphony.

That is really interesting. That explains to me why we often have such opposite opinions on particular soundtracks. Your access is really different. But I fully agree with the second part of your statement about the directness of filmscores.

[Raiders of the SoundtrArk 2,429]

I used to listen only the main themes of movies on youtube (apart for the ones scored by JW for which as you know almost every cue feels like a sufficient main theme).

By the end of 2018 I heard about the release of a 8 hours boxset containing all the music from JW's HP movies which I got for Christmas along A.I. Artificial Intelligence Expanded Archival Collection.

After listening to all this incredible music, I began to collect every JW expansion from the movies I loved starting with Superman, E.T. and CE3K until I blindly purchased the score of The Fury a movie that I've never seen nor heard about but which had this precious score in it.

This pushed me to collect even the score from the movie I've never heard of as long as JW was scoring them.

Then my love for JW pushed me to join this forum, where I discover Goldsmith through the What is the Last Score thread, and here I go collecting Goldsmith now, and then Horner and so on.

Now I've come to a point where I purchased scores regardless of who composed them, if I love it (and the money is here ) I purchased. And I have to add that this forum and the speciality labels are a big part of my opening to film music.

[Richard Penna 3,667]

My soundtrack infancy was essentially starting to notice prominent tracks from a large handful of movies that came out (mostly) in the very tail end of the 90s and start of the 00s. Jurassic Park, LotR, Gladiator, Potter, Shrek, Signs, The Mummy and more I'm no doubt forgetting.

 

So at least to start with, I would notice music in films and want to hear it as music. And I do mean literally the version I heard - my strong preference for exact film mixes (not edits) has been there since the start and I noticed alternate versions from the word go.

 

Nowadays I have a ton of albums that to me are concept albums as I've never seen the associated film or show. I also find that an indication of a good piece of music from a concept POV is whether I create a visual association, and how easily. If I'm listening to a cue and immediately start visualising a place or circumstance, that's a strong track. With others, nothing happens in my head when I listen it - it doesn't evoke anything. In those cases maybe it changes when I see the film and sometimes it doesn't.

[Datameister 2,034]

"Completely different reason": In order to listen to them...? And if you want the reason behind that, it's that...some film scores are enjoyable to me?

 

If you want the reason behind that, I can only speculate. Early on, I was exposed to some films whose music I liked, and I was also exposed to some other pieces of great movie music apart from their films, and I was also exposed to jazz and classical music. I slowly started seeking out more and more soundtrack albums for films in which I'd heard music I liked. Later, I also started seeking out highly recommended soundtracks for films I hadn't seen.

 

The scores my brain enjoys tend to have a great variety of music, strong roots in Western symphonic tradition, one or more memorable themes, and a nice balance between accessibility and interestingness.

[Richard Penna 3,667]

I'd add something related to Datameiser's comments that I also came from a long period of liking instrumental/electronic music in general. Several decades ago I used to be into magic, and finding tracks to perform to gave me an interest in music that both acts as underscore but also stands on its own, but tended to be more genre-based (dance/pop/funk) than orchestral.

 

Even back in 1996, way before soundtracks properly came into my life, I would see magic specials on TV and want to hear the music. Somehow that gradually morphed into scores and more orchestral material, but it's also probably a large reason why more electronic/textural/synth scores are right up my street.

 

I like an increasing amount of general pop (Eurovision is a fun time for discovering the odd new European artist) but unlike non-soundtrack people, I attach an equal interest to all the underscore/intrumental bits as well. (orchestral or not)

[Anthony 572]

For me - and I don't know why exactly - it was the very specific genre of spy music which got me noticing film scores. Not just things like Bond (though that was the main draw), but even the knock-off parodies like Johnny English and Agent Cody Banks.

 

I saw the latter on a plane and despite crappy headphones and all the noise from the engines, the music stood out, and I became obsessed with John Powell. I believe that was on route to a holiday in Colorado, where I picked up the Johnny English soundtrack in Denver and made my parents listen to it over and over again in the hire car. ("Truck Chase" is a hell of a cue!)

 

A couple of David Arnold CDs - Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough also came shortly before or after that. I forget the exact order.

[Jurassic Shark 12,012]

What about an option for I just like the music?

 

(Personally, I find most scores mediocre or bad.)

[GerateWohl 4,322]

33 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

(Personally, I find most scores mediocre or bad.)

The same I would say about pop and rock songs. But still I like listening to good pop or rock music. 

[Jurassic Shark 12,012]

8 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

The same I would say about pop and rock songs. But still I like listening to good pop or rock music. 

 

Exactly!

 

Now, where's my option?

[GerateWohl 4,322]

36 minutes ago, Jurassic Shark said:

 

Exactly!

 

Now, where's my option?

Done.

[Jurassic Shark 12,012]

2 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Done.

 

Thank you. I'd prefer 1%, but that's okay.

[1977 1,743]

Difficult to say, but it's probably because film music (at least the film music that I like) connects with me on an emotional level, more than any other music genre (including classical).

 

Also the fact that it's niche for the most part.

[Jurassic Shark 12,012]

You like it because it's niche?

[1977 1,743]

Yes. It's a particular niche that I happen to love.

[Manakin Skywalker 4,889]

It just happens to be the only genre of music I like. I enjoy classical music as well though which is quite similar. Contemporary music just sound like noisy crap.

[Bayesian 1,358]

Several reasons for me for why I collect, most of them shared by others earlier in the thread. I will add here, though, that one thing about film scores I greatly admire and cherish beyond what classical music from the common practice period offers is their color. There is no other genre of music where so many varied and eclectic instruments/sounds are brought together on a regular basis.

 

From taiko drums and anvils to kenas and synths, from wordless choirs to electric guitars and drum kits, film music is where the modern symphony orchestra and the rest of the human music-making world hook up and make beautiful musical babies. It's no surprise to me that the some of the best talent in recording and mixing film scores has also done classical work (or vice versa). Or that the musicians in L.A. are equally as talented as any member in an elite orchestra or philharmonic. Or that the best film composers are formally (classically) trained (Elfman being an astounding exception to the rule).

 

So I continue to collect film music, even when no one else I know (outside this forum) can usually be bothered to even pretend to care about my obsession. It's an important part of who I am.

 

[TheUlyssesian 2,473]

I LOVE classical music. But I do find pop music too simplistic. 

 

 

[Demodex 557]

I buy them to listen to them.  

[bruce marshall 1,314]

I