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How I got into JW (Long, in depth, and entirely too vain)


Morlock

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How I got into JW: or Me and JW (Long, in depth, lacking structure, sappy and entirely too vain)

It's very common to go around these boards (and any other film score boards), and people saying "well, for me it started with Jurrasic Park..." or "So I was watching Jaws..." or "STAR WARS! I mean that huge burst..." and more of the like when asked how they got into Williams. For me, it wasn't one movie, one score- and I'm a fan for life. It was more gradule.

For me, it was different. I knew for years that I loved the Imperial March, and the score to The Rock. That was the extent of my love of film music for about 4-5 years. Around 1998, I took a huge step, and bought The Rock soundtrack, and a Prague phillharmonics CD called "Star Wars and More", which was a collection of themes from all kinds of sci fi movies, cinsisting largely of Williams. 4 themes from Star Wars, Superman, Jurrasic Park, E.T., Back To The Future 3, V, Cocoon, Invaders from Mars, and a few Star Trek Themes. And that was that, for 3+ years. I lost the cover to the Prague cd (one of my early JWFan posts was asking if anyone knew the track titles for it), so I didn't know who wrote Jurrasic Park, and the Star Trek stuff.

Anyway- another huge step. In May 2001, I was just going through Amazon.com, buying a bunch of R.A. Salvatore books (I had just read the Icewind Dale trilogy). I don't remember how, but I ended up on a page of John Williams: Greatest Hits 1969-1999. And looking throguh the tracks, I realised that the music from Indiana Jones was pretty good, and it had Duel of The Fates which I remembered liking, so I put out the 20 bucks and got it.

I listened to it, and just about track by track, I either realised how much I love music fom a certain movie, or just discovered the great stuff I'd never heard before (Schindler's List, JFK, Saving Private Ryan). I was listening to it almost exculsively for several months. I was especialy taken by the brilliance of 'Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orcestra'.

Then, in August 2001, I fall off a horse, and end up in two casts. My mom was in the US, and, being as pitiful as I was in two casts, I asked for a whole bunch of stuff, one of them was the score to The Mummy Returns or The Mummy. I'd seen the second movie, and I loved the music. I was under the wrong notion that a lot of the music was also in the original. Luckily, she found the second one first. Listened to it a couple of times, didn't get into it. I loved the main heroic theme, but nothing else. I didn't listen to it again untill a year later, when I was already at JWFan, and after calling the whole soundtrack but the theme junk, decided to listen to it again to see if that was true. I had come a long way in that year, and realised the error of my ways.

In November 2001, I saw the first Harry Potter movie. It was still not a defining moment, but I started humming the music, which led to me getting it a few months later. Meanwhile, I found a site on line that had all kinds of Williams tracks (the ZSP tribue I believe it was called), and listened to most of them, but one that particulaly caught my fancy was 'Presenting the Hook'. If there was one piece of music from a movie that I remembered, that would be it. I loved Hook as a kid (I was only 5 when it came out), and a bunch of the music really stuck with me. So, I decided to be adventurous and buy the Hook score, as I also remembered I liked the banquet music.

So the field is set. My film score collection as of April 2002:

Hook

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

The Rock

The Mummy Returns

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Terrible Hugo Montenegro rerecording which I never listened to)

and Lawrence of Arabia (At the time, I was dissapointed with the cd. I had seen and fallen in love with the movie, and the music worked so much better on screen than on cd)

Now, I shamefully admit to have at one time taken part in illegaly downloading music. But I got a bunch of JW stuff that I fell in love with, like Jane Eyre, Presumed Innocent, and Witches of Eastwick. So I was big enough fan, and bought the Attack of The Clones cd before the movie came out. At the begining, I thought it was the most brilliant thing, just for incorporating the Imperial March at the end. Anyway, after that, I realised that I was a John Williams fan.

I bought Jaws and The Last Crusade. Then, I ordered 9 scores of Amazon (though one of them was Titanic and another The Rock, which I had lent to someone who didn't return it). Than, I got about a dozen more when I was in the US. And since then, my collection has been getting bigger and bigger. Over the following two years I got all the John Williams scores I wanted from different places. Rare CD stores, Tower Records, Amazon, Varese, FSM, Chris. At first, it was 8 soundtrack cds over 4 years. Then, I got an entire collection, IMO very respectable, within two years. I started getting one at a time, now I have 21 CDs coming to me in the mail.

Now, to get totaly sappy- I do honestly remember it like yesterday, me taking out my dog (Gomie, who passed a way last year :( ), and listening to Hook. Or going into a cd store off of Times Square and getting Home Alone.

So in the end, this was simply a chronicle of my enterance into the film music world. Though some have said that going from 8 scores to about 245 in 25 months is too much too fast, and takes away the fun from collection, I say- The more I know, The less I understand. There's a whole big world of film music out there, and I've just scraped the tip of the iceberg.

Disclaimer- by reading this you are forbidden to comment negatively on the sappy/idealistic/vain aspects of this thread. :wave:

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Nice, Morlock. Interesting to hear a perspective different from the typical "It was [any film w/ JW score] that got me into film music" story. My story is actually more similar to yours, in that Greatest Hits was the beginning for me. I casually bought it after marching in a JW show in tenth grade (featuring Raiders, ET, Jurassic Park, and Far & Away), and then started getting individual scores. Finally I found this site in 2001, after searching for JW online (like many of us found it, I'm sure). And the rest is history!

Ray Barnsbury

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going from 8 scores to about 245 in 25 months

What the hell?

Do you ever listen to them as well?

I listen to the ones I like all the time, of course. And all the ones that I only like 5-10 minutes off of (and there are quite a few of them), I put on my pc and either make a mix with the tracks I like or just listen to the mp3. And even those CDs I get back to every few months, just to see if I liked them any more now. Recently I had an awakening of sorts and really discovered Goldsmith in all his glory, so I went back, and I all of a sudden liked some of the soundtracks I tossed aside after one listen.

And I listen to music about 3-4 hours a day on my discman, and another 2-3 on my pc. So it keeps the cycle going. And I'm at that great point where I'll always have something to listen to, a point which took a long time to get to.

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  Disclaimer- by reading this you are forbidden to comment negatively on the sappy/idealistic/vain aspects of this thread.  ;)

On the contrary, it's interesting to know how people got into Williams' music or film scores in general. For me it was very different. I grew up watching John Williams on Evening at Pops, and at the same time watching the Superman movie(s) not knowing the link between Williams and the music of Superman.

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How I got into JW: or Me and JW (Long, in depth, lacking structure, sappy and entirely too vain)

It's indeed long, certainly in-depht, it follows a chronological structure, it does have its sentiment, and it lacks the vanity it could have had in the wrong hands.

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And If I was Loaded, do you really think I'd be dealing with such questionable characters as Mssiers. Chris or William? :P:devil:

Morlock- who went bankrupt buying the PoA score and a bottle of water

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WOW! I didn't know that Morlock! That's actually a different and unique story! By your love of scores, I would have thought you've been a long-time fan! :devil: It's hard to believe that you were JUST getting into WIlliams music when most of the veterans were already posting on this MB! Cool! :P

I've told my story many times. I've just turned 30 and I've loved and collected Williams scores for 25-26 years or more! Great to see newer fans have the same collecting passion! ROTFLMAO

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Disclaimer- by reading this you are forbidden to comment negatively on the sappy/idealistic/vain aspects of this thread.  

was just going through Amazon.com, buying a bunch of R.A. Salvatore books

I'm sorry Morlock, but you threw down the gauntlet and I had to pick it up.

Salvatore :devil::P

Rich?

if not rich, then he has no other bills, thats about $4000.00 bucks worth of cds in 2 years.

I've bought 1 cd since Dec. 2002, and my total CD collection is maybe 300 max.

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1) Never heard of CDRs, folks?

2) Or, I can go to many a second-hand shops and fetch me 300 used film soundtracks. But why do I wanna do that?

3) Or, Morlock spend his scholarship on CDs.

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I'm sorry Morlock, but you threw down the gauntlet and I had to pick it up.

Salvatore  :)  :pukeface:

That was 3 years ago, I've grown up since then (though he still has one book which I love).

if not rich, then he has no other bills, thats about $4000.00 bucks worth of cds in 2 years.

I've bought 1 cd since Dec. 2002, and my total CD collection is maybe 300 max.

I get $7.50 an hour, 4 hours a day, 4 days a week and I have no other bills. I should be able to cover that in about 34 weeks, 8 1/2 months.

1) Never heard of CDRs, folks?

2) Or, I can go to many a second-hand shops and fetch me 300 used film soundtracks. But why do I wanna do that?

3) Or, Morlock spend his scholarship on CDs.

1) Yes, I have, and some of my cds are.

2) I did that once, in the states, and got about a dozen cds, to just solidify the beginings of my collection. I don't go CD shopping. If I happen upon something I like, I buy it. A majority of my collection was perchased one by one, individualy.

3) No, I don't have to worry about that yet. College is much cheaper here, I have four living grandparents who could help, and, most importantly- I have 3 1/2 years to worry about that. I have to go into the army first.

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He's gotta be either single or divorced for no married man would be allowed to "waste" money like that. I know I'm not allowed to!

going from 8 scores to about 245 in 25 months

Rich?

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My wife doesn't care what I spend on my CDs, in fact she told me I should have bought two of the Goldsmith box sets and sold one on eBay.

She always tells everyone "at least I know he's at home listening to his music rather than running around to bars and clubs with his friends."

And I have been known to spend $200.00 to $300.00 on a CD shopping spree. I do not consider it a waste of money either.

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My wife doesn't care what I spend on my CDs, in fact she told me I should have bought two of the Goldsmith box sets and sold one on eBay.

She always tells everyone "at least I know he's at home listening to his music rather than running around to bars and clubs with his friends."

And I have been known to spend $200.00 to $300.00 on a CD shopping spree. I do not consider it a waste of money either.

be thankful that you are married to her, cause most wouldn't feel the same way.

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cause most wouldn't feel the same way.

They wouldn't be worth living with then.

I have an atypical story too. I was listening to mainly Star Trek music and horner. I heard the lost world and tried to find the theme on the web immediately, I loved it, also found some other tracks, like hymn of the fallen, Dual of the fates. And enjoyed them. I saw the Star Wars movies as a child and never took that much notice of the music, although I did get a computer game, xwing series, xwing vs tie fighter. I loved it's soundtrack, which was an assortment of Star wars music, I tried to find more tracks on the web from it eventually, I was enjoying it so much that I decided I had to buy the CD's. After that I kept collecting more Williams stuff. I will say with the web and mp3's I never would have become a Williams fan. CD's, I used to think of them as excessive and incredibly expensive, would have never occured to me to buy a CD just because I heard a minute of great music in a movie. Any more than I guess one of you would buy a mercedes because you saw it in a james bond movie. :P But I kept getting mp3's of star wars and noticed every single thing was brilliant.

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would have never occured to me to buy a CD just because I heard a minute of great music in a movie. Any more than I guess one of you would buy a mercedes because you saw it in a james bond movie.

That is the worst analogy in the world.

And Bond drove BMW's.

Neil

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would have never occured to me to buy a CD just because I heard a minute of great music in a movie. Any more than I guess one of you would buy a mercedes because you saw it in a james bond movie.

That is the worst analogy in the world.

And Bond drove BMW's.

Neil

He drove Aston Martins! ASTON MARTINS!!!

They are far superior to those damned BMWs.

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I would agree that the analogy doesn't fit very well.

Excuse me, I am the one trying to express something with that analogy. It was deliberately extreme.

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LOL!!! Morn makes me laugh too often. It's a good thing, because if I didn't laugh at what he says so often I'd hate him. :music:

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He drove both! BOTH!!! Most people remember the BMW.

What planet are you on? The Aston Martin IS the Bond car.

Neil

Everything from Goldfinger IS Bond. But most people think of The BMW when you tell them James Bond. Much easier to remember than Aston Martin.

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He drove both! BOTH!!! Most people remember the BMW.

What planet are you on? The Aston Martin IS the Bond car.

Neil

Everything from Goldfinger IS Bond. But most people think of The BMW when you tell them James Bond. Much easier to remember than Aston Martin.

Are these the same people that call all surprise endings "Keyser Soze endings"?

Neil

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No, these are the not very intelligent people who caught two of the 20 films in the latest marathon.

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Over the following two years I got all the John Williams scores I wanted from different places. Rare CD stores, Tower Records, Amazon, Varese, FSM, Chris. At first, it was 8 soundtrack cds over 4 years. Then, I got an entire collection, IMO very respectable, within two years. I started getting one at a time, now I have 21 CDs coming to me in the mail.

How many did you buy from me, Morlock? Wasn't it like 8 or 9? How are my CDs doing, by the way. You better not be scratching them all up! :)

Jeff

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That's an awesome story. Hehe, expanding CD collection to the 245 in 25 months. I only did 12 JW in 12 months. And that already took me my utmost restraint too.

My story is very unlike any i have read. I am a student who loves music. Heck, i write songs and the sort, orchestrate them, fiddle with modes of limited transposition. One day i was fiddling with the pink panther song when my music teacher goes, "I love that song." I'm like "me too." "Mancini wrote it." "Yea." "Ah...Mancini. He was a nice guy." "He was a nice guy? You knew him?" "Indeed. I played with him."

Doing. I was like wtf?! He played with Mancini. So my teacher tells me how he recorded with mancini. (He was a cellist.) And I'm like whoa, so cool. It turns out he grew up in LA and going into music in LA naturally meant going into hollywood. So he tells me all about his wondrous stories with mancini, and goldsmith (how he liked to dress up in jeans ALL the time). Then he's like "but on the other hand. there's williams."

"williams? who's williams?" "john williams? you don't know him?" "nope" "what?! he is THE composer of film music. name the best songs from any movie that come to your head." "star wars" "Jw" "indiana jones" "jw" "et" "jw" i'm like...omg this is insane. so i think of a tricky one. "jurassic park" "jw" Of course, i'm shaking cuz this is crazy. "he's so good," i blurt out. "Indeed. I recorded with him." I'm like WHAT?! YOU RECORDED WITH HIM!? And so he tells me of his concert experiences with JW and recording. But then he says JW is also snobbish. i'm like impossible he's so good. turns out that jw hates hiring younger musicians for recording film scores. my teacher thinks he's too good. but then he has alot of his scores (sheet music) and lends em to me to study.

and so thats how i was introduced to JW. Somewhat different from most people, but something cool i thought to share.

Oh, and then it was pretty cool cuz it turned out my friend's uncle was Howard Shore. hehe, i wanna meet him, mebbe get his autograph . :mrgreen:

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WOW! Now there's another original story! Thanks Tony!

BTW, it makes sense why Williams wouldn't want young musicians for recordings. You'd want as-accomplished-as-possible. Maybe that's also a reason why Williams' original recordings sound so good. ;)

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How many did you buy from me, Morlock?  Wasn't it like 8 or 9?  How are my CDs doing, by the way.  You better not be scratching them all up!  :(

It was 9. And they're happier with me. The stories they've told....you should be ashamed of yourself!

;)

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