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The 25 Greatest Movie Soundtracks of All Time

audiotuts.com — In many ways, a film's soundtrack is every bit as important as the actors, dialog and everything else that go into making a movie. Imagine if, instead of "Stayin' Alive," John Travolta strutted through the opening sequence of Saturday Night Fever to the sounds of "Anarchy In the UK." OK, bad example, because that would have been pretty awesome...

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 23, 2008

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  • trafficlight, on 10/23/2008, -2/+49Requiem for a Dream needs to be on that list. Most of the atmosphere of despair comes directly from the music.

    Actually, anything Clint Mansell touches is awesome. The Fountain is another fantastic soundtrack.
  • leif77, on 10/23/2008, -2/+38No Fight Club?
  • kilimangaro, on 10/23/2008, -0/+24Where is Ennio Morricone ?
  • schmit93, on 10/23/2008, -1/+24No Forrest Gump soundtrack? disappointing
  • pr0t0, on 10/23/2008, -0/+21I think a "Best Soundtrack" deeply depends on what kind of music you like so it should be different for everyone. I also think a distinction should be made between soundtrack (Trainspotting, The Crow) and musical score (Star Wars, LotR).
  • thewhits, on 10/23/2008, -7/+25Not a bad list. I would add the Crow Soundtrack, the Beach Soundtrack, Lord of the Rings in there as well.
  • cl2yp71c, on 10/23/2008, -2/+20How about Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas, and The Corpse Bride?
  • Sryden42, on 10/23/2008, -0/+17Would have preferred a list of scores instead of soundtracks (which TDK made me think this was going to be).

    The Fountain, Gladiator, Gattaca, Requiem for a Dream, & Braveheart all should have been on there.
  • inactive, on 10/23/2008, -3/+19FIGHT CLUB
  • Vancent, on 10/23/2008, -0/+16Um, what?

    Blade Runner (probably the greatest)? Apocalypse Now? Almost Famous? American Beauty? SCHINDLER'S LIST????

    List needs to be rethought.
  • SwankRock3000, on 10/23/2008, -2/+18Not a terrible list, but The Crow soundtrack and the Judgement Night soundtrack should both be on there, above quite a few of those choices.
  • Ianki, on 10/23/2008, -1/+16Wow, that The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly isn't number one is bad enough, but not even making the list? Come on...
  • ievanssc, on 10/23/2008, -2/+14High Fidelity
    American Beauty
  • sandersdamnit, on 10/23/2008, -2/+14Rushmore.
  • eclectro, on 10/23/2008, -1/+12What, no Vangelis??
  • inactive, on 10/23/2008, -2/+11the list should've been bigger, there are a few soundtracks they left out:
    The Nightmare Before Christmas
    The Crow
    American Graffiti
    Stand By Me
    Wayne's World
    Dazed and Confused
    Almost Famous
    Little Shop of Horrors
    The Doors
    Forrest Gump
    Psycho
    A few kid's movies like Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Little Mermaid (admit it "Under the Sea" was awesome)
    Just to name a few...
  • iamnobody8614, on 10/23/2008, -1/+10The Life Aquatic

    Seu Jorge's versions of Bowie songs were gold.

    EDIT: oh and sigur ros at the end
  • Spamkeg, on 10/23/2008, -0/+9Crow is definitely a contender....however Natural Born Killers is in my top 25....meep...meep
  • y3sman, on 10/23/2008, -5/+14Definitely a good list. Love it or hate it, the Dazed and Confused soundtrack needs to be up there. You arguably can't find a better compilation of rock artists from the 60's and 70's.

    @thewhits: agreed on The Lord of the Rings.
  • mywhitenoise, on 10/23/2008, -0/+8Kill Bill 2 should have an honorable mention.
  • diggB, on 10/23/2008, -2/+10Gross Point Blank.
  • Torpov, on 10/23/2008, -0/+8Ennio Morricone is so damn great.
  • oda1, on 10/23/2008, -0/+8This list is missing (In No Particular Order)
    Pi
    Requiem for a dream
    Godfather
    Fight Club
    Apocalypse Now
    Taxi Driver
    Raging Bull
    Goodfellas
    "Man With No Name" Series
    2001
    Amadeus...
  • FPCat, on 10/23/2008, -0/+8Where are Dazed and Confused and Almost Famous?
  • Dumbledorito, on 10/23/2008, -1/+8"Flash Gordon" and "A Kind of Magic" (Highlander) should be up there somewhere.
  • NCJake, on 10/23/2008, -1/+8john williams is an exceptional talent. I was surprised that "Munich" was his - haunting. He's got a lot of great scores.
  • jaybol, on 10/23/2008, -1/+8i just watched The Beach again the other night...yeah that Moby track brings back good memories...it is always nice when you love a song when it first comes out, then you endure it getting beaten like a dead horse, and then it goes away for awhile...and then it comes back to you and you get to associate it with the first time you heard it rather than when you heard it everywhere including grocery stores and gas stations.
  • Scopitone, on 10/23/2008, -1/+8The Crow soundtrack was ground zero on how to do a non-composer soundtrack and it's been emulated to this day.
  • HastyBoom, on 10/23/2008, -1/+8BLADE RUNNER
  • WoodenKimono, on 10/23/2008, -1/+8Biggest oversights....Blues Brothers and Swingers

    honorable mentions
    Woodstock
    Tommy
    Reservoir Dogs
    Curious George
    Juno
    Once
  • Evilblobs, on 10/23/2008, -2/+9List is all wrong

    well not 'all,' but 'mostly'
  • WraTH017, on 10/23/2008, -1/+8The "Once Upon a Time in the West" Soundtrack by Ennio Morricone should be on that list. Brilliant score.

    How about Blade Runner's soundtrack by Vangelis? Yeah... I'm sure Garden State had a much better soundtrack /sarcasm
  • Lokus, on 10/23/2008, -0/+7Conan the Barbarian
  • SerifTheRobot, on 10/23/2008, -1/+7Harold and Maude or anything by Wes Anderson.
  • threemagic, on 10/23/2008, -0/+6Am I the only one that thinks

    Heavy Metal


    should be on every top list for movie albums??


    that said, I've always been partial to the Fast Times at Ridgemont High soundtrack as well
  • threemagic, on 10/23/2008, -0/+6What do you mean Flash Gordon approaching?
  • Nihilist1, on 10/23/2008, -1/+7A lot of good music in all of Wes Anderson's films. I liked the Portuguese versions of the David Bowie songs in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
  • rblancarte, on 10/23/2008, -0/+5Just throwing some out there:
    The Matrix
    The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
    Shawshank Redemption
    Highlander
    Pi
    LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring
    Elfman's Batman
  • duckley, on 10/23/2008, -0/+5If you're over forty, you'd certainly include the astounding work of Bernard Herrman

    North by Northwest
    The Day the Earth Stood Still
    Vertigo
    Taxi Driver
    Farenheit 451
    Psycho

    A true genius.
  • Fleagleman, on 10/23/2008, -1/+6Fail for not including the following:
    Muppet Movie
    This is Spinal Tap
    Rocky Horror Picture Show
    Rushmore
    Harold & Maude
    The Godfather

    any ONE of those soundtracks should be put in place of at least 10 included in this list.
  • marcomc2, on 10/23/2008, -0/+5Exactly. Thank You.
  • Arramol, on 10/23/2008, -0/+5Honestly, I didn't think it was that great of a list. It's good for rock fans, but for someone with more of an orchestral preference, Lord of the Rings and Gladiator are serious omissions.
  • borez, on 10/23/2008, -1/+5Jaws
    Close encounters
    Blade runner
    The Third Man
    The Deliverance
    Apocalypse now
    American Beauty
    The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
    Buena Vista social Club
    Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence
    Chariots of fire
    The exorcist
    Purple Rain
    West Side Story
    Psycho
    Taxi Driver
    A Clockwork Orange
    The Sting
    The Piano
    The Pink Panther


    etc. etc. etc.

    In other words, a very incomplete list.



  • Killer57, on 10/23/2008, -0/+4QIA, the soundtrack to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is arguably the greatest original soundtrack of all time.
  • bossm4n, on 10/24/2008, -0/+4Add Schindler's List. Williams did that as well and just knocked it out of the park.
  • jedinate, on 10/23/2008, -1/+5The first thing I did, when I got on the page, was scroll down looking for it. It's so full of classics, I have a hard time believing it didn't make the list.
  • crashbang, on 10/23/2008, -0/+4Word. What about Blade Runner?
  • shadowman99, on 10/23/2008, -0/+4Omissions that keep it from being a better list:

    2001: A Space Odyssey
    Rocky
    The Matrix
    Superman
    Blade Runner
    Gladiator
    A Clockwork Orange
    Heavy Metal
    Forbidden Planet
    Akira
    Rock 'n' Roll High School (The Ramones)
    More (Pink Floyd)
  • Dumbledorito, on 10/23/2008, -0/+4On a Hawkman rocket-cycle. Shall I inform His Majesty?
  • Badoozie, on 10/24/2008, -0/+4Flash Gordon. Quarterback. New York Jets.
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