# Film tracks most influential to library/tv music



## chillbot (Nov 7, 2017)

I was watching “Heat” the other night (Goldenthal) for the first time in 15 years, didn't really notice the music a great deal, which I’m sure was the intent. Then all of a sudden I hear a cue that brought the memories flooding in… I must have been asked to do a cue “in the style of” this track on at least 10 different occasions.

Believe it or not, there hasn’t always been library music. Jingle Punks has only been around since 2008. Bleeding Fingers since 2013. TSFH since 2006. Networks and production houses weren’t always as hip to the fact they could own their own music (and make money as publishers!). Discovery now has a massively huge library they’ve built almost entirely from shows they’ve gotten custom music written for… they used to have zero tracks in their library.

So back then what we most often got was television/reality/documentary shows temped with film scores, and occasionally pop music. Certain tracks became ripped so often and so many times, that the rips are still out there being ripped, and then the rips of the rips get ripped. I know because I’ve heard my tracks get ripped that were probably rips to begin with. It’s very confusing. Anyway certain vibes just work, for whatever reason.

It’s also whatever is trending at the time. 2-3 years ago everyone wanted dubstep. But personally I think these and other tracks have been ripped so many times that they have shaped the nature of modern library music to an extent. I don’t know if this is helpful or academic or irrelevant. But I would love to hear your own examples of the same.

A note about “ripping” tracks, it’s just a word, and doesn’t accurately reflect the process. Don’t get too offended. It’s similar to having temp love in a film. Nobody I know is literally ripping off someone else or plagiarizing anyone, not intentionally anyway. That’s why I used “in the style of” above, or "in the vein of" or “inspired by”, they’re just a bit more wordy. We tend to just say “rip” out of convenience.

Anyway this is my personal list of most influential pop/film tracks as I’ve watched the library/reality music scene evolve over the years:

1991: Metallica “Enter Sandman” (first 1:10 only, but it's such a great build)



1994: Thomas Newman, Shawshank Redemption “Rock Hammer” (from :36 seconds on... the precursor to modern mallets)



1995: Michael Brook, Heat “Ultramarine” (library music, meet delay)



1995: Brian Eno, Heat “Force Marker” (repetition is the key to tension)



1996: Propellerheads “Take California”



1998: David Holmes, Out of Sight “Bar Scene” (best I could find is this clip from about 2:05 on, ignore the dialogue)

https://youtu.be/3qxH0R_k3zI?t=124

1999: Propellerheads “Spybreak” (because of The Matrix soundtrack, honorable mention to "Clubbed to Death")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCBL33NKvPA

1999: Moby “The Sky Is Broken” (the parts without vocals, it's the repetition)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6ZwcJTHCpg

1999: Thomas Newman, American Beauty (forever changed our harmonic language)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al21Vtlsg4A

2001: Hans Zimmer, Black Hawk Down “Hunger” (every different part of this long track, from start to finish)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbMn6qsT3bc

2002: John Powell, The Bourne Identity “Main Titles” (from 1:15, hello marcato strings!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwjNu4xbm_A&list=PL540068A2EF5162A1&index=1

2003: John Powell, The Italian Job “The Italian Job”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJrFyZr-xfo&index=2&list=PLq3sYyyYH38ZnkrTW68hkZOmXWxI6STV5

2008: Hans Zimmer, The Dark Night “Why So Serious” (basically just the first minute here, it got requested so often)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zyhQjJ5UgY

2010: Daft Punk, Tron “The Grid” (minus the voiceover)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dphkp4J3L1U

2010: Zack Hemsey, "Mind Heist" (Inception trailer... braams, obviously, but also pizz is the new marcato)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miymVzEpjR8


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## Saxer (Nov 7, 2017)

Haha, I remember some of them!

American Beauty left us not only with this piano figure but with endless TV spots using the marimbas too...


Staccato lovers delight: Madagascar


For every childs product: Edward


Chemical Brothers was very hip for a while


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## mc_deli (Nov 7, 2017)

chillbot said:


> I was watching “Heat” the other night (Goldenthal) for the first time in 15 years, didn't really notice the music a great deal, which I’m sure was the intent. Then all of a sudden I hear a cue that brought the memories flooding in… I must have been asked to do a cue “in the style of” this track on at least 10 different occasions.
> 
> Believe it or not, there hasn’t always been library music. Jingle Punks has only been around since 2008. Bleeding Fingers since 2013. TSFH since 2006. Networks and production houses weren’t always as hip to the fact they could own their own music (and make money as publishers!). Discovery now has a massively huge library they’ve built almost entirely from shows they’ve gotten custom music written for… they used to have zero tracks in their library.
> 
> ...



Way to post Chill!


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## Daryl (Nov 7, 2017)

chillbot said:


> Believe it or not, there hasn’t always been library music.



Just to add to that, library music has been around since the end of the 19th Century, but it is true that the recorded aspect is newer. However, the first explosion dates back to the 1960s and 1970s, when there were 3 or 4 big players, but it was an industry secret. It was the advent of the Internet that brought the 100s of 1000s of new players to the market.


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## jonathanparham (Nov 8, 2017)

lol some of these tracks are in my personal listening collection


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## jonathanparham (Nov 8, 2017)

Saxer said:


> Chemical Brothers was very hip for a while



I played in a band in the 90s and this was a huge influence. I also got to see the Chemical Brothers in 2015 at North Coast Festival in Chicago. GOOD SHOW


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## chillbot (Nov 8, 2017)

Do you remember Chemical Beats (and Brutal Beats)? Came out around the time to cash in on the popularity. I still use them!


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## mac (Nov 8, 2017)

chillbot said:


> Do you remember Chemical Beats (and Brutal Beats)? Came out around the time to cash in on the popularity. I still use them!



Hell yeah, and the jungle warfare collection! I always wanted to be a chems / prodigy / meat beat superblend, but I failed miserably.


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## jonathanparham (Nov 8, 2017)

chillbot said:


> Do you remember Chemical Beats (and Brutal Beats)? Came out around the time to cash in on the popularity. I still use them!


NO. I don't lol


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## mc_deli (Nov 8, 2017)

jonathanparham said:


> I played in a band in the 90s and this was a huge influence. I also got to see the Chemical Brothers in 2015 at North Coast Festival in Chicago. GOOD SHOW


I've seen them four times, worked on a big show with them on that was incredible. Best show of theirs I saw was in 98 with a quadraphonic sound system in a huge tent and loads of quad panning. Totally mental. Last gig I saw was 2010 that stands out for the track Dissolve - which I must confess gets me right off in the best possible way!


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## jonathanparham (Nov 8, 2017)

mc_deli said:


> I've seen them four times, worked on a big show with them on that was incredible. Best show of theirs I saw was in 98 with a quadraphonic sound system in a huge tent and loads of quad panning. Totally mental. Last gig I saw was 2010 that stands out for the track Dissolve - which I must confess gets me right off in the best possible way!


wow. seeing them four times would blow my mind lol


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## JohnG (Nov 8, 2017)

good thread, @chillbot 

I think that most-used trailer / library tracks distinguish themselves by being, at least in part, "cool." For want of a better expression. Sometimes it's with guitars, sometimes synths, sometimes orchestra or choir, but there is always some kind of hard-to-define appeal about them.


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## givemenoughrope (Nov 8, 2017)

Great thread, chill!

George Romero's Night of the Living Dead used library music. I just went to a screening of the 4K restoration and all the music is place pretty well but also adds to that detached from reality effect that the film is going for.

I would add the EDM and "indie" in general but can't think of specific tracks right now.


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## chillbot (Nov 8, 2017)

givemenoughrope said:


> "indie"


Indie... and, I remember a period where at least four different shows wanted to sound like White Stripes.


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## synthpunk (Nov 8, 2017)

Love that main theme from Heat. Made my ears perk up in a different way than say HZ's Rainman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTlF-RlZ2Rs



chillbot said:


> I was watching “Heat” the other night (Goldenthal) for the first time in 15 years, didn't really notice the music a great deal, which I’m sure was the intent. Then all of a sudden I hear a cue that brought the memories flooding in… I must have been asked to do a cue “in the style of” this track on at least 10 different occasions.
> 
> Believe it or not, there hasn’t always been library music. Jingle Punks has only been around since 2008. Bleeding Fingers since 2013. TSFH since 2006. Networks and production houses weren’t always as hip to the fact they could own their own music (and make money as publishers!). Discovery now has a massively huge library they’ve built almost entirely from shows they’ve gotten custom music written for… they used to have zero tracks in their library.
> 
> ...


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## StephenForsyth (Nov 8, 2017)

70s library music is so much better than it deserves to be, this shit is often just plain fantastic listening.


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## StephenForsyth (Nov 8, 2017)

oh and this one will be familiar to all australians out there....


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## asherpope (Nov 9, 2017)

tekkentool said:


> oh and this one will be familiar to all australians out there....



Aaarrghh!!!! Make it stop! It's boxing day and someone's putting on the bloody test! 
"Oh you don't like cricket? Come on, the one days are good"


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