# Back When Soundtracks Told Stories, Movies Inspired the Child Inside, and CDs Were A Thing...



## storyteller (Oct 2, 2016)

Though soundtracks have been around for nearly as long as film, purchases of full albums arguably peaked in the late 1990s or early 2000s - back when CDs were a thing and teenie-bopper bands ruled the charts and MTV. This isn't a nostalgia post, but I have to return back to this time period to talk about the topic.

During this time, I remember going to the store every Tuesday to purchase the newly released soundtracks to upcoming movies. I'd listen to them start-to-finish before seeing the movie. Most OSTs were just cues, divided over a number of tracks, but a few stood out above others. Those rare OSTs told a story full of emotion from the beginning to the end. After listening to 45 minutes of music, I knew the story of the movie before I went to see it. I also tried to avoid track names until after I had finished the score so as not to have any predefined emotions in mind as I listened. On those rare OSTs, the movies often did not manage to live up to the story I had built up in my mind, even though the movies were very good.

So now the question. What OSTs did this for you? I don't mean just a well-scored film. For example, Inception is an incredible score that fits an incredible movie and is worthy of all of its acclaim. I love it! It is a top 5 movie and score of all time for me. But, it would not fit the definition here because it doesn't tell a story in song over the duration of the album. Each song is great and imaginative, but cohesively, it is not a 45 minute story.

So what do I mean? What is mine? I'd say the first one that moved me in such a way was the soundtrack to Pearl Harbor, and more recently, Man of Steel. In both, you just know what the story is about. Other than those two, there isn't much in between for me - a few have glimmers of greatness though. However, I would not say that the entire Man of Steel OST told a story as much as the 20 minute "Hans Sketch" that served as the basis of the entire album. I could place that 20 minute track on repeat and know the story before seeing the film.

And while I am sure that if ET, Raiders, Star Wars, Hook, etc were released during that time, those would be applicable to this conversation, I'm talking more about what would be considered the turn into the digital age (CDs forward), because, let's be real - very few purchased OSTs on casette, vinyl, or 8 track back in that time period. And today, most people buy tracks and not albums. Even directors seem to have this same mentality about their scores.

So, what's yours??


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## mac (Oct 2, 2016)

Braveheart, without a shadow of a doubt. You barely needed the movie to go along with that album.


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## Rodney Money (Oct 2, 2016)

Lord of the Rings.


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## MarcelM (Oct 2, 2016)

Conan (the old one ofcourse)


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## storyteller (Oct 2, 2016)

mac said:


> Braveheart, without a shadow of a doubt. You barely needed the movie to go along with that album.


Agreed! Can't believe I forgot about that one. This one for sure...no movie required.

@Rodney Money +1 on LOTR

@Heroix - I'll have to go back and check that one out. It has been a long while since I listened to it.


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## chibear (Oct 2, 2016)

Legends of the Fall


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## storyteller (Oct 2, 2016)

Going back to the post on Braveheart... I'm re-listening to it now and I can't agree more with you @mac. That said, I almost listed the Grinch OST but I thought it had to many songs with words for this post...like a Disney movie. Horner is fantastic at storytelling. Of course Titanic is incredible, but I don't envision the story as much as I feel like I am hearing 45 minutes of Rose...but I guess it is a 3hr love story. And Avatar's score is absolutely brilliant and makes the movie what it is... But I feel like listening to it is more of an underscore rather than a story unfolding. Great though. No doubt about it. That said those are all incredible OSTs and in my "Top Of..." list.

As for a recent one that has glimmers of great storytelling for me... I really liked Patrick Doyle's Cinderella score.


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## Noam Guterman (Oct 2, 2016)

*Gladiator *by Hans Zimmer
*Tombstone* by Bruce Broughton
*Psycho* by Bernard Herrmann

+1 on *LOTR* by Howard Shore and +1 on the original *Conan *by Basil Poledouris


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## Nils Neumann (Oct 2, 2016)

Interstellar


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## storyteller (Oct 4, 2016)

Huh.  I guess I kind of expected more responses than this - or at least more opinions on scores I had not thought of as such. I suppose that goes to show how few modern OSTs barely need a movie to tell the story, even though every score listed is part of an endearing movie. Not to say this should be a standard way scores are composed. I guess it is just a different perspective on a way a score is received. Great classical symphonies can stand out on their own, but so few modern OSTs do aside from a cue or two. Older ones though...those still stand out in their entirety. Maybe it is a product of the digital age...at least something to think about.

Thanks to all that responded. Maybe some others will yet chime in at a later point.


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## Paul T McGraw (Oct 9, 2016)

Don't know if it says more about the audience, the directors or the composers, but we just don't seem to get as many truly memorable movie scores any more. I have been thinking about this off and on since the original post. As for something recent, this movie was not a big hit, but for originality and a great fit with the plot and mood of the film I would suggest "The Grand Budapest Hotel" music by Andre Desplat.

During the actual time frame specified by the OP, say 1995 to 2005 there were actually several standouts for me.

"Saving Private Ryan" from 1998 and the first "Harry Potter" from 2001 both by John Williams. Of course, almost anything Williams did would qualify.

+1 for "The Lord of the Rings" 2001 by Howard Shore.

"Mummy" 1999 by Jerry Goldsmith a fantastic score.

"The Sixth Sense" 1999 by James Newton Howard. The score really made that movie great in my opinion. Just try to think about that movie without the score, it was the score that made that movie unforgettable.

+1 for "Gladiator" 2000 by Hans Zimmer and my personal favorite of his movie soundtracks.

"Band of Brothers" by Michael Kamen from 2001 is a personal favorite, though perhaps not technically a movie, since it was a mini-series. I really like the music, and I think the music was a big contributor to making this mini-series a huge success.

There are other candidates from this time frame, how about some other folks sharing their favorites.


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## Astronaut FX (Oct 9, 2016)

For me, a standout score, strictly based on how well it (a) enhanced the movie's story, and (b) how much I enjoy listening to it on its own, would be _Last of the Mohicans. _


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## URL (Oct 9, 2016)

Gladiator HZ
Braveheart J.H
(Sierra Torrida E.M)


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## AllanH (Oct 9, 2016)

I didn't necessarily buy the CD before watching the movie for these. 

Hercules - Disney animated: While more "songs" than a score I think there is a near-perfect match between the songs, the lyrics and the personality of the character singing a particular song. Alan Menken, I believe. Just delightful.

I would also add Gladiator, Lord of the Rings, and Schindler's list (this one is early 90s).


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## David Chappell (Oct 9, 2016)

Gladiator and the first How to Train Your Dragon for me


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## ghostnote (Oct 9, 2016)

Paul T McGraw said:


> "Mummy" 1999 by Jerry Goldsmith a fantastic score.


Oh yeah! In line with The 13th Warrior IMO. Terrific score. I'm a kid of the 90s so Lion King and all the Alan Menken stuff is also on this list.


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## storyteller (Oct 9, 2016)

Some great additions here! And, I can't agree more about Alan Menken. I didn't include the Disney movies in my original post because I considered them to be more lyrical, but I probably should have. Honestly, the most successful Disney movies of all time have had one thing in common: Alan Menken. He is the glue to their stories. The only exception to the Menken period is Hans Zimmer's Lion King score which undoubtedly captures the same magic and makes that movie one of Disney's best - perhaps even sitting atop the Menken movies. I think the music is really what Disney struggled to re-capture in the post-Menken era...until Frozen (but that is another post to explore all together). Maybe that's a good thread I'll launch next.

@Paul T McGraw - I agree on all that you said too. Great stuff! Especially Grand Budapest.

@David Chappell - How to Train Your Dragon is a good ref too!

Gladiator & Braveheart were major oversights by me in my first post. Actually all the scores mentioned so far I can't disagree with at all.


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## snapeye (Dec 10, 2016)

You can often tell how old someone is, or the range of years they first got into film music, by their favorites. We tend to love the musical zeitgeist of our formative years. Same thing goes for pop music.

I'm in my early-40s, so obviously all the Williams stuff is crucial for me. Jerry Goldsmith stuff. Basil Poledoris' Conan score is huge for me, really tells a story. On through to the early-90s Horner work and so on.

Past 2000, not much makes me feel like a kid again, but there are some wonderful scores.


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## IoannisGutevas (Dec 10, 2016)

Braveheart, Conan, Saving Private Ryan,Harry Potter, How to train your dragon, Lord of the Rings, Last of the Mohicans, Gladiator, all Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies and The Good the Bad and the Ugly, For a few dollars more (and every western scored by Ennio Morricone)!


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## rottoy (Dec 10, 2016)

Paul T McGraw said:


> "Mummy" 1999 by Jerry Goldsmith a fantastic score.


One of my favourites too.
It's funny, I remember reading that Jerry really didn't like scoring the film and found it to be garbage. 
Yet, being the consummate professional he was, turned in a GREAT score with some lovely melodic writing.


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## LamaRose (Dec 10, 2016)

_Dances with Wolves_ was my first purchase, back in 1990, and is still my favorite by a large margin. I can watch that movie play out just listening to all of those great themes. It opened me up to orchestral music in general. 

_Glory, Schindler's List, The Ghost and the Darkness, 6th Sense_... too many to name! Michael Kamen's _Iron Giant_ score was/is a work of art even though is has virtually no given themes... it's very cue-based. But no other score that I've every heard adds more substance to the mood and characters.


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## Ashermusic (Dec 10, 2016)

snapeye said:


> You can often tell how old someone is, or the range of years they first got into film music, by their favorites. We tend to love the musical zeitgeist of our formative years. Same thing goes for pop music.
> 
> I'm in my early-40s, so obviously all the Williams stuff is crucial for me. Jerry Goldsmith stuff. Basil Poledoris' Conan score is huge for me, really tells a story. On through to the early-90s Horner work and so on.
> 
> Past 2000, not much makes me feel like a kid again, but there are some wonderful scores.



But some eras are actually better music if you compare the average score of each era, if you don't adhere to the fashionable but in my opinion vapid "it's all only personal taste" credo.


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## jononotbono (Dec 10, 2016)

I rarely listen to any film scores until I have seen the films. It spoils it and I want to experience the film as a whole. How and why the music was originally written for. In context. Then I will listen to the score until the Police turn up.


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## tav.one (Dec 10, 2016)

*The Last Samurai* - Hans Zimmer (The only soundtrack that I've bee listening continuously from last 11 years and never skip a single track in the album)
*Gladiator* - Hans Zimmer
*Braveheart* - James Horner
*Atonement* - Dario Marianelli
*Blood Diamond* - James Newton Howard
*In Bruges* - Carter Burwell


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## mwarsell (Dec 11, 2016)

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Morricone (best film ever, best score ever)
Thin Red Line - Zimmer
The Snowman - Howard Blake


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## Parsifal666 (Dec 11, 2016)

Hey, I still buy and love CDs! Just got this for a gift, amazing performances!







This masterpiece has to be mentioned by me, a stunning inspiration from start to finish:






And finally, my biggest film score inspiration in this century, to me this actually matched the Williams, as unpopular an opinion as that might very well be:






Yeah, I own ALL of these on CD


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## Living Fossil (Dec 11, 2016)

I don't think at all that music should try to "tell a story".
Words are perfect for telling stories.
Music is perfect in capturing psychological and emotional states and the development of these.
Music is perfect in getting all what can't be said in words.
If one compares the semantics of music to that of words, the striking difference lies in the fact that
words can be very precise and descriptive, while the semantic of music is perfect in capturing mechanisms that belong to a more symbolic realm.
In great music, these mechanisms work as algorithms; different persons with different backgrounds can listen to the same piece in different moods and that piece of music will work for most (i'd like to write "all", but that would be idealistic) of them; helping them in the transformation of their very subjective emotions.

In film scores, i like those who capture the emotional and psychological essence and also develop the material.
Bernard Herrmann for sure was a great master in this aspect.


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