# The Worst Scores Ever!



## midphase (Dec 4, 2010)

We're always getting into arguments about which film music kicks more ass...how about we get into an argument over which score sucks the most?

Most scores can be liked and disliked on very subjective bases, however there are some which are undeniably bad (generally paired with undeniably bad films).

Please, let's keep this civil, this is not a judgement on the composers who might have had a bad experience or simply decided to phone it in, and this is not a discussion about whose fault it waò     |¦è     |§à     |¨¶     |±}     |±¹     |²     |²     |¾r     |Â      |Â     |ËQ     |Ë°     |Ë¿     |Ì)     |Ì·     |Ì¿     |ÍC     |Ík     |Ñ     |ÑC     |Ñ     |Ñ¹     |ÒA     |Òo     |Ôô     |Õ     |Ø„     |Ø™     |Ø´     |ÞW     |ÞŽ     |åé     |åû     |çy     |ç|     |êN     |êh     |ëw     |ë£     |ì_     |ìš     |î4     |î’     |ò‰     |ò«     |ú'     |ún     |ü     |ü<     }Y     }      }u     }¨     }4     }q     }_     }|     }-¥     }-À     }=e     }=‚     }=í     }>     }B¡     }BÝ     }E÷     }F      }FM     }FW     }H!     }H&     }Hž     }Hí     }I


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## snowleopard (Dec 5, 2010)

I was a big TD fan during that era, but their score to The Keep is indeed weak. Just a few moments where their magic fit. And that's probably Michael Mann's worst film. Though some like it (and the score). 

I think it may be a challenging game to find bad scores by otherwise good composers. 

Alan Silvestri (great composer!) his score to Romancing the Stone is terribly dated. More dated than his other Synclavier scores of the time. Some of which hold up. 

Bill Conti's jazz score to An Unmarried Woman is almost laughable today, at times. At other times it somewhat fits the era. But watching it recently, wow! 

Ron Grainer's score to The Omega Man is even more of the same problem. Muscle jazz for aò     Š]@     Š]]     Š]ƒ     Šb     ŠbÆ     Šbö     Šc     ŠdJ     Šd‚     Šdž     Šd½     Šhð     Ši3     ŠnÏ     Šo2     Š‚/     Š‚]     Š‰õ     ŠŠ&     Š©     Š®¿     Š¯     Š´û     Šµ&     Š¹È     Š¹Ù     ŠºF     Šº¶     Š»     Š»©     Š»µ


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## jlb (Dec 5, 2010)

Watch Shutter Island! They have tried to fit Mahler's music to the film and it doesn't work

jlb


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## Ashermusic (Dec 5, 2010)

Well when we see "bad score" Kays do we mean "bad music" or "doesn't work with the film" or both?

And what if the score worked for its time but now seems dated? Is it a "bad score" ?

I never criticize living composers publicly as you know but I will make an exception here as I do not consider him really a composer but since Clint Eastwood and now his kid took over "scoring" Clint's films with a little help from the guy who used to score his films, Lennie Niehaus, the movies get little or no help from the score.

Fortunately, he is such a good director the films work anyway but they would definitely benefit from better scores.


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## choc0thrax (Dec 5, 2010)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001275/


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## lux (Dec 5, 2010)

haha soooo expected...


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## noiseboyuk (Dec 5, 2010)

choc0thrax @ Sun Dec 05 said:


> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001275/



I know he wasn't solely responsible, but I love the soundtrack to The Truman Show, synths an' all. It works.


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## chimuelo (Dec 5, 2010)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075148/

Union style Neptivity


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## choc0thrax (Dec 5, 2010)

noiseboyuk @ Sun Dec 05 said:


> choc0thrax @ Sun Dec 05 said:
> 
> 
> > http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001275/
> ...



Hey, you throw enough music at picture over the years and something's bound to work. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, which is a better track record than Glass'.


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## lux (Dec 5, 2010)

choc0thrax @ Sun Dec 05 said:


> Even a broken clock is right twice a day, which is a better track record than Glass'.



:lol:


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## Mr. Anxiety (Dec 5, 2010)

In appropriately bad music for a good film

Ladyhawke

Mr A


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## midphase (Dec 5, 2010)

Ashermusic @ Sun Dec 05 said:


> Well when we see "bad score" Kays do we mean "bad music" or "doesn't work with the film" or both?



I think "bad music" would be way too subjective (hey what can I say....I LOVE Philip Glass)....so I'm really referring to movies where the score simply doesn't fit and in many cases makes the end product even more laughable than it deserves to be.

A score that is ò      J<      J<º      M2à      M3L      Nd­      Ne      NÏ¢      NÏå      O¥      OÐ      O S      O m      QŸ      Qá      Qœ      QÄ      QÏ      Q      R­¢      R­³      S±      Sì      U-      U-è      U/      U/Š      U1Ë      U2      WC4      WC˜      Z¢      Z¶      Zhj      ZhÖ      \Ec      \E      ]£      ]·      aïp      aï      aï©      aïÀ      að      aðH      c¡¡      c¡±      cÐ—      cÐ¤      fpÑ      fpû      gü       güt      l¼      l      pn_      pn½      r6k      r6Ó      s!ÿ      s"U      tÏ      t      wg¢      wgÑ      zN      zND      zöP      zöŸ      ƒ¹K      ƒ¹j      …ø;      …øR      …ù‘      …ùì      †/‚      †/È      ‰ú5


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## ChrisAxia (Dec 6, 2010)

None of the above mentioned films compare to the most intrusive, annoying score to a bad film I 'taped' for my kids to watch earlier this year (shown on a major UK channel) called "Clockmaker" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160139/

I can only assume the broadcaster paid peanuts for the movie...watch it at your peril...

~C


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## snowleopard (Dec 6, 2010)

I'm definitely going to defend Glass' score to Candyman. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhiwYd-yc50

I would say Harold Faltermeyer's score to Beverly Hills Cop is a great score! Well, a great, catchy theme anyway. Okay, I haven't seen the film in years and I imagine the whole thing is really dated, but hey. 

I thought much of the soundtrack to Shutter Island worked fairly well. I do think however hiring a contemporary composer would have given it more cohesion. 

Agree that most "rock" scores tend to stick out. Same goes for soundtrack scores, or films such as Butch Cassidy with it's pop songs. 

I find Clint Eastwood's work to be pretty decent, serviceable. Some better than others. He seems to know when to be subdued, and that says a lot today.


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## musicformedia (Dec 6, 2010)

There Will be Blood. Anyone watched it? Some parts during the film the music is so overpowering and loud it sounds like they're joking or something - I actually literally laughed out loud at one point when the music kept getting louder and louder - just couldn't understand it at all...


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## Ashermusic (Dec 6, 2010)

snowleopard @ Mon Dec 06 said:


> I'm definitely going to defend Glass' score to Candyman.
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhiwYd-yc50
> 
> ...



1. There is only 1 pop song in that score and it works beautifully.That is why it won 2 Academy Awards, 1 for score and 1 for song. (It will now take app. 0.44 seconds for someone to say awards don't mean anything, but sometimes they do.)

2. Watch any Eastwood film that Niehaus scored than watch anyone that he himself scored and I will be very surprised if the difference is not pretty obvious to you.


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## mverta (Dec 6, 2010)

My score for the Japanese martial arts film, "Extreme Heist." One day, that will come back to haunt me.


_Mike


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## Mr. Anxiety (Dec 6, 2010)

It is pretty painful watching some of the new Eastwood movies that are "self" scored.


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## handz (Dec 6, 2010)

choc0thrax @ Sun Dec 05 said:


> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001275/



http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001877/ o 

OK Glass is also ultimate boringness, but I must say that his music for illusionist is good (It made it into one short spot on Czech TV, quite good, cause it really raised attention)


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## Ashermusic (Dec 6, 2010)

mverta @ Mon Dec 06 said:


> My score for the Japanese martial arts film, "Extreme Heist." One day, that will come back to haunt me.
> 
> 
> _Mike



Oh, if we are going there, my first score for a film called "I'm Going To Be Famous" brings a whole new meaning to the word awful. I scored it by taking notes while watching it on a Moviola as they could not provide me with a VHS and boy, did my notes lead me astray. I totally made too much of certain picture events by which I unintentionally made them comic.

OTOH, I wrote 3 decent songs for it, 2 sung by Roslyn Kind and the title song by me.
I was paid a whopping $1500 for it but the irony is that it was aired twice on CBS late night and I ended up making me about $25,000. Go figure.


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## midphase (Dec 6, 2010)

I think perhaps we could all agree that Glass should stick to documentaries?


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## jlb (Dec 6, 2010)

I will defend the BH Cop score passionately! Everybody thinks of Axel F but listen to this multi layered synth masterpiece!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsThlsaIHFA

jlb


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## Ed (Dec 6, 2010)

Kays I agree that The Keep clip is laughable. I skipped through it and still got bored. :D

I would say Vangelis' Bladerunner score was perfect, but if we look at his score for Alexander, it just doesnt work. Some composers I think are great for one project and cant do anything else


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## lux (Dec 6, 2010)

jlb @ Mon Dec 06 said:


> I will defend the BH Cop score passionately! Everybody thinks of Axel F but listen to this multi layered synth masterpiece!
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsThlsaIHFA
> 
> jlb



i love '80 synth scores. Soo much of them still work with today's standards like a charme, as Black Rain, most of the John Carpenter stuff, the Beverly Hills Cop thing, Remo Williams, Blue Thunder...


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## shadoe42 (Dec 6, 2010)

I actually like both scores.

I don't know if I would call it bad but for the most part watching Deathly Hallows last friday i never even knew the score was there. Can;t really recall a memorable part.




midphase @ Mon Dec 06 said:


> On the subject of Tangerine Dream....anyone remember the whole shananigans that went on with Legend?
> 
> The film was originally scored by Jerry Goldsmith, but the producers decided to have Tangerine Dream rescore it for the American audience. Really bizarre decision, especially considering Goldsmith's successful career with American films.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_(film)#Soundtrack


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## Lex (Dec 6, 2010)

For now..

"Alexander" and "Leaving Las Vegas"

Great idea for the thread Kays! I find it very informative , cause you can learn a great deal about different tastes.

aLex


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## NYC Composer (Dec 6, 2010)

re Eastwood-that deathless love song 'Gran Torino' really tugged the heartstrings. Umm..

My personal fave for bad was the "Neighbors" score, (Ackroyd and Belushi movie) by a guy I think is really talented, Howard Shore. I thought his score for Se7en was sorta awesome. Neighbors was pretty bad though- "Comedic moment-trombone wha wha wah!"


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## NYC Composer (Dec 6, 2010)

Lex @ Mon Dec 06 said:


> For now..
> 
> "Alexander" and "Leaving Las Vegas"
> 
> ...


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## midphase (Dec 6, 2010)

Do you guys have any thoughts on the score by Wojciech Kilar for the film The Ninth Gate by Roman Polanski?

I love Kilar's score for Dracula, but The Ninth Gate score seemed like it didn't fit the film quite well, it's almost as if Kilar was bent on scoring a mid-70's Italian comedy instead of a supernatural thriller. I'm to this day split on whether the score is good or bad.


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## lux (Dec 7, 2010)

in all honesty it was the movie, more than the score, which was upsetting in the nineth gate. Score was meh, but movie was...


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## Christian Marcussen (Dec 7, 2010)

midphase @ Tue Dec 07 said:


> Do you guys have any thoughts on the score by Wojciech Kilar for the film The Ninth Gate by Roman Polanski?
> 
> I love Kilar's score for Dracula, but The Ninth Gate score seemed like it didn't fit the film quite well, it's almost as if Kilar was bent on scoring a mid-70's Italian comedy instead of a supernatural thriller. I'm to this day split on whether the score is good or bad.



Only thing that struck me was how "Dracularish" it was. Only seen/heard it once though.


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## jlb (Dec 7, 2010)

Lex @ Mon Dec 06 said:


> For now..
> 
> "Alexander" and "Leaving Las Vegas"
> 
> ...



You are joking right? Alexander was a terrible score? I thought most of it was brilliant, Vangelis at his very best. The film was rubbish though. I can't believe how anyone could think Alexander was bad music.

jlb


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## jlb (Dec 7, 2010)

This is bad music is it, I don't think so

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXcCN-6kjpM

jlb


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## Lex (Dec 7, 2010)

jlb @ Tue Dec 07 said:


> Lex @ Mon Dec 06 said:
> 
> 
> > For now..
> ...



Not joking at all. For me it's a prime example of problematic movie that could have been helped quite a bit by good scoring...

And for me, Shutter Island was one of the best scores this year. =)

As I said this thread is great! 

aLex


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## Ed (Dec 7, 2010)

jlb @ Tue Dec 07 said:


> You are joking right? Alexander was a terrible score? I thought most of it was brilliant, Vangelis at his very best. The film was rubbish though. I can't believe how anyone could think Alexander was bad music.
> 
> jlb



I thought it was bad as well, sounded very 80s. See Bladerunner was brilliant because it wasn't trying to be orchestral, but this sounded like a cheesy 80s synth-orchestra fantasy score. It is almost Tangerine Dream cheese for me. 

Sure, the movie was crap which doesnt help impressions but the music is what helped bore me to tears even more.



Lex wrote said:


> And for me, Shutter Island was one of the best scores this year. =)



I also found it very effective, even if it wasnt apparently written for it


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## jlb (Dec 7, 2010)

Glad you didn't like my piece that I posted on here sometime ago aLex it shows I must be doing something right o/~ 

jlb


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## Lex (Dec 7, 2010)

jlb @ Tue Dec 07 said:


> Glad you didn't like my piece that I posted on here sometime ago aLex it shows I must be doing something right o/~
> 
> jlb



Exactly....this is why this thread rocks. 

aLex


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