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Top Ten: Film Soundtracks
Wednesday 20th November 2013 | Lauren
1. High Fidelity
The actual inspiration for this list is High Fidelity, which I finally saw on Sunday. The film is based in a record store, so they were always going to spend a bit of time creating the perfect soundtrack- and they did quite well too. Ranging from Katrina and the Waves to The Velvet Underground to Stevie Wonder, they don’t really leave a genre untouched, or unmentioned throughout the entire film, which includes a cameo from The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. The moment though when Jack Black turns off Belle and Sebastian and puts on ‘Walking on Sunshine’ is definitely a laugh out loud moment, and also ‘Walking on Sunshine’ is a brilliant song and don’t you forget it.
2. Saturday Night Fever
Pure disco brilliance is the theme for John Travolta’s dark and seedy film about New York, unplanned pregnancies and of course, Saturday night. The soundtrack is made up of almost all Bee Gee’s tracks, with a little sprinkling of Kool and the Gang, Yvonne Elliman and David Shire, there hasn’t been a 25th wedding anniversary celebration which hasn’t played at least one song from the film. Even though Saturday Night Fever is surprisingly dark and at times very disturbing, the soundtrack lifts it up, and is one of the main reasons it is the classic it is today.
3. Garden State
Zach Braff’s quirky indie, semi autobiographical film holds a soundtrack devised entirely of songs picked by Braff himself, which led to him winning a Grammy for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album. It features The Shins and Coldplay, and in all honesty could just stand out as a compilation album by itself. The best moment though is when Sam plays Andrew ‘New Slang’ by The Shins, claiming ‘it’ll change your life’. It’s pretty much perfect.
4. Blues Brothers
Blues Brothers is one of those special hybrids of film and soundtrack - no way would this film be as successful as it is now had it not been for the amazing soundtrack that carried the film. Aretha Franklin anyone? James Brown? This is a film which seemed to dominate my childhood, and this wouldn’t be a soundtrack list if Blues Brothers wasn’t in it.
5. A Hard Day's Night
The ultimate Beatles film and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise. Having studied this film for A Level Film Studies (oh yes dear reader, I am qualified), I know it inside out and back to front. Looking beyond the themes and symbolism that the film offers (revolution, rise of the youth....) it is accompanied by some of the fab fours greatest hits, which I firmly believe if they were released now, would still be number one.
6. The Lion King
One of Disney’s absolute best. There isn’t a bad song in the film, but mostly thanks to Elton John, is there anything the man can’t do? From the iconic opening sequence of the animals coming to Simba’s Christening set to ‘The Circle Of Life’, to the famous ‘Hakuna Matata’, there literally isn’t a forgettable song in the film, which is a surprise. This is the reason why it is such a massive hit, not only in cinematic history but also in the theatre (which I’m told is quite a high brow world).
7. Juno
One of the most popular ‘quirky indie’ films of the past decade, Juno made breakout stars of Ellen Page and writer Diablo Cody, but nestled in amongst the brilliant writing and acting is the soundtrack, with a range of songs by Barry Louis Polisar, Belle & Sebastian and Sonic Youth, it is one of the coolest soundtracks on the list. It also features The Moldy Peaches and Kimya Dawson- which was Ellen Page’s own suggestion, when she was asked by the director who she thought Juno would listen to.
8. The Great Gatsby
There is not one part of this film which isn’t incredible, but the soundtrack is almost winning for the best thing of the film (the winner is of course, Leonardo DiCaprio. Give that man an Oscar.) Baz Luhrmann always pushes the boundary when it comes to the music in his films (Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet), but the mix of Jay Z (who was the albums executive producer), Lana Del Rey and Brian Ferry, played against the roaring twenties, created something that stood out, and breathed new life into the story.
9. The Breakfast Club
After much deliberation, I’ve decided that the eighties would have been the best decade to be a teenager (the sixties would have been better for people in their twenties). The music was fantastic, and there were John Hughes films a-plenty, his best, The Breakfast Club. A film just about 5 teenagers left alone in detention on a Saturday, starting off as hating each other. The soundtrack is classic eighties, featuring Simple Minds (‘Don’t You Forget About Me’- what a song) and Wang Chung. But Karla Devito’s ‘We Are Not Alone’ in the dance scene is one of the most famous music-scenes of any film.
10. (500) Days Of Summer
As if The Smiths needed romanticizing any more, along comes (500) Days Of Summer, complete with a beautiful yet unattainable girl, and a good looking, overly romantic guy, but as the narrator says, this is not a love story. The soundtrack doesn’t just include The Smiths, oh no, there are appearances from Regina Spektor, Hall and Oates and Carla Bruni , so you can expect an eclectic mix. Like The Breakfast Club it features on of the best dance moments in film, and even features a cartoon bird. What more could you ask for?
Lauren Floodgate (@laurenmary91)
