Shoutout for Clueless, which is a first-rate sampler of indie-pop, circa 1995: The Muffs, Radiohead, Cracker, Counting Crows, Beastie Boys, Coolio, Supergirl, Lucious Jackson....
“Rolling with the Hoooooooomies.” (Starts sobbing) Oh, god, yes. The use of “My Iron Lung” is wonderful
Oliver Stone’s Natural Born Killers is a brilliant collage of very disparate sounds. I don’t think any of the songs were commissioned for it save for Nine Inch Nails’ “Burn”, right? (And that is an outtake from The Downward Spiral, I thought). It has Leonard Cohen, Dr. Dre, L7, and an excerpt from Wozzcek!
Heavy Metal is wonderful, both the songs (“Blue Lamp” by Stevie Nicks is a hidden gem) and Elmer Bernstein’s very eerie, theremin-laden score
Mean Streets made wonderful use of pre-existing records in its soundtrack, but IIRC there's no soundtrack album.
I never heard the term "songtrack" until they decided to re-release Yellow Submarine, but...that's really what we're talking about here right? A collection of "pop songs" designed to get radio play in order to increase awareness of a movie in theaters, right? Films so cynical they don't want any of those fancy perfesshunnuls out there making music for their movie, because ya need ja a *pop* song to get the kids a'twitchin' their butts into seats? Same way Madison Avenue tells ya, ya just can't sell a box of instant mashed potatoes without a snappy remake of a Chubby Checker dance to make those shopping carts dance, eh? If I had a better, more legitimate suggestion other than Saturday Night Fever, Flashdance or Fame, I'm sure I'd name it. But...really...? These were actual "characters" in the movies: the songs were not only in the plots, the plots were about the songs...not just a singer expressing how Rocky has an eye he got out of some tiger, or how Tom Cruise is flying into some metaphysical "danger zone". This is a character, playing the music that got onto the soundtrack album, because that song was an actual part of the drama in the movie. And that should make a difference.
John Cusack's Grosse Pointe Blank has to be on the list. Wonderfully integrated with the movie - the fight scene to Mirror In The Bathroom, the sokobuku moment with Under Pressure, and especially the moment when Martin walks into the Quick-E Mart that used to be his family home, and the soundtrack of G&R's Live & Let Die seamlessly changes to a Musak version. Also Cusack, the High Fidelity OST is great but loses points for drawing attention to itself (the Beta Band scene), as does the Shins moment in Zach Braff's Garden State. We're enjoying your mix tapes guys, you don't have to have the characters tell us how cool you are.
Heavy Metal is a fantastic soundtrack with almost zero filler. It sounds great too! Easily my favorite soundtrack cd. 1981 was a great year for music.
Really? Two pages in and no Easy Rider? I feel like the last dinosaur. Also - Rockers , maybe my favourite. And Repo Man!
My faves, as of right now: Cool World The Harder They Come Superfly Saturday Night Fever Reservoir Dogs Judgement Night 24 Hour Party People The Virgin Suicides Until The End Of The World Drive
The OP's criterion was this: "Favorite movie Soundtrack that use actual pre recorded music not a score written for the film." I interpreted "score" to be the key word. That to me means background music purposefully "written for the film" to underlie its scenes. These compositions may have titles, but they aren't "songs" in the traditional sense — which is what I took "actual pre-recorded music" to mean. So whether they were in existence prior to the making of the film or not is less relevant than whether they stand alone apart from the film as genuine songs and not just background tracks. Using this as my guide, my nomination has not yet been mentioned, so…
Riot on Sunset Strip (Original Soundtrack) A pretty dreadful movie with a great soundtrack if you're a garage rock fan. In particular, the two Chocolate Watchband songs ("Don't Need Your Lovin'" and "Sitting There Standing"), though they rip off "Milk Cow Blues" and The Yardbirds' "The Nazz Are Blue" respectively, are essential. The title song by The Standells is fine, but their other one, "Get Away from Here," is an absolutely unique 12-string thing that doesn't even suffer due to the producers inadvertently omitting one channel of the stereo mix and thus cutting out most of the bass and drums. "Like My Baby" by Drew is another rip, stealing its music lock, stock and barrel from The Byrds' "Spanish Harlem Incident" but maintaining an innocent charm just the same. Even the folky "Old Country" by the otherwise obscure Debra Travis is somehow compelling. I got this out of the cut-out bins for a buck in the late 60s and played it to death. Still a big part of me!
For those of us growing up in the 80's The Breakfast Club Pretty in Pink Some Kind of Wonderful The Wraith
See, my first thought was most of Tangerine Dream's soundtrack albums. Many of those were written when the films were being made - that is, having not seen much if any of the film, but using set photos and the script. So it's not a score (at all) but a mood piece that wasn't written with any visuals to work with. I bet that doesn't count!
Saturday Night Fever, of course. Has anyone mentioned Car Wash, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band?
