The Theme Music Thread

[BaghdadBob]

Movies, video games, TV shows...what is some of the best or most stirring music you can think of from these mediums -- note that it should be good in context, not some song you barely hear in the movie and find to be really good on a soundtrack.

But first, a quick Tirade from me:

on Tirade

I had a friend who did most of the music for the local playhouse I worked with extensively, back in California. He was a Final Fantasy player like me, and we discussed the music in FF games. He, being a total Square freak -- the kind who plays every game through once and then goes back to unlock every little secret, owned the soundtrack for both VII and VIII.

Now, FF VII is the most emotionally involving game I have ever played...just the words "emotionally involving" and "game" being in the same sentance, well, many have tried and failed. FF VII shined. And music was no small part of that, the themes, stretched over an eighty hour game, managed to strike chords in you by relating back to other emotions you had felt earlier in the game, or experiences you saw your characters go through.

In FF VIII, one of the reasons I couldn't stand the game was I hated the main character because he was a stupid jerk. And I really didn't find the music to be all that great.

Well, here my friend is comparing the music between the two, and while he concedes to me that the music from VII may have been more stirring, the music from VIII was "musically better."

What?

This is what I call "music for musicians." If music fails to be involving, but is appreciated by musicians, IMO it's kinda snooty, because, although having great technical skill at music is helpful, a "technically comlicated" piece is not necessarily any more good than one which is simple, but manages to stir the soul more. Isn't that what music is about?

It's true that VIII's music was not only better synthesized but also much more complex than VII's, but it failed to elicit nearly as much emotional response. IMO, that makes it inferior.

So keep that in mind if you are thinking of something that may be kinda plain, but you find to be really good. Musical greatness is in the eye of the soul.

end Tirade

My submissions: "evil.mid" from Doom II. Don't know why, but I just love that track. Believe it or not, if you go through, there is a lot of good music in Doom II's .mid folder.

"Tank" -- the opening theme to Cowboy Beeboop

The original opening music to Final Fantasy, before they got too good for it. It peaked at VII in nicety (SNES --> PS1 makes a big difference) but I used to love it when I would play FF II. Talk about simple, it's just up and down the scale with embellishments. I really miss it from the new (crappy) games.

Vader's theme song. Possibly the most famous character-theme song ever. John Williams rocks.

The rolling theme through The Usual Suspects. Good stuff.

Tetsuo's theme from Akira. You know, "DA, DA, DA, DA DA...bum, bum, bum, bum-bum...DA, DA, DA, DA DA...bum-bum..." you know. Used to give me the willies.

That's all for now. Don't make me do this thread all by myself, I know you guys are out there...well, maybe not at this hour on a saturday night...but tomorrow, and the day after...

[Veldek]

I like the main theme from "Pulp Fiction", I also got the soundtrack from "Buffy - Once More With Feeling" and I do like some James Bond themes like "You Only Live Twice" or "Goldfinger". They are all in my iTunes library...

[iGav]

John Carpenter was a master at this for his films 'Halloween' and 'The Fog'....

Halloween on a screening before the score was added, was reported as being boring!! As soon as Carpenter added his score, it took it to another level and can be seen as one of the most influential horror films ever.

Same with 'The Fog', the ambience and the atmosphere that is created by his score, especially in the starting 5 minutes of the film when the crazy ***** is happening around the town is unrivalled by any film for setting and creating and maintaining a mood throughout the film. It is laced with radio-chatter all the way through... a very innovative and original way of presenting a non-musical soundtrack.

Another tune that springs to mind, is 'Scorpio's Theme' by Lalo Schifrin from 'Dirty Harry'.

Everytime you see Scorpio, the tune starts up, and is comprised of vibrato-vocals that sound eerie, and give you the opinion that the guy has more than just a screw lose!! (it was after all, the time of LSD and of mass-murderer's claiming to hear voices in their heads!!)

From the same film, a song title 'The Mayor', a simple electronic piano motif, filled with with incredible sorrow, that is played when Harry finds the dead-girl on the Marin headlands, and again at the end of the film when you see him throwing his badge into the lake.

Also can you imagine Hitch's 'Vertigo' without Bernard Herrmann's score??
:eek: :eek: :eek:

[Veldek]

Originally posted by iGAV
JEverytime you see Scorpio, the tune starts up, ...

This reminds me of another one: the Imperial March from "Star Wars" which starts up everytime Darth Vader or the Dark Side is shown. A very cool tune indeed.

[Flowbee]

Sopranos theme song ("Woke up this morning, etc"). Can't remember the name of it.

[eyelikeart]

Opening song for the movie "Swingers" is Dean Martin singing "You're Nobody Til Somoebody Loves You" ;)

[Angelus]

Personally i loved when michelle branch performed "Goodbye to you" on buffy about a year ago.
I heard it,loved it and bought her album.
The only problem is that the album version is nothing compared to that one performance.Its just her voice and an acoustic guitar.

Also the music from "speed" really got me. Its the tune they play when he's under the bus etc. I was humming that all week.

[evoluzione]

good thread :)

i recently bought the soundtrack to the Hulk movie, it's actually really really good, and stirring. it's so nice to have a proper score in a movie, as opposed to a compilation album that is yet another cashflow injection.

one of my favourites though, is the RainMan soundtrack, and also the theme from The Untouchables. oh, and Suite Punta Del Esta by Astor Piazzolla from 12 Monkeys

s'all i can think of right now....but all good tunes that enhance the movie for sure.

[King Cobra]

Originally posted by Flowbee
Sopranos theme song ("Woke up this morning, etc"). Can't remember the name of it.

Alabama 3 -- Woke Up This Morning
Sopranos Soundtrack

[Doctor Q]

Of current TV shows, I like the theme song from The Dead Zone. A little chilling and eerie. Great.

[Durandal7]

The theme music from The Prisoner. Miserloo at the beginning of Pulp Fiction was good. The Dr. Who theme music was classic. Of course the Imperial March from the Star Wars movies is one of the best, not to mention the Indiana Jones theme song.

[Spike Spiegel]

i would have to say, in no particular order:
-tank from the opening to cowboy bebeop
-the metal gear solid 1+2 theme
-the transformers theme from the movie
-the whole score to gladiator, insider, and blackhawk down; all hanz zimmer with lisa gerrard.

[BaghdadBob]

The theme from Halloween did truly rule. The Final Fantasy games had that going for them in their opening music until they decided to screw tradition.

I thought I could attach .mids to these posts for some reason, I was going to post evil.mid. I just listened to it, and the funny thing is, althoug no one will talk about the music in Doom II there is some good stuff in there if you browse the music folder. There are actually 71 tracks, and only 32 levels. A lot of the music that correlates to the act and level in name isn't what the game uses. I kinda hope for the Doom movie they have Trent Reznor remix all the old tracks. That would RULE.

The music from the Lobby scene in the Matrix. Ahh, the lobby scene....ohhhh yeah :D....

The Music fro American Beauty set off a huge trend. It was pretty good.

Oh, and for Gran Turismo 2, the opening movie has the Cardigans doing "My Favoriute Game". This is probably the best use I can think of utilizing a lyrical mainstream song in credits effectively.

Except for the opening song to Apocalypse Now...

[IJ Reilly]

Any film score by Randy Newman -- Ragtime, The Natural, Awakenings, even Three Amigos. You name it, it's all the best. Nobody even comes close to Newman, IMO.

[medea]

The Twin Peaks theme, actually most of the theme music to Lynchs projects is great.

[pEZ]

The themes to Requiem for a Dream and American Beauty - both play very important roles in their respective films, those movies just wouldn't be the same with a different soundtrack.

[BaghdadBob]

The opening chords to the NFL on Fox. Just gives me a big stupid grin off my face, especially after the gruellingly long off-season. I've been looking for a matching ringtone, but no dice...

Lynch's movies have great music. Of course, so do Tim Burton's movies...Elfman rocks.

[Judo]

What about Cheers!

Making your way in the world today takes everthing ya got.
Taking away all your troubles sure would help alot.
Wouldn't you like to get away.
Sometimes you wanna go
(Everybody now)
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
you wanna be where you can see
Troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.

Daaaa da da da da daa daaa
Daaaa da da da da daa daaa

I'm sure some of thats wrong. But it was quite a while ago.

[Judo]

Oooh and Shaft . Can ya dig it.

[pEZ]

Originally posted by Judo


Daaaa da da da da daa daaa
Daaaa da da da da daa daaa

I'm sure some of thats wrong. But it was quite a while ago.

you forgot "daa dyaaaah!" :D

[3rdpath]

so many great movie themes...

henry mancini's "Pink Panther" and Peter Gunn" are timeless...not to mention his other score songs such as " moon River" and " baby elephant walk". old stuff but timeless nonetheless...

morricone's "good,bad and the ugly" is wonderful as is his whole score to " cinema Paridiso". ( and " once upon a time in america").

the most bizarre theme is Elfman's opening title to " To Die For"..how i love the manic unpredictably of it.

hermann is great..psycho to taxi driver...amazing stuff considering he absolutely hated writing movie scores...he thought it was hack work.

john barry's "goldfinger" is classic. instrumental baritone guitar or shirley bassey..both are wonderful. macca's " live and let die" rocks. madonna's theme was the crappiest excuse for a bond theme ever.

and lalo shifrin is pure 70's goodness. his dirty harry soundtracks sound like the band was just winging-it.

[tazo]

Curb your enthusiasm's and The Sopranos. LOL. one makes me laugh, one gets the head bobbing.

"get yourself a gun..." lol.

yes odd combination I know....

[scem0]

Originally posted by Judo
What about Cheers!

Please don't tell me that I am the only one who is really annoyed by that song....

I am annoyed by that show in general.

The Matrix (Reloaded too) has good 'theme music'.

scem0

[vollspacken]

I got two favorites:

1. Lalo Schifrin - "Bullit Opening Theme" (you have to see it with the incredible editing of the movie sequence, OMG!!!)

2. John Barry - "Theme from 007 'You Only Live Twice' feat. Nancy Sinatra'" (the strings, the Bossa feeling, the fuzzy guitar, LOVE IT!!!)

there are a couple of other themes I like (6 Million Dollar Man, Bionic Woman, S.W.A.T., Once Upon A Time In The West, 7 Samurai Suite, Streets Of San Francisco...), but I think Barry and Schifrin are the best...

vSpacken

[iGav]

Originally posted by vollspacken
1. Lalo Schifrin - "Bullit Opening Theme" (you have to see it with the incredible editing of the movie sequence, OMG!!!)


The title sequence for Bullitt is very cool, especially the typography... ;) :)

[Steradian]

ANY somg from the Metal Gear Soild Series..man that Music is moving...I esp. like the Galic Song performed by Aoife Ni Fhearraigh, (it's the song that plays at the end of the first game)

[vollspacken]

Originally posted by iGAV
The title sequence for Bullitt is very cool, especially the typography... ;) :)

...lightyears ahead of its time. and they did it without a computer

vSpacken

[BaghdadBob]

Batman: the Animated Series.

That whole series was well done, but IMO it all starts with how you open, and they had a great opening theme.

And I don't think anyone has brought this up -- The X-Files.