Movie Songs: worse than the movie, better than the movie, carried the movie, senseless without?

[trappedslider]

Well, in terms of a song being obnoxious or overdone, the song from "The Graduate" definitely rank among the highest, most bloated, and just annoying after a while. It's like they decided to play "Hello Darkness My Old Friend" every 5 minutes or so, whenever there was a quiet moment without dialog. I'm not sure the movie would be better with a different song, but maybe putting in a couple others to break up the monotony would have been good.

FYI it's called Sound of Silence and from Wiki "When director Mike Nichols and Sam O'Steen were editing the film The Graduate, they initially timed some scenes to this song with the intention of substituting original music for the scenes. However, they eventually concluded that the song could not be adequately substituted and decided to purchase the rights for the song for the soundtrack. This was an unusual decision for the time, as the song had charted over a year earlier and recycling established music for film was not commonly done. However, the film's executive producer, Joseph E. Levine, approved of the creative decision. Nichols commissioned Simon and Garfunkel to compose additional original music for the film. With the practice of using well known songs for films becoming commonplace, "The Sound of Silence" has since been used for other films, such as Kingpin in 1996, Old School in 2003, and Watchmen in 2009. It appeared on the fourth season of the television series Arrested Development in 2013. On March 21, 2013, the song was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for long-term preservation"

 

[Jhaelen]

I forgot to mention the most recent episode of Mad Men I'd watched: It prominently featured "Tomorrow Never Knows" a song from the Beatles album 'Revolver'. And I have to say, it's definitely the best Beatles song, I've ever heard! This had been the first time I had heard this particular song, and if omre of their songs were like this, I'd definitely be a fan.

The episode itself didn't strike me as particularly notable, but then I think the show maintains a pretty high quality standard.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I've always found it eerie how the Lord of the Rings movies came with a score that seemed to perfectly capture the tone of the books. For all the bajillion dollars they spent on the visuals, I think it's the operatic quality of the score that gets the audience to take it seriously.

 

[billd91]

I forgot to mention the most recent episode of Mad Men I'd watched: It prominently featured "Tomorrow Never Knows" a song from the Beatles album 'Revolver'. And I have to say, it's definitely the best Beatles song, I've ever heard! This had been the first time I had heard this particular song, and if omre of their songs were like this, I'd definitely be a fan.

The episode itself didn't strike me as particularly notable, but then I think the show maintains a pretty high quality standard.

As a side note, Revolver and Rubber Soul are probably my two favorite Beatles albums. I like them much better than the white album or Abbey Road.

 

[Zombie_Babies]

It just hit me that The Big Lebowski wouldn't be what it is without the music chosen. Works really well.

Oh, and I agree with whoever it was that mentioned Conan the Barbarian. The music is perfect. My friend owns the soundtrack and I can't count how many D&D sessions we played with it as our background. It really sets the mood.

 

[sabrinathecat]

Thank you for the information.

FYI it's called Sound of Silence and from Wiki "When director Mike Nichols and Sam O'Steen were editing the film The Graduate, they initially timed some scenes to this song with the intention of substituting original music for the scenes. However, they eventually concluded that the song could not be adequately substituted and decided to purchase the rights for the song for the soundtrack. This was an unusual decision for the time, as the song had charted over a year earlier and recycling established music for film was not commonly done. However, the film's executive producer, Joseph E. Levine, approved of the creative decision. Nichols commissioned Simon and Garfunkel to compose additional original music for the film. With the practice of using well known songs for films becoming commonplace, "The Sound of Silence" has since been used for other films, such as Kingpin in 1996, Old School in 2003, and Watchmen in 2009. It appeared on the fourth season of the television series Arrested Development in 2013. On March 21, 2013, the song was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress for long-term preservation"

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Didn't think I'd have anything to add, then I remembered the '80s Flash Gordan movie. Pure hokeyness that would have been much worse without the queen songs.

In a similar vein, Xanadu would be mostly uwatchable without the music.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Didn't think I'd have anything to add, then I remembered the '80s Flash Gordan movie. Pure hokeyness that would have been much worse without the queen songs.

In a similar vein, Xanadu would be mostly uwatchable without the music.

Queen made flash gordon and the highlander.

 

[Mallus]

Didn't think I'd have anything to add, then I remembered the '80s Flash Gordan movie. Pure hokeyness that would have been much worse without the queen songs.

On the other hand, even without the Queen soundtrack, Flash Gordon still has Brian Blessed, Topol, Ornella Muti crying "Not the bore-worms!", and all the wonderful disco-Deco art direction, making it better than %95 of the films ever made.

Two films immediately come to mind when I think of songs/soundtracks. Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, which opens to the sounds of Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life", and closes with Underworld's "Born Slippy". The music in-between is good, too, like Pulp's savagely pleasant "Mile End".

And Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It features a bunch of David Bowie songs sung in Portuguese by Seu Jorge, and an end credit homage to the end credits of Buckaroo Banzai, done to tune of Bowie's "Queen Bitch".

 

[Zombie_Babies]

Two films immediately come to mind when I think of songs/soundtracks. Danny Boyle's Trainspotting, which opens to the sounds of Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life", and closes with Underworld's "Born Slippy". The music in-between is good, too, like Pulp's savagely pleasant "Mile End".

And Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. It features a bunch of David Bowie songs sung in Portuguese by Seu Jorge, and an end credit homage to the end credits of Buckaroo Banzai, done to tune of Bowie's "Queen Bitch".

Damn bro, two great calls and two great movies. I wish Trainspotting was done a bit better* but still amazing - and the soundtrack really was perfect. Lou Reed's Perfect Day is about the best song ever chosen based on what movie it was in. Srsly.

*Had I read the book after seeing the film instead of the reverse I'd probably feel differently. The movie is good but Welsh's book is amazing.