the crow ost is the worst record i have ever heard

which is dumb cos of course we could have just gotten a Night at the Opera but we didn't know much about Queen yet

XPs...and before that, illega/legal downloading made them obsolete. Soundtracks were perhaps the the biggest racket the music business had going in the CD era.

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Albums/zgbs/digital-music-album

In the top 50 I see two movie soundtracks and at least 7 video game, broadway and tv series soundtracks.

^^One of those is a Disney soundtrack (an exception to the rule), and the other is a non-Disney children's musical (Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile).

Broadway Cast recordings are a different beast. People buy these before going to see a musical on Broadway to get familiar with the material, or sometimes after as a souvenir. Liner notes often have pics from the show so theatre geeks like to own them

It's interesting how so many of these soundtracks caught A-list bands in the wake of a huge success, in front of a setback. U2 had done Achtung/ZooTv/Zooropa and then put out "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" which will always be my favourite U2 song and one of my favourite songs of the 90s; nothing on Pop would match it. Pumpkins had done Mellon Collie and then put out "The End..." (and also "Eye" from Lost Highway), both great songs, and... well, I ended up loving Adore, but it took me a while bc "Ava Adore" was a poor leadoff single. Same with NIN and "The Perfect Drug" which I loved loved loved and I honestly have listened to The Fragile only twice and both times I feel embarrassed

It is nuts to me that bands would get that kinda cash for compilation submissions but I guess it makes sense. I was so die-hard in my Tori fandom that I bought Higher Learning and Great Expectations OSTs and would've bought the Toys OST if it ever turned up

As far as actual song-soundtracks go, there have been a few legit hits lately: "Encanto," "A Star is Born." But soundtracks that are just collections of rando acts/songs ... hmmm ...

"The Perfect Drug" is another good example of a song I liked by a band I don't particularly care for.

Black Panther was a legit huge soundtrack album.

I'm still not sure I've ever even seen Judgement Night but that soundtrack was formative

IMO money should have been taken away from Metallica for "I Disappear"

also jail time

xpost very creative concept too. wish more soundtracks did the whole genre pairing exercise.

i heard from other parents that Sing/Sing 2 were hot soundtracks and watched the movies, which actually would have been good except for the music choices. just basic unimaginative picks.

in Sing 2, Bono voicing an ex-rock star lion in seclusion whose big hit was I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For is just almost too surreal to be bad.

i was going to mention the City of Industry soundtrack, which is pretty solid albeit not alt-rock.

Massive Attack – Three
Lush – Last Night (Darkest Hour Mix)
Tricky – Overcome
Bomb The Bass – Bug Powder Dust (UK Album Version)
Death In Vegas – Rocco (Sing For A Drink Mix)
Palm Skin Productions – Walking Through Water
Lionrock – Call A Cab
Butter 08 – Degobrah (Jupiter Mix)
Photek – The Hidden Camera (Static Mix)
Red – Mr. Jones

They're hot soundtracks for kids... my daughter would refuse to hear the original versions of the songs, she only wanted the Sing versions (I think she's over that now!)

The first Sing made my son really get into Elton John's original "I'm Still Standing".

it all just gave me Shrek vibes for some reason, i don't blame the kids for being into all that tho

judgement night is peak “objectively average/bad movie + insanely great soundtrack”

i would specifically spend time digging through the soundtrack section at the record store looking for movies i’d never heard of & checking the track listing because of this

like in high school i often tried to see the movies then buy the soundtrack but after seeing judgement night in a theater on a trip to usa i quickly realized the pitfalls of this as a blanket strategy

Wenders tried to work some of the Until the End of the World magic w/Faraway So Close

A1 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Faraway, So Close! 4:00
A2 U2 - Stay (Faraway, So Close!) 6:08
A3 Lou Reed - Why Can't I Be Good 4:23
A4 Herbert Grönemeyer - Chaos 4:53
Α5 Simon Bonney - Travellin' On 3:50
A6 U2 with Johnny Cash - The Wanderer 5:19
Β1 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Cassiel's Song 3:39
B2 Jane Siberry - Slow Tango 3:31
Β3 The House of Love - Call Me 4:09
Β4 Simon Bonney - All God's Children 4:44
B5 Laurie Anderson - Tightrope 3:21
B6 Laurie Anderson - Speak My Language 3:40

anyone mention the soundtrack for Go or Cruel Intentions?

https://www.discogs.com/master/74743-Various-Go-Music-From-The-Motion-Picture

https://www.discogs.com/master/174654-Various-Cruel-Intentions-Music-From-The-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack

I've got nothing good to say about the Judgment Night soundtrack EXCEPT the Teenage Fanclub & De La Soul track is still one of the great rock/hip hop collaborations. Maybe the greatest. Still sounds fantastic today.

Hackers another fine example of the genre... the soundtrack got a 2-CD deluxe edition soundtrack in 2020! Which added this classic idealization of what hacking is like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moca2B0O0RM

was just flipping through thread and yeah: Black Panther is exactly this right now.

We used to play The Saint soundtrack in the CD store where I was working in '97---played it loud, but I was usually busy, so kind of background to that---still, seemed pretty good at the time:

American releas
1. "The Saint Theme" Orbital 4:32
2. "6 Underground (Nellee Hooper Edit)" Sneaker Pimps 3:53
3. "Oil 1" Moby 5:31
4. "Atom Bomb" Fluke 3:54
5. "Roses Fade (Mojo Mix)" Luscious Jackson 2:31
6. "Setting Sun (Instrumental)" The Chemical Brothers 7:00
7. "Pearl's Girl" Underworld 9:32
8. "Out of My Mind" Duran Duran 4:16
9. "Da Funk" Daft Punk 5:28
10. "Dead Man Walking" David Bowie 6:50
11. "Polaroid Millenium" Superior 3:21
12. "A Dream Within a Dream" Dreadzone 6:08
13. "In the Absence of Sun" Duncan Sheik 5:04
14. "Before Today" Everything but the Girl 4:17
European release
No. Title Artist Length
10. "Little Wonder (Danny Saber Dance Mix)" David Bowie 5:30

"6 Underground (Nellee Hooper Edit)" Sneaker Pimps = most 1997 track ID conceivable

lol otm

also i fkn love this song

Man, how did Duncan Sheik squeeze in on that one?

A dumb joke instantly comes to mind, but I won’t make it.

The soundtrack to That Summer from 1979 was an amazing comp for the time. I still haven't seen the movie.

https://www.discogs.com/release/780184-Various-That-Summer
Ian Dury And The Blockheads– Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
Mink DeVille– Spanish Stroll
Elvis Costello– (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
The Boomtown Rats– She's So Modern
Zones (2)– New Life
The Only Ones– Another Girl, Another Planet
Wreckless Eric– Whole Wide World
Patti Smith Group– Because The Night
The Boomtown Rats– Kicks
Ramones– Rockaway Beach
The Undertones– Teenage Kicks
Eddie And The Hot Rods– Do Anything You Wanna Do
Ian Dury And The Blockheads– What A Waste
Nick Lowe– I Love The Sound Of Breaking Glass
Elvis Costello– Watching The Detectives
Richard Hell & The Voidoids– Blank Generation

I don't know all of those, but maaan, so many aces---I wonder what a kid coming across this now would think? I never could get into Peter Perrett's voice (had no prob w Verlaine), but all I had was cobbled-for-the-US Special View, and I'm told he was better elsewhere. Soundtrack momentum might knock away my cavils.

Huh and the film was Ray Winstone's debut!

I knew at least a couple of people in the 90s who had a CD collection that was at least 50% 90s movie soundtracks. Major label mixtapes.

Man, how did Duncan Sheik squeeze in on that one?

Feel like a lot of these soundtracks have one or two totally baffling picks. Like the Hackers soundtrack: Leftfield, Prodigy, Underworld, uh... Squeeze? I do remember it in the movie so I guess it earned its place?

Dead Man Walking was almost two separate things in media, though overlapping in atmosphere, points of view, and some music:

The album is a collection of music thematically linked to the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. Although all the songs were inspired by the storyline, only four of them were featured in their entirety in the movie.[1] A separate album of the film's instrumental score, composed by David Robbins, was released by Columbia Records in April 1996.[2]

The film's executive producers, brothers Tim and David Robbins, personally solicited a number of their favorite musicians for contributions to the project. "We contacted artists we particularly admired," said David.[2] The contributors were provided with scripts, rough cuts, and other materials to help inspire their work.[2] Many of the resulting pieces have lyrical content based on particular characters – Suzanne Vega wrote her song from the perspective of the nun, Sister Helen Prejean; Steve Earle took the point of view of a prison guard; and Bruce Springsteen, in the film's title track, spoke as the convict himself.[2]

1 "Dead Man Walkin'" Bruce Springsteen 2:43
2 "In Your Mind" Johnny Cash 4:14
3 "Woman on the Tier (I'll See You Through)" Suzanne Vega 2:25
4 "Promises" Lyle Lovett 3:03
5 "The Face of Love" Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with Eddie Vedder 5:39
6 "The Fall of Troy" Tom Waits 2:59
7 "Quality of Mercy" Michelle Shocked 3:38
8 "Dead Man Walking (A Dream Like This)" Mary Chapin Carpenter 3:34
9 "Walk Away" Tom Waits 2:43
10 "Ellis Unit One" Steve Earle 4:39
11 "Walkin Blind" Patti Smith 4:39
12 "The Long Road" Eddie Vedder with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan 5:31

Yep. At least half those tracks rank among the act's best work (Springsteen, Cash, Lovett, Vega, Eddie VedderO0.

i feel like there's a good poll to be done on the biggest/best OST pop track but I'm not sure anyone's beating Coolio

I guess they can't
I guess they won't
I guess they front
that's why that poll is outta luck, foo

write in for Deepest Bluest (My Hat Is Like A Shark's Fin)

when i worked at a record store the other employees would play THE BEACH soundtrack NONSTOP

Springsteen was consistent in delivering his best songs from the 90’s on film soundtracks (e.g. “Missing” which appears at the beginning of Sean Penn’s The Crossing Guard (1995) and “Lift Me Up” from the end credits of John Sayles’ incredible Limbo (1999))

The Hunger Games soundtracks kept this going in the 2010s

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack 2013

1. "Atlas"
Coldplay 3:56
2. "Silhouettes"
Of Monsters and Men 4:31
3. "Elastic Heart"
Sia featuring the Weeknd & Diplo 4:17
4. "Lean"
The National 4:31
5. "We Remain"
Christina Aguilera 4:00
6. "Devil May Cry"
The Weeknd 5:23
7. "Who We Are"
Imagine Dragons 4:09
8. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"
Lorde 2:35
9. "Gale Song"
The Lumineers 3:05
10. "Mirror"
Ellie Goulding 4:21
11. "Capitol Letter"
Patti Smith 3:33
12. "Shooting Arrows at the Sky"
Santigold 3:37

I know Cale and Buckley had already released their covers years earlier, but didn't the "Shrek" soundtrack really jumpstart the "Hallelujah" revival?"

Yeah, and that led to Buckley’s version being used in a lot of 9/11 memorial montages a few months later

We're going to have to deal with the Small Soldiers soundtrack (1998) at some point.

1. "War" (Bone Thugs-n-Harmony with Henry Rollins, Tom Morello and Flea)
2. "Another One Bites The Dust (Small Soldiers Remix)" (Queen featuring. Wyclef Jean, Pras, Free & Canibus)
3. "The Stroke" (Billy Squier & Dallas Austin)
4. "Love Is a Battlefield" (Pat Benatar, Queen Latifah & DJ Kay Gee)
5. "Rock and Roll (Part 2)" (Gary Glitter & Dutch)
6. "Love Removal Machine" (The Cult & Mickey Petralia)
7. "My City Was Gone" (The Pretenders, Kool Keith & Butcher Brothers)
8. "Surrender" (Cheap Trick & Rich Costey)
9. "Tom Sawyer" (Rush & DJ Z-Trip)
10. "War" (Edwin Starr)

(which I mentioned upthread 18 years ago - sheesh)

ha I think this thread has my one of my first ever posts on ILX. I don't remember posting under that name but it's definitely me. I was also completely OTM.

The NIN Dead Souls cover is great fuiud.

The Henry Rollins Suicide cover is dogshit

The Pantera cover of Poison Idea is a bit rubbish but listen to the original it fucking rules

More xpost Springsteen songs for or on soundtracks In his acceptance speech, he said the Oscar should have been shared with Neil Young:

1. "Streets of Philadelphia" Bruce Springsteen 3:56
2. "Lovetown" Peter Gabriel 5:29
3. "It's in Your Eyes" Pauletta Washington 3:46
4. "Ibo Lele (Dreams Come True)" RAM 4:15
5. "Please Send Me Someone to Love" Sade 3:44
6. "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" Spin Doctors 2:41
7. "I Don't Wanna Talk About It" Indigo Girls 3:41
8. "La mamma morta" (From the Opera Andrea Chénier) Maria Callas 4:53
9. "Philadelphia" Neil Young 4:06
10. "Precedent" Howard Shore 4:03
...The director deliberately asked Bruce Springsteen to make the feature song for this film. However, Springsteen's first contribution, "Tunnel of Love," was rejected by Demme.[29]

It is notable for being one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to explicitly address HIV/AIDS and homophobia, in addition to being one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to portray gay people in a positive light.

That's from 1993 (Spin Doctors '93 as Hell)

An interesting fact about PHILADELPHIA is that, per Jonathan Demme, when he screened the film at the White House, Bill Clinton had to “excuse himself to go to the bathroom” during every intimate scene