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NP: BASIC INSTINCT (Jerry Goldsmith)

One of the most influential scores of the 90s, and continues to influence thriller scores to this day (most recently Chris Bacon's SOURCE CODE).

Y'know... I really don't like the film at all. I think the score is fantastic, A-grade stuff, but I've wondered myself whether it's really as influential as it's made out to be (I can't think of any scores for similar films which are all that influenced by it... though there was a Mark Mancina score which was a pretty blatant rip off of it, I think - was it Domestic Disturbance?)

Yeah... Domestic Disturbance. Forgot about that one. Goldsmith even returned to that sleazy, sexual style in Malace and the Hollow Man main theme had an "Instinct" vibe to it.

As for the film, I enjoyed it and I like to revisit it now and again. It's not a particularly complicated film but I like the atmosphere Verhoeven creates and the raw sexual energy on display in the film (even though it's ridiculously over the top.) Jan De Bont's photography is excellent and of course Goldsmith's score is masterful!

-Erik-

Just to be devil's advocate, the one thing that doesn't sound better is the electronics in the re-recording. So there is a case for having both. If only the original sounded a bit more alive as a recording.

The sleazy, sensual, ice cold string chords and the faint flute motif as counterpoint was heard throughout most erotic thrillers in the 90's (perhaps with a reverberated synth noodlings underneath), and into the 2000's as well....at least untill one got more drone-y. It still pops up in scores that are more retro in design, like the aforementioned SOURCE CODE.

It has a little bit of JNH, absolutely (elements of SIGNS and FUGITIVE in there), but mostly draws on three other distinct traditions - the urban, gritty jazz sound, Goldsmith's BASIC INSTINCT thriller sound and the romantic, almost James Horner-like bittersweetness.

I can give you some examples of the influence, but most of them have been "in-the-moment" experiences, as in "ah, the BASIC INSTINCT sound again!" when I've seen an erotic thriller on tv, and then I've forgotten all about it after that. I must admit you're the first I've met who refute JG's influence with this score. IMO, it's like saying STAR WARS had no influence in terms of orchestral popularity or that Zimmer's power anthems with BLACK RAIN, CRIMSON TIDE etc. had no influence on the film score world. Or Zimmer's wailing woman in GLADIATOR. Or Powell's Bourne riff in the BOURNE films etc.

Oh well, be that as it may.

Some BASIC INSTINCT riffs off the top of my head that I can remember include Howard Shore's SLIVER, David Michael Frank's POISON IVY and Sakamoto's FEMME FATALE. But mostly cheaper fare (with less fear of law suits), stuff like Mark Snow's SEDUCED AND BETRAYED (1995) which you happen to run across on late-night tv. That's where the influence is usually felt.

Just played: Braveheart - Horner.

I love this score! It's got so many gorgeous themes (one even used as counterpoint for another at the end) and some wonderful celtic stuff going on. Composed right in the middle of that period where James Horner wrote so many excellent scores, this one is the best of the bunch, in my opinion. It has soft, loud, epic, intimate, playful, intense, etc. And it's a brilliantly produced album. Film music doesn't get much better than this for me.

NP: I am Legend - JNH

There are some really lovely things in this score - far more than I would expect for a score from such a film. Some of the suspense/scary type stuff slows parts of it down, but on the whole, I like this score. It's got the same kind of feel as some of his stuff for M. Night.

I'm still waiting for the extended cut with JNH's music reinserted.

In my top 10 favourite scores ever.

I think you are stretching the importance of the score by lumping Basic Instinct with the likes of Star Wars and Gladiator - two scores that have had a huge and noticeable impact not only on the genre they were composed for but in other genres as well.



I'm not saying that you wrong I just don't think it's as influential as you proclaim it to be... but then again is there such thing as more and less influential. Again, I'd say the film itself has more impact in it's medium then Goldsmith's score did in film music circles.

-Erik-

Well, I'll grant you that it's a long time since I saw it, but there were two things with the score that struck me when I did. One was the Ravel "Bolero" thing and the second was some of that minor-mode melancholy, sensual string/synth work that immediately made me think of BI. At least back then.

Also, BI was mostly influential in the erotic thriller genre -- which in itself is fairly limited, and the 90's version was a beast onto itself -- but sometimes seeped through to other thriller subgenres as well, even to this day.

Adventures of Don Juan Suite (Steiner) from the Charles Gerhardt collection.
Thomas

I'll look forward to that Erik.

RAIDERS is the greatest film ever made? ( ...0f course it is! ) It is though, definitely in my top 10 most fun films ever made, those films that can be watched over and over again.

Random 10 tracks:

"A Boy Called Jonah" - Torchwood - Ben Foster

I really like Foster's music for this series. This track starts off really quite emotionally with the theme but gets a bit lost with the atmospheric bit in the middle. I get a bit of a Herrmann feel with the strings in the middle of the track too.

But the theme's back again by the end and rounds off the track well.

The DIES IRAE sneaks into CRIMSON TIDE and LION KING too, among others. It's a recurring Zimmer gag. Well, it's a gag that LOTS of composers have had over the years, I guess.