[Closed] Now Playing XLVIII

It was a game changer!

-Erik-

I agree. I realise it's not held in the highest of regards in film music circles, but it does tend to be popular nonetheless. Clearly something about it stands the test of time. But it's not as good as...


Mission Impossible Rogue Nation Joe Kraemer

Might just have crept along side a Giacchino score as my favourite of the year, somewhat appropriately enough. It works spectacularly well in the film, which I greatly enjoyed. The best Mission Impossible film yet (and have since acquired an unhealthy crush on Rebecca Furgeson). I hope Kraemer returns for the next one. He's brilliant.

...and not for better.

Well, I am on vacation and the place I stay at doesn't offer any stereo equipment safe for my own "in-ears". For such occasions I think those bluetooth mono speakers are a good thing. With a device that small you wouldn't really make out a stereo panorama or would you?
I also bought this thing to play music samples in class with when introducing certain periods of culture. I then use the line in mode though because my beloved students would instantly try to hack into it with their phones.

Of the big Zimmer action scores of the mid-90s (yeah, I know The Rock isn't only Zimmer, but he's all over it stylistically), I definitely like The Rock the best. The Peacemaker has better action music and Crimson Tide the better theme (by a hair), but The Rock has the best balance between the two (plus that lovely "Jade" theme as a secondary element). I like Broken Arrow as well but it does get a bit repetitive (not as much as James would have you think with that silly one-star review of his, but a bit).

I agree with what you say about Mancina though. Really, Speed (1994) was the first truly blockbuster MV action score, wasn't it?

Fuck you, Thor. You know how much I hate agreeing with you!

-Erik-

Hence I don't feel guilty any more. I have been exculpated.

Wasn't Crimson Tide a better seller, when it comes to the album? Definitely the Grammy could have helped.

It is!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01604 … _i=desktop

Oh no, THE ROCK was far more popular -- both inside the film and as far as soundtrack sales are concerned. I also remember constantly bumping into people who were not interested in film music, but who hummed the theme when they left the theatre. Or people who mentioned it in conversations if the topic came up. Or when I asked classes or people about what film music they knew, THE ROCK was one of the first to come up. It's really a pop cultural reference point.

Of course, these days when I ask teens about their favourite film music, INCEPTION is more likely to be mentioned than THE ROCK, but back then and way into the early 2000s, THE ROCK was THE major "hit". Perhaps only comparable with TITANIC and a few years later, GLADIATOR.

CRIMSON TIDE was popular too, but in a whole other division.

For instrumental soundtracks, anyway. THE BODYGUARD is still the most-selling soundtrack. But yeah, that's in a league of its own, for a variety of reasons (Celine Dion, the film's wide appeal, the teen factor etc.). THE ROCK, however, hit a homerun with all the potential score fans.

I went to see the movie when it first came out with three friends who are NON-FILM MUSIC people. After the movie was over they each picked up the soundtrack. For two of them, it was their first ever score album.

-Erik-

I myself managed to get two people into film music by either recommending The Rock or just downright borrowing my own MC to them. I was one of the people for whom it was the first consciously bought soundtrack ever.

That said, the first album I bought was The Lion King. And I remember even when I was 10 I actually was returning to the score (which was a bit tedious having an MC rather than a CD at the time, hell, we didn't get a CD player for quite a while yet! My first CD was Backdraft, I still own that one and never replaced it with the reissue) more than the songs. Funny thing though...

When I was around 15 me and one of the friends who started out with me had to make a little presentation outside the music classroom at school. It was part of the curriculum of the class (music was obligatory in primary school here at the time). My first personal connections (still through dial-up!) to the internet were all about film music (I remember still in 2000... I was downloading Gladiator's The Battle cue through dial-up for a week!), and I found FilmTracks. So we did a presentation on Hans Zimmer, I think a few scores and a biography. And it was then when I for some reason pulled out my Lion King MC. Suddenly, and seriously, it escaped me for all the years, even if it was Hans Zimmer of the three who interested me when I bought The Rock and started listening... but three-four years after actually owning it, I found out that he did The Lion King. Just by looking at the credits in the booklet!

Discovering Thin Red Line was also a happy accident... I saw it in cinema only by virtue of the composer, whom I learnt scored it through Filmtracks. At 14 I had no idea whatsoever who Terrence Malick was and how important he was in cinematic history.