As the Art of FLIGHT soundtrack continues to blow away the aurally savvy on iTunes, we thought we'd check out some of the other greatest musical treats from the movies...
1. A Hard Day's Night (1964)
By 1964, The Beatles had already taken over our radios and television sets and then they commandeered our movie theatres, too. In order to re-create the hysteria of Beatlemania that had greeted their Ed Sullivan Show appearances, the band had to come up with some serious tunes. And they delivered – the film's classics ranging from the ecstatic, Can't Buy Me Love, to the more circumspect, And I Love Her. The music stands on its own, and the film – a blitzkrieg of black-and-white imagery – wasn't bad either.
2. Pulp Fiction (1994)
Director Quentin Tarantino used a suitably eclectic assortment of songs for this mid-90s nod to the Los Angeles underworld. Notable songs include Dick Dale's now-iconic rendition of Misirlou, which is played during the opening credits. Tarantino chose 'surf music' for the score of the film because 'it just seems like rock 'n' roll Ennio Morricone music, rock 'n' roll spaghetti Western music.' Urge Overkill's cover of the Neil Diamond song Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon proved a subsequent chart hit but what the film will be best remembered for perhaps is this scene soundtracked by Chuck Berry's You Never Can Tell...
3. Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
And now for something altogether different. Singin' in the Rain was conceived by MGM producer Arthur Freed, the head of the "Freed Unit" responsible for turning out MGM's lavish musicals, using it as a vehicle for his catalogue of songs written with Nacio Herb Brown. The film's title track found Gene Kelly having an unusually good time in the rain with an umbrella but the fact that many of the songs, such as Broadway Rhythm, Should I? and most notably Singin' in the Rain, were featured in numerous other films, as well, tells its own story.
4. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Stanley Kubrick's crazed film about a jailed reformant who agrees to some goverment therapy gained added notoriety when David Bowie used the film's music to announce his entrance during the Ziggy Stardust gigs of the early 70s. Oh, and viddy well, the official soundtrack also included Gene Kelly's Singin’ in the Rain (see above).
5. Trainspotting (1996)
So popular was the 1996 film and its score that it prompted the release of not one, but two official soundtracks. Sticking to the heroin-addled theme, Iggy Pop's relentless Lust for Life drove one on before Underworld's Born Slippy brought us all to an hellaciously euphoric end, while there was also a bit of Lou Reed thrown in. To calm us down in between.
6. Lost in Translation (2003)
Any film directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Scarlett Johansson (minus Woody Allen, on this rare occasion) will have among its prerequisites – moody and musing. Featuring the excellent Just Like Honey by The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Chemical Brothers' The State We're In (not on the official soundtrack) and Bill Murray's karaoke version of More Than This (on the official soundtrack) its musical accompaniment is an eclectic mix of electronica – and Bill Murray singing.
7. West Side Story (1961)
Released in 1961, the soundtrack to American musical West Side Story spent 54 weeks at number one on the Billboard album charts, giving it the longest run at number one of any album in history, although some lists credit Michael Jackson's Thriller with the same (on the grounds that West Side Story was listed on a chart for stereo albums only at a time when many albums were recorded in mono). Frankly, this is not a debate we're prepared to enter into – the only thing we know for certain is that Marni Nixon/Maria's audio highlights included I Feel Pretty and Somewhere.
8. The Sound of Music (1965)
If this list had any semblance of chronological order then this one should be somewhere near the top, but it doesn't. With the musical masterings of Rodgers and Hammerstein its inspiration, The Sound of Music tells the tale of singing siblings and their remarkably musical governess, Dame Julie Andrews. A joy and, in the cynical world in which we now live, there is something refreshingly earnest about Climb Ev'ry Mountain and My Favourite Things.
9. The Graduate (1967)
Rock 'n' roll was already making its riff-heavy presence felt in movies but not until Mike Nichols' gently satiric swipe at the Establishment and the emerging counterculture did it really strike a chord. Nichols' use of old and new Simon & Garfunkel songs was ingenious: Cue The Sound of Silence as Benjamin rides a moving walkway to his uncertain future or Scarborough Fair as his romantic dreams crumble.
10. Purple Rain (1984)
A controversial final inclusion this... yes, after seeing off Jaws (do two alternating notes actually constitute a soundtrack?) his majestic Princeness reigns supreme. Purple Rain proved that music, rather than immaculate facial hair, was Prince's raison d'être, as the soundtrack served up a genre-bending cataclysm; warped funk (When Doves Cry), regal power balladry (Purple Rain) and classic riff-o-rama (Let's Go Crazy).
Any we've missed that you think should make our list? If we've neglected your favourite, let us know using the comments form at the bottom.
Want more?
- Check out The Art Of FLIGHT soundtrack
- Play the Art of FLIGHT online game
- Find more music and film on redbull.com
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