Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Hey guys!
I"m (sort of) new here to the Intrada forums! My name is John! I'm seventeen years old and I collect soundtracks. Here are just a few of my soundtrack views and opinions.

Favorite Composers:
1. James Horner. This guy. This is the guy that got me into film score collecting. It might have been that films like An American Tail, Land Before Time, Star Trek II and III were a huge part of my childhood. It might have been that he scored my favorite film of all time, Titanic. I don't know. He has this way of writing themes and integrating them into the romantic music, the action music, etc. His music just moves me more than any other composer.
2. John Powell. The fact that he is second is probably because I grew up in the 21st century and his various animated film scores were also part of my childhood. Much like Horner, I really enjoy Powell's action music. His relentless symphonic action music is usually worth the price of the album. He also writes some alright themes.
3. John Williams. He really should be second. He writes themes like no other (other than Horner) and I really enjoy listening to his suites and such with the Boston Pops. However, I find it hard to get through an album of his as they are usually rather lengthy albums and his more incidental music is far less interesting than his suites and overtures.
4. Michael Giacchino. The proto-John Wiliams/James Horner. It seems he has the same kind of style as those composers from the 80s. Probably because he grew up listening to those scores. I initially didn't like him because Up of all things won the academy award over AVATAR. But then he did the two JJverse Star Trek films and John Carter and Super 8 and he won me over.
5. Alan Menken. He's more of one of my favorite Broadway composers but he still writes some great scores. He seamlessly merges the style of his songwriting into the style of his scores and time and time again he proves how mulititalented a musician he is.

Not so favorite composers:
1. Randy Newman. I'm going to try to be as polite as possible with this. I'm not to fond of his theme-less mono-emotional scores, especially for the PIXAR films. I'm also not too fond of his voice...or his lyrics...I don't like pretty much everything he does, with the exception of his score to Toy Story 3. Now that was a pretty decent score and I was very impressed with how he handled that one.
2. Thomas Newman. As with his relative, I don't like the themlessness of his scores. But unlike Randy, I think that Thomas' scores are very effective within the film. I just do not like listening to them an album.
3. Hans Zimmer. Oh Hans. It was hard for me to put him on this list. His scores have been a big part of my life, especially his early ones. I can't say that I don't enjoy Zimmer's style from time to time. I do wish, however, that Zimmer's style remained ZIMMER'S style. Not the thirty-something other composers, arrangers, orchestrator's, ghost writer's styles as well. I love a lot of his early scores very much but this man is the one whom I blame for the current state of the film scoring industry. Trombone BLAHHHS! here, Ostinato strings there. And where are the woodwinds? No. Just no. Score after score it's the same thing and I'm sick of it....

Top 5 Film Scores
1. The Perfect Storm
2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
3. How to Train Your Dragon
4. Super 8
5. Beauty and the Beast

Top 5 Musicals
(I'm a huge musical fan as well. It's just a film score being sung right?)
1. The Phantom of the Opera
2. Les Miserables
3. Sweeney Todd
4. Beauty and the Beast
5. Sunset Boulevard

So there are some of my soundtrack views and opinions. Agree with me? Disagree with me? Let me know! Make a comment! I love reading the conversations here and I can't wait to be a part of them!

Welcome, John. It's always good to see someone as young as yourself take interest in film music. There's a virtual lifetime of film and television music to explore from a long list of composers, from the very popular to the very obscure. Along the way you will likely find lots of great music that speaks to you in ways you never before imagined.

Happy listening and collecting!

Hello, John. It is good to see someone 17 years of age who like film scores, I wish I had gotten into the genre at your age. The only advice I would give you is to keep an open mind and give some older scores a try. Don't limit yourself to just music from films you've seen in your young "life time".

Even if you explore older scores and don't find them all that interesting now, you may very well appreciate them as you get older. When I first got into film music it was all about the present state, that was until my tastes started to expand more and more as I aged.

The composers I appreciate most are the ones who have a wholly unique voice that I identify with while rarely deviating from their particular style, yet continue committing to new experimentation around their core approach. That's a big reason as to why Thomas Newman remains my favorite of today's composers who work on a regular basis.

Welcome, John! You have some great favorites... and a lot of great discoveries ahead as well. I'm looking forward to your comments in the future. Thank you for joining us here!
--Doug

Hey John, Welcome. I personally don't get the Horner admiration, but I respect your opinion. Give Goldsmith and Bernstein a try; "The Blue Max", "ST-TMP" from Goldsmith and "To kill a Mockingbird" from Bernstein- sensational stuff.

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Robert M Eastman

Hello John, and welcome to this happy place ! I strongly join you on everyone of your favorite composers! Not a single one to let down...
About Randy Newman, I think it's the only point in your post on which you're making a huge mistake. His scores are strongly thematic, and (even more) melodic ! Just listen again to Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug's Life, Pleasantville, Maverick, and enjoy the richness of those themes and melodies. Of course Randy's voice cannot be everyone's cup of tea BUT he's got a terrific groove.

Hi John, im from t'other side of the pond and heartily agree with your faves. It great to hear a young fella like yourself with nice strong views on what he likes. This is a great place to chat soundtracks. Glad to have you aboard (cheeky from a newbie I know). Ive not long started posting here myself having only recently discovered this wonderful place. I would heartily recommend some Goldsmith, thematically strong like Horner (my personal fave) but with his own unique sound. The Shadow and Congo are recent purchases for me and are both AMEZZIN. For some Horner greatness In Country is classic and the expanded Clear and Present Danger is well worth the money. As for Randy Newman I agree to a point but would recommend trying 'The Natural' and 'Awakenings' as these have strong themes and are worth investigating. Anyhoo, I look forward to reading your views and opinions here fella!

Regards Bat