Top Ten Movie Soundtracks

It’s time to turn our attention to the best movie soundtracks. Getting it right is about more than just picking your favourite songs. A good soundtrack comments on the action and helps to move the story along. When a soundtrack really works, it becomes iconic. Here are ten of the best (with apologies to Quentin Tarantino for Pulp Fiction, which just missed the cut, and The Bee Gees for Saturday Night Fever, but I’m a woman’s man, and there’s no time to talk).

Via grolschfilmworks.com

10. The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999)

The frequently dreamy, hypnotic and disturbing soundtrack for Sofia Coppola’s beguiling directorial debut merged beautifully with Air’s score, resulting in a masterpiece of tone and pace-setting. 10cc’s ‘I’m Not In Love’ was especially haunting here. Air’s ‘Playgound Love’, though officially part of the score rather than the OST, was the beautiful highlight.

9. Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)

Scorsese was one of the pioneers of transposing popular music onto the landscape of feature film, and his 1973 drama remains his best effort in this respect. The fusion of sound and vision resulted in some unforgettable moments, from the ingenious use of The Ronettes’ ‘Be My Baby’ to the grand entrance of Johnny Boy (Robert de Niro) to The Rolling Stones’ ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’.

8. Summer of Sam (Spike Lee, 1999)

New Yorker Lee nailed it with the soundtrack for his heat-seared, panic-infested, sweat-soaked film of the ‘Son of Sam’ murders in the South Bronx in 1977. Disco and dance was the main flavour (ABBA and Spike Lee made a great combo as it turned out), but the kicker was the inspired use of The Who’s bombastic ‘Baba O’Reilly’ in one of the best scenes Spike’s ever directed: a real teenage wasteland, cross-cutting the travails of punk Richie (Adrien Brody) with harrowing murder scenes.

7. Trainspotting (Danny Boyle, 1995)

Danny Boyle’s lively, scabrous drug drama - one of the most iconic films of the 90s - owed a large deal of its impact to the scuzzy, alternative, and expertly chosen soundtrack, which went on to sell millions. Two of the film’s most memorable moments - the lads’ shoplifting dash through the streets of Edinburgh, and Renton’s floor-plunging O.D. - are inextricable from the songs that scored them: Iggy Pop’s ‘Lust for Life’, and Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect Day’ respectively.

6. Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)

Bouncing along on a constant current of 70s and 80s (largely disco) tunes, Paul Thomas Anderson’s porn industry drama was a masterclass in editing film to popular music. Special mention, however, must be made of drug dealer Rahad Jackson’s terrifying singalong moment to Rick Springfield’s cheesy hit ‘Jessie’s Girl’. Hell, the soundtrack was so good that PTA had the arrogance to leave Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tusk’ on the cutting room floor in a deleted scene!