Grosse Pointe Blank is another fantastic soundtrack.
My personal favorites:
*O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Tin Cup
City of Angels* (except the instrumental stuff at the end; the only Alanis Morrissette song I can stand is on this)
The Sting (what can I say - I’ve loved Scott Joplin’s music since I was 11)
Somewhere in Time (for music to cry to)
FM
For 80’s cheese, nothing beats the Top Gun soundtrack.
The Grey’s Anatomy soundtrack is one of the best I’ve heard in a long time.
Saturday Night Fever is great if you want the disco classics, but I’m more into the stuff that isn’t played ad nauseum, so for me, the 54 soundtrack (volumes 1 and 2) fits the bill.
Volume 1:
- Allstar 54 - The 54 Allstars
- Keep On Dancin’ - Gary’s Gang
- The Boss - Dianna Ross
- Dance Dance Dance - Chic
- Vertigo/Relight My Fire - Dan Hartman
- You Make Me Feel ( Mighty Real) - Sylvester
- Move On Up - Destination
- Love Machine (Part I) - The Miracles
- Contact - Edwin Starr
- Knock On Wood - Mary Griffin
- Let’s Start The Dance - Bohannon
- I Got My Mind Made Up - Instant Funk
- Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton
- Native New Yorker - Odyssey
- Que Sera Mi Vida - The Gibson Brothers
- Wishing On A Star - Rose Royce
Volume 2:
- If You Could Read My Mind - Stars On 54/ Ultra Nate/Amber/ Jocelyn Enriquez
- Haven’t Stopped Dancing Yet - Gonzalez
- Heaven Must Have Sent You - Bonnie Pointer
- Loving Is Really My Game - Brainstorm
- Disco Nights (Rock-Freak) - GQ
- Found A Cure - Ashford & Simpson
- Don’t Leave Me This Way - Thelma Houston
- Come To Me - France Joli
- Take Your Time (Do It Right) - S.O.S. Band
- Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood - Santa Esmeralda
- Spank - Jimmy ‘Bo’ Horne
- Galaxy - War
- I Need A Man - Grace Jones
- Heart Of Glass - Blondie
- Cherchez La Femme/ Se Si Bon - Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band
- Fly Robin Fly - Silver Convention
Footloose had a great soundtrack, I think. But my all time favorite is:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show . I loves me some Frank M. Furter!
You should watch Angus. That movie made me laugh and cry and it had a good soundtrack. I don’t know why it didn’t do well at the box office. Maybe there weren’t enough former fat kids in the audience.
American Graffiti - which someone already mentioned.
Pretty Woman - not a good movie. Good late 80s music, though.
Joe vs. the Volcano - I’ve never actually seen this soundtrack, though rumors are that it existed. I’d like a copy.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The Mission
Blade Runner
Dunno of this counts, as it is a documentary about a musician,
Ghengis Blues : Blues singer travels to Tuva to enter a throat singing competition.
My first thought was Repo Man; I can’t think of another soundtrack so perfectly matched to its film.
Since that’s already been named, I’ll nominate Lost in Translation; the soundtrack album, while it’s not the type of music I generally listen to, does an amazing job of evoking the feel of the movie. It’s lovely, dreamy music.
I remember Roger Ebert’s remark that he liked how the lead really was a fat kid instead of merely being some Hollywood producer’s watered-down idea of fat.
The soundtrack you want is on eBay, but there are only 1 or 2 copies and several bids on both. At least you know for sure it exists, though.
The Crow was my first thought. Although I really enjoyed Garden State. as well.
Purple Rain is one of my all-time favorites, and sure it was for the movie, but it just seems like a fantastic Prince album to me. I actually thought the movie was pretty good as well. Magnolia is largely an Aimee Mann performance, which I also think is a terrific disc.
One I’ve really enjoyed over the years that I rarely hear mentioned is Thief, a James Caan vehicle. The soundtrack is pretty much all Tangerine Dream.