The ultimate example: Zappa’s Uncle Meat was written as a soundtrack for a movie he was making, but was never completed, though a version was released on home video.
“Unchained.”
Who hasn’t heard “Unchained Melody”? Who has actually watched “Unchained”?
Although a popular movie, the singles off of the soundtrack for “Dirty Dancing” were played in heavy rotation on the radio and VH1 for long period of time.
If that’s what the OP meant, then fair enough. But I think most people don’t make the distinction, and even if they did it should still count.
The Harder they Come is considered a primer for Reggae.
The Bodyguard
Hugely popular award winning Whitney Houston album.
Mediocre movie.
A Summer Place
Chariots of Fire was nominated for seven Oscars and won four, including Best Picture, so it’s a bit more than just a good soundtrack.
Vision Quest, on the strength of Madonna’s Crazy for You, among other tracks.
Less Than Zero. Most notable cuts were the Bangles cover of A Hazy Shade of Winter along with LL Cool J’s Goin’ Back to Cali.
I couldn’t make it through a full viewing of Vision Quest, and Less Than Zero, I wish I hadn’t.
The Brazilian film Orfeu Negro (“Black Orpheus”) is just okay otherwise, but the soundtrack is brilliant. It introduced the then-new bossa nova sound to an audience of millions worldwide.
I’ve only seen less than zero once because i read the book…was i ever disappointed …
Westerns are so out of vogue nowadays, I wonder how many people would at least recognize soundtracks like The Magnificent Seven, The High Country, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly even though they probably have never seen and couldn’t name the movie.
The same thing goes for war movies like The Great Escape, which had one of the greatest soundtracks ever.
Absolutely. For people my age - I turned 18 in 1992 - *Singles *is a soundtrack album first, a film second.
How about Star Wars? Imperial March, anyone?
The Last Waltz deserves mention.
I think The Big Chill qualifies. A lot of 30-somethings identified with the movie, but much of that was because of the 60s soundtrack. Take away the soundtrack, and it’s not really much of a movie…unless you enjoy seeing Kevin Costner receiving the attentions of a funeral home technician.
After two decades of vinyl and cassettes, this was the first CD I ever bought.
Garden State. A decent enough early 2000s indie film. But mostly it’s known for its early 2000s indie soundtrack.
This was my immediate thought. I think it’s the only soundtrack album I own where I’ve never actually seen the film. No particular resistance to doing so - the opportunity has just never really arisen (and at this point may well never).
The Big Chill was a quite popular movie in and of itself. It made $56M on an $8M budget. And that wasn’t all due to the soundtrack. It also got some decent award recognition.
“Ever gone a week without a rationalization?” A ton of good Goldblum quotes.
“I forgot my mantra.”