# Movies with soundtracks that are (in some way) unusual. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478 "2012-02-11T00:45:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Bith\_Shuffle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bith_Shuffle)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/1 "2012-02-11T00:45:25Z")
_Office Space_ is about the drudgery of corporate officework, but its soundtrack is gangster rap. What other movies (or documentaries or something similar) have soundtracks that are fairly unusual in some way? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/2 "2012-02-11T01:25:47Z")
**The Third Man** was played entirely on a zither. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/3 "2012-02-11T01:54:18Z")
**Forbidden Plane** t had a soundtrack of ‘electronic tonalities’ instead of music. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/4 "2012-02-11T03:41:28Z")
**Dead Man** had a soundtrack of solo (mostly electric) guitar by Neil Young. Guitars themselves aren’t unusual, but _just_ electric guitar _and nothing else_ is unusual. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/5 "2012-02-11T04:35:28Z")
In 1971 Miles Davis released the soundtrack to “Jack Johnson”, a documentary about the tragic story of the first black heavyweight boxing champion. So what better soundtrack to a movie set around 1915 than a [hard rock-jazz fusion?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEBKksupBVA) ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/6 "2012-02-11T04:57:20Z")
For the 1973 fillm THE STING set in 1936 featured the ragtime tunes of Scott Joplin (1868-1917) ---
**Author:** ![retterath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@retterath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/retterath)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/7 "2012-02-11T05:11:45Z")
The Life Aquatic - Studio Sessions Acoustic covers of David Bowie songs, in portuguese. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/8 "2012-02-11T05:34:04Z")
**Marie Antoinette** (2006) is scored mainly with pop records from the 20th Century. **All This and World War II** (1976) is composed of newsreel footage from World War II accompanied by Beatles songs performed by other name artists. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/9 "2012-02-11T06:01:00Z")
_The Wicker Man_ - NOT the piece of shit with Nicolas Cage, but the original film. All the music was recorded by a small group of British psychedelic-folk musicians who actually appear _in_ the movie _playing_ the music in many of the scenes, with the extras providing additional vocals in some cases. See [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=-04rx3I4fcc#t=15s) to understand what I’m talking about. The music itself is often very weird. Supposedly this one movie’s music inspired a whole genre of British “neo-folk” music, although I have a hard time believing that the origin was that singular. _Crash_ - again, NOT the piece of shit from 2005 but the far more interesting movie whose title it stole, starring James Spader and Rosanna Arquette and the phenomenal Elias Koteas. All of the music was composed by Howard Shore and features variations on a theme of weird, dissonant, jarring guitar chords. Main theme [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPt6MPyFI4s) _Harold and Maude_, one of the best movies ever, features a soundtrack entirely recorded by Cat Stevens, which gives the movie a totally unique feel. _Tea for the Tillerman,_ which was later used as the _Extras_ opening song, is among them. _There Will Be Blood_ had weird, jarring music composed by Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead. Actually, I once favorably compared this soundtrack to Howard Shore’s one for _Crash._ Some of the tunes are similar. [This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPNYwFdXkbc) is my favorite one - it’s the music playing when Daniel and Henry go out on horseback to survey the “Bandy Tract.” _Dog Day Afternoon_ famously has no soundtrack at all, except for Elton John’s [Amoreena](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhyjIMrFlpw) playing over a montage of scenes from New York in the summer, in the movie’s opening credits. Watching this movie, you become very conscious of just how much a movie is affected by the music in it - and how _overused_ music is in many cases. More to follow, when I look through my list of movies. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2012, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/10 "2012-02-11T07:43:59Z")
_There Will Be Blood_ was really robbed of an Academy Award due to an inexplicable ruling on it being insufficiently original work. I always felt _The Princess Bride_ has a somewhat unusually modern soundtrack. For a pseudo-renaissance-era fantasy movie, there’s a lot of keyboard and electric guitar. It generally works quite well, though. Movies like the _Koyaanisqatsi_ series or _Baraka_ have soundtracks that are the only audio in the movie, which isn’t too common. _2001: A Space Odyssey_ famously abandoned the commissioned score in favor of the mostly classical music Kubrick had been using as a filler for editing - those tracks became the iconic pieces used. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/11 "2012-02-12T12:28:05Z")
_Planet of the Apes_ score was considered avant-garde in 1968. Mostly percussion, lots of syncopation. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/12 "2012-02-12T14:58:03Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > _Crash_ - again, NOT the piece of shit from 2005 but the far more interesting movie whose title it stole, starring James Spader and Rosanna Arquette and the phenomenal Elias Koteas. All of the music was composed by Howard Shore and features variations on a theme of weird, dissonant, jarring guitar chords. Main theme [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPt6MPyFI4s) And Cronenberg stole it from a 1978 William Shatner movie. Right? Because if you can “steal” a one-word title you’ve got to go back as far as you can. What does Mr. Shatner have to say about the theft? And doesn’t that make Cronenberg a complete hack for “stealing” a title? That William Shatner, he’s always been a hog, am I right? Holding the rights to a one-word title and loudly chastising anyone who comes along and “steals” it. But he got to it first, so he owns the title. Everyone else, including Cronenberg, is just a criminal. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/13 "2012-02-12T15:04:22Z")
_Inglourious Basterds_, set in WWII, uses some anachronistic and eclectic tracks, including spaghetti western pieces and Bowie’s “Cat People.” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/14 "2012-02-12T15:09:49Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > In 1971 Miles Davis released the soundtrack to “Jack Johnson”, a documentary about the tragic story of the first black heavyweight boxing champion. So what better soundtrack to a movie set around 1915 than a [hard rock-jazz fusion?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEBKksupBVA) Another soundtrack by Miles is the French [Elevator to the Gallows (1958) – Ascenseur pour l’échafaud (original title)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051378/) where: > [@](#): > > Trivia > Miles Davis recorded the music with a quartet of French musicians in a few hours (from 11pm to 5am one night), improvising each number and sipping champagne with Jeanne Moreau and Louis Malle. The track came out on record as: [Jazz Track](http://music.yahoo.com/miles-davis/albums/jazz-track--209344487) ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/15 "2012-02-12T16:25:00Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > _Inglourious Basterds_, set in WWII, uses some anachronistic and eclectic tracks, including spaghetti western pieces and Bowie’s “Cat People.” Spaghetti western pieces are often anachronistic to begin with, since they tend to feature electric guitars. ---
**Author:** ![Wash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/9dc877/32.png) [@Wash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wash)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/16 "2012-02-12T16:39:05Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > **Marie Antoinette** (2006) is scored mainly with pop records from the 20th Century. Similarly, _A Knight’s Tale_ uses classic rock songs throughout, including the opening scene where the crowd of peasants at a joust are singing (and doing the drumbeat) along to Queen’s _We Will Rock You_. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/17 "2012-02-12T17:26:51Z")
Tangerine Dream did the entire soundtrack for the very underrated 80s vampire movie [Near Dark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Dark). It was unique. Jerry Goldsmith apparently thought the best soundtrack to accompany the story of a 1950s backwoods basketball team in [Hoosiers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosiers#Soundtrack)was a bunch of synth sounds. Hoosiers would have aged much better and been much more timeless with a period soundtrack. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/18 "2012-02-12T17:41:22Z")
> [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](#): > > Spaghetti western pieces are often anachronistic to begin with, since they tend to feature electric guitars. Agreed. But it was in this instance a part of the aural potpourri Tarantino created that somehow worked in support of his film–IOW, not typical WWII background. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/19 "2012-02-12T17:43:16Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Tangerine Dream did the entire soundtrack for the very underrated 80s vampire movie [Near Dark](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Dark). It was unique. This reminds me of an old thread [Favorite Movie Music – with audio](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=510396) which is old enough that many of the links are dead, but where [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10940732&postcount=14) > [@Superfluous Parentheses](#): > > The Keep (music starts about 1 minute in) - the music by Tangerine Dream just sucks you into the film. (bad link) pointed me to [THE KEEP 1983 OPENING SEQUENCE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80xrXMmprWc&feature=related) Mesmerizing! ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478/20 "2012-02-12T17:52:52Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > This reminds me of an old thread [Favorite Movie Music – with audio](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=510396) which is old enough that many of the links are dead, but where [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10940732&postcount=14) (bad link) > > pointed me to [THE KEEP 1983 OPENING SEQUENCE](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80xrXMmprWc&feature=related) > > Mesmerizing! I am a huge Tangerine Dream fan, and I had never heard this before now. Thanks, **Zeldar**! Truly trance-inducing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-soundtracks-that-are-in-some-way-unusual/612478.md?page=2)