The great thread of electronic/synthesizer soundtracks

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 8:06 pm

Enjoy :)

The video clips are listed in chronological order:

Movie/Composer/production year

Logan's Run (Jerry Goldsmith, 1976)

Assault on precinct 13 (John Carpenter, 1976)

Killer synth score!

The Sorcerer (Tangerine dream, 1977)

Suspiria (Goblin, 1977)

The Blood Stained Shadow aka Solamente Nero (Goblin, 1977)

Halloween slide show ( featuring John Carpenter's original 1978 theme)

Dawn of the dead aka Zombi (Goblin, 1978)

Midnight Express (Giorgio Moroder, 1978)

Invasion of the body snatchers (Danny Zeitlin, 1978)

Interesting interview with composer Denny Zeitlin:

Phantasm (Fred Myrow, 1979)

The Fog (John Carpenter, 1979)

(the sound effect that's heard when the priest's soul leaves
his body was done by Frank Serafine on a Prophet 5 rev 2).

The Warriors (Barry De Vorzon, 1979)

Star trek: the motion picture - Trailer (1979):

the sound effects heard throughout this trailer were done by Alan Howarth
using a Prophet 5 rev 2 (on four tracks) plus an Arp Avatar.

The Shining (Wendy Carlos, 1978-80)

City Of the living dead (Fabio Frizzi, 1980)

Doctor Who - Meglos soundtrack (Peter Howell & Paddy Kingsland, 1980)

The Boogeyman (Synthe-Sound-Trax, 1980):

Maniac (Jay Chattaway, 1980):

Contamination (Goblin, 1980)

h**l Night (Dan Wyman, 1981)

Escape from New York (John Carpenter & Alan Howarth, 1981)
(opening theme)

Inseminoid (John Scott, 1981)

Tenebrae (Claudio Simonetti/Goblin, 1982)

The Thing (Ennio Morricone % John Carpenter, 1982)

Bladerunner (Vangelis, 1982)

Knight Rider (Stu Philips, 1982)

Creepshow (John Harrison, 1982)

1990: The Bronx Warriors (Walter Rizzati, 1982)

Halloween III intro & montage (John Carpenter & Alan Howarth, 1982):

Airwolf (Sylvester Levay, 1983)

Exterminator II (David Spear, 1984)

(this is the only soundtrack that I know of that was entirely done on a DX-7 and a drum machine)

Phenomena aka Creepers (Claudio Simonetti, 1985)

Retribution (Alan Howarth, 1986)

Prince Of Darkness (John Carpenter & Alan Howarth, 1987)

xpander · Post by **xpander** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 8:49 pm

nice! i would also add some of the stellar electronics in Donnie Darko, and stray to television for the evil, eerie warmth that is the opening to the 1980's Tales from the Darkside series, i think that was John Harrison, too. and also, the entire Wendy Carlos soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange, maybe that's too obvious for the list.

PolarAC · Post by **PolarAC** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 8:55 pm

xpander wrote: and stray to television for the evil, eerie warmth that is the opening to the 1980's Tales from the Darkside series,

That whole opening intro/theme use to freak me out when I was a kid. Very effective till this day.

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:00 pm

xpander wrote:nice! i would also add some of the stellar electronics in Donnie Darko, and stray to television for the evil, eerie warmth that is the opening to the 1980's Tales from the Darkside series, i think that was John Harrison, too. and also, the entire Wendy Carlos soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange, maybe that's too obvious for the list.

Yep, "Tales..." was John Harrison too.

It was my intention to include Clockwork orange as the first video clip but alas I didn't find any clip featuring Wendy's synth score.

Micke

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:12 pm

Darn

I forgot these...

The Terminator (Brad Fiedel, 1984)

The Hitcher (Mark Isham, 1986)

Also worthy of mention are Apocalypse Now (C.Coppola, 1979), The Burning (Rick Wakeman, 1981), Cat People (Giorgio Moroder, 1982) and Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (Giorgio Moroder, 1983), Thief (Tangerine Dream, 1980).

SubliminalEffect · Post by **SubliminalEffect** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:30 pm

off the top of my head, two favorites from the early eighties that come to mind are:

Thief (1981) - Tangerine Dream
i think this was a landmark for their soundtracks. the first one with a more modern, cutting sound. yeah, there's a lot guitar on it but The Beach Theme makes up for it. director Michael Mann has used a lot of great music in his work since, as well.

The Hunger (1983) - Michael Rubini
a movie renowned for its stylishness with a soundtrack to match that opens with Bauhaus' Bela Lugosi's Dead and Peter Murphy penned in a cage then mixes in a combination of Schubert and some prominently abstract electronic cues. this was directed by Tony Scott (brother of Ridley whose movies should require no enumeration to fans of good soundtracks). composer Rubini also went on to create the soundtrack for Michael Mann's Manhunter (the Hannibal Lecter debut) a few years later.

Tardis · Post by **Tardis** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:58 pm

Three O'Clock High(Tangerine Dream, 1987)
Firestarter, (Tangerine Dream, 1984)

xpander · Post by **xpander** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:06 pm

PolarAC wrote:
xpander wrote: and stray to television for the evil, eerie warmth that is the opening to the 1980's Tales from the Darkside series,
That whole opening intro/theme use to freak me out when I was a kid. Very effective till this day.

yep- the opening credits are a masterpiece in horror. my inclination is to go on for pages about those credits, that's my film schooling peaking through...

Synthprophet · Post by **Synthprophet** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 10:24 pm

I really liked the clip with Giorgio Moroder from a German TV interview, thanks for the links 8)

kk994 · Post by **kk994** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:07 pm

Wow Micke.... thats unbelievable... keep me busy for hours

I've been trying to think of the film that has the Tonto in it.... maybe my brain is fried but I remember phantom of the opera and the tonto... maybe I'm wrong.

rjd2 · Post by **rjd2** » Thu Nov 29, 2007 11:29 pm

dude, this is seriously badass and also VERY PSYCHIC of you...

ever since i watched logan's run for the 8th time about amonth ago, i have been meaning to start a thread about electronic music movie soundtracks for the purpose of catalogging them for ppl to reference. you basically completed the whole shebang single-handedly. awesome, there are a few goblin flicks i wasnt aware of in there. im on it!

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:24 am

You're welcome guys :)

Here's more cool stuff from back in the day...

Zombi 2 aka Zombi Flesh Eaters (Fabio Frizzi, 1979)

Scanners (Howard Shore, 1980)

Flash Gordon (Queen, 1980)

Cannibal Ferox (Budy - Maglione, 1981)

Das Boot (Klaus Doldinger, 1981)

Antarctica (Vangelis, 1983) - opening

Scarface (Giorgio Moroder, 1983)

Merry christmas Mr. Lawrence (Ryuichi Sakamoto, 1983)

Nightmare on Elm Street (Charles Bernstein, 1984)

Buckaroo Banzai (Michael Boddicker, 1984)

Runaway (Jerry Goldsmith, 1984) - Trailer

Day Of The Dead (John Harrison, 1985)

They Live (John Carpenter & Alan Howarth, 1988)

RobotHeroes · Post by **RobotHeroes** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:37 am

Goblin :notworthy:

Johnny Lenin · Post by **Johnny Lenin** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 1:08 am

and the very first all-electronic movie score...

Forbidden Planet

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Fri Nov 30, 2007 1:19 am

kk994 wrote:Wow Micke.... thats unbelievable... keep me busy for hours :)

I've been trying to think of the film that has the Tonto in it.... maybe my brain is fried but I remember phantom of the opera and the tonto... maybe I'm wrong.

The title of the film you're thinking of is Phantom Of The Paradise (1974)

Here's a clip showing the main character "playing" the Tonto: