Monday, January 18, 2010

Music Monday: Movie Soundtracks

Since this past weekend was the big Golden Globe Weekend (and the Critic's Choice Awards came on Friday on VH1), I thought I would coordinate my Music Monday with movie soundtracks. There are a few movie soundtracks that stuck with me throughout the years and have impressed me. These could all be inspirational when it comes to writing.

The first that comes to mind is the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. I used to sit around with my sister and cousin and listen to this soundtrack over and over. I was too young to really understand the full meaning of the songs, but they were catchy- like, Mary J. Blige's "Not Gon' cry," Toni Braxton's "Let it Flow,", Brandy's "Sittin' Up in My Room," and of course , Whitney Houston's "Exhale (Shoop, Shoop)."

8 Mile is another impressive soundtrack. Of course, Eminem's "Lose Yourself" is a wonderful song to pull from if you want to write about a coming of age tale. There are a few more gems on this soundtrack like, Boomkat's "Wastin My Time, "Macy Gray's "Time of My Life," and "Rabbit Run," by Eminem. The movie itself could have made a great novel, and the soundtrack helps to move the plot along.

Queen of the Damned is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time! There are so many interesting songs (musically) on this CD. It is not much of an "inspirational" soundtrack for writers, unless you know you want to write about vampires, but it is well done. Some of the highlights from this soundtrack are "System" by Chester Bennington (from Linkin Park and Death by Sunrise), "Slept So Long" by Jay Gordon (from Orgy), "Dead Cell" by Papa Roach, and "Change (In the House of Flies)" by Deftones. The whole soundtrack is amazing and if you have not heard it, give it a try!

Finally, two more recent movie soundtracks that are absolutley genuis would be for the movies, Across the Universe and Once. Across the Universe, of course, highlights some of the best songs from the Beatles catalog. Some of my favorites are "Hey Jude," "Revolution", "Across the Universe," "Strawberry Fields," "Happiness is a Warm Gun," and "I Want You/She's so Heavy."

Once is a movie that features original music from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Some of the best songs on this soundtrack that could offer so much material for writers are "When Your Minds Made Up," "Lies," "Say It to Me Now," "If You Want Me," and of course "Falling Slowly." If you do not know any of these songs, I suggest you use your iTunes or Rhapsody search engine and find them!


I could go on and on, but I kind of have other things to do :) What are some soundtracks that you think should be on my list?

1 comment:

  1. I LOVE this topic! I forgot how obsessed we used to be over the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. :) You pretty much named all of my faves, but another soundtrack that I used to wear out was the "Set it Off" soundtrack. En Vogue's "Don't Let Go" would be perfect to listen to while writing about a tumultuous relationship--and I have no idea if I spelled that word correctly. Oh, and I almost forgot how much I loved the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack--the one starring my future hubby, Leo (swoon!). You can't get any better than "Kissing You," and "I'll Die for You" (I think that's the name of it--it' by Garbage). You're going to make me dust off my old CDs now!

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