18 Great Movies With Even Better Soundtracks
"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" may be the first Marvel movie eagerly anticipated for its soundtrack. After all, the first film's "Awesome Mix Vol. 1" made such brilliant use of vintage '70s tunes, that fans are dying to hear what the sequel has in store. Here are more movie soundtracks you love just as much (if not more) than the films themselves.
'Almost Famous' (2000)
Cameron Crowe's early career as a music journalist has yielded several wonderful soundtracks ("Say Anything" and "Jerry Maguire") and this autobiographical labor-of-love movie. The late-'60s/early-'70s rock tracks collected here (along with two ringers by the movie's fictional band, Stillwater) seem pulled directly from Crowe's subconscious and add up to an aural valentine of how it felt to be a music fan in 1973. So sing along to "Tiny Dancer."
'American Graffiti' (1973)
Instead of an instrumental score, George Lucas' retro teen comedy used wall-to-wall tracks from the late '50s and early '60s -- 41 choice cuts -- and blasted them from the car radios of his Main Street-cruising characters. The result was both an innovation in soundtrack curation and a near-perfect distillation of what the dawn of rock 'n' roll sounded like.
'The Blues Brothers' (1980)
Come for the car chases, stay for the riffs. Saturday Night Live" goof, but the film version showed how seriously they took the music, gathering titans from Cab Calloway to James Brown, Aretha Franklin to Ray Charles, to be in the movie and teach some rhythm & blues history.
'The Bodyguard' (1992)
Don't know if you still have fond memories of the on-screen romance of Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, but you know the soundtrack. The biggest-selling movie album ever (45 million copies), it was so powerful that Whitney's "I Will Always Love You" cover still rings in our ears.
'Dazed and Confused' (1993)
Richard Linklater's nostalgic comedy of cruising teens in 1976 Texas did for classic rock what "American Graffiti" had done for '50s rock 'n' roll.
'Dirty Dancing' (1987)
The romantic Jennifer Grey-Patrick Swayze classic commissioned a set of new tunes that were supposed to sound like 1963 golden-oldies, but except for "I've Had the Time of My Life," they don't hold up as well as the soundtrack's actual period hits ("Be My Baby," "Love Is Strange"). Still, it sold 32 million copies. And judging by the results Ryan Gosling got out of this album in "Crazy, Stupid, Love," every girl still loves it.
'Footloose' (1984)
The twin kings of '80s soundtracks, singer Kenny Loggins and composer Dean Pitchford, are at their peak here. With Loggins' title track, plus "Let's Hear It for the Boy," "Holding Out for a Hero," and "Almost Paradise," this isn't just the soundtrack to Kevin Bacon's fancy footwork; it's also the soundtrack to every high school prom of the '80s.
'Goodfellas' (1990)
Martin Scorsese is the past and future master of using the energy of classic pop and rock songs to give a scene verve and emotion. You'll never hear the Crystals "Then He Kissed Me" again without thinking of that amazing tracking shot through the bowels of the Copacabana, or Derek and the Dominoes' "Layla" without seeing that montage of whacked Lufthansa heist co-conspirators.
'The Graduate' (1967)
Director Mike Nichols' inclusion of several Simon & Garfunkel tracks was considered revolutionary in its use of a then-contemporary rock soundtrack to tell an adult story. And of course, you can't hear "Mrs. Robinson" without thinking of Anne Bancroft's jaded, miserable cougar.
'Guardians of the Galaxy' (2014)
You can't overstate how integral Peter Quill's mixtape of awesome '70s tracks is to his adventures in space. The cassette isn't just a prop; it's also his lone memento of all he left behind on Earth, it's his family, and it's his personal soundtrack that allows him to pull off improbable feats with roguish confidence and style.
'Help!' (1965)
The Beatles proved rock soundtracks didn't have to be disposable with "A Hard Day's Night," but they upped the ante with their second movie, for which they composed a set of even deeper and richer pop gems, including the title track, "The Night Before," "Ticket to Ride," and "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away."
'Juice' (1992)
Tupac Shakur first proved himself as an actor in this early mean-streets-of-the-hood crime tale, but there was plenty of drama on the soundtrack, too. The Bomb Squad's Hank Shocklee produced this soundtrack, featuring some of the best of East Coast (EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane) and West Coast rap (Too Short, Cypress Hill) before anyone even knew there was a beef.
'Married to the Mob' (1988)
No director had a better or more eclectic ear than the late Jonathan Demme. His "Something Wild," which makes use of 49 songs, is the best example. But the official album contains only the dregs, so try this collection from his mafia farce instead, featuring such diverse Demme favorites as New Order, Tom Tom Club, The Feelies, Chris Isaak, and Q Lazzarus, whose "Goodbye Horses" gets a dress rehearsal for its even creepier use in Demme's "Silence of the Lambs."
'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' (2000)
Perhaps the last soundtrack that was a phenomenon that dwarfed the film it came from (in this case, the Coenbrothers' little-seen Depression-era comedy). Carefully curated by T Bone Burnett, this soundtrack of roots-music and bluegrass gems sold eight million copies, won the Album of the Year Grammy, and sparked a massive roots revival that continues to this day.
'Pulp Fiction' (1994)
This collection is still the best example of Quentin Tarantino's uncanny ability to marry unlikely pop chestnuts to outlandish imagery. Plus, it single-handedly revived the career of surf-guitar master Dick Dale (whose machine-gun-tempo "Misirlou" is forever wedded to this crime drama).
'Purple Rain' (1984)
Prince's purple reign crested with the release of this autobiographical movie and its soundtrack, a collection of earth-shaking funk-rock tracks (including "Let's Go Crazy," "When Doves Cry," and the title power ballad) that sold 20 million copies and echoed on radio for decades after the film itself was relegated to footnote status.
'Saturday Night Fever' (1977)
It's hard to imagine now how huge this movie, John Travolta, The Bee Gees, and disco were in 1977, but this explosive collection, a double-album highlighted by "Staying Alive" and several other Bee Gees cuts, holds up as a document of how all these elements came together to launch a pop culture revolution. It also still holds up as a killer dance party mix.
'Super Fly' (1972)
Isaac Hayes raised the bar for soundtracks with his ambitious "Shaft" score, but this blaxploitation drama saw Curtis Mayfield go one step further with his funky, fully realized song suite about life on the mean streets. Even if you've never seen the movie (and if you haven't, don't go out of your way to do so), you know this music, as Mayfield's oft-sampled tracks here are a cornerstone of hip-hop.
