LimeWire Music Blog

The ‘80s and ‘90s were the heyday of movie soundtracks. Prince’s Purple Rain sold billions millions of copies as did the soundtracks to Dirty Dancing and Titanic. Since then, sales of soundtracks have tapered off. In the past few years, only the soundtracks from Garden State and Juno have even come close to leaving an indelible impression. For those who lust after the marrying of awesome music and cinema, here are a seven soundtracks (and movies) that have been condoned. A lot of the songs featured in these movies didn’t make the cut for the official released soundtrack, so make sure to check out both the movie and the soundtrack.

1. Desperately Seeking Susan (1985)
Okay, so we all know Madonna isn’t the best actress in the world, but seriously, she’s quite enjoyable in this ‘80s staple (the movie was adapted into a failed London stage musical). Bored New Jersey housewife Roberta (Rosanna Arquette) gets mixed up in Susan’s (Madonna’s) crazy NYC lifestyle and ends up hooking up with Aidan Quinn. As Susan tries to put the pieces together (and avoid getting murdered), Thomas Newman’s melodic and ambient score plays over the scenes. Newman is best known for his award-winning American Beauty and Six Feet Under compositions, but Newman’s score excels on the twinkling and jangly snippets of “Jail/Port Authority by Day” and “New York City by Day.”  Madonna’s dance hit “Into the Grove” plays twice in the movie, but doesn’t appear on the soundtrack.

2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
The tagline for this immensely popular film reads, “Leisure rules” and so does the soundtrack. Sadly, an official soundtrack was never released, but you can pretty much find all the necessary songs elsewhere. The Flowerpot Men’s rockin’ “Beat City” sets the tone for the hijinks when it plays over the gang’s Ferrari enhanced drive to the big, bad city. We’re all familiar with that “Oh Yeah” song by Yello that plays as Ferris traipses through his neighborhood to beat his parents home, but let’s not forget the beauty of Dream Academy. Their  instrumental cover of the Smiths “Please Please Please” plays during the Art Institute montage, and the power ballad “Edge of Forever” emerges when Sloane and Ferris contemplate marriage and kiss goodbye.

3. Something Wild (1986)
Before Melanie Griffith was so Botoxed she couldn’t crack a smile, she starred in Something Wild, a pre-Silence of the Lambs Jonathan Demme directed romp. Griffith kidnaps married cubicle monkey Jeff Daniels and embarks on a crazy road trip. This film wasn’t Demme’s first foray into music-centric movies — he’s directed a plethora of music videos and the Talking Heads concert movie Stop Making Sense. During the opening credits, David Byrne sings a duet with the late and great salsa singer Celia Cruz, and over the end credits, a woman sings a reggae version of  “Wild Thing.” It’s not until the couple make a pit stop at Griffith’s high school reunion when the music kicks into high gear. The Feelies portray the house band and perform a few of their songs. “Spring Rain” by the Go-Betweens blasts over the PA as the couple try to get rid of Ray Liotta (who goes on to terrorize them). Unfortunately, a lot of songs in the movie aren’t on the soundtrack.

4. Simple Men (1992)
Another unreleased soundtrack, Hal Hartley’s ‘90s indie gem focuses on familial and romantic relationships. Two brothers set out on a road trip to Long Island to find their long, lost father and end up meeting an array of interesting people along the way. The movie stars Martin Donovan, who is best known as the dead DEA agent on “Weeds.” If you’ve never seen a Hartley film, this is a good place to start. The director integrates May I Sing with Me era Yo La Tengo: “Sleeping Pill,” “Always Something,” and “Some Kinda Fatigue.” The best part of the film is when the characters do a choreographed dance to Sonic Youth’s “Kool Thing,” an awe-inspiring moment in indie rock cinema.

5. Nowhere (1997)
Filmmaker Gregg Araki writes and directs cult Gen X movies featuring shoegaze and Brit-pop songs. For this film, the second in his doomsday trilogy (Doom Generation is the first), Araki ensembled perhaps the most eclectic cast in movie history: Ryan Phillipe, Heather Graham, Jan and Peter Brady, Mrs. Garrett from Facts of Life, Rose McGowan, Shannon Doherty, and John Ritter. The movie follows a few L.A. teens in their quest for sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, and aliens. It’s like one outrageous music video replete with contributions from Slowdive, Suede, Chemical Brothers, Radiohead, the Catherine Wheel, and Lush covering the Magnetic Fields, and . The name of the movie is swiped from a shoegaze song, “Nowhere,” by Ride. Blur’s “She’s So High,” NIN’s “Memorabilia,” and the Verve’s “Grey Skies” are all absent from the final soundtrack.

6. Movern Callar (2002)
Samantha Morton stars as a woman who wakes up on New Year’s Day to discover that her boyfriend has killed himself and left her a mixtape and an unpublished novel. On a whim, she takes the money set aside for his funeral and goes on a debauched road trip with her friend to Ibiza, letting the mixtape guide her through the journey. What makes this soundtrack unique is the inclusion of a couple of tracks from Krautrock superstars Can, an alt-country song from Ween, songs from Velvet Underground and Broadcast, and some tracks from ambient bands Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, and Stereolab. The music adds provocative musings on life and death. The soundtrack is also a great introduction to the diverse music that came before indie rock.

7. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Noah Baumbach’s coming of age film was heralded by critics and garnered Baumbach an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) grows up in Brooklyn circa 1986 and tries to make sense of his parents impending divorce. He learns to play Pink Floyd’s “Hey You” on guitar and then passes it off as his own composition at the school’s talent show. Britta Philips and Dean Wareham contribute a couple of songs including a cover of “Hey You.” The Cars‘ “Drive,” Mister Mister’s “Kyrie,” Bryan Adams “Run to You,” and Lou Reed’s “Street Hassle” ignites the soundtrack. One of the most effective scenes occurs when Walt’s younger brother gets drunk on whiskey.  As he drinks then proceeds to throw up the liquor, Tangerine Dream’s synth-pop nugget “Love on a Real Train” plays over the sequence. For those keeping track at home, the song was originally used in classic ’80s film, Risky Business.