Let's All Go to the Movies with DJ Miss Kitty - 97.3 wrir

Join DJ Miss Kitty as she explores a brief history of music in film from the 1930s-2000s. Starting with film scoring of the late 30s/40s, composers during this period almost exclusively wrote original orchestral pieces to accompany a film. We’ll hear from highly influential composers from the time like Max Steiner and Alfred Newman. We then move to film scoring that is more influenced by pop and jazz during the 1950s-60s with well-known hits from masters like Henry Mancini, Lalo Schifrin, and Ennio Morricone. The late 60s and early 70s began to include original music featuring vocals from famous artists like Simon & Garfunkle, Curtis Mayfield, and Jimmy Cliff. These soundtracks were famous in their own right, independent from the movies that featured them. During the 1970s New Hollywood era, film music headed in two concurrent, divergent directions with the incorporation of synthesizers and a return to classic scoring with the likes of John Carpenter and John Williams.

The 1980s ring in the “jukebox” era of movie soundtracks. The 1980s are full of song-laden soundtracks, most of which were not produced to accompany a film, but are used to punctuate the film’s plot. Due to advancing digital technology—”especially sampling and computer-based sequencing—the 1980s also saw the proliferation of synthesizer-heavy scores. Notably: Escape from New York (John Carpenter, 1981), The Terminator (Brad Fiedel, 1984), Blade Runner (Vangelis, 1982), and Tron (1982, Wendy Carlos.) Jerry Goldsmith’s work on the Star Trek film series (1979 onward) explores the possibilities of fusing orchestral sounds with electronic elements.” The 1990s-2000s saw a boon in hit movie soundtracks that seemed to define generations through popular music of the time like Trainspotting or Clueless or evoke the nostalgia of simpler times like in the popular movies Dazed & Confused and Jackie Brown.

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/2005/10/27/4976727/the-evolution-of-movie-soundtracks

The Fi Hall of Fame: A Brief History of Film Music

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Playlist:

Max Steiner, “Theme From 'A Summer Place'”

from Parrish (Original Film Soundtrack)

Stage Door - 2014

Lalo Schifrin, “The Cat (Joy House)”

from Jazz Goes to Hollywood

Aleph Records - 2000

Nino Rota & Carlo Savina, “Main Title (The Godfather Waltz)”

from The Godfather (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)

Geffen - 1972

John Barry, “Midnight Cowboy”

from The Music of John Barry

Columbia - 1976

Henry Mancini, “Moon River”

from Breakfast at Tiffany's (Music from the Motion Picture Score)

RCA Victor - 1961

Alfred Newman, “How the West Was Won (Original Soundtrack)”

from How the West Was Won (Original Soundtrack) - Single

JB Production CH - 2013

Oscar Hammerstein II, “Kansas City Ballet”

from Oklahoma! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Expanded Edition]

MANHATTAN RECORDS CATALOG (A95) - 2001

Elvis Presley, “Crawfish”

from King Creole (Original Soundtrack)

Legacy Recordings - 1958

Ray Heindorf & Alex North, “Lust”

from A Streetcar Named Desire (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Capitol Records - 2010

Ennio Morricone, “The Ecstasy of Gold (from "The Good The Bad and The Ugly")”

from Spaghetti Westerns Soundtracks - The Old Wild West

Sony Music Publishing - 2021

Elisa Toffoli, “Ancora Qui”

from Django Unchained (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Loma Vista - 2012

The Beatles, “The Night Before”

from Help!

UMC (Universal Music Catalogue) - 2009

Simon & Garfunkel, “The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine”

from The Graduate (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Legacy/Columbia - 1968

Jimmy Cliff, “Sitting In Limbo”

from The Harder They Come (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

UMC (Universal Music Catalogue) - 1972

Curtis Mayfield, “Superfly”

from Superfly (Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Charly Records - 2002

John Williams, “Main Title (Theme from "Jaws")”

from Jaws (Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Geffen - 1975

John Carpenter, “Halloween”

from Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998

Sacred Bones Records - 2017

The Blues Brothers, “Everybody Needs Somebody to Love”

from The Blues Brothers (Original Soundtrack Recording)

Rhino Atlantic - 1980

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, “I Second That Emotion”

from The Big Chill (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [15th Anniversary]

UNI/MOTOWN - 1983