dariusofwest
Active Member
These two pieces are among some of the worst I've heard
If you're feeling particularly masochistic - it's here... (it might even reuse some elements Leon/The Professional - I forget now)Haven't seen Goldeneye since the 90s, but now I want to see it again! Just checked out that end credits song, and that is indeed very odd.
If you're feeling particularly masochistic - it's here... (it might even reuse some elements Leon/The Professional - I forget now)
Funny - I absolutely love Ladyhawke. I remember seeing that in the theater and thinking it was a breath of fresh air. There was a big fantasy boom at the time and a glut of fantasy/dragon/wizard films and they all had these huge, sweeping, overly romantic and overly excited scores. I really give them credit for trying something different and if anything it gives the film a unique vibe to me. Right down to the Eventide 3000 down pitched delays on the final swordfight in slow motion. Out of all the films from that era I rewatch (Dragonslayer, Excalibur, Sword and the Sorceress, Clash of the Titans, Sorceress, etc.) Ladyhawke is the one I watch the most over and over and a good part of it is how much I enjoy the score in the context of what's going on.Talking of being out of place, I struggle with Ladyhawke - it feels tonally wrong and very - errr - very 80's!
One of the reasons could be that those B-Movies mostly used library music which was very generic and couldn't be "tied" that much to the visuals. The studios also often re-used pieces from different productions for budget reasons. The label Monstrous Movie Music has published a lot of albums with re-recordings and original archival editions which feature a lot of scores from those films. The producer David Schecter wrote me that it's sometimes impossiböe to "recreate" the complete score breakdown for these films because it's just a mess regarding how many tracks from different sources were used.I realize the intent of this thread is slanted towards modern scores, but for me, when I think of worst scores, what immediately comes to mind are selected B-movies from the 1930s and 40s where the "score" is simply some background music that runs through the entire film without pause and no apparent attempt to tie the music to the emotion or action of the scenes.
As fans of our Monstrous Movie Music series know, a lot of the music that is so indelibly linked to the monsters they love is, in fact, equally indelibly linked to other visuals as well. Herman Stein’s powerful “Main Title" from Universal’s 1955 Tarantula perfectly conjures the menace of a colossal arachnid running loose in the desert. Except for one thing. The piece was originally written in 1952, where it served as the “Main Title” for Universal’s Rock Hudson western, The Lawless Breed. This process of “tracking” -- re-using cues from the studio’s music library in subsequent pictures -- shows that what makes something sound “monstrous” is often merely in the ear of the beholder.
Here’s an example of one of the best composers of the 8 bit era (who learned Motorola 6502 assembly just to have access to more options and save memory), the genius Ron Hubbard.
Noone ever will have to reorchestrate this brilliant piece of SID music. Okay, back to ugliness.
Edit: OMG, that bit from 3:17 onwards is insane.
Interesting because both movies are on my to-watch list.Funny - I absolutely love Ladyhawke. I remember seeing that in the theater and thinking it was a breath of fresh air. There was a big fantasy boom at the time and a glut of fantasy/dragon/wizard films and they all had these huge, sweeping, overly romantic and overly excited scores. I really give them credit for trying something different and if anything it gives the film a unique vibe to me. Right down to the Eventide 3000 down pitched delays on the final swordfight in slow motion. Out of all the films from that era I rewatch (Dragonslayer, Excalibur, Sword and the Sorceress, Clash of the Titans, Sorceress, etc.) Ladyhawke is the one I watch the most over and over and a good part of it is how much I enjoy the score in the context of what's going on.
As for any scores I really dislike or miss the point (which is kinda subjective I guess) but Junkie XL's score for Battle Angel to me is just horrible. Either he just didn't bother to do any research or he just phoned it in. As someone who's read all the graphic novels I feel like he completely had no concept of what the main character was about or even the world they inhabited. It just sounded like another generic score without even trying. An easy paycheck.
That film has a lot of other flaws as well but Junkie's score is well....IMO....Junk.
These two pieces are among some of the worst I've heard
First example that comes to mind is the OST for Dragon Quest XI. My girlfriend played through this whole game and I constantly had to hear this battle theme pop up over and over again:
The composition itself is pretty annoying after a couple of listens but even worse the MIDI sounds chosen for it are so grating for a song that repeats hundreds of times throughout the game.
Perhaps the worst part is that this was the composer's own decision. The entire soundtrack was recorded with real orchestra but the composer apparently insisted on putting only the MIDI versions in the game so he could sell the proper recordings separately. Only the Switch version, which IIRC was released more than a year after initial release, has the true orchestral recordings in the game.
Please don't listen to this music.Sounds like the music from ANT-MAN
I confess that I never liked the score for Titanic, which is odd because I like so much of Horner's work.I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for horrible soundtracks.
What I mean as horrible soundtrack is :
- something that poorly composed or arranged
- and/or a horrible mix
- and/or damages the (not as bad) movie
- and/or totally misses the point
I'm mostly targeting commercial releases, don't post your own stuff
The goal of this thread is to have a gentle laugh at some stuff, not to open a flame war against a specific composer or style.
Who know, this thread might also turn a safe haven for composers lacking self-confidence.
Ok, I'll open the ball with the first dance.
I was listening to GoldenEye the other day and not only it doesn't feel Bond-ish but it also aged badly.
(IIRC, Serra only had a couple of weeks to deliver it and was a tad overwhelmed by the job).
Disclaimer : GoldenEye excluded, I generally appreciate Serra's scores.