The other day alert regular “Mr B(ob)” pointed me this and I ended up following the name of the company that made it back to their basic but interesting site. These guys LOVE monster movie soundtracks! Most of their titles are the actual soundtracks from the movies, but in a few cases they have actually dug up the original sheet music, assembled an orchestra and re-recorded the soundtrack! They did this here, here, here, here and — most interesting to MST3K fans — here! Sing along to this little ditty.
All of which got me to thinking: What’s MSTed movie has such a great score/soundtrack that you’d buy a CD of it? I don’t mean songs that the characters sing. I talking about the instrumental score. And which one is do you really hate?
I suspect the Hercules movies and the Russo-Finnish titles will probably be the favorites. The score to the “Day the Earth Froze” is pretty impressive. For worst, I’d have to go with the “buppa-duppa” mess of “Danger! Death Ray!” How about you?
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I always liked the breezy and jazzy score to “Moon Zero Two.” I don’t know if I could listen to it all the way through on a CD, but it is pretty entertaining within the context of the movie. I don’t think I could stand more than a few seconds of the score for “The Creeping Terror,” though. :music:
Oh my gosh! The girl on the cover looks like Kim Cattrall!!
Darn it, now I’ll have “Normal View” stuck in my head, thanks for the earworm.
A lot of the Japanese movies would make great soundtracks. The Godzilla movies are pretty good for soundtracks (there actually is a rap song called Simon Says that samples the beginning of his music.) Fugitive Alien I and II are two others.
For the quirkiness, we could go with the theramin based music of King Dinosaur.
The worst would be “Space Mutniy” the heavy, dated keyboard riffs are a little oeverbearing, the same for “Pod People.” Unless, you know, it’s a CD by Some Guys in Space.
The psuedo-jazz parts of the Manos soundtrack I’ve always liked, and the songs too. Any over-the-top
Albert Glasser is good for me. The instrumentals in The Girl In Gold Boots are a nice example of a
style of music that has basically vanished today. By the way, has anyone noticed how many commercials now have music that sounds like what used to be called “hard rock” in the early 70s?
I’m with CM @4 on Glasser, he sure makes a dull script more interesting. Also, the Commando Cody soundtrack was very ‘lush’ and could have been written by Glasser.
In closing, I’m a big fan of the thero-moan (sp?)in any circumstance. As a kid we would try to copy it with a hammer and saw.
I’m sure I’ll think of others, but Diabolik springs first to mind. It’s hard to beat Ennio Morricone.
Pod People easily gets my vote for worst. Or maybe Cave Dwellers. I think Film Ventures maye have used much of the same God-awful electronic noodling for both films, anyway.
@ Fart Bargo,
It’s theremin, named after its Russian inventor. Such a cool instrument, it’s too bad it got pigeonholed as the sounds of space aliens so quickly. But then, it is perfect for that sort of thing.
Soultaker, for me, hands down. I have “What a Lovely Way to Go” on my iPod, wouldn’t mind the whole soundtrack. Village of the Giants is a not-too-distant second.
The oh-so-70s score to Mitchell is oh-so kitschy.
The Starfighters, good music for pointless scenes.
@Fart Bargo If you love theremin music, check out the theme to the UK program Midsomer Murders.
Honestly, there really aren’t any musical scores from any MSTied movie I’d want to listen to. For worst, and I’ll probably be crucified for this, is the Torgo theme. Was that even music or just some random sound?
I’d buy several. Yes, “Danger!! Death Ray” for it’s jazzy score. And I love the score for “Sword and the Dragon” (particularly the piece when Ily is riding before he meets the wind demon). I also think it would be fun to have the Teen-Age Strangler soundtrack, not so much for Yipes Stripes (though who wouldn’t want that), but for all the incidental music.
I already have the Jimmy Bryant tracks that feature in Skydivers: Ha-So, Tobacco Worm and the best, Stratosphere Boogie. Great stuff, that.
But here’s where I really geek out:
The one I’d really love to have, though, is the Progress Island, USA, soundtrack. From what I can determine – and yes, I’ve been trying, it’s made up of tracks from the KPM Music Library.* The opening piece, with the trumpet section, is called “Testing Time,” start at 0:40. A couple of pieces, “Fields of Energy” and “International Passport,” are available on iTunes. Another one is called “Clear Crystal” but I’ve only found it on the KPM website. There are others, but I haven’t identified them … yet.
*This music library is responsible for some very famous music themes. The Monday Night Football Theme; both the opening and closing This Week In Baseball themes; many musical cues found in the Spider-Man cartoons of the sixties, NFL Films, the theme to The Bishop from Monty Python, etc. (look for titles like Heavy Action, Gathering Crowds, Action in Memphis, or Superformance if you really want to dive in)
Zombie Nightmare, great Heavy Metal Soundtrack: Lemmy, Pantera, Thor
I can’t think of any I would want but I would definitely NOT want the score to The Creeping Terror. You know. IF you’re my secret santa.
I came to post Ennio Morricone, but Sharktopus beat me to it.
I think I *would* like a recording of the haunting “Torgo” theme, just because it’s so iconic. I wouldn’t mind having the score to “Daddy-O” because it is John Williams’s first score. Ya gotta start somewhere!
I’m pretty sure the soundtrack to “The Creeping Terror” was used for torture, er, I mean enhanced interrogation, at Gitmo. That’s a worst for me. I found the music in “The Girl in Gold Boots” to have a mostly upbeat ’60s feel but I’m not sure I could listen to a whole CD of it, and the same goes for “Catalina Caper.”
Well, I do have ‘Techno Torgo’ on my iPod. Outside of that, I would really love to track down the soundtrack to The Incredibly Strange Creature that Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies. The music in that film is like a train wreck – horrid, let I cannot get the tunes out of my head. I know they made a vinyl soundtrack, but have not been able to track it down.
And a confession, I do own ‘Wild Guitar’ – the CD of Arch Hall Jr’s tunes, including some of the stuff from Eegah! Strangely enough, once you get past his movie music and into his more Jazzy stuff, he’s actually not half bad….
Puma Man. Just because I think that music would be hilariously awesome if DJ’s started sampling it (I could totally see MF Doom rapping over that soundtrack).
The Creeping Terror, of course! Just kidding. The Horror of Party Beach has some great surf/garage tunes that I really dig. I’m sure there are more that I haven’t thought about just yet; I may have to update. Oh, and the “jazz” from Tormented will not be one those.
I can’t believe I forgot about Diabolik! I actually do have that soundtrack, and I have to agree with Sharktopus, Morricone IS hard to beat. The Brain that wouldn’t Die has that really good sleazy sax music that’s at home in the strip club, but would be just as welcome in a Mike Hammer. It’s all-purpose!
I like the music of “DANGER: DEATH RAY”!
Ba-ba-Da Ba-Da-Da Let’s go swingin’ into the night!
And I think I said this before; the weird music heard on “HORROR OF PARTY BEACH” is actually from the Japanimation “8-Man”.(Talk about experimental)
The worst, has to be the ‘Booong…Booong’ and the distant roadwork ambiance of the “dig-a dig-a dig. . .Dat-a Dat-a Dat . . .dig-a dig-a dig. . .Dat-a Dat-a Dat” of “FUTURE WAX”.
(-I mean WAR)
They have a lot of fun with the silly ’70s background music in Code Name Diamond Head. That episode wouldn’t be half as good without it. The songs from Horror of Party Beach are entertaining but not that filler crap. Dong bingbingbingbingbing doing wongwomgwongwongwong
I guess this is the place to lament the non-existence of a ‘best of MSTed music’ collection. There are some great (if often kitschy) tunes scattered throughout the movies, many of which have already popped up in this thread. There’s the garage-rock of Monster A Go-Go, the surf sounds of the Del-Aires, the bubblegum goodness of the biker movies (and stuff like the Girl in Gold Boots, which is great, but doesn’t really fit any of those sub-categories of rock) the ‘cool spy’ sounds of the Euro secret agent movies, and a surprising amount of good (or at least “good” ) jazz music. There’s actually a ton of worthwhile music in these movies, amirite?
But that isn’t the question. Qualifying that with the entire soundtrack makes it much trickier. If I were inclined to cheat, I’d say Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera Sadko. (“It’s not Sinbad!” ) Instead, I’ll go with the spaced-out electronic scores for Space:1999 and Moon Zero Two. Which is still cheating. But I love the spooky incidental music from the former and the avant-garde jazz stylings of the latter, and, uh… they’d make a fine double album.
I’ve got to admit… those drumbeats in “Werewolf” (I mean “Werewilf…” =P) were pretty catchy… I’d probably bust up laughing every time it came up on my iPod though!
OK. I do not mind the “music” from “The Creeping Terror.” There, I said it and I’d say it again. But it is not my favorite. Being more a classical fan, I agree with Matt Sandwich @ 42 about Rimskey-Korsakov’s score for “The Magic Voyage of Sinbad”. But, worse would be the score for “Fire Maidens From Outer Space”. I have the Prince Igor suite by Borodin and enjoy it, but the score was made tedious and boring by the constant repetition of the dance. If they had added more variation it would have helped a lot.
Has anyone else noticed how these b movies tend to borrow music from other movies, you know, those which are considered “good movies”?
I kinda like Warrior of the Lost World, Village of the Giants, The Girl in Gold Boots, and, inexplicably, the Native American Jingle Bells from Werewolf. The Crawling Hand, I Accuse My Parents and Hellcats aren’t too bad. “Hooray for Santy Claus” frequently gets stuck in my head. A couple that I really hate are from Cave Dwellers and Pod People. Btw, has anyone noticed that the music from Attack of the Giant Leeches and Night of the Blood Beast is the same?
4 words:
Secret agent. Bop BAH! Super dragon. Bop BAH!
I love the jazz scores on the ’50s and ’60s films. Ring of Terror is one of my favorites. Also Danger! Death Ray, and too many others to name. Maybe California Lady, too. :)
Code Name Diamond Head definitely had the funniest music, and the Mitchell car chase theme get’s stuck in my head like a cancer, but if I were to buy two I would certainly get Danger: Diabolick by Ennio Morricone and Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster by Masaru Sato. Ironically Sato composed Yojimbo upon which a Fist Full of Dollars was based, the later being scored by Morricone.
Honorable mention for the driving music in Boggy Creek and the ‘haunting’ Torgo theme.
Although the Japanese monster movies aren’t my favorites, I like the following two tracks:
“Persistent Pursuit” [youtube.com] by Shunsuke Kikuchi from Gamera vs. Zigra
and
“Endurance Dance Rally” [youtube.com] from Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster
Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate Moon Zero Two!!!!!!!!
Watched CODE NAME: DIAMOND HEAD yesterday, there’s a stinkburger of a score. Had that repetitive “doo doo doo doo do-do-do-da-do” hook stuck in my head the rest of the day.
Favorite score? I dunno, HORROR OF PARTY BEACH?
No love for Outlaw? Considering how badly most other aspects of the film were handled, the orchestral score was surprisingly competent.
Since it was given “the MST treatment” I think ‘Night Of The Living Dead’ should count as “an ep” here. As much as it’s a needle-drop soundtrack, I’ve seen this movie so many times the music has great evocative power for me. I’ve even heard some of the same cues used in other movies at this point.
I also tracked down an un-MSTed copy of ‘Manos’ just to see if I could survive it, and I copied off the “Forgetting You” love theme/closing credits music… just to torture the MSTie love of my life, Valerie. Now she shares my pain and gets it stuck in her head too!
Hmm. I can’t decide whether this topic makes me
Want To Laugh Or Cry.
Of course, the music accompaniment for, ah, dancing,
in GiGB is also used effectively by Crow and Brain Guy,
who certainly were better dancers then the girl who
lost her pretty mind.
If you like the NOTLD soundtrack, check out 400 Lonely Things’ Tonight of the Living Dead. Basically it’s a cool remix of the score.
Humanoid Woman immediately came to mind on this one. The music really kept me interested in the movie. I would love to get the soundtrack. Moon Zero Two had some good music, as I recall, although the theme song did grate on my nerves after awhile.
I love theremins! I really want to get one and learn how to play it. They’re just so cool!
Also @Fart Bargo you said you tried to imitate the sound with a hammer and saw. How does that work? I’m curious.
The haunting refueling theme from “starfighters” gets stuck in my head as does the hold music crow starts bopping to.
Are we sure this site isn’t a therapy session?
Hello my name is Jim and im a Misty.
HI JIM!
Moon Zero Two is currently my favorite. The main title song can be found on youtube, but the rest of the soundtrack is nowhere to be found. Secret Agent Super Dragon is pretty cool too, but I’m not sure if I like Joel’s version better (“I know!”). Mitchell has a pretty cool soundtrack as well, and the classic Diabolik! soundtrack is amazing (“Deep Deep Down?” I guess I have a “type”).
I used to love the Are You Happy song from I Accuse My Parents.
What?!?! Nobody’s mentioned John Williams’s score to “The Killer Shrews”? That’s the only part of the movie that’s not laughingly pathetic.
A little surprised the soundtrack to DANGER: DIABOLIK is available. I’d read there was never an ‘official’ release and the original tapes no longer exist. It isn’t one of those tiresome ‘soundtracks’ that’s just a audiotape of the movie, is it? I got screwed that way with ERASERHEAD.
There was a GOLDEN TURKEY AWARDS cassette and record YEARS ago that I wish was out on CD which had a lot of this material. More recently, something called, I think, MONDO MOVIE MUSIC included some other tracks (Including the immortal ‘Vickie’ and ‘Shook Out Of Shape’) but I picked it up used and have no idea if it’s still available.
A MST3K: GROOVY MOVIE MUSIC would be great but I dunno how it’d sell and the rights would be a nightmare.
The non-Arch background music to “Eegah,” which, thinking about it, makes me wonder if he didn’t produce for Rebecca Black.
The psuedo-Jaws soundtrack to “Devil Fish,” sticks with me quite a bit; I especially enjoy the synthesizer riffs…
Props to Criswell for mentioning the Mitchell soundtrack, something not even Hoyt Axton could salvage!
I’m wrong and #15 is right. John Williams wrote the score for “Daddy-O,” not “The Killer Shrews.” Boy is my face red.
I might by the Incredibly Strange soundtrack for the “Shick on a Shank” song.
No one has mentioned the great tunes from Daddy-O yet? ‘Rock candy baby you’re mine!’ Also the tunes in The Beatniks. ‘Leather coat…’ And the music in Girl’s Town is pretty good, ditto for Untamed Youth. (Is that really Mamie singing?)
@ 11 Nice work! I love stuff like that. Progress Island did have a generically 70s peppy sound to it, like if England Dan and John Ford Coley did a movie soundtrack!
@ 26 Yes! I noticed that also. Are they both Corman movies, I can see him ‘borrowing’ music. And watch for the flute solo that is the same in The Unearthly and Bloodlust.
“It isn’t one of those tiresome ‘soundtracks’ that’s just a audiotape of the movie, is it?”
Actually, it is…and it’s of even worse quality than the movie audio I think.
Cubby, you’re a freak, my man. I love that Progress Island music. So inappropriate, so awesome.
I found the groovy soundtracks to Legend of Dinosaurs and Monster Birds, Monkey Army (Time of the Apes), & Danger: Diabolik online for free. Also “The Girl Who Invented Rock & Roll” a Mamie Van Doren compilation featuring all four of her vocal numbers from Untamed Youth, including non-hits like “Go Go Calypso” & “Oo Ba La Baby” (sadly no Eddie Cochran singing “Cottonpicker” ).
I love Mitchell Froom’s music in City Limits. A very brooding, atmospheric, mid-1980s score.
The score to “Gamera Vs. Barugon” really surprised me when I heard it isolated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7QXwez1bWA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da6AR_-mzs0
A good resource for information about Japanese giant critter soundtracks is the appropriately named http://www.godzillamonstermusic.com.