Hi you music lovers ! This is not about film music!

Well, not entirely... This is more about music used in films, but that also has (had) an existence outside of that film, and by that I don't mean on the soundtrack, but on an album of the band/artist you want to bring forward.

As an example (and to get that one right out of the way... ): Radiohead - Exit Music (For a Film)

End of 1996 I went to see Baz Luhrmann's wonderful Romeo + Juliet. A great film, full of great pop/rock songs. The best came with the end credits, but I didn't know the band yet, called Radiohead (because I'm always staying to read the end credits of a film, especially when I want to know who wrote/played what music... I discovered their name only then).

So, immediately after the screening I ran out to the record store to buy the soundtrack (well that's not true because it was late in the evening and the shop would be closed anyway, but this is to make the story a bit more juicy), only to find out that this end titles track was not on it! Well, damned ...

Fortunately, a couple of months later OK Computer was released... Actually, this song was specifically written for the film, but only first released on Radiohead's new album.

So, what are we looking for? Music, songs, tracks that was/were not (necessarily) written for a film but has been used in a film where you noticed it. So, no theme music or film compositions that only exists thanks to the films or their soundtrack albums (so most Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin, etc. won't qualify), but music that also or especially has an existence (before or after the film's release) outside of the film thanks to the artist/band of your choice. No James Bond theme music, but I would allow some of those famous title songs. You see, there are rules, but in this mad house...

There are many directors who use a lot of pop and/or rock music in their films (e.g. Wim Wenders, David Lynch, Baz Luhrmann, thus... and many many others, so I don't think you will have difficulties to find something. It doesn't have to be pop or rock, but since we are on a prog rock site... (and prog is allowed). However, we also like to discover lesser known or unknown music - even if it is by known bands/artists - so if you can avoid those songs that everybody already knows (James Bond title songs, for example ), that would be better (but not an obligation).

To sum up:

- Choose one or more (up to three, four...) songs that you noticed - not necessarily discovered - in a film, but that was not - necessarily - written for that film and that as such also exists independently on a band's/artist's own releases (before or after the film's release);

- Present your choices, mentioning the film and preferably with a youtube embed (and a nice story with it, if you wish);

- After one or two weeks (or so) we will ask you to nominate one of your choices to be put up in the poll;

- Once the poll is up you can vote for three of your favourites, other than your own.

I hope I didn't forget anything. Enjoy!

Here is the playlist of the final nominations for the poll (thanks Greg!):



https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4L2fjTTZ6xeAvIjKGywcl74" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcp9fYc6K4L2fjTTZ6xeAvIjKGywcl74

A first candidate of mine, with a similar story as Radiohead's one. This song accompanies the end credits of Le cinquième élément (The Fifth Element), the 1997 film of Luc Besson, and ended up on RXRA, Eric Serra's first solo album. Serra is of course especially known for his film music (for Luc Besson, notably, but not exclusively. GoldenEye, anyone?), but this solo album is quite enjoyable.

Eric Serra - A Little Light of Love (from the film Le cinquième élément and the album RXRA, 1998)

Edit: alternative video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGv7YyFNKog" rel="nofollow - here , if the above one doesn't work...

You found the (shorter) edit for the end titles of the film. It'll do, but I chose the album version which is 7 minutes long. Maybe this is an alternative that works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGv7YyFNKog" rel="nofollow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGv7YyFNKog

Nice to see Van Halen coming up!

As I wrote in the other thread, I have little memory for what music was in films. One strange exception is Clerks, which was big fun to watch in 1994, and I realised that there was quite a bit of music in it that was different from what I usually listen to, but that I liked and made a lot of sense in the film.

Girls Against Boys - Kill the Sexplayer

And, very very different:

Michael Nyman - The Piano

And a bonus, probably too well known this one. RIP Ryuichi Sakamoto, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.

Sorry ... I can't do songs, but I will take the title cut of "Purple Rain".

Goodness ... no PURPLE RAIN yet? it is by far one of the few rock films that is actually a film and music altogether and tied beautifully, even if you don't like Prince! It is a fabulous film, and emotional makes the music from the album even stronger and richer ... no rock album has EVER come close to the quality, story and 

continuity of that film.

Ryuichi Sakamoto's soundtracks are ... amazing. though I love MCML, in many ways the music in The Sheltering Sky is fabulous, as is the music for "Little Buddha" which features some outstanding soprano pieces in classical music. I also like what he did with "The Last Emperor", for which he shared the Oscar with David Byrne ... in what was a reversal ... David did the Chinese music, and Ryuichi did the Western music for all the film! And they took home the gold! Deservedly so!

Hmmm, maybe I was not clear enough in my OP, so before we go further let me know how I can be more explicit about this:

I wrote: This is not about film music! Well, not entirely... This is more about music used in films, but that also has (had) an existence outside of that film, and by that I don't mean on the soundtrack, but on an album of the band/artist you want to bring forward.

So, I specifically wanted to exclude film scores or songs from soundtracks that only exists as or on those soundtracks (or as reference to the soundtrack). Well, I know Michael Nyman has done different versions of The Piano, as maybe did Sakamoto with Merry Christmas... but their main reference point remains the film. Prince is quite a unique case, but yes I want songs (or tracks) not a whole film score. So, with "this is not about film music" I mean that the music should have an existence otherwise. This can all be open to discussion of course, but not for this poll...

Sorry, if this complicates things. I thought it would be the other way around... I'll give another example.

From a very famous artist (and gosh, many films use his work...) and a very famous film (well, I guess...), from the album 1. Outside that appeared in 1995 and used for the opening titles and the end credits in the film Lost Highway by David Lynch, from 1997:

David Bowie - I'm Deranged:

My issue was finding things that qualify from the beginning, so the more constrained the definition, the harder it is. You may not connect to my lack of interest for the music/film connection despite loving both films and music, but honestly, I don't have a clue what was composed for the soundtrack and what wasn't, and I'm not  really interested. I thought soundtrack is what the music for films is called, be it composed specifically for the film or not. Clerks have a soundtrack CD. Were the songs on it composed for the soundtrack? Maybe not, but I don't have any idea whatsoever, and why would I care?

Lewian wrote: I thought soundtrack is what the music for films is called, be it composed specifically for the film or not.

True, but it can have an existence only as film music (and there has already been an IA poll about that), but also as an autonomous work (autonomous from the film) from the artist/band. It is this latter category that I'm aiming at. Kill the Sexplayer fits the bill since it also appeared on the Girs Against Boys album Cruise Yourself.

Sorry if you cannot connect to that. And maybe my choice of Eric Serra put you on a "wrong" track. Since there are really loads and loads of songs made by artists/bands (and not film music composers) that are used in films, I thought this would be rather open and accessible. I may be mistaken...

Sorry for repeating myself. I'm well aware that there are many and I understand what you're looking for. The thing is just, my way of watching films stands in the way of this, as I will appreciate them as integral work without normally perceiving the music as a separate entity, with the implication that I don't normally know, afterwards, what music was in the film. Which means that the fingers on one hand, maybe two, are probably enough to count the things that I even know qualify. The three things I have posted are rare exceptions in this respect. Lucky as I am,  one of them will count, so that I can participate. Well, I'm kind of ambitious now to find some others, but for the sake of this poll I just hope others have a different attitude to music in films.

Also thought of The Doors - The End and its brilliant use in Apocalypse Now. But it's just too famous to suggest here. 

David Lynch likes to use Roy Orbison in his movies, too famous again? 

I'll find some other examples soon. 

In this case, I choose a director, Nanni Moretti, who recently presented his 'Il Sol dell'avvenire' at Cannes, and I look for some songs that he has given space to in some scenes of his films.

There are also some recurring songs, in his films, that he has helped to make famous or popular, songs to which he has given a free video because, at times, he has used them to seal with music some crucial passages of the film.

Exit Music is my fave song by Radiohead....

^ Nice suggestion, but the video doesn't work for me, neither several others that I found, but https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf8g5fS_M3s" rel="nofollow - this one seems to work.

It made me think of the Piano/Cello piece Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Pärt that was used in the film Gerry by Gus van Sant, but I already presented that one in the https://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=126725&PID=5911001#5911001" rel="nofollow - Samsara poll ...

@Christian: Yes, I understand (and understood) and I regret - as you do - if this will/would limit your participation. Maybe some kind of "Aha-Erlebnis" will give something... (or suggestions by others might trigger something).

@Cristi: Well, I dared to put up something by David Bowie, not really an unknown artist...

Another one from me: This one gave actually the title to the film. It came out on Leonard Cohen's album Ten New Songs (2002) and was used by Wim Wenders in the film Land of Plenty (2004).

Leonard Cohen (with Sharon Robinson) - The Land of Plenty:

The End by The Doors is a very famous song. 

Roy Orbison - not as famous, maybe i will post a song. I've always enjoyed his music, he's much better than Elvis (who admitted at some point tried to imitate Orbison ). 

Yes, it's ok, this one:

BRIAN ENO: 

By This River

^ Nice to see this focus on Nanni Moretti's films. I was initially thinking about such a focus myself, with David Lynch, Wim Wenders or the Coen brothers as possible victims, but I let this idea go... I especially like Moretti's later films, but the music choice is generally interesting (to my ears).

Nice also to see some more (modern) classical compositions brought forward. Good for the diversity. Keep them coming!

Had a first listen to the suggestion put up so far and I quite like all of it. From the rocking tracks, of course Van Halen - wonderful band, but also Girls Against Boys (didn't know them - great bass riff!) and Extreme (great fun; don't know if I heard this song before, but I'm sure I haven't seen the film). The Veils deliver a great energetic track too, nice build-up (and a great film indeed).

I've always found Nancy Sinatra's version of Bang Bang very very moving, with that bare melancholic watery guitar...

I don't tend to get back much to the Disney animation films, but they generally have a good and efficient use of music. Didn't remember this Dukas piece, but hearing it in full, with it's narrative quality, it is no surprise it is used in cinema.

The Nanni Moretti selection is quite diverse, from the reference piece that is Jarret's Köln concert (but I never really related that much to it, somehow...), the - for me too - syrupy pop song by to the classy mambo by Yma Sumac, but from this selection I probably prefer Brian Eno's subdued By This River.

Keep them coming, if you wish. Anyway, I will be off on a trip until Thursday and probably not much online. We'll see what's been up at the end of next week to get eventually to the nominations. I'll have one or two more suggestions myself...

There are two artists that I discovered thanks to cinema in the early 2000s. One came by in the previous interactive poll, Yann Tiersen, and I may have presented the other earlier on, but I'm not sure...

Yann Tiersen gained a lot of popularity thanks to his https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA4deEZjnBA&list=OLAK5uy_lmQQgG50xt5GkVn8xwT1kq_b4a79dOQpo" rel="nofollow - soundtrack for Amélie Poulain, the film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It consists of some original material and some (partial) tracks of Tiersen's albums. The album L'absente was released in the same month as the film, the latter using this track (for the film they cut of the introductory 50 seconds...):

Yann Tiersen - A quai:

And I discovered Aimee Mann thanks to the film Magnolia, by Paul Thomas Anderson, that had several tracks of hers incorporated in his film, some of which from her album Bachelor N° 2 (Or, The Last Remains of the Dodo).

I would like to mention the "Piano Concerto in A Minor" by Robert Schumann, excerpts of which were used in the 1947 movie "Song of Love" featuring Katharine Hepburn as Clara Wieck Schumann, Paul Henreid as Robert Schumann and Robert Walker as Johannes Brahms. this anecdote is the reason I want to mention it:

@Jean: Thanks! And it was easy to find some visual "proof" of the result:

Tomorrow I'll be here.

Hi all,

I'd suggest we get to our nominations: propose one or two of your suggestions for the poll. Once all nominations done, I'll put up the poll and let you vote for three of your preferred ones.

My nominations are:

- Eric Serra - Little Light of Love (from the album RXRA and the film Le cinquième élément/The Fifth Element)

- Aimee Mann - Deathly (from the album Bachelor N° 2 and the film Magnolia

Please, wait, wait some hour that finally now I can write at home with my pc so I can listen to your proposasls! ;-)

So, yes, I agre with your choices.

^ George, you can nominate a second one, if you wish (no obligation, though).

What we have so far:

Christian: Girls Against Boys - Kill the Sexplayer (used in the fillm Clerks).
Mila: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by the French composer Paul Dukas (used in the film Fantasia) and The Veils: Nux Vomica (used in the film Il Divo).
Scott: Extreme - Play With Me (used in the film Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure)
Jean: Piano Concerto in A Minor" by Robert Schumann (used in the film Song of Love).
Greg: Nancy Sinatra - Bang Bang (used in the film Kill Bill) and Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead (used in the film The Hunger).
George: Bob Dylan - Hurricane (used in the film Dazed and Confused).
Kees: Eric Serra - Little Light of Love (from the film Le cinquième élément/The Fifth Element) and Aimee Mann - Deathly (from tthe film Magnolia).

...

Lorenzo?

^ Glad I asked...

@Mila: Strange as it may seem, for someone working in the film world, I'm not that much fan of soundtracks isolated from the film (I may have just about 20 soundtracks myself) - they rarely have the same impact for me as stand-alone works as within the film. There are of course - many - exceptions, though.

@Greg: Thanks, and yes, it would be nice if you could make a playlist; we're only waiting for Lorenzo's nominations now.

If two, 

1) Keith Jarrett

2) Brian Eno.

If one, 

Keith Jarrett

^   Jarrett and Eno it is!

Thanks to all for participating. The poll is up and open for voting.

I added the playlist to the opening post (Thanks Greg!). Regarding choice of videos, I'll leave it to those who suggested the pieces (I'm fine with it as it is - yes, I'm flexible, sometimes...).

Enjoy, and up to the next one!?

Film music is a huge treasure trove where I've discovered many gems. I think that for a start it makes sense to focus on a certain type of film music, an era or culture, etc. Sometime ago I've been looking into music for sci-fi films e.g. The film score by Bebe and Louis Barron for "Forbidden Planet" (1956) is the first entirely electronic film score, and there are countless other examples.

Keith Jarrett's music from the KOLN album was also used in Nicolas Roeg's Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession. Some might think it off some, but even The Who's song is used beautifully, and using music in films is one thing that Nicolas Roeg was excellent at and it went as far back as "PERFORMANCE" when so much music meant so much to the story and the film itself, even if some ideas might have come from Don Cammell, although that is hard to fathom, considering how Nicolas used so much music in his films.

It's sad (for me) that so many things used here were just ... not quite/exactly about the film at all! And one that is exactly what the film is about (Purple Rain) is ignored ... 

Logan wrote: For the way I approached and preferred to interpret this "Music Goes to the Movies (terrific title), I thought about individual songs that not only were not written for the movies originally but were not as central to the film as something like Purple Rain, or Tommy, The Wall, Quadrophenia (and nor would be the artists/bands as integral in the way to approach this that made the most sense to me -- the original post is quite flexible in terms of the expectations). To me that is a very different exercise. Those films exist because of the music, and I would sooner call that "Movies Go to the Music" than "Music Goes to the Movies".

Exactly!

You guys and gals should propose more bad music in these polls, because - again - it is not easy to come to a vote. My shortlist consists of half of the suggestions: Girls Against Boys, The Veils, Nancy Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Van Halen and Brian Eno...

Then, I want Van Halen to be in (they procure me always so much pleasure!) as well as Nancy Sinatra (the most touching of all), so there's one slot left. Hmm... Bob Dylan it is.

Thank you all!

Film music is music originally composed for a film, but also music compiled from existing musical sources especially for a film. The topic of this poll refers to the latter, although there are of course also mixed forms of the previously mentioned types of film scores.

The usually instrumental parts of a soundtrack accompanying a film create, among other things, a certain basic atmosphere, which we later associate with the respective film. If it is not an original composition, the instrumental music used in a film cannot necessarily be attributed to a particular composer. That was the case for me, e.g, with Keith Jarrett's track that appears in Nanni Moretti's "Caro diario". Even though I was familiar with the music back when I watched the movie, I couldn’t remember it appearing in the film. I just didn't pay much attention at the time.

It's different with songs, they create special moments in a film, like e.g. Nancy Sinatra’s ‘Bang Bang’ in Tarantino’s "Kill Bill" and other songs that I discovered thanks to a film. But either way, it's rather the well-known songs that are remembered after all. That's why it was a bit difficult for me to find something suitable for the poll.

Once again, it was not easy to make a choice from this great music selection. But now that I have to make a decision, I will eventually give my vote to the following three:

- Bauhaus: Bela Lugosi’s Dead (I’m aware of the band but I don’t know their work in detail.)

- Eric Serra: Little Light of Love (I only knew Serra as a film music composer, esp.for Luc Besson's films)

- Keith Jarrett: The Köln Concert, Part I (I had not realised that Moretti’s films had such great soundtracks. And yes, jazz has always a good chance of getting my vote.)

_______________________________

Thank you all for the music and especially for those background stories that went along with your choices!

That was an interesting poll, with a different approach to film music. Thanks a lot for hosting, Kees! 

As already said, I had my issues with this topic, but of course good thing is it didn't stop anyone else from submitting good music.

Now the best three of these were things I already knew, that's Jarrett's Koln Concert, Hurricane, my favourite Dylan track, and Bauhaus' Bela Lugosi's Dead (I see the post rock connection there, for those who follow my thread on this).

I think today I'm in the mood for classical stuff, so I'll vote for Dukas and Schumann (maybe corrupted by the fact that he may be my ancestor as explained in another thread ) and Eno (I didn't know this one even though I have quite a bit of his). The Veils and Serra, maybe also others, may work better for me on another day.