9 Of the Best Summer Soundtracks
Katy Mundy| 28th July 2015
Film soundtracks from the past and present have served up some of the most revolutionary film scores and cohesive song sets in movie history. In the spirit of this season of sunshine and hit blockbusters, here is an eclectic list of picks for the best summer movie soundtracks Hollywood has to offer – spanning from the heyday of Hitchcock to 21st century smashes such as Divergent. Enjoy!
1. Guardians of the Galaxy
There are a lot of good things about this film. Groot is one. The fact that Vin Diesel plays Groot is another. Chris Pratt is also awesome. But one of the very best things about the summer blockbuster is its soundtrack, the "Awesome Mix Vol. 1" that even factors into the plot of the movie. By some alchemical mix of the movie itself and the combined excellence of the Jackson 5, David Bowie, Redbone, and the Raspberries, this collection of music from the '70s has now spent two consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200. It's estimated to have sold 93,000 copies in the previous week (down from 109,000 the week previous), putting it firmly above the "Now 51" collection and the never-dying soundtrack. Take that, pop music
2. 500 Days of Summer
This soundtrack is a personal favourite. It plays like a mix-tape the love –struck Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) would pop his head out of the clouds to make for the blue-eyed beauty of his unrequited affection, Summer (Zooey Deschanel). It’s also a must-have on your ITunes playlist. Not only is every song independently gold; listening to the soundtrack from start to finish evokes a total retell of the film’s plot in a very pleasing manner. Like the quirky film, it fuses recent and matured tunes to scrapbook the entire relationship between the two protagonists through music; Beautiful.
3. Divergent
Divergent’s soundtrack is notable from the unexpected collaborations it offers and star power that it packs throughout. Kendrick Lamar jumps on a remix of Tame Impala’s “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards”, Gesaffelstein teams up with A$AP Rocky for a Yeezus-indebted banger “In Distress”, and there are futuristic contributions from M83 (the marvellous “I Need You”), Skrillex (“Stranger”) and Banks (“Waiting Game”). Oh, and there’s also the Chance the Rapper/Clams Casino/Pia Mia collaboration “Fight For You”. Talk about collab central!
4. Psycho
Bernard Herrmann’s arresting score in Psycho is a character in itself. Few film images are more striking than Janet Leigh’s sopping wet, pixie-cut-framed-face and screaming mouth as she faces her mid-shower slaughter, and it’s safe to say that this iconic scene is never visualized without the accompaniment of Herrmann’s razor-sharp strings.
5. A Hard Day’s Night
This mockumentary about the Fab Four features the band at the height of their popularity and includes some of the most infectious songs of their career, including “And I Love Her,” “I’m Happy Just to Dance with You,” and “All My Loving.”
6. The Parent Trap
The soundtrack to this remake of the classic, Haley Mills-starring flick makes for easy listening, but it’s also a timeless roundup of jovial tunes that deserves to be played again and again.
7. Chalet Girl
So if you haven’t seen the film, you should, well, because Ed Westwick (though it is hard to see him interested in anyone else other Blair Waldorf). One of the many things that are excellent about this film is the soundtrack. The 16 year old within was ecstatic when The Wombats (Tokyo- Vampires & Wolves) and Two Door Cinema Club made an audio appearance.
8. 50 Shades of Grey
It’s hard to find a soundtrack that is so well done and represents the film 100%. It’s evident from Lennox’s cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ “I Put a Spell on You” and the Weeknd’s “Earned It,” that the compilers of this soundtrack are using Portishead’s “Glory Box” as a blueprint for its brand of sonic erotica. This is also evident in Jessie Ware’s “Meet Me In The Middle” and even Beyonce’s slower re-reading of her classic “Crazy In Love,” in which the originally quick “oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh” portion is converted into slow, raspy, semi-orgasmic moans. (This collection contains a nice remix of Ms. Knowles’ “Haunted,” as well.) The overall tone of these tracks bring to mind strip-teases involving women wearing top-hats and lingerie. Saucy.
9. Pulp Fiction
The range of music genres is vast with happy, sad, boogie, jiggy with a bit of smooth to boot; it has everything, yet it somehow fits. My personal favourite is Flowers on the Wall, not as a song, but just how hilarious it is with that playing in the background whilst Butch sees Marcellas at the pedestrian crossing. Even if you don’t like the film (which let’s face it, is unlikely) I’d still recommend the soundtrack to anybody because personally, I like the idea of having random genres of music blurring out of my stereo one after the other…and every one a classic at that.