# Great Sci-Fi Soundtracks



## Clockworkbot (Mar 10, 2016)

Hi all

Recently I randomly downloaded the Blade Runner Soundtrack (by Vangelis) and I've been hooked on it - something about the eerie synth mixed with the samples from the film and random period/world influences make it brilliantly evocative of classic sci fi. 

Has anyone got recommendations for other good sci fi soundtracks? For some reason I massivle enjoy listening to it whilst reading/working/walking around the city at night, as rain falls....


----------



## Carolyn Hill (Mar 10, 2016)

I saw the title of your thread and jumped in to say _Bladerunner_ -- which doesn't help.


----------



## Brian G Turner (Mar 10, 2016)

Hans Zimmer is a modern favourite, especially the soundtrack to _Inception_.


----------



## J Riff (Mar 10, 2016)

There's plenty, and there are comps on YouTube of scfi/monster themes that are fun. It's also fun to sAmple the actual soundtrack from the movie - try the first ten min. of _Alien _for ex. It sounds great with the odd sound fx in there. Wall-E has some stuff. Mainly soundtrax are made to more or less dissapeaR, as in no strong melodies or clear-cut chords... so's not to distract, so they try to create mood n' atmosphere, which can be great b/g music for writing. What else is out there I dunno but the military drum section of_ Aliens_ is very cool too.


----------



## ralphkern (Mar 10, 2016)

Bear Mccreary does some excellent ones. He did many of the BSG tracks.


----------



## Rodders (Mar 11, 2016)

Great topic. 

You can't talk soundtracks without mentioning John Williams. My favourite is the Empire Strikes Back. Beautiful. 

Also, I'm into synth music anyway so I would third Balde Runner, but also add the Terminator by Brad Fiedel and Escape from New York by John Carpenter. 

The Aliens soundtrack by James Horner was pretty cool, too.


----------



## Zoe Mackay (Mar 11, 2016)

Not a film, but many of the Christopher Franke compositions for Babylon 5 are excellent.


----------



## Droflet (Mar 11, 2016)

James Horner again, Star Trek 2.


----------



## BAYLOR (Mar 11, 2016)

The music from the original Outer Limits


----------



## Clockworkbot (Mar 11, 2016)

Great stuff. I feel like there are almost a couple of categories - the original classical score type soundtracks, a la John Williams and Zimmer (bit of a cliche but Gladiator is a favourite of mine there) - and the the more synthy ones. @Rodders will check out Terminator and EFNY, thanks.

And...man, the Blade Runner music is so good. Any favourite tracks? I'm torn between 'Blush Response' and 'Memories of Green'...


----------



## Vaz (Mar 11, 2016)

Tom Twyker The Cloud Atlas soundtrack is beautiful, also yes Hans Zimmer especially his Interstellar soundtrack.


----------



## Rodders (Mar 11, 2016)

Tangerine Dream's soundtrack to Legend was pretty good and Stepehen King's Fire Start is excellent. Showing my age somewhat, but I have the LP's at home.

Rocky Horror Picture Show.  (That must count as an SF soundtrack.)

A guilty pleasure is Silent Running. Especially the bit where Lowell is preparing his food and the camera pulls back to reveal the Valley Forge. Wonderful piece of music.


----------



## Brian G Turner (Mar 11, 2016)

Robert Mackay said:


> Not a film, but many of the Christopher Franke compositions for Babylon 5 are excellent.



Found it really hard to get these. 

Also, a personal fave - Basil Poledouris. His soundtrack to the original _Conan the Barbarian_ is without equal, but his _Starship Troopers_ is pretty decent, too.


----------



## Jennifer L. Carson (Mar 11, 2016)

Brian Turner said:


> Hans Zimmer is a modern favourite, especially the soundtrack to _Inception_.


I second Hans Zimmer. I check out everything he does.  And Inception is fantastic.  I do a lot of writing to that one.


----------



## Jennifer L. Carson (Mar 11, 2016)

Rodders said:


> Tangerine Dream's soundtrack to Legend was pretty good and Stepehen King's Fire Start is excellent. Showing my age somewhat, but I have the LP's at home.
> 
> Rocky Horror Picture Show.  (That must count as an SF soundtrack.)
> 
> ...


----------



## ratsy (Mar 11, 2016)

I really need to start using some of this while I write. I either just put on random classical, or something like indie folk really low.


----------



## Jennifer L. Carson (Mar 12, 2016)

I love to write to music, too Ratsy. Really gets me in that altered states zone. 

I have several writing playlists.  
I have the generic Writing one where I just dump stuff that I like.  I talked above about getting music from TV shows.  Civil Twilight's song Letters from the Sky I got off some TV show...but can't remember which. It and the song Human have been on over 25 broadcasts. Another group I discovered via TV that I like to write to is Thirty Seconds to Mars.  I looked them up after seeing a commercial for the Arrow and Flash tv shows (if you want to see it: 



).  That song was Birth, but I like others of theirs even more.

Then I have the Writing Fighting which has more aggressive music. It's not from any soundtrack that I know of, but I like Nox Arcana's Highland Storm and Steeds of Thunder.  Heather Alexander does a great one called March of Cambreadth, which has the lyric line of "How many of them can we make die"-- Nice rousing music for a good fantasy fight scene.  

And I have Writing Romance, which has a lot of Lorena McKennit in it. I especially like The Visit album.  She did one of the hits on a Highlander soundtrack, too. The song Bonny Portmore is just gorgeous.  My latest discover is For King and Country, Proof of Your Love.  

I have a couple of other playlists, but you get the idea.


----------



## Rodders (Mar 16, 2016)

Robert Mackay said:


> Not a film, but many of the Christopher Franke compositions for Babylon 5 are excellent.



I have two of these in my collection somewhere and you're right, they were superb.

I never got around to collecting the others.

I also think that Kevin Kiner's doing a great job of the Clone Wars soundtrack. He has some big shoes to fill and he's filling them nicely. I don't want to sound morbid, but do you think it's succession planning by Lucasfilm?


----------



## Jennifer L. Carson (Mar 16, 2016)

Oh yeah, Last of the Mohicans is a great emotional sound track to write to. It's been a staple of mine for years.


----------



## Vince W (Mar 16, 2016)

Superman: The Movie soundtrack by John Williams. I bet you're humming the main theme right now.


----------



## BAYLOR (Mar 21, 2016)

*The Day After  *has a great music soundtrack.


----------



## Bugg (Mar 21, 2016)

Rodders said:


> You can't talk soundtracks without mentioning John Williams. My favourite is the Empire Strikes Back. Beautiful.



My favourite is the soundtrack for the first movie, but it's splitting hairs, really.  He went on an amazing run from the mid-70s to the mid-80s: Jaws, Star Wars (all three), Close Encounters, Superman, Raiders/Temple of Doom, ET . . . 

Jerry Goldsmith did some of my faves, too: Star Trek TMP, Alien, Total Recall, Capricorn One.


----------



## Clockworkbot (Mar 21, 2016)

There is probably a separate thread in the works for great game soundtracks, but I booted up Homeworld: Remastered a bit yesterday and was reminded how good that is - perfectly captures the overblown, slightly retro space opera vibe.


----------



## BAYLOR (Apr 1, 2016)

*The Black Hole* has a soundtrack that is haunting and absolutely hellish.


----------



## dask (Apr 1, 2016)

Danny Elfman's Batman music.


----------



## Dan Jones (Apr 1, 2016)

No-one's mentioned the original _Ghostbusters_ movie. That film had some *phat choons *goin' on.

Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr
Cleanin' Up The Town - BusBoys
Savin' The Day - Alessi Brothers (my favourite)
In The Name of Love - Thomson Twins
I Can Wait Forever - Air Supply
Hot Night - Laura Branigan
Magic - Nick Smiley

And the score was pretty cool as well.


----------



## the_evil_ted (Apr 2, 2016)

Some Favs (will try to keep them sci-fi and avoid honourable mentions above)

Alan Silvestri: Back to the Future, Beowulf and What Lies Beneath
Alexandre Desplat - Zero Dark Thirty, did Godzilla too but not so keen
Brian Tyler: 30 Days of Night, Far Cry 3
Christopher Young - Hellraiser
Clint Mansell - the Fountain (Doom's not bad either)
Zimmer... Modern Warfare, Batman Tril, Inception, Interstellar, Spidey 2, Chappie, Man of Steel, Madagascar, Last Samurai, Lion King, Black Hawk Down, Pirates Saga, Prince of Egypt, 
David Arnold - Stargate
Graeme Revell - Riddick
Greg Edmonson & Joss Whedon - Firefly
Henry Jackman - XMen First Class & Winter Soldier
Harry Gregson-Williams - Armageddon, Wolverine
James Horner - Avatar, Sneakers, Bicentenial Man 
James Newton Howard - Blood Diamond, I Am Legend, Hunger Games 2, Sixth Sense
Jamin Winans - Ink
Jason Graves&James Hannigan - Dead Space 3
Jerry Goldsmith - Legend, Total Recall,
John Carpenter - the Thing
John Ottman - XMen Days of future PAst
Jogn Paesano - Daredevil - Maze Runner
John Powell - Jumper
John Williams - A.I. / Superman, 
Michael Giacchino - Jupiter Ascending, Star Trek, Lost, 
Murray Gold - Doctor Who Series 5 (I am the Doctor...)

Ack, wife home. Will return....


----------



## dask (Apr 2, 2016)

Let us not forget Bernard Herrmann's music for *The Day The Earth Stood Still *and *Fahrenheit 451*.


----------



## the_evil_ted (Apr 2, 2016)

Excellent mention! Hitchcock's go to man!

Just wanted to add Steve Jablonsky, his work on the Gears of War series is fab, and despite the films not being as good as their music - I think the Transformers' scores are great and of course - Ender's Game is superb and great for writing too. 

Steven Price - for Gravity.

Thomas Newman for Wall-E

and Tom Holkenborg aka Junkie XL - Fury Road


----------



## dask (Apr 2, 2016)

Man, where have we all been? No one has yet mentioned Jerry Goldsmith's envelope-pushing soundtrack to *Planet Of The Apes*!


----------



## WaylanderToo (Apr 2, 2016)

well not sci-fi but it is genre....


"Good Times" by INXS and Jimmy Barnes – 3:49
"Lost in the Shadows (The Lost Boys)" by Lou Gramm – 6:17
"Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" by Roger Daltrey – 6:09 (Elton John/Bernie Taupin)
"Laying Down the Law" by INXS and Jimmy Barnes – 4:24
"People Are Strange" by Echo & the Bunnymen – 3:36 (The Doors)
"Cry Little Sister (Theme from _The Lost Boys_)" by Gerard McMann – 4:46
"Power Play" by Eddie & the Tide – 3:57
"I Still Believe" by Tim Cappello – 3:42 (The Call)
"Beauty Has Her Way" by Mummy Calls – 3:56
"To the Shock of Miss Louise" by Thomas Newman – 1:21
all from The Lost Boys


Blade - Blood Disco scene


----------



## WaylanderToo (Apr 2, 2016)

and how's about this for a great piece of sci-music....


----------



## the_evil_ted (Apr 2, 2016)

Lost Boys has to be one of the best 'complete soundtracks' of the 80s, if not since the 80s.

And how could I ever forget the opening credits to this!!!!


----------



## WaylanderToo (Apr 2, 2016)




----------



## the_evil_ted (Apr 3, 2016)




----------



## Rodders (Apr 3, 2016)

Great shout with the V soundtrack.


----------



## Frost Giant (Apr 7, 2016)

Heavy Metal (1981)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)


----------



## Peter Farrell (Apr 18, 2016)

Anything by John Carpenter.


----------



## BAYLOR (Apr 18, 2016)

*Predator  * has a great soundtrack


----------



## REBerg (Apr 18, 2016)

ralphkern said:


> Bear Mccreary does some excellent ones. He did many of the BSG tracks.


Haunting.


----------



## BAYLOR (Apr 26, 2016)

*War of the Worlds* 1953


----------



## Sigfrid von Shrink (Apr 26, 2016)

Interstellar (Zimmer) for me!


----------



## Foxbat (Apr 26, 2016)

For me, the best is still Richard Strauss' _Also Sprach Zarathustra _used in 2001


----------

