The strange little piano song performed by Coraline’s Other Father was written and recorded by American alternative-rock band They Might Be Giants. It’s called “Other Father Song”. And it lasts just 28 seconds. Despite its…
Tag: soundtrack
The famous theme from The X-Files was composed by Mark Snow. But the recording’s most recognisable musical idea developed almost accidentally. Snow was experimenting with a synthesizer. He placed his elbow on the keyboard while…
The song playing at the end of The Breakfast Club is “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” by Simple Minds. The recording became one of the defining songs of 1980s cinema. But the band originally didn’t…
The famous Ghostbusters theme was written and performed by Ray Parker Jr. But its resemblance to Huey Lewis and the News’ “I Want a New Drug” led to a copyright dispute. The two recordings have…
The famous dramatic theme from Requiem for a Dream is “Lux Aeterna” by Clint Mansell. The recording was performed by the Kronos Quartet. It appeared in Darren Aronofsky’s 2000 psychological drama. But the composition later…
The beautiful instrumental music from La La Land’s planetarium scene is called “Planetarium”. It was composed by Justin Hurwitz for the 2016 musical. The recording accompanies the extraordinary sequence where Sebastian and Mia appear to…
The haunting opening music from Twin Peaks was composed by Angelo Badalamenti. But there’s something many listeners don’t realise. The famous instrumental theme has a vocal counterpart called “Falling”, performed by Julee Cruise. The music…
The disturbing opening music from American Horror Story was developed from an experimental recording created by Puerto Rican musician César Dávila-Irizarry. And here’s the surprising part. He originally made the music in 1998. That’s thirteen…
The haunting opening song from the first season of True Detective is “Far From Any Road” by The Handsome Family. It wasn’t written for the series. The recording originally appeared on the duo’s 2003 album…
The explosive guitar instrumental at the beginning of Pulp Fiction is “Misirlou” by Dick Dale and His Del-Tones. But Dick Dale didn’t originally write the melody. The composition comes from an older Eastern Mediterranean musical…
