Friday Random Ten

Happy Mondays - Step On
Ennio Morricone - The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly
Nick Cave - Loom of the Land
Roxy Music - Out of the Blue
Angelo Badalamenti - Twin Peaks Theme
Material - Don't Lose Control
Chris Isaak - Can't Do a Thing to Stop Me
Sorry Bomba - Porry
Lene Lovich - The Night
Pine Box Boys - Mr. Skeleton

Got a couple of great soundtrack pieces there, so what the heck--let's talk film music. My own rules for film music are simple: it should be interesting; if it isn't interesting, it should be unobtrusive; if it can't be either, then the hell with it. I suppose you can guess from this that I'm not a fan of John Williams.

Besides Morricone's western soundtracks (the pinnacle of the form, obviously), my all time favorites are the soundtracks to Z (Mikis Theodorakis) and Touch of Evil (Mancini at his best, tough and tense, before he went all soft and romantic). Among current film composers I like Carter Burwell (Fargo, The Spanish Prisoner, Miller's Crossing) and (of course) Angelo Badalamenti (David Lynch's personal composer (or so it seems)). I generally prefer film music that's film music rather than arbitrary collections of pop tunes, but within the latter category I have to give Tarantino credit for some great collections.

What sort of film music do y'all like?