we’re back again with even more
compositions to make our hair stand on
end
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for another top
ten iconic instrumental movie scores
much like our last list we’re only
looking at musical compositions that
were designed to be part of a movie
soundtrack
and we’re discounting the Mission
Impossible theme as it was first used
for the classic TV series and not the
movie itself
we’re also not counting Kill Bill as
it’s not an original theme if you didn’t
see a score you thought should be on the
list be sure to check out our first list
of the top ten iconic instrumental movie
scores
number 10 28 days later
and 28 weeks later if ever there was a
shining example of a score that doesn’t
immediately pound you over the head it’s
this dark and terrifying piece
composed by John Murphy during the
zombie booms early days this score is
filled with a foreboding feeling of
horrifying mystery and melancholy that
infuses the quiet yet looming piano
notes
as the track rises introducing gritty
guitars and drums there’s a mood of
creeping danger that accurately
replicates the feeling of hiding from a
pack of zombies
whether you’re Killian Murphy or Robert
Carlyle you can’t help but run when that
crescendo strikes up
number nine Star Trek the motion picture
sound familiar long before it introduced
jean-luc Picard and the next generation
this adventurous melody was leading
audiences into Star Trek’s first
cinematic for a though the score of JJ
Abrams reboot series is also dramatic
the enticing and triumphant trumpets of
the 1979 theme practically scream of
classic science fiction and the wondrous
adventures that are so synonymous with
the epic series
according to composer jerry goldsmith he
was heavily influenced by the optimistic
and epic style of the original Star Wars
theme and wanted to produce a course
that could evoke the wandering beauty of
the galaxy we’d say he did a fine job
number eight Forrest Gump as Goldsmith
did with Star Trek Alan Silvestri uses
the audible themes of wonder and
spaciousness in his score for this
comedy drama but embellishes them in a
much different way I started moving
around the music reflecting the mind of
Alabama’s favorite war hero and
ping-pong player the introductory score
for Forrest Gump gracefully meanders
across the film’s credits creating an
atmosphere of quiet mystery and
contentment
and much like our title character as the
song wanders it reaches unpredictable
Peaks fittingly it’s a mysterious and
romantic theme befitting the unknown
paths that forest finds himself on
number seven the Harry Potter franchise
this boy will be famous there won’t be a
child in that battle who doesn’t know
his name Jack
it can be fairly tricky to translate the
feeling of a fantasy series into a
musical score but if anyone can do it
it’s John Williams
and he did perfectly complementing the
plot by punctuating the action in all
the right places and inspiring mystery
and others
although known as Hedwig’s theme this
Williams composition is completely at
home as the theme for the Boy Who Lived
its opening notes are quieter than a
mouse but as enticing as the first words
of a great book as it enigmatic Li
dances across the film’s
eventually the score rises in rushing
anticipation of the action and
excitement that is expected of every
well-known John Williams composition
number six inception
hans zimmer has been making a powerful
name for himself in recent years as
Christopher Nolan’s Golden Boy composer
something this
not satisfied with creating the heart
pounding drums featured in The Dark
Knight Zimmer produced the iconic horns
that are such a standout in inception
incorporating hints of Edith Piaf’s
knowledge in a hooker – yeah
throughout Zimmer has said that he hoped
the score would feel like huge foghorns
over a city and with the electronic
flavor he’s added the mixture is
instantly compelling
while shaking seats across cinemas the
track entitled time is a slow climb to
triumphant success that drives the film
and brings us all along for the ride
number five Terminator 2 Judgment Day
gone our Brad Fidel synthesized drips of
the 1980s only to be replaced by Brad
Fidel’s lower octave bread filled
orchestral sound for the 1990s
it’s strangely fitting that the closer
to judgement day we get the more
terrifying and hopeless the terminators
music becomes
hard-hitting drums that emulate the
sounds of war and Gulf our ears leading
to a grand choir whose voices sound
eerily like pained cries what sticks
most in our minds is the clanging of
metal mixed into the soundtrack which
grows more frequent and louder as the
rise of the machines draws ever closer
the war that is not the third film
number four Schindler’s List I hear your
name goes into listening to fuel trucks
give us a moment to put our hearts back
together before we talk about this one
composed by frequent Spielberg
collaborator John Williams this
oscar-winning piece pays homage to old
world war two courses with its grieving
violin arrangements played by famed
violinist Itzhak Perlman list is an
absolute good
the list is life a tune this heroin is
not something we’d seen often before in
Williams repertoire and in fact he tried
to back out altogether after seeing the
powerful film
he told Spielberg the movie deserved a
better composer but Spielberg contended
that everyone better was already dead
and thus a classic yet melancholic
instrumental was born
number three Titanic when collaborating
on aliens composer James Horner and
director James Cameron clashed mightily
the composer therefore never expected
the brilliant director to come knocking
again but after being highly impressed
by the somber work Horner composed for
Braveheart
Cameron hired the composer to produce a
similarly tragic theme as a send-off to
the famous ship
your eyes
flying the heavenly choirs and wordless
vocalizations are spread across the
soundtrack in a graceful collection of
sad goodbyes and final solitude that was
rewarded with a well deserved Oscar and
yes
Horner wrote that song as well
number two the Pirates of the Caribbean
franchise
if the thirst for adventure doesn’t
immediately hit you upon hearing this
soundtrack you’re clearly not listening
very well with bellowing crescendos
occurring without warning at a moment’s
notice this grand and epic score
inspires a rush of adrenaline in the
hearts of any would-be pirate you will
always remember this is the day that you
almost caught captain Jack Sun glorious
in tone and greatly befitting a
swashbuckling romp through the Caribbean
the score is a collaboration between
Hans Zimmer Klaus Vidal and a team of
several composers but you could say they
all pirated Zimmer stone a little bit
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions first up is
Kirkland they keep everything open and
allow indexes and their Apache
configuration so little W get magic is
all that’s necessary to download the
entire Kirkland Facebook
you
number one et the extra-terrestrial and
the award for most entries on this list
goes to John Williams duh the heart and
soul of the movie the et theme is filled
with majesty and a magical tone that
emulates the atmosphere of this beloved
blockbuster in an era of other iconic
Williams compositions like Star Wars and
Indiana Jones ET score is another that
reminds us of our childhood and takes us
back to a golden age in Hollywood
fitting perfectly into the film and
highlighting its themes and emotions
it’s a dreamlike Fantasy montage of
music whose beauty stems purely from
healthy imagination
while not as dramatic as others on this
list the oscar-winning score from ET is
a perfect addition to a phenomenal
family film
do you agree with our list what other
instrumental scores have we missed
for more musical top 10s published every
day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
you
compositions to make our hair stand on
end
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for another top
ten iconic instrumental movie scores
much like our last list we’re only
looking at musical compositions that
were designed to be part of a movie
soundtrack
and we’re discounting the Mission
Impossible theme as it was first used
for the classic TV series and not the
movie itself
we’re also not counting Kill Bill as
it’s not an original theme if you didn’t
see a score you thought should be on the
list be sure to check out our first list
of the top ten iconic instrumental movie
scores
number 10 28 days later
and 28 weeks later if ever there was a
shining example of a score that doesn’t
immediately pound you over the head it’s
this dark and terrifying piece
composed by John Murphy during the
zombie booms early days this score is
filled with a foreboding feeling of
horrifying mystery and melancholy that
infuses the quiet yet looming piano
notes
as the track rises introducing gritty
guitars and drums there’s a mood of
creeping danger that accurately
replicates the feeling of hiding from a
pack of zombies
whether you’re Killian Murphy or Robert
Carlyle you can’t help but run when that
crescendo strikes up
number nine Star Trek the motion picture
sound familiar long before it introduced
jean-luc Picard and the next generation
this adventurous melody was leading
audiences into Star Trek’s first
cinematic for a though the score of JJ
Abrams reboot series is also dramatic
the enticing and triumphant trumpets of
the 1979 theme practically scream of
classic science fiction and the wondrous
adventures that are so synonymous with
the epic series
according to composer jerry goldsmith he
was heavily influenced by the optimistic
and epic style of the original Star Wars
theme and wanted to produce a course
that could evoke the wandering beauty of
the galaxy we’d say he did a fine job
number eight Forrest Gump as Goldsmith
did with Star Trek Alan Silvestri uses
the audible themes of wonder and
spaciousness in his score for this
comedy drama but embellishes them in a
much different way I started moving
around the music reflecting the mind of
Alabama’s favorite war hero and
ping-pong player the introductory score
for Forrest Gump gracefully meanders
across the film’s credits creating an
atmosphere of quiet mystery and
contentment
and much like our title character as the
song wanders it reaches unpredictable
Peaks fittingly it’s a mysterious and
romantic theme befitting the unknown
paths that forest finds himself on
number seven the Harry Potter franchise
this boy will be famous there won’t be a
child in that battle who doesn’t know
his name Jack
it can be fairly tricky to translate the
feeling of a fantasy series into a
musical score but if anyone can do it
it’s John Williams
and he did perfectly complementing the
plot by punctuating the action in all
the right places and inspiring mystery
and others
although known as Hedwig’s theme this
Williams composition is completely at
home as the theme for the Boy Who Lived
its opening notes are quieter than a
mouse but as enticing as the first words
of a great book as it enigmatic Li
dances across the film’s
eventually the score rises in rushing
anticipation of the action and
excitement that is expected of every
well-known John Williams composition
number six inception
hans zimmer has been making a powerful
name for himself in recent years as
Christopher Nolan’s Golden Boy composer
something this
not satisfied with creating the heart
pounding drums featured in The Dark
Knight Zimmer produced the iconic horns
that are such a standout in inception
incorporating hints of Edith Piaf’s
knowledge in a hooker – yeah
throughout Zimmer has said that he hoped
the score would feel like huge foghorns
over a city and with the electronic
flavor he’s added the mixture is
instantly compelling
while shaking seats across cinemas the
track entitled time is a slow climb to
triumphant success that drives the film
and brings us all along for the ride
number five Terminator 2 Judgment Day
gone our Brad Fidel synthesized drips of
the 1980s only to be replaced by Brad
Fidel’s lower octave bread filled
orchestral sound for the 1990s
it’s strangely fitting that the closer
to judgement day we get the more
terrifying and hopeless the terminators
music becomes
hard-hitting drums that emulate the
sounds of war and Gulf our ears leading
to a grand choir whose voices sound
eerily like pained cries what sticks
most in our minds is the clanging of
metal mixed into the soundtrack which
grows more frequent and louder as the
rise of the machines draws ever closer
the war that is not the third film
number four Schindler’s List I hear your
name goes into listening to fuel trucks
give us a moment to put our hearts back
together before we talk about this one
composed by frequent Spielberg
collaborator John Williams this
oscar-winning piece pays homage to old
world war two courses with its grieving
violin arrangements played by famed
violinist Itzhak Perlman list is an
absolute good
the list is life a tune this heroin is
not something we’d seen often before in
Williams repertoire and in fact he tried
to back out altogether after seeing the
powerful film
he told Spielberg the movie deserved a
better composer but Spielberg contended
that everyone better was already dead
and thus a classic yet melancholic
instrumental was born
number three Titanic when collaborating
on aliens composer James Horner and
director James Cameron clashed mightily
the composer therefore never expected
the brilliant director to come knocking
again but after being highly impressed
by the somber work Horner composed for
Braveheart
Cameron hired the composer to produce a
similarly tragic theme as a send-off to
the famous ship
your eyes
flying the heavenly choirs and wordless
vocalizations are spread across the
soundtrack in a graceful collection of
sad goodbyes and final solitude that was
rewarded with a well deserved Oscar and
yes
Horner wrote that song as well
number two the Pirates of the Caribbean
franchise
if the thirst for adventure doesn’t
immediately hit you upon hearing this
soundtrack you’re clearly not listening
very well with bellowing crescendos
occurring without warning at a moment’s
notice this grand and epic score
inspires a rush of adrenaline in the
hearts of any would-be pirate you will
always remember this is the day that you
almost caught captain Jack Sun glorious
in tone and greatly befitting a
swashbuckling romp through the Caribbean
the score is a collaboration between
Hans Zimmer Klaus Vidal and a team of
several composers but you could say they
all pirated Zimmer stone a little bit
before we unveil our top pick here are a
few honorable mentions first up is
Kirkland they keep everything open and
allow indexes and their Apache
configuration so little W get magic is
all that’s necessary to download the
entire Kirkland Facebook
you
number one et the extra-terrestrial and
the award for most entries on this list
goes to John Williams duh the heart and
soul of the movie the et theme is filled
with majesty and a magical tone that
emulates the atmosphere of this beloved
blockbuster in an era of other iconic
Williams compositions like Star Wars and
Indiana Jones ET score is another that
reminds us of our childhood and takes us
back to a golden age in Hollywood
fitting perfectly into the film and
highlighting its themes and emotions
it’s a dreamlike Fantasy montage of
music whose beauty stems purely from
healthy imagination
while not as dramatic as others on this
list the oscar-winning score from ET is
a perfect addition to a phenomenal
family film
do you agree with our list what other
instrumental scores have we missed
for more musical top 10s published every
day be sure to subscribe to
watchmojo.com
you
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