Soundtracks Are a Good Way to Discover New Music
There are plenty of ways to find new music. Some are more efficient than others. Let’s talk about soundtracks. Soundtracks can be a good source of new songs and bands that you never heard before. It’s not the most reliable or fast way to discover new stuff, but it is one of the more interesting ways. And it definitely works. Why?
Because soundtracks are made of selected songs that are typically some of the very best songs a band or an artist has. So you are already given a great track to begin with. Plus these songs are tied a scene and the music is enhanced by the visuals. So the impact of the track is even bigger.
Once you hear something in a movie you build a connection to that tune. Both through the audio itself and through the visuals and the mood of the film.
I personally discovered plenty of awesome bands and songs by just watching movies and TV shows. A great film will always have at least one awesome song. And with TV series – they can offer even more!
Soundtracks in Movies
Soundtracks are a vital part of a great movie. As a person who has watched thousands of films and tons of TV shows over the years I can assure you – a great soundtrack can make even a mediocre movie better. The music in a movie and a particular scene is such an integral part of how we feel about what we are watching. It’s hard to underestimate its role.
Be it a stand alone song by a recognizable artist or an original score composed specifically for a scene, the soundtrack can make all the difference. You will either love it and that movie moment will stay in your head forever. Or you will just forget it and never think about it.
And you never know when exactly in the movie a great song will pop up. The director can place it anywhere, literally. It can be used in an important scene, or it can play during the end credits.
For example, let’s take a look at this moment from Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 hit Reservoir Dogs. It’s a pretty gruesome scene, but the song chosen by the director is very light hearted. You would think it’s a bad match. But it works perfectly. It’s a great way to balance the whole sequence, making it strikingly shocking and memorable.
This is “Stuck in the Middle with You” performed by Stealers Wheel.
And here’s another example of an excelling song. But this time the director chose to put it during the end credits. This is “Miss Misery” by Elliott Smith from the movie Good Will Hunting (starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Robin Williams).
How To Use Movie Soundtracks
As I have pointed out, movie soundtracks can be a nice way to discover new music. All you have to do is to watch your favorite genre or movies with your favorite actors and eventually you will stumble upon songs that catch your attention.
Then you just look up the name of the song and who performed it. I went into detail on How to Find a Song Name From a Movie here, so check it out if you wish. Once you identifies the song, it’s super easy after that:
- I recommend researching that artist and their discography. The chances are they have made more of the songs similar to the one you enjoyed in the film. Who knows – you might discover your new favorite band this way. Or at least more cool songs to listen.
- After you’ve checked the artist, and heard their songs, you can always read more about their music genre. This will lead you to other prominent bands in that genre, and more opportunities to find new beautiful songs.
As you can see this is like a rabbit whole. But I promise you, the journey is worth the reward.
Soundtracks in TV Shows
TV shows give even more opportunities to find an interesting composition, just because they are much longer and can have dozens of episodes. Each with a potential hidden musical gem.
Just like with movies the soundtrack is an important part of a great TV show. A nicely selected song can enhance the whole scene or even the entire episode.
Once you noticed that that the show you like has several tunes that caught your attention, you can be sure that you will hear more of that in other episodes as well. In my experience the directors / creators of the show either realize that soundtracks are really important, and thus select the songs carefully. Or they don’t focus on the soundtrack that much at all.
Examples of Great Soundtracks
There are literally hundreds of great films and TV shows. And many of them feature memorable and beautiful soundtracks. I might create a separate playlist of Best Soundtracks at some point, but for now I will give a couple of shows and movies that stand out as a great source of cool tunes.
From Movies
You can’t go wrong with any of these films in terms of good music: Pulp Fiction, The Crow, Gone in 60 Seconds, Guardians of the Galaxy, Blade, The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Forrest Gump, Full Metal Jacket, Drive.
From TV Shows
TV Shows like House MD, Lucifer, True Detective, Suits had many great songs featured in various episodes. You can watch any of these and rest assured the music there is top notch. Here are some of them:
Far From Any Road by The Handsome Family from True Detective (Season 1)
My Body Is A Cage by Peter Gabriel from House M.D. (Season 7)
The Unforgiven (piano cover of the song by Metallica) from Lucifer.
WARNING: Possible Spoilers Alert!
Looking Too Closely by Fink from Suits (Season 4).
How To Find Great Soundtracks
My personal approach is this. I think about my favorite movies and then who directed them. Typically there will be several movies by the same directors. Is it just a coincidence? Not really. Of course, it has a lot to do with how each director makes their films. But there’s a pattern in how they select soundtracks for their work. So just watch more of your favorite directors.
It seems that some directors simply excel in this department. For example Quentin Tarantino is well known for his great musical taste. All of his movies feature wonderful hits, that often become iconic.
You can also check your favorite TV series. Just search “Name of your TV show” with soundtrack on YouTube, and play it on the background.
One more source if truly cool songs is movie trailers. The film industry seemed to realize that a creatively picked song can generate much buzz around the new movie. So they often use famous songs, or covers. Here’s a great example of such trailer. It’s Batman (2022) with “Something In The Way” by Nirvana in it.
Conclusion
Finding hidden music gems through movie soundtracks is fun. You get to watch and enjoy great films and you pick up amazing songs along the way. A win-win situation for sure. And don’t forget to watch the opening and end-credits, as they sometimes hid some of the best songs.
