Article by Travis Elder
Posted December 2, 2017
ScoreCues YouTube Channel Playlist - 1993 - Best Film and Television Scores
By accident I got
into listening to scores. As a young
teen in 1989, I bought the soundtrack to Batman. I ended up with Danny Elfman's score. I figured it would make good bed time
listening. Little did I know that this
"bedtime" album would be my introduction to a musical artform I would
come to appreciate for the next thirty years and counting.
Back then, discovering new scores was nothing like today.
It was much harder. At first, my
selection was limited to the few cassettes I could afford and the rare movie I
caught that let me hear the score in context.
One day, I discovered a gold mine of new scores at my local library, The Orem Public Library, in Orem,
Utah. I checked out dozens. For the first time, I had access to a literal library of scores. Along
the way, I discovered works such as Basil Poledouris's Conan, James Horner's
Star Trek II, and Jerry Goldsmith's Rambo.
I can still remember listening to James Horner's Star Trek II and
wondering what happened to the awesome Star Trek theme from the first
movie? Needless to say, I was hooked.
Before long I got a
job and could afford to buy more scores.
I remember going to a Sam Goody in 1993 at the University Mall and making a big purchase of
CDs that included Total Recall, The Last of the Mohicans,
and 1492: Conquest of Paradise. During that same time, I discovered a local,
specialty CD shop, Crandall Audio. In
addition to carrying a decent-sized film score section, they also had a feature
that none of the big box stores had at the time: previewing albums before
purchasing. This was revolutionary. Simply select a shrink-wrapped CD, and give it to the clerk who would then open the disc, and
pop it in a CD player at a listening station.
It was great. I remember seeking
out and finding Toto's Dune, which I still have in my collection today.
Fast forward about
thirty years to the digital streaming age, and
discovering great music scores has never been easier. Several years ago I started a YouTube channel to collect my favorite film, television, and video game score cues in a variety of playlists, which currently number over 300. These playlists fall into four main categories:
Best
of by Year (1976-2021)
Essentials
Works by Composer (John Williams, James Horner, Jerry Goldsmith, Danny
Elfman, Hans Zimmer, and more)
Themed
Playlists (Action, romance, minimalism, piano, great themes, sports, Star
Trek, comic books, and more)
Franchise Highlights (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Terminator, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Battlestar Galactica, James Bond, Batman, and many more)
Some of the most popular playlists (as of October 2021) on the channel include Best of Hans Zimmer Action Set Pieces, Best of Basil Poledouris, Best of Alan Silvestri, Best of Jerry Goldsmith, Best of John Powell, Best of Harry Gregson-Williams, Best of Danny Elfman, Best of Brian Tyler, Best of Phillip Glass, and Best of Mark Isham. Give these and many more a spin today.
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Thanks for sharing!