Ever since I've been a movie buff I've always liked to buy and listen to soundtracks. I started with Hans Zimmer scores (The Rock and Crimson Tide, baby!) and OSTs to Tarantino-related or directed films (Pulp Fiction and Natural Born Killers) and have moved on from there.

It's obvious that movies have introduced me to a lot of great composers, but the fact is that there are also a lot of great bands I knew next to nothing about before I heard their music in a movie or a soundtrack album to a movie, or heard the band discussed in a movie. (BTW, I'm 18 at the moment and really got into movies at 12.)

Examples:

The Who - discovered their greatness by hearing "A Quick One While She's Away" in Rushmore.

Nine Inch Nails - Natural Born Killers and "Something I Can Never Have", mainly. Granted, I don't listen to them much, but my appreciation for Trent Reznor is now extremely high.

Creedence Clearwater Revival - one of my favorite rock bands. That helicopter scene with "Fortunate Son" that opens the 'Nam sequence in Forrest Gump has stayed with me over the years.

Booker T. & The Mg's - Get Shorty. The definition of cool.

Big Brother & The Holding Company - "Combination Of The Two" at the beginning of Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas. We were somewhere around Barstow... unforgettable. Later learned that they played with Janis Joplin.

Led Zeppelin - Almost Famous. Heard "Stairway To Heaven" mentioned in Wayne's World when I was young but didn't understand the reference. It wasn't really until I saw that deleted scene and played it with the song that I realized that these guys were just gods. I know own all but the last two Zeppelin albums.

early Elton John - of course I knew the man and his hit ballads, but the credit again goes to "Tiny Dancer" in Almost Famous for introducing me to the early great stuff. I'm not ashamed to admit that songs like "Mona Lisas & Mad Hatters" and "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" have brought tears to my eyes when played under the right circumstances.


There's tons more but those came to mind first. I'm sure I'm not the only one who this has happened to, so feel free to share!

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) has put me on to a lot of great artists.

Boy do I feel old after reading that...

Anyway, Rock 'n' Roll High School gave me my first taste of The Ramones.

Not so much a band, but a song....

I was obsessed with the song playing in the background during Bufflo Bill's p*nis tucking scene in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Took me a while to figure out who it was (I didn't have internet access until 1998) and even longer to get a copy of it. It's some band called Q. Lazzurus and the song is "Goodbye Horses". It's, to my knowledge, only available on the out-of-print soundtrack for MARRIED TO THE MOB. Johnathan Demme directed both movies, he must be a fan of the band or something.

"It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."

Elliott Smith, altough partially with help of my freshman year roommate. Now one of my favorite artists of the 90s.

The Red Elvises - I saw them in Six String Samurai, and I loved them, went out and bought CDs, and can't say enough about how wacky these guys are. They play around here once or twice a year (they tour constantly), and it's only like $8 to see them, so I get to their shows...and they are FUN!

www.redelvises.com

Beta Band and Stiff Little Fingers from High Fidelity. Two great bands that I would never have heard of otherwise.

The Dust Brothers

The Trainspotting soundtrack introduced me to some new artists, but moreso introduced me to songs I hadn't heard by artists that I didn't know I liked.

Incubus - Spawn album, I remember listening to the song by then and DJ Grey boy for days straight.

The Band - The Last Waltz

The Red Hot Chili Peppers - Tough Guys

When I heard "Miss Misery" roll over the credits of "Good Will Hunting" I knew I had to track down his album.

Me too!

I'll also throw in Air from "The Virgin Suicides" and "Vanilla Sky" made me appreciate "Kid A" a little more than I did intially.

Not a song but a style:

Before I saw the movie Pi I'd never heard any techno at all. This movie and the soundtrack opened me up to this type of music and now I have a bunch (try Amon Tobin!)

mud...

Skunk Anansie is about the only thing I liked about that horrid Kathryn Bigelow flick Strange Days. And the band's only gotten better since then. A lot better than they are in the movie.

The movie Blade had several bands I hadn't heard before that
I had to find and none of them were on the soundtrack.

Photek: "Ni-ten-ichi-ryu (Two swords technique)" off the EP "Risk vs Reward" Great drum & bass stuff, but I have to be in the mood for it.

Southside Reverb: "Go get on it"

Solitaire, etc...

Usually movie songs don't blow me away too much but the other way around. I'll listen to a song and think " man that would be perfect for this type of scene in a movie"...

Me too...there was a song on there that I LOVED and never knew what it was. Then, on a New Order downloading binge, I got "Temptation" and proceeded to dance around my room.

try Dog Day Afternoon for an excellent early Elton John song:

Amorenna (if I am spelling it right).

It opens the excellent Al Pacino film and plays for around three/three and a half minutes.

I now have a real keen image of Elton John before his glammed up period.

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Aimee Mann from Magnolia

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Sigur Ros from Vanilla Sky