Overture

People sometimes look at me like I've lost my mind.  I don't blame them. If most people saw a guy in a station wagon blasting film score from the speakers with a big dumb grin on his face, they'd probably change lanes or at least roll up the windows.

It's like that with the genre.  Unlike more popular, "radio worthy" music, film score is not something you generally hear people bonding over at a party or even played in symphony halls, at least not on a regular basis.  But every once and a while, you make contact with someone who gets the same chills from it that you do.  Someone who appreciates it in the same way. Someone who is able to notice the distinguished nuances of the under-appreciated tapestry which enhances and validates our cinematic experience.

Appreciating orchestral movie soundtracks was not something I inherited from my folks or from a friend.  I grew up liking lots of music ranging from blues and classic rock to heavy metal and pop.  The film score genre grabbed me and pulled me to it in a unique way.  Like other people, I embraced my love by way of Star Wars.  After all, if there is one piece of film score that people know, it's probably that theme that blew people out of the back of their chairs in '77.  But I began to listen to tracks in other scenes and felt like continuing the experience even when I wasn't actively watching the movie.  I brought my CD player everywhere and always had headphones on, narrating my everyday life with tracks composed by John Williams.  It was certainly an obsession and one that provided  part of the diverse soundtrack of my teenage years.  And Williams only piqued my interest.  I had no idea what I was in store for.

I remember watching the movie Needful Things on a fall evening at age fourteen and being haunted by what I heard accompanying the images on the screen. It prompted me to take a more active role in listening and I'd go to the now archaic institutions of Tower Records or Virgin Megastore and search out the music to my favorite movies, most of them epic in nature.  And though many people may not regard it with the cultural value of opera, symphony or even the score of musicals, an emphasized appreciation is nevertheless a good thing.

Much of the background music of my life has been orchestrated by such greats as the legendary Jerry Goldsmith, David Arnold, Danny Elfman, Hans Zimmer and Howard Shore.  It got to a point where before even seeing the name of the composer in the credits or looking at the album, a few friends and I could discern composers simply by listening.  And the few people in my life that have had such an ear for score have turned me on to things I never would've thought of listening to. Many times I'd enjoy the score to a film, better than the movie itself, and I know I'm not the only one that has happened to.

So why start a blog?  Because I know there are more people out there with minds that are cinematic and imaginative.  People whose Ipods are dominated by 15 to 28 minute songs, ones that evoke every possible emotion from despair to excitement and make the listener feel like they are living through the rich and deep experiences they were meant to accompany.

Here on SCORE Bored, I'll post about recent albums/soundtracks, trends in the film score industry and any other information pertaining to the genre for lovers and up-and-coming appreciators alike.  It is my sincere hope that people will comment and contribute to discourse and debate regarding what new material is being released, even if it is something as simple as pointing out that you always liked the music that has gone along with a certain movie.  Through the course of discussion, we'll learn from each other and expose the community to just what we love so much about movie score.