FILM MUSIC MUSINGS

 

Here is the  feature on this blog that is akin to the You Tube Film Music Cue of the Day, in that it deals, once again, with one of the great passions of my life:  FILM MUSIC.

I have a huge document called My Top Scores List in which I have picked the Top 5 Film Scores for each year since 1980 along with some commentary on my choices.

You can imagine that by now the list is fairly long and contains a lot of info that I think is blog-worthy so I'm going to start publishing excerpts from the list right here on my blog.

So,

without further ado

Here is Film Music Musings

So I just did a post on Empire magazine's 301 Greatest Movies of All Time and in the Top 10 were 4 movies that featured music by John Williams (Raiders of the Lost Ark #9, Jaws #8, Star Wars #6, and The Empire Strikes Back at #1).  The time period of the late 70s and early 80s was remarkable for John Williams as he went on an unprecedented roll of film score accolades in terms of Academy Awards and Grammy Awards.  So, for this post of Film Music Musings, I would like to chronicle those years and showcase Williams' amazing run of awards.

As a prelude of things to come, in 1975, John Williams, of course, composed the music for Steven Spielberg's Jaws which won the trifecta of scoring awards winning the Golden Globe, Grammy, and Academy Award for Best Score.
It would be just the beginning.

Grammy Awards

1977

Star Wars (Best Pop Instrumental Performance) 

Main Title from Star Wars (Best Instrumental Composition)
Star Wars (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)  

1978

Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Best Instrumental Composition) 

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture) 

1979

Main Title Theme from Superman (Best Instrumental Composition)  
Superman (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture) 

1980

The Empire Strikes Back (Best Instrumental Composition)
The Empire Strikes Back (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture) 

1981

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)
1982

"Flying" (Theme from E.T.) (Best Instrumental Composition)
E.T. (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)
"Flying" (Theme from E.T.) (Best Arrangement on an Instrumental Recording) 

Every one of these scores was nominated for an Academy Award as well as Return of the Jedi in 1983 and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in 1984 with Star Wars and E.T. winning in 1977 and 1982 respectively (both these scores also won the Golden Globe in their respective years duplicating the trifecta another two times for Williams during this time period).

Academy Award Nominations and Wins
1975 - Jaws  - Winner
1977 - Star Wars - Winner
          Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1979 - Superman
1980 - The Empire Strikes Back
1981 - Raiders of the Lost Ark
1982 - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - Winner
1983 - Return of the Jedi
1984 - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Amazingly, as seen below, Star Wars was also nominated for Album of the Year in 1977, a feat that is almost unheard of today.

Grammy Nominations

1. Star Wars (1977) (Album of the Year)
2. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978) (Best Pop Instrumental Performance)
3. Theme from Superman (Main Title) (1979) (Best Pop Instrumental Performance)
4. Yoda's Theme from The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Best Pop Instrumental Performance)
5. Yoda's Theme from The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Best Instrumental Composition)
6. Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back (1980) (Best Instrumental Composition)
7. E.T. (1982) (Best Pop Instrumental Performance)
8. Adventure on Earth from E.T. (1982) (Best Instrumental Composition)
9. Return of the Jedi (1983) (Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture)