Cinematic Albums.
August 14, 2013 10:36 PM Subscribe
Are there any albums which have had every single song included on a movie soundtrack?
For the purposes of this question: Only full albums of original material from a single band/artist (no compilations, no singles). Only feature-length movies, no tv shows or shorts. The songs can have all been used in different films. Concert films do not count. The song has to have been actually used in the film, not on an 'inspired by' soundtrack.
If you feel like you have an album which is close, but which does not fit all the criteria for some reason, by all means mention it with the appropriate disclaimers.
For the purposes of this question: Only full albums of original material from a single band/artist (no compilations, no singles). Only feature-length movies, no tv shows or shorts. The songs can have all been used in different films. Concert films do not count. The song has to have been actually used in the film, not on an 'inspired by' soundtrack.
If you feel like you have an album which is close, but which does not fit all the criteria for some reason, by all means mention it with the appropriate disclaimers.
Response by poster: Also, I think albums which were made for a movie or movies which were made for an album should also not count (so that would rule out stuff like Purple Rain or The Wall). Basically I am looking for albums which weren't made for the purpose of being used in movies, but which ended up being used in a lot of movies, anyway.
posted by empath at 10:42 PM on August 14, 2013
posted by empath at 10:42 PM on August 14, 2013
Tommy, by The Who
The songs were all covers, but they were all used.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:02 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
The songs were all covers, but they were all used.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:02 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
I remember reading once that all of the songs from Moby's Play had been licensed for movies/TV/whatever. But I don't know if that's true, or whether all of them ended up in movies.
Man, this is a good question. I kind of feel like the best bet is some classic rock album with relatively few songs, like Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere or Led Zeppelin IV or Dark Side of the Moon.
posted by equalpants at 11:04 PM on August 14, 2013
Man, this is a good question. I kind of feel like the best bet is some classic rock album with relatively few songs, like Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere or Led Zeppelin IV or Dark Side of the Moon.
posted by equalpants at 11:04 PM on August 14, 2013
You can get a master list of soundtrack listings from IMDb's plain text files. That should be easy to search through for candidates, but it's more than I can code at 1am (plus I don't have a good list of candidate albums).
But I think this is a list of the top 15 performers who appear the most times across all film soundtracks:
posted by Monsieur Caution at 11:06 PM on August 14, 2013
But I think this is a list of the top 15 performers who appear the most times across all film soundtracks:
881 'Elvis Presley' (qv) 415 'Madonna (I)' (qv) 363 'The Beatles' (qv) 307 'The Rolling Stones' (qv) 290 'Dolly Parton' (qv) 269 'Lata Mangeshkar' (qv) 233 'Queen (I)' (qv) 212 'Asha Bhosle' (qv) 209 'Ana Belén (I)' (qv) 198 'Dean Martin (I)' (qv) 192 'Frank Sinatra' (qv) 192 'Pink Floyd' (qv) 181 'Mohammad Rafi (I)' (qv) 180 'David Bowie' (qv) 172 'Yes' (qv)I'd guess it's likely several of them have whole albums of songs that have appeared in different films.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 11:06 PM on August 14, 2013
I already tried Play and it doesn't hold up if we're strictly talking movies, some of them were only in tv, commercials, video games.
I really like this question as a challenge though, if anyone else wants to try what I'm doing is finding the band's soundtrack page on imdb and ctrl+f'ing each track name. Closest I've found so far was Radiohead's Kid A but the track Treefingers doesn't appear to have been in anything.
posted by mannequito at 11:07 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
I really like this question as a challenge though, if anyone else wants to try what I'm doing is finding the band's soundtrack page on imdb and ctrl+f'ing each track name. Closest I've found so far was Radiohead's Kid A but the track Treefingers doesn't appear to have been in anything.
posted by mannequito at 11:07 PM on August 14, 2013 [1 favorite]
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue is close. Everything but Freddie Freeloader has been in movies, and that has been on a couple tv show soundtracks. It's only 5 tracks though.
posted by aubilenon at 11:09 PM on August 14, 2013
posted by aubilenon at 11:09 PM on August 14, 2013
I was thinking there must be a Bowie album that would qualify, but I'm damned if I can think of which one. Low? I don't know enough movies.
posted by trip and a half at 11:57 PM on August 14, 2013
posted by trip and a half at 11:57 PM on August 14, 2013
Maybe this is the opposite of what you wanted to know....
From Wikipedia: The Graduate (soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by Simon & Garfunkel
Released January 21, 1968
The Graduate is an album of songs from the soundtrack of Mike Nichols' movie The Graduate, featuring many songs from the folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Released on January 21, 1968, the album was produced by Teo Macero.
posted by mule98J at 1:06 AM on August 15, 2013
From Wikipedia: The Graduate (soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by Simon & Garfunkel
Released January 21, 1968
The Graduate is an album of songs from the soundtrack of Mike Nichols' movie The Graduate, featuring many songs from the folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel. Released on January 21, 1968, the album was produced by Teo Macero.
posted by mule98J at 1:06 AM on August 15, 2013
Response by poster: Yes, that is exactly the opposite of what I was looking for.
To restate: I am looking for albums of songs which were made to be stand alone, but all of which happened to end up being used in movies. Not soundtrack albums, not albums made for movies, not movies which were made to go with an album, and not compilations of songs which were used in movies. Moby's "Play" would be a good example if all the songs actually had been used in different movies -- Moby's "I Like To Score" would not.
posted by empath at 1:20 AM on August 15, 2013
To restate: I am looking for albums of songs which were made to be stand alone, but all of which happened to end up being used in movies. Not soundtrack albums, not albums made for movies, not movies which were made to go with an album, and not compilations of songs which were used in movies. Moby's "Play" would be a good example if all the songs actually had been used in different movies -- Moby's "I Like To Score" would not.
posted by empath at 1:20 AM on August 15, 2013
Phew. This is tough. For example, take the Rolling Stones, fourth on the list of IMDB's most soundtracked artists, and their 3x Platinum album Sticky Fingers. It's the B-side that kills it.
Side 1 - 4/5 if you consider Gimme Shelter qualifies. Side 2 - only 2 or 3/5 songs used.
"Brown Sugar" - Nighthawks
"Sway" - The Millionairess
"Wild Horses" - Broken Hearts
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" - Without a Paddle
"You Gotta Move" - Gimme Shelter
"Bitch" - Jerry Maguire
"I Got the Blues" - I Got the Blues in Austin (however, this is a short)
"Sister Morphine" -
"Dead Flowers" - covered by Townes van Zandt for the Big Lebowski
"Moonlight Mile" - Moonlight Mile
posted by MuffinMan at 1:55 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
Side 1 - 4/5 if you consider Gimme Shelter qualifies. Side 2 - only 2 or 3/5 songs used.
"Brown Sugar" - Nighthawks
"Sway" - The Millionairess
"Wild Horses" - Broken Hearts
"Can't You Hear Me Knocking" - Without a Paddle
"You Gotta Move" - Gimme Shelter
"Bitch" - Jerry Maguire
"I Got the Blues" - I Got the Blues in Austin (however, this is a short)
"Sister Morphine" -
"Dead Flowers" - covered by Townes van Zandt for the Big Lebowski
"Moonlight Mile" - Moonlight Mile
posted by MuffinMan at 1:55 AM on August 15, 2013 [2 favorites]
The Wikipedia article for Play claims: "Play was the first album ever to have all of its tracks licensed for use in films, television shows, or commercials and this proved a major contributor to the album's success. This is a feat that has been accomplished by only three other artists; Celldweller, Meiko, and The Crystal Method.[citation needed]"
So I suppose Celldweller, Meiko, and The Crystal Method would be your best bet.
posted by papayaninja at 4:39 AM on August 15, 2013
So I suppose Celldweller, Meiko, and The Crystal Method would be your best bet.
posted by papayaninja at 4:39 AM on August 15, 2013
I was thinking there must be a Bowie album that would qualify, but I'm damned if I can think of which one. Low? I don't know enough movies.
I can get nine of 11 for Ziggy Stardust, missing Star and Hang on to Yourself.
posted by Infinite Jest at 5:15 AM on August 15, 2013
I can get nine of 11 for Ziggy Stardust, missing Star and Hang on to Yourself.
posted by Infinite Jest at 5:15 AM on August 15, 2013
Does the question exclude classical albums? Because if it doesn't Stanley Kubrick used a hell of a lot of classical recordings.
posted by kinetic at 5:27 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by kinetic at 5:27 AM on August 15, 2013
I think Corinne Bailey Rae's eponymous first album deserves a mention for having the majority of its songs in a single movie, Venus.
posted by janey47 at 7:14 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by janey47 at 7:14 AM on August 15, 2013
I have a few candidates - what good quick ways are people using to do checks?
posted by cashman at 8:08 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by cashman at 8:08 AM on August 15, 2013
Search on imdb by artist to see what soundtracks they've contributed to. E.g. Rolling Stones.
posted by MuffinMan at 8:35 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by MuffinMan at 8:35 AM on August 15, 2013
IIRC, my best through manual checking were The Velvet Underground & Nico, Blonde on Blonde, Tapestry, The Doors (mostly thanks to the Oliver Stone film), and Tea for the Tillerman (mostly thanks to Harold and Maude). I don't recall that any were even as close as Ziggy Stardust.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:40 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by Monsieur Caution at 9:40 AM on August 15, 2013
"Jesus Christ: Superstar" was originally only an album. Later it got made into a movie, and every song was used (albeit re-performed).
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:14 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:14 AM on August 15, 2013
"Quadrophenia" was like that, too. Originally only an album, later became a movie and all the songs were (reperformed and) used.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:15 AM on August 15, 2013
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:15 AM on August 15, 2013
I'm too embroiled in other things to check more tracks but I'd think Thriller has to be one. That or something by Stevie Wonder (Innervisions or Songs in the Key of Life). But some of the films may be lesser known black films not properly referenced on imdb.
posted by cashman at 12:31 PM on August 15, 2013
posted by cashman at 12:31 PM on August 15, 2013
I concede defeat. I tried a lot of albums last night without success. Some that were really close: MJ's Thriller and Bad, Crystal Method, Massive Attack, Portishead, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones, U2, Brian Eno, Marvin Gaye. Someone who knows him better should try Elvis, I just find it intimidating not knowing where to start. A few observations from this:
-it seems like the sweet spot, the ones that were close, were all released between late70s-late90s
-there were enough that were really close with only one or two tracks unused that I wonder if there's some record company rule against fully licensing an album, to keep people buying
-seems like there was a shift sometime around 2007 where songs were much more likely to appear in a tv show vs. a movie
posted by mannequito at 1:26 PM on August 15, 2013
-it seems like the sweet spot, the ones that were close, were all released between late70s-late90s
-there were enough that were really close with only one or two tracks unused that I wonder if there's some record company rule against fully licensing an album, to keep people buying
-seems like there was a shift sometime around 2007 where songs were much more likely to appear in a tv show vs. a movie
posted by mannequito at 1:26 PM on August 15, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mannequito at 10:42 PM on August 14, 2013