Top 10 Movie Soundtrack Firsts

4. First Score Comprised Entirely by Electric Instruments

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

Legendary film score writer Bernard Herrmann’s first work after moving to America, the soundtrack for The Day the Earth Stood Still, was one of the most influential in science fiction history. The first film soundtrack to be comprised on electronic instruments, the soundtrack used electric violins, cellos, basses, two Theremins, vibraphones, and several other electric and amplified instruments. Berman also used overdubbing and tape-reversal techniques to make the soundtrack more unearthly and futuristic. The soundtrack would go on to inspire the music to many more science fiction films, including such masterpieces as Blade Runner.

3. First Hollywood Film with an All-Jazz Score

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)

The Man with the Golden Arm was a film that was destined to break all of the rules. It dealt with the forbidden topic of drug addiction, spat in the face of Hollywood censors, and used a soundtrack by blacklisted Elmer Bernstein. Bernstein decided that jazz would be the most appropriate music to help replicate the turmoil felt by a recovering heroin junkie, crafting the very first all jazz score in Hollywood history. It would give the film a chaotic, urgent feeling that would set it apart from other Hollywood productions. Afterwards, Bernstein would go on to write jazz scores for the films The Sweet Smell of Success (1957) and A Walk on the Wild Side (1962).

2. First Film Score Entirely Written By a Popular Artist

Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973)

Sam Peckinpah’s 1973 Pat Garret and Billy the Kid is considered a forgotten classic of the Western genre – one of the most famous reasons is its soundtrack, written and performed entirely by Bob Dylan. While other films had been written and made around popular music (like The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine), this was the first time that a full-length musical score was written expressly for a film by a popular artist.

Dylan was hired after country music star Kris Kristofferson, who played Billy the Kid, brought him into the film. Even though Peckinpah had (somehow) never heard of him before, he hired him on the spot when he heard Dylan’s proposed title theme. While the soundtrack album received little critical acclaim, it is remembered for spawning the classic Dylan anthem Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.

1. First All-Digital Film Soundtrack

Stop Making Sense (1984)

Nowadays, everything is digital but there was a time when digital technology was a huge innovation in the film world. The first time that a film used complete digital audio technology was the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense. Directed by Jonathan Demme, Stop Making Sense was recorded on a 24-track Sony digital recorder. The film itself would go on to be described by critics such as Leonard Maltin as one of the greatest concert films ever made.

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