Rock Musicians Who Have Composed Movie Soundtracks

On Monday, a trailer for the upcoming ‘Suspiria’ remake hit the internet. The trailer, while also our first taste of the horror film, is also our first chance to hear the film’s soundtrack by Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke. Dark and jagged, Yorke’s soundtrack creates an intensifying level of suspense as the trailer comes to a head.

‘Suspiria’ is not Yorke’s first film soundtrack. He has previously provided music for indie films ‘When the Dragon Swallowd the Sun,’ ‘The UK Gold’ and ‘Why Can’t We Get Along.’

Over the years, there has been many a rock musician who has tried their hand at composing scores for motion pictures. Sometimes, it’s the whole band that works on the soundtrack, other times it’s a solo endeavor by a frontman or guitarist. Some musicians have even made second careers of composing after their bands disband.

Inspired by Yorke’s work on ‘Suspiria,’ Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is bringing you a list of rock artists who have composed film soundtracks. Here are eight artists whose scores have proved their musical flexibility.

1.       Mark Mothersbaugh: Originally a member of new-wave pioneers Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh has become a prolific composer after the band broke up in 1991. Starting Mutato Muzika two years before with other members of the band, he began writing music for television shows, commercials and movies. Some of Mothersbaugh’s most prominent film contributions were written for director Wes Anderson, including scores for the films ‘Bottle Rocket,’ ‘Rushmore,’ ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ and ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.’ This is only a fraction of his composing work, as he has also written scores for more than 80 films, including ‘Happy Gilmore,’ ‘Thirteen’ and ‘Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist,’ as well as music for video games and television.

2.       Trent Reznor: The Nine Inch Nails frontman made his mark on the film industry in 2010 when he was approached by David Fincher to score his film ‘The Social Network,’ a score which earned him both an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Since then, Reznor has written music for more films, including ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,’ ‘Gone Girl’ and ‘Sound City.’

3.       Johnny Greenwood: Thom Yorke isn’t the only Radiohead member to try his hand at film music. Guitarist Jonny Greenwood has written several film scores in his career, most notably for Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘There Will Be Blood.’ Greenwood is also an established classical composer, having written several pieces for orchestra on top of his rock and film careers.

4.       Danny Elfman: Frontman for the band Oingo Boingo for more than two decades, Danny Elfman is probably best known today for his work composing music for television and movies. Some of his most notable works have been with Tim Burton, soundtracking films like ‘Pee Wee’s Big Adventure,’ ‘Beetlejuice,’ ‘Batman,’ ‘Edward Scissorhands,’ ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas,’ though his work can be found in more than 90 films.

5.       Badly Drawn Boy: British singer/songwriter Damon Michael Gough, who performs under the name Badly Drawn Boy, is known for his lo-fi, indie-rock sound. That sound came in handy when he was asked by directors Chris and Paul Weitz to write a soundtrack for their film adaptation of ‘About a Boy’ in 2002. Gough ended up writing two more soundtracks in his career, one for 2009 made for TV movie ‘The Fattest Man in Britain’ (titled ‘Is There Nothing We Could Do?’) and 2012’s ‘Being Flynn,’ also directed by Paul Weitz.

6.       Mark Knopfler: Making a name for himself as frontman and lead guitarist for Dire Straits, recent Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Mark Knopfler has written soundtracks for several films over the course of his career. Some of his compositions include scores for ‘The Princess Bride,’ ‘Wag The Dog,’ ‘Last Exit to Brooklyn’ and ‘Metroland.’

7.       Neil Young: It’s hard to dispute that Neil Young is one of the most prolific artists of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. With more than 40 studio albums to his name, he‘s had numerous hits and has derived a reputation for doing whatever he wants with them. So it’s really no shock that Neil Young has dabbled in scoring films. His first came in 1972 when he compiled a soundtrack for the film ‘Journey Through the Past.’ Other films he has soundtracked include 1980’s ‘Where the Buffalo Roam’ and 1996’s ‘Dead Man.’ Earlier this year, he added a fourth film to his list, the Daryl Hannah-directed ‘Paradox.’

8.       Karen O: In 2009, Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman Karen O took a detour from the indie-punk she and her band are known for in order to write the soundtrack for the ‘Where the Wild Things Are.’ Calling herself Karen O and the Kids, she recruited members of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, as well as members of Deerhunter, Liars, The Dead Weather and The Raconteurs to help.

Writing movie soundtracks is not only for composers anymore. There have been many rock artists and bands that have composed music for films over the years. A handful of them have even found great success doing it. Thom Yorke’s work on ‘Suspiria’ will cement his place on this list, hopefully leading to more successes on the movie front for the Radiohead frontman.

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