The day the music died

Hi all,

For me, movie music is something of a well underrated art form. It is something that brings huge nuance to a film, indelibly underscoring an emotional moment. Motifs for heroes and villains alike, along with the movie itself. If I played you two bars of the opening theme of Indiana Jones and the Temple of doom, I can pretty much bet you’d know it blindfolded while stuck upside down in a barrel of water.

Sometimes I find composers I really love, only to find out they’ve passed away. Jerry Goldsmith being one of those. Some, like Basil Poledouris, I knew because of the movie music, but again once I started developing more of an appreciation for found that they too had gone.

Today we lost James Horner. This man brought us the music of Apollo 13, The Wrath of Khan, and the Rocketeer. This is the man who gave us Aliens. This is the man who brought us The Mask of Zorro. And losing him, the world is somehow quieter for it.

These movies would not have smacked us soundly right through our eardrums, straight into our amygdala with out him.

Godspeed Mr Horner, and thank you.

H