Movie Soundtracks That Became Bigger That Their Source Movie

[Lone Ranger]

Can anyone remember a scene from the Big Chillother than members of the cast dancing around to Motown songs?

That is a soundtrack most of my friends had in the 80s, even though we were in our teens and many of other didn't care for the movie.

During my first trip to Louisiana, I ask many locals what record I should buy if I wanted a good tasted of Cajun and Zydeco music. The nearly unanimous answer was the soundtrack to The Big Easy. Keep in mind, this was more than 10 years after the film's release and although the movie was all but forgotten. Apparently the album was still selling briskly in Bayou country.

Others that come to mind:

Pink Floyd - Obscured By the Clouds, which is the music from some movie nobody's ever seen.

Reservoir Dogs - this CD was ubiquitous during my last couple of undergrad years. If everyone who bought the CD actually saw the movie, it would have made $100 Million.

Birdy - Peter Gabriel , Many people I know a Peter Gabriel fans and bought this to complete their collection. I doubt many have seen the movie.

What are some other soundtrack albums that ended up being bigger than the films they represent?

[howyadoin]

Good call on The Big Easy. As for me, I humbly nominate Who Made Who, the AC/DC soundtrack to Stephen King's forgettable Maximum Overdrive.

[Jessica Drew]

Soundtrack to Singles

Soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever (though this is arguable)

Soundtrack to Until the End of the World

[Ontir]

The music provided by Simon & Garfunkel for the Graduate became some of the most important music of the sixties. I don't think you'd get more than a day or two, without running across Scarborough Fair, or Mrs. Robinson in any market in America.

[Buried Alien]

The music provided by Simon & Garfunkel for the Graduate became some of the most important music of the sixties. I don't think you'd get more than a day or two, without running across Scarborough Fair, or Mrs. Robinson in any market in America.

A great soundtrack indeed, but did it overshadow the film? Apart from the terrific soundtrack, THE GRADUATE seems to have always been admired for its cinematographic and thespianship qualities (independent of its musical score) in their own right.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Ilash]

O Brother Where Art Thou seems to fit the bill, which is a pity as I consider it one of the Coen's more underrated movies.

[Lone Ranger]

I guess Ennio Morricone's soundtrack from The Mission might also quality. There was a time where I'd be hardpressed to find a friend who didn't own this CD. I am not sure how many of them actually saw the film.

The same goes for The Harder They Come - essential listening for anyone wanting to learn about reggae beyond Bob.

Aimee Mann's sountrack to Magnolia is in heavy rotation in the Ranger household (except for when Ms. Ranger is playing it in the car). I don't know if it really has much of a following, but the film never really seemed to catch fire either so this one may be a toss up.

[Shellhead]

Passion: the soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ. The movie only grossed $8 million in the U.S., but the album is critically acclaimed and probably managed to sell considerably better than the movie.

Does anybody know of a good place to find sales figues for albums? Billboard's site is limited to fairly recent data.

[SMKSPY]

The S.F.W. soundtrack is much better than the film. The Godzilla Soundtrack is also great.

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

New Jersey Drive Soundtrack

Above The Rim Soundtrack

Dead Presidents Soundtrack (bad ass movie though)

The Crow City of Angels Soundtrack.

[Royal]

The Crow City of Angels Soundtrack.

The Crow was better then CoA. CoA was definatly trying to hard and was saying "Look at the kickass OST!" rather then working with the movie.

I liked the Spawn OST.

Anything by Goblin

If it was ever published, Riz Ortolani's cataloge would still hold up.

[Royal]

The S.F.W. soundtrack is much better than the film. The Godzilla Soundtrack is also great.

the Zilla OST fell apart after the forth or fifth song and even then, most the songs were radio friendly dribble

[blackdragon6]

i second above the rim.

[nonhosonno]

Anything by Goblin

One of my favorite bands, hence the ID.

[howyadoin]

The Crow was better then CoA.

It was still a shitty movie that didn't remotely live up to the source material.