A political take ... Dead Prez sampled Planet of the Apes in their Orwellian track Animal in Man
Soundtracks and musical scores fit a specific purpose. However, what I find interesting are scores that go beyond their specific purpose and take on multiple lives.
Film soundtracks have always had the power to impact culturally. From the obvious: Ennio Morricone's theme to the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, or dialogue from Scarface - to the less obvious: Wes Anderson reusing Sven Libaek's Shark Theme in the Life Aquatic (a score that in turn found itself on a Volvo Advert).
Using a film sample or being under the influence of a score will almost always result in the adjective "cinematic" being used to describe a band's sound. It's a rich tradition in hip-hop, rock and dance, and I enjoy the approximation and interpolation of movies and music.
Planet of the Apes has provided plenty of inspiration. Dead Prez sampled part of the dialogue, "Man is evil, capable of nothing but Destruction!" for their track Animal in Man. Da Lench Mob made a 1994 concept album called Planet of da Apes. Jerry Goldsmith's Planet of the Apes soundtrack is iconoclastic - dark and futuristic, with allegories to riots, racial unrest and anti-war demonstrations. UNKLE and Cornelius both fell under the spell of the soundtrack and movie, making their own interpretations from dialogue and music samples. It seems Planet of the Apes will be forever a sample goldmine, and Goldsmith has always been ripe for sampling, as Daft Punk proved when they took track Rec Room from the score Capricorn One.
Since Michael Jackon put Vincent Price onto thriller, many others have been sourcing the sounds of horror to great effect. Gorillaz interpolated samples of music and dialogue from George A Romero's "Dead" zombie series, taking Dark Earth from the Dawn of the Dead soundtrack as their lead sample in Demon Days and referencing the dialogue: "Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills! The people it kills get up and kill!" in the video for Clint Eastwood. Using samples from Dawn of the Dead as a social commentary on modern Britain is nothing less than genius.
So it should be no surprise that Justice based their Phantom around a score sample by Italian musos Goblin. They (scored the European release of Dawn of the Dead), and composed supernatural-sounding electronic-themed soundtracks for the disturbing horror movies of director Dario Argento in the late 1970s. Their dark electronic music has inspired many other bands such as M83 in Before the Dawn Heals Us, and more directly in A Quiet Village, which is heavily indebted to Goblin's Patrick (from the movie of the same name).
Composer David Shire provided inspiration with The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The Conversation, and All the Presidents Men - uptight, funky and paranoid scores that have become staples for DJs. Justice reinterpreted Shire's Night on Disco Mountain, from Saturday Night Fever, into their own fantastic track, Stress.
Another film soundtrack that has taken inspiration beyond its original purpose is Alain Goraguer's score to Fantastic Planet (an utterly bizarre psychedelic cartoon about the human-like Oms and their quest for freedom from the superhuman Draags). Air acknowledged Alain Goraguer's lush, funk-ridden, orchestral score as an inspiration for Virgin Suicides (indeed, some songs almost sound like covers). Madlib (as his alter-ego Quasimoto) also found inspiration here for The Unseen.
Take the recent soundtrack work of the RZA. From Kill Bill to Ghost Dog, his minimal and industrial themes work fantastically against the backdrop of a dark urban landscape. The Wu Tang have always used movie samples as inspiration and provide the best example of sample and score influence. Score and samples from kung fu movies have always informed the hip-hop aesthetic, but the Wu Tang have made it their own. The juxtaposition of kung fu movie samples and old soul beats still is a compelling listen.
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