Male, age 43. Goldsmith's score to "Star Trek - The Motion Picture" turned me into a soundtrack addict (thanks, Jerry). I went to see that movie at the theater about 7-8 times just to hear the score. I was flabbergasted to see the score released on record (I had no idea they made records of movie music at that time). Like many people, I started with Goldsmith and big-action sci-fi/fantasy scores of the time, like Krull, Close Encounters, Outland, Twilight Zone - The Movie, Road Warrior, Dark Crystal, Brainstorm, etc. (That was a great time period for that type of score, being on the heels of Star Wars). In the early 1990's I ventured into Morricone and I didn't think much of him at first, but then he turned into my favorite composer and has been since then, though I still like the others too.

piano632, May 2, 2007; 4:36 AM

Hi j6524,

I'm 40 and male. The first movie music I fell in love with was the main theme from EXODUS, by Ernest Gold. It wasn't the original version (the track was included in a compilation album of different movie and theatre themes performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra), but even before I knew it belonged to a movie I loved it. I was 8 years old...

Then I began to go to the movies and I saw STAR WARS and SUPERMAN - THE MOVIE. That was the first soundtrack I purchased: a beautiful gatefold double album of SUPERMAN (my older brother bought the STAR WARS album the year before). I listened to SUPERMAN hundreds of times... I still have it, of course. Then I saw STAR TREK - THE MOTION PICTURE, and from that moment on, Jerry Goldsmith became my favourite composer... forever and ever...

By the way j6524, I also love the score to THE DARK CRYSTAL. Last year I attended the concert Trevor Jones offered in Madrid (Spain) and got my CD autographed. I hope you won't be green with envy ;-)

Best regards,
Angel

angeldibujo, May 2, 2007; 7:48 AM

Hello folks,
what a funny topic!
I am 31, male.Italy. I perfectly remember when i watched First blood on tv. I was too child to watch it at cinema......needless to say Goldsmith score captured me so much that the day after i bought the beautiful italian version of the LP with the incredible artwork of the painter Renato Casaro!
Since then i am collecting scores of every genre and style, but i prefer silver age period!i am learning to love golden age composer even if i couldn't taste this period as you collector who lived in those years! i have a envy for this!!

Ciao and long life to score collectors;)
Ric


riccardo.rocchi4, May 2, 2007; 8:39 AM

Male...53...Collecting soundracks is like being a kid all over again...you never lose the excitement
My first movie music exposure that got me stirred , at a theatre, was The Hallelujah Trail as a kid , and then How The West Was Won , at an actual Cinerama screening(in NZ)..a sore neck and blown away movie music experience..too young to buy Lps then, but first purchase was the LPs Grand Prix and Duel At Diablo..what excitement to find a shop that actually sold movie music...WOW.....since then, have never looked back.
That shows ones age...lol.

tanemahuta, May 2, 2007; 8:46 AM

Lol, not too sure what the whole age/gender thing has to do with anything.

The soundtrack that probably is responsible for attracting my interest to film scores was 'Last of the Mohicans' (1992). But the first score I loved............would probably be 'Braveheart'. To me it was one of my favorite scores because of how much emotion it brought to the scenes in the movie, and that it could stand alone by itself as a really enjoyable piece of music.

The Funnest piece of music to listen to in my opinion is 'The Burbs' by Goldsmith. I never get tired of listening to that score from start to finish, it's so easy to picture all the scenes of the movie while you listen, provided you seen it a few dozen times, lol.

drakemarone, May 2, 2007; 10:10 AM

I'm an old half coyote hound dawg who listened to George Duning's Picnic back in the day when the old junk man showed up occasionally with a station wagon full of accumated discarded treasures ranging from an old sterophonic tube reciever that gave an electrical shock when touched on the right or wrong spot (depending upon perspective), to boxes of old musical artifacts or old shoes and who knows what the hell else that old bastard may have dug out of someones trash for resale back in '72.

victoravalentine, May 2, 2007; 11:27 AM

I'm a 42-year-old male and my first score purchase was the STAR WARS 2-LP. I must have bought it after hearing the music in the movie - I was hooked by the excitement of the music together with the awesome action sequences. And I remember always seeing the "Ben's Death and The TIE Fighter Attack" sequence on TV time-and-time again promoting the movie (and the music!).

Up to that point I had always been interested in TV themes, sometimes just watching the beginning of shows just to hear the music. I don't seem to remember there being many of these TV scores being released on LP (except for compilation LPs being released and being recorded by "studio orchestras") and so I never had copies of these to play at home...therefore, I had to resort to taping the themes off the TV - but only when everyone was out of the room!

alan, May 2, 2007; 1:29 PM

http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/6393

~Question 2~

Probably "Z" by Mikis Theodorakis... have shed my share of tears over that one!

...and Barry's Bond scores.

I luv them all still.

;- )

serifiot, May 2, 2007; 1:50 PM

Fun topic indeed. I´m male and 35. I thought my first soundtrack was Return of the Jedi on cd (bought it when I was 16) ...but then I realised it was Fame (songs from the tv-series) on lp. Got it for my birthday when I turned 11 or 12, I think. Really liked it.
But it was because of Return of the Jedi (saw the films in reverse order) and the other Star Wars films I really got interested in soundtracks and collecting.

Greetz,

Erik

erikvantholt, May 2, 2007; 3:55 PM

33, male.

I'm actually not sure which soundtrack got me started on film music.

The first soundtrack I bought (or rather my parents bought for me) was Christian Bruhn's PATRIK PACARD (1984 or 1985) and I still love it today.

The first soundtrack I bought myself was John Barry's THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS. My interest in film music really solidified when I gradually acquired all Bond soundtracks. Bond music was really my point of no return - I still worship the Bond soundtracks from 1964 to 1981 and - as said above - the 1987 one. :-)

Urs

handstand, May 2, 2007; 4:10 PM

32. Male. STAR WARS!!!

American.Nightmare, May 2, 2007; 11:46 PM

Male, 25. "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."

Jeremy

Jmicpilars, May 3, 2007; 12:24 AM

Hello,

43 year old male, My parents got me interested in film music when I was a child by playing some great Rozsa scores on the family turntable ("King of King's", "El Cid", and "Ben Hur"). I think the first couple scores I purchased in the 1970's when I started buying film music myself was an Ennio Morricone compilation of his western scores and the John Williams classic "Jaws". I think that the Williams score "Jaws" really started me on the path of being a film score collector.

Best Regards,
David Phoenix, AZ.

deg63iami, May 3, 2007; 12:41 AM

OMG, serifiot, that video is HILARIOUS! Aren't you a darling! ;-)

American.Nightmare, May 3, 2007; 1:19 AM

Early 80´s. Saw "Empire strikes Back", got the album and liked it a lot but I didn´t give it much more thought until I saw "Earthquake". The movie started, hmm nice music! And then: Music John Williams. HEY! That´s the Star Wars Guy! I was hooked!!! Ran down to the local videostore, looked carfully on the credits to every single movie in the store - lookoing for that Star Wars Guy.
Remeber it still very well...

So, "Earthquqke" for me!

Male, 33

johnny.plate, May 3, 2007; 7:51 AM

Female, 35 years old. Blame Mom- (age 56 and still collecting). She raised me on every spaghetti western score imaginable on the record player in the 1970's..then "Star Wars" on 8-track!

My first original favorite though has to be "Obsession"..saw that movie as a kid and never ever forgot the music to it. I also grew up watching "Buck Rogers" and "Battlestar Galactica" and loving the music in those also..and lets not forget reruns of "Star Trek" and "Dark Shadows". I used to be so scared of the werewolf on the back cover of "Dark Shadows" I wouldn't look at the album.

Kim

emt8134, May 3, 2007; 7:41 PM

Male 45. Seeing a pattern here...hmmmmm.

First score was John Barry's Diamonds Are Forever. I was Bond obsessive at the time and I
think I bought the score more to have a piece of Bond memorabilia than being in love with the
score.

Then I fell in love with the score.

And the rest is history.

whyaduck, May 4, 2007; 1:35 AM

This wasn't off-topic at all, j6524! It's the reason I come here.

80s kid, male,
Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Superman themes, naturally.
CONDORMAN theme. Yeah, really.
Two cartoons - The Mysterious Cities of Gold, and Spartakus & the Sun Beneath the Sea - notable in that it was not just the intro/extro themes to these cartoons which got me.
Legend (Tangerine Dream) --the flutey bits that didn't make it to album

Those were the very first I can remember humming, and trying not to hum. I can't remember which of the first six infected my mind first. There were many other "first" soundtracks (including Excalibur, since you mention Trevor Jones), as at least a decade passed before I owned one single soundtrack... I think I was your age.

zuvqwyx3, May 8, 2007; 10:03 AM

Hi, I'm a 26 year old male, from sweden.
Among the first scores that made me want to collect soundtracks was the score to the 1986 movie "LET'S GET HARRY" composed by Brad Fiedel. I was about 8 years old at the time I saw this movie.
My brother had copied a movie from a friend and after that film there was about 20 minutes of Let's Get Harry. As soon I saw the Main Title bit I was hooked. So of to the local videostore and rented it. And it's been a favorite movie of mine ever since,
but it's mostly the Main Title track or The Colombia Bound tune I like. If you like the Fright Night score then look this one up because they sound very alike.
I started collecting soundtracks about 3 years after that buying records in the local store (should be around 1992) my first bought record on CD was Harold Faltermeyer's "Kuffs". First LP was "Beverly Hills Cop" bought in Denmark 1987-88.

Another early score that got me was the 1982 Kung-fu/Karate movie "The Retrievers" with Max Thayer. But on this movie most of the score is stolen from other films. This is one of the earliest movie memories (not counting cartoons) I have seen.
This comes from a guy that has grown up on Sho Kosugi and Chuck Norris movies.

Best regards
Mattias

mattiaswesterfors, May 19, 2007; 8:02 PM

Hi, I'm 16 years old, male, and I have always liked movie music.

Even there was no soundtrack to it, I really enjoyed the Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course music as well as the Mouse Hunt score.

But my first soundtrack I bought when I was 14 years old. It was Finding Nemo by Thomas Newman. I loved it! I still do ;-)

michaelbashaw, May 22, 2007; 4:07 PM