If there was any one human sense that I would absolutely dread losing above all, it would be hearing. I’m a music fanatic. It doesn’t matter where the music is from, what group performs the song, or even what genre it is. Music always receives my full attention. Sorry, but if you’re trying to have a discussion with me, and there’s music playing in the background, that music is ALL I’m hearing and listening to.
It’s no secret that movies and television shows have some phenomenal soundtracks. Here are my ten favorite, categorized by franchise (because it otherwise might be a list fully comprised of Star Wars). I also included links to a favorite track of mine from each entry!
10) Bionicle: The Mask of Light
Like a lot of my Top 10 lists, this entry manages to sneak its way on to the list almost entirely because of childhood nostalgia. This is probably the first movie I ever saw where I truly took note of the soundtrack while watching. For a fairly cheaply produced early 2000s CGI film about Bionicle of all things, they definitely did not skimp out in the music department. The main theme of the movie is a grand and inspiring piece with an excellent piano solo section, and the foreboding villain tracks are nearly as good.
Favorite Track: Credits/Main Theme
9) Red Vs. Blue
RoosterTeeth, the creative team behind RWBY and many other works, often employ the incredible talents of composer Jeff Williams, who has an insane talent for balancing myriad character motifs and killer electric guitars. Starting with Season Six of this long-running sci-fi show, RoosterTeeth brought Williams in to lend a hand, and the soundtrack quality sky-rocketed. Williams has an incredible talent for epic action scene music, memorable character themes, somber contemplative tracks, and so much more. This is a rocking soundtrack that manages to have its own identity while also evoking the Halo franchise it is clearly based on.
Favorite Track: Land of Enemies
8) Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
If you’re telling me I have a chance to hype up this criminally underrated animated film, I’m taking it! Of course, this isn’t the time for me to just praise the movie, but rather its stellar soundtrack, which is nearly half the reason why the movie is so good in the first place! It’s a travesty that this is a lesser known film, because each song on the soundtrack is a killer jam. Whether its the top-of-the-line heroic main theme, the sinister Goddess Eris’ theme, a hauntingly dramatic tune at the height of the film’s climax, or anything in between, Sinbad does not let up in its music from start to finish.
Favorite Track: Let the Games Begin
7) Pirates of the Caribbean
Hans Zimmer remains, to this day, as one of the greatest cinematic composers ever, and this epic saga of swashbuckling adventures really make that fact clear. Everyone knows “He’s a Pirate”, one of the best movie tunes of all time, but I feel like people tend to overlook how stellar the soundtrack is in every other track on each of the film’s song lists. Even if the film falters (particularly Pirates 4 and 5), the soundtrack is always as amazing as ever. This is some seriously high-quality stuff here that should be vastly more appreciated than I think it is. It’s such a fun, sweeping set of songs (the theme of Will and Elizabeth in the third movie is sublime).
Favorite Track: I Don’t Think Now is the Best Time
6) RWBY
Jeff Williams strikes for a second time on this list, and with a vengeance! Through a mastery of both vocals and instrumentation, Williams really carries this show even when the writing and story falter, and is practically reason enough to keep watching. Taking everything he learned from his prior work on Red Vs. Blue, Williams pushes forth a soundtrack with one hit after another. From each of the main heroines motifs to the phenomenal strings-and-piano duet of Roman Torchwick’s theme, this soundtrack doesn’t disappoint.
Favorite Track: Heroes and Monsters
5) Fairy Tail
Hands-down the greatest soundtrack of any anime, and it honestly isn’t even close. Utilizing some traditionally scored tracks (like drifting piano melodies and bombastic orchestral pieces), Fairy Tail is anchored by an undercurrent of Celtic Rock, lending it a unique identity not seen anywhere else in anime. From the impeccable main theme song that worms its way into your brain, to the unending barrage of crazy awesome fight themes, to the dramatic emotional tunes, this is a series that never lets up with its music. For as silly as the story and characters can get in this show, the music is an industry standard.
Favorite Track: Erza vs Erza
4) Agents of Shield
The best musical selections that the Marvel universe has ever brought to the screen, Agents of Shield‘s soundtrack never fails to disappoint. People have qualms about the MCU’s musical offerings, and while the individual movie soundtracks aren’t as bad as people might have you believe, those same people are at least INDIRECTLY correct in that no MCU film can compare in the music department to Agents of Shield. Much like the show itself, the soundtrack just keeps getting better with each new season, adding in new character themes, new memorable dramatic tracks, and never losing sight of that wonderful main theme song (it truly just never gets old).
Favorite Track: Main Overture
3) Kung Fu Panda
Hans Zimmer returns to this list once more, with a soundtrack so consistently engaging and perfect that it puts any other animated film to shame. There’s not a single flaw in the musical selections for this trilogy, especially in the second film. The instrumentation is perfect, the audio mixing is perfect, the timing of each track and character motif is perfect, there’s this pervasive heart and soul in every single song. It’s just such a captivating soundtrack that never fails to give me goosebumps.
Favorite Track: Zen Ball Master
2) Star Wars
It’s cheating to put Star Wars on this list, yes, but hey! At least it isn’t in the top spot! That’s a twist! There’s just so much to love about the Star Wars soundtrack, and also SO MUCH of it to love in the first place. Whether its John Williams and his many masterpieces, John Powell and Michael Giacchino’s awesome work on Solo and Rogue One, or the surprisingly amazing genius of Kevin Kiner and his work on The Clone Wars and Rebels. Not only is the quality of Star Wars music always top notch, and each and every song nearly flawless, but there’s just a practically bottomless pit of choices to listen to and love!
Favorite Track: Ahsoka Leaves
1) Cobra Kai
On functionally every single level, it feels as if the soundtrack to Cobra Kai was created by someone who peered into my own mind and designed something specifically to appeal to me. I’ve mentioned it before a few times on this blog, but I am an overwhelmingly huge fan of repeated motifs and centralized themes in a soundtrack. You want me to feel sad? Hit me with the sad piano remix of the main theme. You want me to feel hype? Pump out some rocking guitar remix of the traditional fight music. You want me to actively engage with a character? Give them their own theme song and uniquely integrate that song (and remixes of it) into that character’s personal arc of the story.
Cobra Kai understands this about me, to an almost absurdly level that really psyches up the inner audiophile in me. From my last count, Cobra Kai has, AT MINIMUM, no less than 17 dynamic character themes with a repeated usage throughout the show. This is an amount that almost no normal viewer would catch, but I am constantly on cloud-nine while watching Cobra Kai, eagerly leaning forward in my seat to catch each and every new track and motif remix. I buy each new soundtrack the day they drop, and pour over the music looking for every cool and easy-to-miss twist the genius composers (Zach Robinson and Leo Birenberg) seed into the very essence of the show’s music.
Of course, on top of this, Cobra Kai is just a phenomenal soundtrack even IF you aren’t someone who catches every single motif, theme, and callback. Some of the songs are hardcore rocking tunes, some are lighthearted happy beats, and some of gut-wrenching emotional tracks, but each of them are perfect. Gosh, why is everything about this show so good?
Favorite Track: The Call of the Cobra
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 