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Posted: |
Jun 18, 2015 - 9:17 AM
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By: |
The Thing
(Member)
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I was inspired to create this thread after recently seeing several negative comments about Goldsmith's Bad Girls score.
I've been listening to this score recently (and really enjoying it), and something I often do is search this forum to find out other people's comments and opinions. I noticed a couple of threads from a few years ago with people praising this score, looking forward to its release, etc.
I've seen this quite a few times for various scores (which I forget now, but a few Goldsmiths at least), where threads maybe from 10 years ago have people singing a particular score's praise, but more recent threads tend to reveal more adverse opinions.
Maybe this is because we have become so spoilt with treasures from the archives, that "better" stuff has been released, thereby relegating a once-loved score to a lower position on the popularity scale. Or perhaps too much exposure has made people tired of it. Or maybe in-depth analysis and discussion has shown something to be not as good as first thought. Or maybe a particular style or sound, which was good back then, has now become dated. Or maybe there are just more members on this forum these days, with more diverse tastes and opinions.
So I was wondering if people can think (or remember) of scores that were once deemed very popular on here, but where the general consensus is that the appeal has diminished. And any thoughts as to why? This isn't about your personal opinion of a score that you have gone off, but where the widespread opinion has changed over time.
(This could be considered a companion to the "Guilty Pleasures" thread, but instead with scores that you didn't used to have to feel guilty about liking.)
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Were the LOTR scores ever loved around this place? Seems like they're almost universally despised now.
There should also be a thread with the opposite view of this one: Once Derided, Now Loved. 
Too much of a good thing? Shore's--sorry, maybe I should say "Shore's"--Hobbit scores were so completely boring and bereft of human emotion that they have sullied the overall quality of the previous LOTR scores (for me, at least).
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I recently listened to the Hobbit scores back to back a few weeks ago in a matter of three days, I do not agree that they are boring at all, in fact, they were excellently composed film scores; they integrate rather well the the LOTR scores.
I don't think, there's a a single score that I once loved, not derided.
I can say STAR WARS fits that definition somehow, simply because it was among the first film scores that I ever owned (on then audio tape), and I listened to it up and down as a kid. So yeah, there came a time when I grew tired of listening to it. What did I do? Simple, I did not listen to it. :-) This had nothing to do with the fact that my opinion of the score had changed (to this day I think it is one of the great film scores). About a month ago I listened to STAR WARS (1977) for the first time again in years, and even though I knew every single note of that score, I had a blast. Maybe sometime this week I will listen to EMPIRE STRIKES BACK... also for the first time in years.
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I think it's particularly hard to take the temperature of this board. There is a tendency to assume trends based on the number of comments one way or another on whatever subject, whether or not they are representative.
What I see is that there tends to be more of an alignment of posts around a point of view, positive or negative (or just interested in the topic). But there are many people on this board who post occasionally, or rarely, or not for years. Or who post on one thread but not another, who might have very different opinions but not expressed, maybe not interested enough, maybe not wanting to take a contrary view and be called out for it. I started posting my own contrarian views on some subjects in recent years just so that the dominant view (digital sucks! for example) wasn't taken as consensus or received wisdom.
One can't take silence on the board from others as agreement or disagreement with whatever is said. And there are never enough posts on any one pov that could be taken as any kind of consensus, which is a good thing!
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Posted: |
Jun 18, 2015 - 10:42 AM
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By: |
Francis
(Member)
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I think it's particularly hard to take the temperature of this board. There is a tendency to assume trends based on the number of comments one way or another on whatever subject, whether or not they are representative.
What I see is that there tends to be more of an alignment of posts around a point of view, positive or negative (or just interested in the topic). But there are many people on this board who post occasionally, or rarely, or not for years. Or who post on one thread but not another, who might have very different opinions but not expressed, maybe not interested enough, maybe not wanting to take a contrary view and be called out for it. I started posting my own contrarian views on some subjects in recent years just so that the dominant view (digital sucks! for example) wasn't taken as consensus or received wisdom.
One can't take silence on the board from others as agreement or disagreement with whatever is said. And there are never enough posts on any one pov that could be taken as any kind of consensus, which is a good thing!
Good points. I also suspect some film scores get a reputation because of a loud minority or being misrepresented; so little scores actually get discussed online that I suspect any review that can be found, somehow ends up becoming representative of what the so called film score community thinks when in actuality it's just the one reviewer. Also some genres of movies automatically get met with bias, while other genres get a free pass more easily. And as for older reviews, I always takes those with a big grain of context.
Often times I find myself disagreeing with other people's criticism on certain scores but I just don't bother to offer a different opinion because at the end of the day it wont change anything; Enjoying a score does not require validation from others to do so, especially when you're into film music lol. For any piece of music, movie, literature, ... you will have people who love it or hate it. Check the message boards on any imdb page, I challenge you to find one movie where there isn't someone claiming it's terrible. It's also hard to find out why they think that way because often times no reason is given and it comes across like a blanket statement.
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I recently listened to the Hobbit scores back to back a few weeks ago in a matter of three days, I do not agree that they are boring at all, in fact, they were excellently composed film scores; they integrate rather well the the LOTR scores.
They do. I don't think the LOTR scores are now "universally derided" either, in fact I've read very little about derision towards them in the years since, on any board.
Except maybe my own, but it has been my opinion ever since I first heard them that they're splendidly mediocre. Solidly crafted, and just as solidly mediocre. It's not that I'm saying now that Shore simply lacked the craft to create a truly epic score (much less a series of epic scores!) - because I've always maintained he lacked the craft. There's not enough development, variation, integration - nothing near what a Goldsmith, Williams, Horner (yes, Horner!) and (Of course, in this context), Rosenman would have achieved under the same circumstances.
Like Nikolai though, I've never looked down on a score years later that I appreciated before. On a few occasions, though, my appreciation for certain scores (and composers) has grown over the years, rather than vice versa.
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I don't think I've seen much evidence of the LOTR being despised and I'm on this board at least every other day.....
Yeah, "universally" is a bit much, though I was surprised at how many here didn't care for them.
That's funny, because I kind of thought the LOTR scores were almost universally adored (The Hobbit not so much) around here, but I wonder if that's also because I'm not a great fan of them myself (though I think they work well in the movies), so I was not seeing my own pov represented....
By the way, to the topic - for me I don't come to despise anything I love. Some music wears out its welcome faster - familiarity bringing less joy with each subsequent listen. But that doesn't mean I don't think the music is any good, just that I've listened for a long time to a lot of things a lot of times, as it were.
As said above, what is more likely to happen is that I better appreciate something I didn't care for initially. That's happened a number of times over the years.
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I'm thinking many folks disliked them BECAUSE they were successful whereas lesser scores -- but scores others loved -- were not.
I only like or dislike something on its own merits, not because it is or isn't something else, nor because it is or is not successful.
I think it makes more sense to assume that all opinions are deeply felt and are about the perceived merits or demerits of the thing in question, than to say that those who say they don't like something have some other motive for their disfavor.
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Some scores are derided because they are successful - but many more scores are hailed JUST BECAUSE the films are successful - and not for any other, intrinsic reason. That's because the public is superficial, and many film music lovers, I'm afraid, are too. They love the films (and there's much to love about the LOTR films, of course), so they love the scores - without understanding why they do - much less, why perhaps they shouldn't. 
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