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I must have something really important I need to think about because why else would I invest thought to such a topic.
As someone who has been buying records since the late 60s, and also someone who spent a couple of adult decade years in the record retail business and was able to see company-wide scanned sales figures, I have some thoughts regarding what Goldsmith's best-selling albums were.
Now, Goldsmith never really had a hit album. I'm not talking about multi-platinum pop albums or even those rare instrumental soundtracks that sold a few hundred thousand--Out of Africa, Last of the Mohicans, Twin Peaks, Dances With Wolves, etc. I'm talking about even more modest successes such as Witness, Passage to India, etc. Soundtracks that sold outside of the small orchestral soundtrack fan base.
I think Star Trek the Motion Picture was probably his biggest selling album. Great score, high profile, timely.
After that? I'm thinking Our Man Flint, released at the peak of the spy craze. In Like Flint probably did well, too.
After that? I think we're looking at maybe Papillon, Chinatown, the Sand Pebbles.
Ironically, I think his biggest seller could have been an album he never made: The Man from UNCLE. If he had done what Mancini did with Peter Gunn, what Schifrin did with Mission: Impossible and Mannix, and take what few themes he composed for the series and fleshed out the rest of the album, it would have been a big hit. Certainly Hugo Montenegro's two UNCLE releases were.
Any thoughts? Anybody have any specific data?
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I cannot offer any data, but find this interesting as well. Jerry Goldsmith didn't really have the "crossover" appeal that catapulted some soundtracks (Star Wars, Flashdance, Pink Panther etc.) into the mass market. He was more interesting to actual soundtrack listeners and even interested classical music listeners.
Presumably, his commercially most successful soundtrack may be Star Trek - The Motion Picture, because it is a universally cherished score and has at least some "franchise collectors" appeal. But apart from Star Trek? Hard to say. GREMLINS was a hit in the 80s and the album also featured Peter Gabriel and Michael Sembello, so I'd throw it into the ring.
One thing that always struck me as odd was UNDER FIRE. The soundtrack was a specifically arranged as album and boosted Pat Metheny (already a renowned jazz guitarist), yet it was very difficult to obtain anywhere. You should think both Goldsmith and Metheny completionists would buy this..
Perhaps because while UNDER FIRE opened to critical acclaim, it wasn't exactly a box office hit (the movie itself was more like a 70s adult polit thriller and less like an 80s action film).
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I don't think anybody beyond Goldsmith fans bought Under Fire. I don't think many Metheny fans bought it, either. I don't think they even knew about it.
Hoosiers and Poltergeist were mentioned. They were decent but modest sellers. I don't recall Gremlins raking in any bucks.
I meant to mention in my original post but forgot--Patton. Probably sold more than any other except Star Trek and the Flint scores. The speech probably helped sales.
The Omen, despite its Oscar and undeniable value to the film, was not much of a seller. I remember an RCA sales person was in the store I was working in and was putting up an Omen display. I told him I really liked the music and he said something like "well, you and nobody else." The disco era.
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Currently, his most-streamed albums on Amazon Music are:
THE MUMMY
HOOSIERS
RUDY
THE OMEN
FIRST KNIGHT
AIR FORCE ONE
THE 13TH WARRIOR
STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE
ALIEN
CHINATOWN
GREMLINS
POLTERGEIST
MEDICINE MAN
That's a pretty good sign for potential sales if Varese ever gets around to expanding MEDICINE MAN and THE 13TH WARRIOR...
Yavar
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My guess is FIERCE CREATURES.
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I don't know the answer either, but at the risk of saying only what's obvious, it'll be something that has a lot more to do with the popularity of the film than whether it was Goldsmith's best music.
So, I'd go look at what his biggest grossing films are, and which of those had a contemporary soundtrack album.
I suspect The Omen will probably fare well because of how much of a hit the film was, combined with the big impact the music had on that film. It was a very well noticed score with a big public impact.
Then again, how many people want to play a Satanic Gregorian chant in their homes?
If Jerry Goldsmith had a clear Star Wars to his name — a huge hit of a film with a family friendly, high energy score and an iconic theme — it would probably be easy to pick.
I wouldn't mind betting QBVII and Masada might have done well, given the audiences they reached on TV.
Cheers
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Besides winning Emmys, I'm pretty sure that QBVII and Masada were also among the Goldsmith albums that received Grammy nominations, for what it's worth...
Yavar
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Star Trek TMP and Mulan...by miles!
MV
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I'd be willing to bet that if you corral all of Goldsmith's Star Trek albums plus The Omen into a single set, the sales numbers dwarf the combined sales of every other Goldsmith album.
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Unless you got actual LP n CD sales figures, its all guesswork.
I mean even something like Blue Max, rare LP, reissued LP, and then all its different CD releases, probably sold consistently over its 57 years, but how does that compare to say Star Trek, cult film for a popular franchise? I dont know.
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Star Trek TMP and Mulan...by miles!
MV
I'll take this as one of the more "in the know" replies.
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