HOWARD SHORE - VIDEODROME SOUNDTRACK (1983)

Right: Ahhh, the subtle symbolism of David Cronenberg.

Voyeurism. Gore. Snuff films. Perversion. Paranoia. TV sets full of guts. Questionable reality. Video as metaphor for separation from the self. Debbie Harry's boobs.
Videodrome was without a doubt Cronenberg's finest hour, featuring James Woods at his creepiest in a plot that reeked of pure, uncut Dick.
But I digress. We all know about the movie already. Let's talk soundtrack.

Howard Shore has scored all but one of Cronenberg's films, being D.C.'s go-to guy since way back in 1979. Shore is probably best known for his work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy (ewww), but has composed music for such varied films as The Silence of the Lambs, Mrs. Doubtfire, Ed Wood, Se7en, The Cell and Big. He's taken home Grammys, Academy Awards, and Golden Globes (mostly for his work on the aforementioned Rings), but his compositions for Videodrome were some of his edgiest and most daring.
Trading in the traditional studio orchestra for a synthesizer, Shore put together some unsettlingly sparse, robotic pieces for the film, and was panned by critics for his efforts (see also: John Williams - Heartbeeps, Basil Poledouris - Red Dawn). Seems that film soundtrack "aficionados" couldn't quite wrap their heads around the concept of an artificial, electro-centric score for an artificial, electro-centric movie. Their loss.
Shore obviously learned this lesson well later in his career, but for all the rest of you I offer a simple piece of advice: If you want to please critics and win awards, NEVER GO FULL ROBOT.


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And in completely unrelated news...


Those of you in and around the Bay Area this weekend should go check this show out. It will most certainly not suck.

THE GRANNIES
THE CORRUPTORS
EVERYTHING MUST GO
DALTON


And now, a joke:

What is a zombie's favorite basketball team?


That's right, the SEATTLE SUPERSONICS. Brilliant. Can you tell I GIMPed the picture myself?