On May 21st Terminator Salvation comes out and I am stoked to a level that is kind of fucking terrifying, especially considering that I never even saw T3 all the way through. Maybe it’s because of the trailer, which features the best usage of NIN in the history of all things ever.
Strangely enough, the soundtracks to both T1 and T2 are out of print and go for huge buckage on Amazon and eBay. That’s insane. I know the rights to the Terminator films are kind of complicated, and I’m sure the soundtrack rights are even more so, but you think whomever owns the rights would figure out that there might be some major cash-in bucks to made with the original soundtracks. Paying $125 for one on Amazon is a little nuts.
Now, I don’t have the definite edition, which features the complete score, but I do have the original version, which features the pop songs (which are NOT on the definite edition) so it’s a trade-off I guess.
So, without further ado…
Brad Fiedel – The Terminator Score
The Terminator Theme
Terminator Arrival
Tunnel Chase
Love Scene
Future Remembered
Factory Chase
The Terminator score is a work of synthesized art, barren and brilliant, perfectly matching the stark and brutal tone of the film. Brad Fiedel was the composer and performer of the piece (save for some electronic violin) and its probably his best-known work. Aside from the first two Terminator films he also did the music for both Fright Night films, Wes Craven’s Serpent and the Rainbow, and the Jodie Foster drama The Accused (one of the best movies you should never see). In the nineties he hooked up with Cameron again for True Lies and quickly after that did the score for the abomination known as Johnny Mnemonic (one of the worst moves you should see). He was passed for fucking Danny Elfman for the new Salvation, which is a damned shame. This is one of the best synthesized scores ever, ranking right up there with the original Halloween and Wendy Carlos’ A Clockwork Orange. It’s not the best Arnold movie score however, which isn’t a knock on it as much as it is unapologetic praise for the score to Conan the Barbarian, which is probably one of the top five scores of all time.
Tahnee Cain And The Tryanglz
You Can’t Do That
Burnin’ In The Third Degree
Photoplay
Tahnee Cain is actually Tane McClure, a singer/actress whose work you have no doubt seen, especially if you like 80s/90s b-movies like Bikini Academy and Illicit Dreams 2. Her biggest roles were probably in Go and the Legally Blonde films as Elle’s mom. She’s 49 years old, damn hot and has a bitchin’ rack, no doubt thanks to Dr. 90210 (according to the IMDB she was on an episode of the show called “Thanks for the Mammaries”). Tane seems to be a relentless self-promoter, and has her own webpage and YouTube channel. She seems fairly tech-savvy, which means she’ll probably find this blog eventually, so if you’re reading this Tane and you’re pissed I put your songs up just email me and I’ll take them down! Don’t go Steve Winwood on me and DMCA my ass please!
Anyways, her songs, oh yeah. I don’t remember “You Can’t do That” from the film that well, but “Burnin’ in the Third Degree” is the song that’s playing when all hell breaks loose in Technoir and it’s a solid example of 80s synthpop/rock that holds up pretty damn well. Tane has some pipes on her. “Photoplay,” which is also in the Technoir scene I believe, is pretty good as well.
Jay Ferguson and 16mm
Pictures Of You
Jay Ferguson was in Spirit, a 60s/70s psychedelic band, but you’d never know it from this synthpop song, which sounds like something Michael Sembello would have record for a never-realized sequel to Flashdance. I don’t remember at which point this track pops up in the soundtrack either.
Linn Van Hek
Imtimacy
This is the song that Sarah Conner’s roomie is rocking out to before Arnold kills her. It’s by far the most experimental of the pop songs on the soundtrack, very post-punk/electronic sounding. I dig it. I can find next to nothing on Linn Van Hek though, other than the fact that this song actually got a 12” single release in Australia. Odd.