Star Wars music: Just why is it so great? (In Your Opinion)

I've recently completed getting soundtracks for all six films*, and recently had a sort of playoff with the LOTR films. I eventually got bored listening to LOTR, but Star Wars just pulls me in and keeps me, at least, interested. Even with Ben Burtt's bad editing.

For me, it's that even scenes like Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon sitting around on the Trade Federation battleship get interesting, fairly complex music. On the film, they're not doing much of anything; they're just sitting there. But the music suggests that something is about to happen, and sure enough, it does.



* as in complete.

 

Probably because it's so thematic. Even the filler music is easy to hum along to.

 

I'd go with the bombast. There are plenty of composers who can do great work with quiet and/or subtle scenes as well as if not better than Williams, but no one can match his 1975-1993 run for pure adventure. Sure, a lot of the music was less technically complex than his more recent works, but let's face it: Battle of the Heroes is no The Asteroid Field.

 

It feels like there is emotion in it,like it's alive.

 

Echoing all of the above and that it's just epic.

 

This is something I've been trying to figure out for a while... obviously it helps that it's scoring for a series of movies I love and I get positive associations with it as a result, but I think there is a certain epic and deeply emotionally powerful quality to Williams' work on the Star Wars saga that I don't really get in the same way from his other scores. Battle of the Heroes just came on my ipod, and 4+ years after my first time hearing it, I still get goosebumps on top of goosebumps every time I hear that cue.

I agree that the music intensifies even the most mundane moments in the films. Maybe that's part of it, the fact that it's just so over the top and yet so affecting to the listener.

 

Its just epic, it hard to explain. You can hum to it and it gets stuck in your head.

 

1 - Very very well written.
2 - Awesome themes and orchestrations
3 - It brought the symphony orchestra back for full sails to film music

 

John Williams is very much like John Barry, who scored many of the Bond films as well as DANCES WITH WOLVES
and OUT OF AFRICA. His music is a pastiche of themes. If you want Darth Varder, you know what to hum.
Or Leia. Or just about anyone else. His incidental music is absolutely superior... the Jawas capturing
and processing R2D2, etc. He stays away from cliches... it's a BIG scene so we have to have BIG music;
John Williams is so good his music has become a cliche.

Brilliant composer.

 

I agree--It's all Williams. The opening intro to the title track has never been outdone.

 

I think it's just the sense that something important, something epic, something awesome is going to happen that comes through the music. I have no idea how, it just must be that much more brilliantly composed.

 

I just looked at your site for the first time. Describing what goes into and creates a good song is no easy task to pen. Free Sound Effects http://www.audiomicro.com/free-sound-effects Great job!! I look forward to learning more from you.

 

This isn't my site, but thanks for assuming that I own tfn.

 

You don't own TFN?!

 

The score is just epic. There's really no other way to describe it. Everything you hear just fits so perfectly with the scene, it couldn't be done any other way.

 

It's almost impossible to describe why the music's so great. The main reason: The compositons are genius. I know that John put a lot of work into it, which is what makes him one of the best composers out there. Another reason is probably because most of the tracks tend to be repetitive at some point, so you become familiar with it.

 

I'll second the appreciation of it's epic scale. I think it's themeatic quality as well.

 

The reason Star Wars music is so great?

Because it is the only music that you can "hear" the action. When I put on the music of Star Wars, it's almost like I don't have to watch the movie. The music tells the story. I can close my eyes while listening and "see" the movie playing out.

 

Each piece tells a story. The music is just... amazing.

 

IT is epic, but it is also engrained in my subconcsious and it just tied to all things from that era, and childhood, playing, and just watching it over and over as a kid

 

Wow... there are just so many things that make it so great. I totally echo what everyone is saying. The themes are just memorable and moving. Throughout only a portion of a movie, Williams can make you laugh, cry, and think deeply. He turns out truly epic scores and honestly, as George Lucas once said, the films would not be what they are today without the music. It doesn't matter if you love Star Wars or hate it (but how could you hate it?! ), EVERYONE knows the opening theme. In Star Wars, the music is almost constantly going whether in the foreground or the background and very few composers dare to put themselves out there in such a way. There isn't much else I can say about it. How can one describe music with words? Great question though... I'm eager to see what others have to say

 

A couple things

1) The themes. Sometimes even the environments have their own theme.
2) The melodrama, reminds me of the old Hollywood movies. So big and beautiful.

 

i love the calm theme's as in :
-Luke looking at the sun when he's at tatooine ( when his uncle & aunt were still alive ) .
-Obi wan giving luke as a baby to his uncle and aunt , when they looked to the sun , same music .
-When yoda lifted luke's x-wing out of dagobah swamp ( i think it also plays there ) .

Further theme's i like are the ' godlike ones ' with the church chore singing.
for example : Anakin hunting the tusken raiders (sandppl) in episode 2 ( when he's on the speeder) .
Darth maul vs obi wan & quigon ( same music )
i think that music doesn't play in 4 & 5 & 6 :'( .
It's a " new theme " from 1999 ( phantom menace ) .. i think . but it's used in Episode 1 , 2 , and possibly 3

Regards ~Joeriii

 

Joe-yeah, Duel Of The Fates (the theme that you refer to) is not featured in the OT. However, the OT does have The Dark Side Beckons, which is vastly better despite being quite short and never used after ROTJ.

Also, it's not a church choir; it's Sanskrit, which as far as I know has never been used in churches. However, given that DOTF was the music for a PBS feature on the Apocalypse in 2000, perhaps it should be.

 

It's such an epic soundscape, the BB sound effects combine with it quite organically. You can close your eyes and images from the film flash by within - nice and relaxing...