The memorable parts (Actually much of the score, including the wonky main theme Discombobulate) was written by Lorne Balfe. Funny, though, after Balfe insisted on having a separate credit (for some reason? =) he was never employed by the Zimmer factory / sausage machine again.

The "genuinely great" scores (ones with memorable themes?) are usually (all?) written by others (Lorne Balfe, Shirley Walker, Klaus Badelt, Benjamin Wallfisch, Andrew Kawczynski, Steve Nazzaro, Nick Glennie-Smith, Harry Gregson-Williams, Alex Wurman, Bruce Fowler etcs) and other ghost writers, much too many to list. Like I said before, he's a producer; in the Hollywood sense. He even had a ghost writer for a ringtone (ffs) that he took credit for, recently (Oscar Araujo wrote that one!)

I don't think Hanz blanZimmer scores are "horrible shit" for the most part, just incredibly nondescript and meaningless; nothing contributions. They frequently ruin films, though - often through unremitting, dirgey dullness. I was not amused at all when a Hanz Fanz cleverly transcribed the score of DunkIRKsome, though! XD

 

Last edited: Aug 7, 2021

hah... a legit vent. i have thought the exact same thing before. its a wonky pastiche, though a lot could be attributed to sourcing the the right musos with their own equipment and the right engineers, since some style rely heavily on treatment and production. it might be a yardstick of talent, because i have heard some stuff that i thought sounded authentic. i won't give examples for fear of being judged for bad taste.

the fans might see it as THE valid response -- the perfect emulation or regurgitation of the broader cultural cues; they may be a cult of cynics ;)

 

I wholeheartedly disagree. The only score Zimmer ever did that moved me in any way or is in any way at all memorable, is "Gladiator" (2000) - and weren't parts of that plagiarised as well... Like, he also did "Black Rain" (1989), one of the key 80's Michael Douglas & Ridley Scott movies - and the score is just completely forgettable.

A few better examples IMHO:

• John Williams. Just for most of the Spielberg movies and Star Wars alone.
• Jerry Goldsmith. Too many to mention - a highly distinctive style and varied through the years. Could do evocative melodies, and weirdness (like on "Planet Of The Apes"). Also utilized modern technology like synths later on. Excellent sci-fi scores, like "Alien" (1979), "Star Trek The Motion Picture" (1979), obviously "The Omen" (1977). Even "Basic Instinct" (1993). I also like his "Congo" (1995)!
• James Horner. Just for "Aliens" (1986) and the Star Trek films (II-IV) alone - although he also notoriously (supposedly) recycled music and other composers' work...
• Alan Silvestri. Just for the three BTTF films and "Predator" (1987) alone. He's still very active and popular ("Avengers" comes to mind), but in my opinion he did his most creative work in the 80's and 90's, when he was the most prolific.

 

Good compilation - it is still missing, for example:

Ennio Morricone
Ennio Morricone (born November 10, 1928 in Rome; † July 6, 2020 there) was an Italian composer, conductor and Oscar winner. He also worked under the pseudonyms Dan Savio and Leo Nichols and composed the music for more than 500 films. Because he wrote the film music for numerous spaghetti westerns, his name is primarily associated with this film genre. However, he also composed music for other genres.

His film scores for the spaghetti western classic Two Glorious Scoundrels (Original: Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo), for the western epic Spiel mir das Lied von Tod, for Roland Joffé's drama Mission and for Giuseppe Tornatore's film Cinema Paradiso achieved particular fame. Morricone received the Oscar for his life's work in 2007 and another in 2016 for the music for the film The Hateful Eight.

 

I like Danny Elfman,
he's got kind of a sweet spot approach from all the possible styles/forms, and I like the way he uses Harmony and Rhythm..

One of the best in my book for sure

 

Thanks "Danny Elfman" for all the great score. & Thanks "Sergio Leonean" for all the great score.

Batman 1989 Theme by Danny Elfman

Sergio Leone Greatest Western Music of All Time (2018 Remastered Audio)

 

My God, there are so many delusional people who think Zimmer is an actual composer, and not a manager.
The guy didn't write almost anything that was released under his name. And those that he did write are usually just big blogbaster pads.

By the way, the guy tells us in all of his interviews that "music should not destruct a spectator from the picture". This is what a guy that got popular thanks to PoC, The Rock and other similar soundtracks(with a huge and heavy main theme) tries to tell us - "don't bother with a theme, just write big pads and percussions guys, trust me".
Things are getting even more interesting when you find out that The Rock was writer by totally different guy, but released under Zimmer's name, that PoC was a pathetic underdeveloped piece of shit before it went through gazillion of arrangers and composers, who turned this piece of shit into masterpiece. And same can be said about every successful work of his.

If Zimmer didn't try to publicly frame himself as a big composer, there wouldn't be a problem, but he tried, tries and will keep trying. He's a manger at best, not a composer, not to mention a genious one.

 

Last edited: Aug 8, 2021

The top dogs in the movie industry are mostly guys like that. They're good at being reliable and mass produce crap for the masses. They're also great at marketing themselves. Another thing they're good at is using other people, oftentimes bordering on predation. A good percentage are probably psychopaths lol.

Also, having been around quite a few, I can say that movie directors do not have the greatest musical taste in general lol.

 

What do you mean? Lorne's on his own, but he's still beholden to and working for Hans.

 

Being at the right place at the right time, knowing the right people, gets you way further in life than any talent. And this is true in any part of society. It's what I see at my job all the time (which is outside the music business).

If you are young and did not realize this: well... now you know. If you're old(er) and dwelling on forums complaining about that fact: yes, it sucks, get over it Or... well... keep complaining, I don't mind

True talent or true art usually is underappreciated and stays under the radar forever, or for a very long time (ask Van Gogh).

That said I do appreciate Hans Zimmer for what he is: the most efficient machine of Hollywood music production. Cheers!

 

I believe you are focusing on the wrong thing, if you are attempting to compare Zimmer to other, more conventional composers. He's good enough to know what he likes, to curate, but his true strength is in understanding and leveraging the business.

Say what you will about what parts he hums to an assistant, and what parts of a score a someone else writes, but all that aside, he could never touch a piano again and still be the largest music "agent", the largest score producer, the largest anything having to do with credibly bringing a score to a studio, for the rest of his life.

 

Agreed whole heartedly.

 

Lorne wrote the only memorable parts of the Sherlock score, but Hanz gets the main credit for it?

Well, they transcribed the full Dunkirk score the old-fashioned way too, so those Hanz Fanz are pretty dedicated:

Spoiler

I was going to (ninja'd!) give a shout out as well (coincidence) to the lesser-remembered composers like Alan Silvestre (his score for Predator hints at the score for Vertigo which reminds me of.. etcs) and even John Carpenter. I would say that they have contributed much more to film scoring than ever Hanz has. The problem for me, rly, is that people don't recognise the work of ghost writers; also that Hanz has encouraged (silly) "feeling colours" instead of (hard) essentials like learning theory. Any kids listening to Zimmer's tedious Batman / Dunkirk etcs scores have been cut out of a swathe of music (and film) history.

Lisa Gerrard was the main (ghost) writer on that, and I think (?) she even performed much of it, too. She prolly had to sue to get credit, and went the same way as Klaus Badelt; never heard from again. Similarly, Patrick Cassidy and Klaus Badelt wrote the only memorable things in Hannibal; Hanz takes the credit. Surprised he didn't get an Oscar (in a similar way, see before). Etcs.

 

Then you mean that he has ghost composers or what? I know that he always collaborates with composers, but telling he is not a composer at all is a big claim. Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying that you are inventing something, but i just want to dig out the truth.

 

lool... that's a gem. he probably handed something like that, scrawled on a gin stained napkin, to his production team and loudly declared, "make it so".

 

Creating with Synths

Hans is known for his use of synths.
Hans discusses how he uses synths, as he creates a song from his starter patch for us.



Teaches Film Scoring
From collaborating to scoring, Hans Zimmer teaches you how to tell a story with music in 31 exclusive video lessons.

www.masterclass.com/classes/hans-zimmer-teaches-film-scoring/chapters/creating-with-synths#

 

Even then, he'd be ripping La Monte Young off.

 

You know what's funny about Sherlock OST? It was stolen from French TV Show

 

Collaboration and taking someone's work as yours just becaude you "gave him a job" are different things. And HZ has like 60 or 80 arrangers on his team(some of them are permanent members, some work for him from time to time).

The gay is a complete fraud as a composer. And I'm saying it as someone who thought a lot about Zimmer while being a kid. I was very disappointed when found out all this stuff. Not just in Zimmer, but in the industry in general.

 

Last edited: Jan 18, 2023

Yeah, it is VERY similiar to (I thought it was a French film?) Coraline or Vidocq or ? something, @Karate Grownup.

I certainly believe that he composed the score for Driving Miss Daisy all by himself. Not so sure about anything else that carries his name. Anyway, it's hardly "big" news, or new news; or something even "claimed".

Klaus Badelt wrote the score for PotC and had to sue to get this recognition, yet Hanz is still credited by everyone.