10 Artists Who Made Entire Movie Soundtracks

Most movies that try to get a big name on the soundtrack aren't really looking for them to write a full score or anything. These are cases where the film already has a set soundtrack, and having a tie-in with a pop singer writing a song for you is just trying to put a few more zeroes at the end of that royalty check. For the coming of age story of The Graduate though, the folksy sounds of Simon and Garfunkel seem to work just a little too well.

Taking both old and new songs from the folk duo, The Graduate's soundtrack is more than just a decent batch of songs thrown together. Throughout the movie, Simon and Garfunkel are normally most of the musical accompaniment, doing away with most of the flashy film scores and having the soothing sounds of their harmonies carry the weight of the scene for you. It might sound strange coming out of a band known for just an acoustic guitar and vocals most of the time, but hearing just those two working off each other has some pretty dark implications too.

While a song like Mrs. Robinson might sound a little bit chipper in the context of the movie, hearing something like The Sound of Silence as the bookends of the film has a pretty unsettling tone, watching Dustin Hoffman make some of the most important decisions of his life. The drama might already be happening on screen, but it's the sound of those harmonies that give us a little bit of balance. It's not easy growing up like this, and sometimes music gives you another leg to stand on.