1. Where The Wild Things Are - Karen O And The Kids
There have been a number of repeated and recurring trends that this list has shown in films with scores from rock musicians - many are made by former music video directors, have a slightly offbeat style or strong visual sensibilities, and most are commercial failures but critical or cult successes. Where The Wild Things Are ticks every one of these boxes. After directing music videos for the likes of Fatboy Slim, Daft Punk and the Beastie Boys, as well as two earlier acclaimed indie features, Where the Wild Things Are was Spike Jonze's most ambitious project by far. Its $100 million budget was five or six times what Jonze's previous films had been made for, while the source material for this two hour movie was a beloved children's book just ten sentences long. The film was a long and troubled production in which Jonze fought repeatedly with both original studio Universal and eventual producers Warner Brothers and refused to compromise his artistic vision for the film. What resulted was a real oddity, ostensibly a movie for kids but really a somewhat downbeat grown up film about what it's like to be a kid. The film features stunning production design and creatures from the Jim Henson Creature Shop, all of which provide it with a nostalgic, autumnal feel that the music supports effortlessly. The original trailer had been soundtracked by a reworked version of Arcade Fire's Wake Up, but the Canadian multi-instrumentalists would have to wait until Jonze's follow-up Her to work on scoring one of his films. Instead, Jonze turned to ex-girlfriend Karen O who, along with band The Kids (members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Dead Weather, The Raconteurs and Liars), delivered something every bit as evocative and poignant as the rest of this under appreciated gem. Although Arcade Fire provided the score for Her, Karen O would return for the main song, The Moon Song, for which she received an Oscar nomination, though a folk-y indie song was never likely to triumph in the same category as Frozen's Let It Go. So, there we have it, ten rock musicians' scores that stood up with the best of classical film composers. Let us know in the comments if we've missed any or maybe if there's anyone from your favourite bands that you'd love to see writing for film.
