2008 film score by Ramin Djawadi
Iron Man: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
is the
soundtrack album
to the 2008 film
Iron Man
, featuring music composed by
Ramin Djawadi
. The soundtrack was produced in collaboration with
Hans Zimmer
and
Remote Control Productions
, and was released on April 29, 2008, by
Lions Gate Records
.
Djawadi joined the film after
John Debney
, who previously collaborated with director
Jon Favreau
, was unavailable. The score focuses heavily on electric guitar, as requested by Favreau, and was recorded with a rock band as well a traditional orchestra. The soundtrack also includes the classic 1966
Iron Man
theme song, and a
big band
-style
arrangement
of it by John O'Brien and
Rick Boston
, who also frequently collaborate with Favreau.
The soundtrack was negatively received by critics, especially the score's use of electric guitar and Remote Control influences. However, the inclusion of the classic theme, in its original and modern cover forms, was received positively, and the soundtrack was ultimately nominated at the
51st Grammy Awards
.
Background
[
edit
]
After
Iron Man
director
Jon Favreau
's previous collaborator
John Debney
was unavailable to score the film,
[1]
Iron Man
fan
Ramin Djawadi
sought out the role.
[2]
Filming on
Iron Man
had already been completed by the time Djawadi joined the production,
[3]
and rather than wait until he could see the completed film, as he usually would, Djawadi began "playing with ideas" as soon as he saw the first trailer.
[2]
Due to time constraints and the final cut of the film changing until "the last possible minute", Djawadi had help with arrangements and additional cues from
Hans Zimmer
and
Remote Control Productions
.
[2]
Favreau requested Djawadi's score be more guitar and rock focused, with Djawadi's history playing guitar helping with this. Guitarist Aaron Kaplan performed most of the guitar for the score,
[4]
with
Rage Against the Machine
guitarist
Tom Morello
, who makes a
cameo appearance
in the film, also contributing guitar performances.
[5]
The rock band Djawadi used was recorded at Remote Control, while recording of a full orchestra took place at
AIR Studios
. The final score was mixed at Remote Control.
[4]
Musicians John O'Brien and
Rick Boston
, frequent collaborators with Favreau, provided a
big band
-style
arrangement
of the Iron Man theme song from the 1966 cartoon
The Marvel Super Heroes
.
[6]
"
Institutionalized
", a song from band
Suicidal Tendencies
whose lead vocalist
Mike Muir
went to school with
Iron Man
star
Robert Downey Jr.
, is also included on the soundtrack. Djawadi performed a piano rendition of
Antonio Salieri
's "Concerto in Do Maggiroe Per Pianoforte eo Orchestra: Larghetto" which was used exclusively for the film, and as such was not included in the soundtrack.
[7]
Track listing
[
edit
]
All music by Ramin Djawadi, except where noted.
[2]
Title
| Writer(s)
| Artist
|
---|
1.
| "Driving with the Top Down"
|
|
| 3:10
|
---|
2.
| "Iron Man" (2008 version)
| Jack Urbont
| John O'Brien and
Rick Boston
| 1:05
|
---|
3.
| "Merchant of Death"
|
|
| 2:14
|
---|
4.
| "Trinkets to Kill a Prince"
|
|
| 3:07
|
---|
5.
| "Mark I"
|
|
| 3:53
|
---|
6.
| "Fireman"
|
|
| 2:09
|
---|
7.
| "Vacation's Over"
|
|
| 3:34
|
---|
8.
| "Golden Egg"
|
|
| 4:12
|
---|
9.
| "Damn Kid"
| DJ Boroboro
| DJ Boborobo
| 1:12
|
---|
10.
| "Mark II"
|
|
| 2:47
|
---|
11.
| "Extra Dry, Extra Olives"
|
|
| 1:43
|
---|
12.
| "Iron Man"
|
|
| 3:30
|
---|
13.
| "Gulmira"
|
|
| 4:05
|
---|
14.
| "Are Those Bullet Holes?"
|
|
| 2:00
|
---|
15.
| "Section 16"
|
|
| 2:33
|
---|
16.
| "Iron Monger"
|
|
| 4:45
|
---|
17.
| "Arc Reaktor"
|
|
| 3:55
|
---|
18.
| "
Institutionalized
"
| | Suicidal Tendencies
| 3:49
|
---|
19.
| "Iron Man" (1966 version)
| Urbont
| Jack Urbont
| 0:20
|
---|
Release
[
edit
]
The soundtrack was released by
Lions Gate Records
, who had a licensing deal with
Marvel Entertainment
,
[8]
on April 29, 2008.
[9]
Reception
[
edit
]
Critical response
[
edit
]
Christian Clemmenson of
Filmtracks.com
was extremely critical of the Remote Control influences on the soundtrack, negatively comparing it to
Steve Jablonsky
's
Transformers
and scoring it one star out of five. He stated that there is "nothing inherently wrong" with an electric guitar-focused score, but Djawadi "is not yet ready to provide [the] level of intrigue" that other composers such as Debney and
Danny Elfman
were able to with the instrument. Clemmenson also questioned Djawadi's use of an orchestra, feeling that it gets "washed away in the mix so thoroughly that the rock band and a set of keyboards is all that was truly required for this music"
[10]
Jonathon Broxton at Movie Music UK said that Djawadi's approach "seems to have been to appeal to the lowest of common denominators with driving rock rhythms, pseudo-heroic crescendos, and increasingly accelerating tempos. It's the ultimate musical overkill ? loud, fast, brash, devoid of any kind of depth, and failing entirely to comment on any nuances which may exist in the film". Broxton said, "it's not even good rock music ... the guitars do little more than repeat themselves over and over again, and the synth overdubs simply add another layer of aural sludge."
[11]
Movie Wave's James Southall gave the soundtrack no stars, calling it "yet another phoned-in score" from Remote Control, "completely puerile garbage, as bad as film music gets".
[12]
Conversely, Christopher Coleman, writing for Tracksounds, gave the score a six out of ten, saying, "as much as I had prepared myself to dislike this score...as much as I thought I'd be among the throngs of haters...and as much as I long for classically-styled scores for superhero films,
Iron Man
has won me over." He felt that fans of the Remote Control style would find the score an "industrially-clever diversion", but for others it would only give "more fuel for your personal, [Remote Control]-bond-fires". He felt that the release "captures the most of the significant cues", but suffers from the inclusion of Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized". Coleman concluded by saying that "a traditional, all-symphonic score would not have worked better for this film".
[13]
Allmusic
gave the release three stars out of five, with reviewer James Christopher Monger saying that Djawadi "treats the superhero with a predictably heavy hand", and imbues the film with "enough bombast to fuel two sequels".
[14]
Many critics praised the inclusion of both the Urbont's classic 1966 Iron Man theme song and the modern cover of it, with Coleman calling it "one of the best surprises of the movie and score",
[13]
and Broxton highlighting the cover as "a wonderful piece of feelgood jazz".
[11]
Clemmenson lamented the theme not being integrated into Djawadi's music, feeling that it is "so diametrically opposed to the Remote Control handbook for simplistic progressions that it's disappointing that Djawadi didn't take a stab at coherently interpolating it into the new work."
[10]
Accolades
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Larson, Randall (July 22, 2010).
"Of Superheroes and Predators: John Debney Returns to Sci-Fi"
.
Cinefantastique
. Archived from
the original
on May 1, 2016
. Retrieved
June 13,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Ramin Djawadi: Compositore di Iron Man"
. Comicus. April 6, 2008.
Archived
from the original on August 28, 2016
. Retrieved
June 10,
2016
.
- ^
Weedon, Paul (October 17, 2013).
"Ramin Djawadi on Game Of Thrones, Iron Man, Pacific Rim"
.
Den of Geek
.
Archived
from the original on September 20, 2016
. Retrieved
June 10,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Brennan, Mike (May 17, 2008).
"Breaking Out and Scoring with Ramin Djawadi"
. Soundtrack.net.
Archived
from the original on August 7, 2016
. Retrieved
August 27,
2016
.
- ^
"RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE Guitarist Faces 'Iron Man'
"
. BlabberMouth.net. May 6, 2008.
Archived
from the original on March 10, 2014
. Retrieved
June 10,
2016
.
- ^
Boston, Rick.
"Iron Man Theme by John O'Brien and Rick Boston"
.
Rick Boston Artist Musician
.
Archived
from the original on April 6, 2016
. Retrieved
June 10,
2016
.
- ^
"The Marvel Life: Mike Muir"
.
Marvel.com
. March 7, 2013.
Archived
from the original on April 21, 2021
. Retrieved
June 26,
2016
.
- ^
Donahue, Ann (November 15, 2008). "Lions' Share".
Billboard
. p. 27.
- ^
"Iron Man (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)"
.
iTunes
. April 29, 2008.
Archived
from the original on May 26, 2016
. Retrieved
August 27,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Clemmensen, Christian (May 25, 2008).
"Iron Man"
.
Filmtracks.com
.
Archived
from the original on August 18, 2016
. Retrieved
July 31,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Broxton, Jonathan (May 2, 2008).
"IRON MAN ? Ramin Djawadi"
. Movie Music UK.
Archived
from the original on July 21, 2016
. Retrieved
July 31,
2016
.
- ^
Southall, James.
"Iron Man"
. Movie Wave.
Archived
from the original on March 3, 2016
. Retrieved
July 31,
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Coleman, Christopher.
"Iron Man by Ramin Djawadi"
. Tracksounds.
Archived
from the original on March 3, 2016
. Retrieved
July 31,
2016
.
- ^
Monger, James Christopher.
"Iron Man [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]"
.
Allmusic
.
Archived
from the original on August 14, 2016
. Retrieved
July 31,
2016
.
- ^
Seijas, Casey (April 12, 2008).
"
'The Dark Knight', 'Iron Man' Rock the Grammy Nominations"
.
MTV
.
Archived
from the original on March 15, 2016
. Retrieved
June 9,
2016
.
- ^
"ASCAP Honors Top Film and Television Music Composers and Songwriters at 24th Annual Awards Celebration"
.
ASCAP
. May 12, 2009.
Archived
from the original on September 18, 2016
. Retrieved
June 9,
2016
.
- ^
"Nominations for the 35th Annual Saturn Awards"
.
saturnawards.org
. Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Archived from
the original
on February 21, 2012
. Retrieved
March 17,
2009
.
- ^
"
'The Dark Knight' receives five Saturn Awards at the 35th Annual Saturn Awards"
.
saturnawards.org
. Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Archived from
the original
on July 11, 2009
. Retrieved
July 11,
2009
.
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