Prince’s Purple Rain reigns over movie soundtrack list
Purple Rain, the film that starred hit recording artist Prince at the height of his 1980s-era success, has topped a list of Hollywood’s greatest movie soundtracks compiled by the editors of Vanity Fair.
The magazine revealed the top 10 soundtracks Wednesday that made the cut out of 50 albums that will be explored in a one-off publication entitled Movies Rock.
The special issue, featuring actor Bill Murray’s impression of rock and roll icon Elvis Presley on the cover, will be published in November. Issues will be sent to subscribers of 14 titles published by Vanity Fair’s publisher CondÈ Nast.
Editors described Prince’s 1984 Purple Rain soundtrack as a combination of “funk, R&B, pop, metal and even psychedelia” that became “a sound that defined the ’80s,” according to a Reuters report.
However, while hailing the list’s soundtracks, the editors also acknowledged the cinematic faults of several of their selections.
The editors described Purple Rain, which netted Prince an Oscar, a Grammy and other trophies, as “perhaps the best badly acted film ever.”
Along the same lines, in the write-up of the eighth-ranked Saturday Night Fever, the magazine called the disco-era film’s soundtrack “required listening,” while at the same time poking fun at the iconic white suit star John Travolta dons in the movie.
The magazine’s list of the top 10 greatest soundtracks is:
1) Purple Rain
2) A Hard Day’s Night
3) The Harder They Come
4) Pulp Fiction
5) The Graduate
6) Superfly
7) Trainspotting
8) Saturday Night Fever
9) American Graffiti
10) The Big Chill
In conjunction with the special magazine issue, CondÈ Nast Media Group will host a concert featuring artists such as Elton John, Carrie Underwood and BeyoncÈ Knowles performing famous music from the movies.
“We wanted to create an extraordinary show that would pay tribute to the indelible impact music has on film,” CondÈ Nast Media Group president Richard Beckman said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Others set to participate include Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Fergie, Jennifer Hudson and John Williams.
The Movies Rock concert will take place Dec. 2 in Los Angeles at the Kodak Theatre, home of the Academy Awards. The event will be broadcast as a two-hour television special on CBS on Dec. 7.
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