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Best Star Wars Music?

I'm listening to Battle of the Heroes, and it's so beautifully and intricately crafted. Say what you want about the prequels, but John Williams continued to do an amazing job with the sound track, giving us gems like Duel of the Fates.
 

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
Perhaps not the single best piece in all the soundtracks, but did anyone else really just get the feeling that it would be awesome to be an AT-AT driver blowing up rebel scum in this particular moment? (The latter part of Luke's First Crash, wherein Veers targets with maximum firepower.)

https://youtu.be/Q9TDQuFJVl0?t=214
 
It's The Asteroid Field

Has been since 1980.

Probably will be for as long as the series goes on.

Another Star Wars film might knock ESB out of that top slot (probably might happen a lot sooner than you think) but I don't know if a single cue is taking The Asteroid Field out ever.
 

Rookhelm

Member
Each of the prequels had an amazing standout track. Duel of the Fates, Across the Stars, and Battle of the Heroes.

I'm also partial to the Podrace music, and the music that plays when Anakin storms the Jedi temple (originally used at the Geonosis battle, I think).


Binary sunset takes it all I think, however it's really short. So, as a suitable substitute, a variation on Binary sunset, is during Vader's funeral pyre, where like 3 versions of it are played in a row. Gets the feels going every time.


also, the ANH award ceremony is awesome too.
 
It's The Asteroid Field

Has been since 1980.

Probably will be for as long as the series goes on.

Another Star Wars film might knock ESB out of that top slot (probably might happen a lot sooner than you think) but I don't know if a single cue is taking The Asteroid Field out ever.

Yeah, it's this. The Star Wars films have given us an amazing array of brilliant musical pieces (Duel of the Fates, Yoda's Theme, Imperial March), but The Asteroid Field tops them all. It's a perfect piece on its own, but the way it meshes with the scene is absolute brilliance.
 

Sorcerer

Member
Binary Sunset
The Hologram
The Emperor
Into the trap
The Battle of Yavin
The Imperial March

These can get confusing because they can have different titles across different versions of the soundtracks
 

EGM1966

Member
Rather than try and pick a track I tend to focus on which film had best music overall that best supported the themes/characters for that film.

Not surprisingly it's Empire.

The fact it has the Asteroid Field plus the best love theme and end credits theme as well as Yoda's theme, the Imperial March and the terrific sequence for when Vadar ends the first phase of the fight with Luke by switching to force powers vs lightsaber doesn't hurt it either.

If gun was to head I'd probably plump for the virtuoso Asteroid Field track or Closing Titles from Empire.
 

Unit 33

Member
I always had a soft spot for the music during the Battle Of Endor, especially the music that plays when the fleet has assembled.

Also they appropriated a bit of it as the multiplayer menu music in Jedi Knight 2.
 
The Rebel Fleet / End Title: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DczKNnP2XoQ

6 minutes of beautiful, fresh renditions of some of the best themes from the Star Wars repertoire, concluding with the most amazing fanfare ending to any of the movies. That descending brass line near the end always gives me chills. Of note, all of the themes (Han & The Princess, Yoda's, Imperial March etc.) are all fresh and not just cuts from their concert suite versions.

Also

Star Wars Episode II End Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikcTJ-yh6w8

Specifically, the end section beginning at 4:26 ........ this section was only on the OST and was not included during the credits of the actual film. One of the biggest travesties of editing for the entire saga, IMO ---- flabbergasting that it was left out. In less than 2 minutes of music, after a cool harpsichord rendition of Across the Stars, a French horn comes in and John Williams brilliantly tells the entire Prequel story.........

Anakin's Theme is played in a very lazy-hazy-Sunday-afternoon way, then becomes intertwined with the Across the Stars Theme played by the flutes, and then low strings ominously are heard behind it all playing Vader's theme.

Read that again --- John Williams merges Anakin's childhood theme, Across the Stars, AND The Imperial March in together, all at the same time ----- absolutely master level composing.

Then for the very last section, the flute solo takes over and plays a line that emulates the end of Leia's Theme almost exactly, leading the listener to expect a major key resolution to the phrase, but instead, the flute resolves to a very dark minor key and the low strings come in once more with their Imperial March to end the track (and the movie).

That ending, though very different, is probably on par for me with the ending of the Empire Strikes Back End Credits --- both amazing in their own ways.
 
It's Across the Stars but what Fluffernuts wrote above me about the end credits of Attack of the Clones is true. That is great stuff.
 

Moff

Member
the whole ESB soundtrack is amazing and the best soundtrask I have ever heard, so my choice would be the credits track, which is basically a medley of the ESB tracks
 

GSG Flash

Nobody ruins my family vacation but me...and maybe the boy!
Duel of the Fates

But I really like Rey's theme and Jedi Steps too.
 
the whole ESB soundtrack is amazing and the best soundtrask I have ever heard, so my choice would be the credits track, which is basically a medley of the ESB tracks

Yes.

My 2nd place would be the Batman Returns soundtrack by Danny Elfman. Third would be Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. If you haven't heard the complete scores to those, go find them now. Amazing stuff.

Somehow, the sequels to three completely different major franchises yielded some of the most amazing scores ever written, each of which harnessed the themes from their prior films and built upon them in incredible ways.
 
I'm reeeeeally partial to The Scavenger/Rey's Theme. Such a beautiful core motif, that really sums up Star Wars at its best - hopeful, magical, wonderous. It's kind of the perfect successor to Binary Sunset, and yet is entirely its own thing.

It also helps that the sequence that The Scavenger scores is probably one of my all-time sequences in film, and in my opinion easily one of the best constructed sequences in the franchise.

Also, Jedi Steps is damn good.
 
Duel of the Fates is up there, same with the End Credits theme.

But the Imperial March is, without question, the greatest villain theme in movie history.

EDIT: Binary Sunset is also amazing. Star Wars music in general is just amazing. John Williams is a wizard.
 
Binary Sunset, easily. The most memorable tune across all the media I've come across.

Its even beautiful in Family Guy.

I cant listen to it at the moment but if this is the music that plays when Luke is looking out at the planes of Tatooine during the sunset, this is the correct answer for me. Star Wars has some of the most fantastic music in all of cinema though so I dont think there are many wrong answers.

Except for the added musical number in the Special Edition Jedi...fuck that shit
 

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
Imperial March is probably still the best one. And the song that was on during the final space battle during ANH.
 

Sephzilla

Member
I'm pretty partial to Return of the Jedi's soundtrack, honestly.

-- Battle of Endor II [ROTJ] - Specifically the middle part from the climax of the Luke/Vader confrontation [This is my #1]
-- Asteroid Field [ESB] - It's just so damn good
-- Victory / End Credits [ANH] - Best ending theme
-- The Emperor's Throne Room [ROTJ] - Ultimate villain music
-- Victory Celebration / End Credits [ROTJ] - Sorry, I still prefer this as the trilogy end cap over Yub Nub
-- Duel of the Fates [TPM] - Epic music for the best lightsaber duel in the prequels
-- Jedi Steps [TFA] - I love everything about this track, especially the one horn playing Luke's theme
-- Binary Sunset [ANH] - One of the best moments in movies

The music from this moment specifically, is my favorite thing in Star Wars

j9d8yb8.gif


We spend three movies building up to Luke finally defeating Vader, the man whom "killed" his father and killed Obi-Wan Kenobi. Instead of it being a heroic moment where the hero finally defeated the evil villain, it's turned into a tragic moment where a son is about to murder his father and the music reflects how sad and hopeless the moment really feels. It's John Williams at the peak of his talent and it's the best moment in the franchise for me.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
I like the Dirge that plays for the emperors seduction in return of the Jedi


Edit. Thanks Sephzilla!
 

Surfinn

Member
Binary sunset is short in the film but it's the most powerful moment in SW, I think. It compliments the visuals perfectly and produces an incredible moment.

Across the Stars just pisses me off when I hear it because I think about what could have been and how that track got buried. Had there been a film that complemented the score, it could have actually dethroned the some of best JW has put on film.
 
Too hard to pick a singular song but I will say that the two best complete albums are The Phantom Menace and The Empire Strikes Back.
 

Surfinn

Member
It's really a testament to how great of a composer JW is when you could basically argue any of the SW films could be the best. TFA is also an excellent score.
 

watershed

Banned
The End Credits of TFA has an awesome new rendition of Rey's Theme, Kylo Ren's dual motifs, action music from the first half of the movie with a heroic quote of Poe's Theme, March of the Resistance and ends with a beautiful interplay between the Force Theme and Rey's Theme before settling on a quiet statement of Luke's Theme. Among the best if not the best.
 

Surfinn

Member
The End Credits of TFA has an awesome new rendition of Rey's Theme, Kylo Ren's dual motifs, action music from the first half of the movie with a heroic quote of Poe's Theme, March of the Resistance and ends with a beautiful interplay between the Force Theme and Rey's Theme before settling on a quiet statement of Luke's Theme. Among the best if not the best.

I personally believe TFA end credits are the best of them all. Even better than the film's actual score.

Rey's theme is even better and the force theme/Rey mix is fucking incredible

Saw the film 7 times and stayed for the end credits for every viewing.
 

Voidwolf

Member
The Force Theme
Asteroid Field
Across the Stars
Throne Room
Victory Celebration
Rey's Theme

I could keep going, they're all so good.
 
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