So a movie franchise about
People in Rubber Suits beating the crap out of models and each other can come with such awesome music. Who knew?
Main Movies
- Akira Ifukube was a god. And he didn't stop with music—he invented Godzilla's iconic roar as a bonus.
- The original theme itself
is still just as awesome today as it was when the movie came out. The score didn't depart the franchise after the first film either. The Heisei films in particular were fond of using the section between 1:10 and 1:55 as a tension builder during or before a big fight, to stirring effect, and it rarely feels old or out of place no matter how many times it is repeated in a single film. The score has been regularly used in movies since the original film was released in 1954 (as partially tracked here), cementing its timeless status. - The "Monster Zero March", an epic remix of the "Frigate March" theme from the original movie.
- From the original movie: When you have a Godzilla theme that sounds like this, then you know it's not the cheesy giant monster movie the later films became known for. It's a straight-up sci-fi/horror film with heavy emphasis on nightmare fuel and tragedy.
- The theme to King Kong VS Godzilla is absolutely stellar. While simplistic in its melody, the frequent dynamic changes and the chanting throughout the song wonderfully sets the atmosphere for the entire movie. It's a hauntingly beautiful piece.
- The ending theme from Terror of Mechagodzilla. As a somber, yet hopeful piece, it ends off one of the darker Showa Godzilla movies, and closes the Showa era on a high note as well.
- Reijiro Koroku's soundtrack to The Return Of Godzilla (or Godzilla 1985) is dark, gothic and brooding; Akira Ifukube meets John Williams at an Edgar Allan Poe convention.
- The music for Godzilla vs. Biollante toned down the grim and added a bit of poetry to the tune.
- "Bio Wars." Snippets of it played during BioMajor's escape scene leading up to SSS9 taking them all out, and a couple evacuation scenes. It's kind of a Super Sentai theme, with insane lead guitar, and snippets of the classic Godzilla theme to boot.
- "The Super-X2 Theme" is quite similar to Superman's theme, but more heroic in its own unique way.
- The Love Theme, only part of which was heard near the end, and Countdown. Much of the music was composed as suites which were then broken down into various pieces that are heard in the movie.
- Watching Burning Godzilla rampage through Hong Kong to the chilling "The Godzilla March" remix called Hong Kong Destruction will send shivers through you.
- Kow Otani's score for Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack is also worth mentioning. A combination of classical and techno sound used to bring the past to the present, giving each monster its own new theme for the film.
- For the Heisei era, it really can't get any more epic than Godzilla's Requiem. Epic, and really gives the death of Godzilla the gravity fans pretty much demanded as soon as the posters and trailers hit with the Wham Line "On December 24th, Godzilla DIES".
- Part of what makes Godzilla's awakening in Final Wars so epic is the music. As it builds up to his appearance, it goes silent as we see his face. He roars, and then the music just explodes with epicness!
- Takayuki Hattori provides a rather nice music score for Godzilla 2000.
- Dreaded God, the main theme of Godzilla 2000, is an amazing piece, which truly cements Godzilla's status as the destructive, yet imposing and sometimes misunderstood force of nature he is, and which also marks an awesome beginning for the Millenium era. The track is particularly good, with its vocals giving a sense of awe for the title character. One thing that is nice is that the American version of the film placed Godzilla's roar at the end of the track, making it sound even better.
- The music for the Japanese version of the final battle between Godzilla and Orga was completely rewritten for the American version. The music in the latter is a big improvement, and makes the battle far more epic and exciting.
- The theatrical trailer for the American version makes good use of "Superbeast" by Rob Zombie.
- Akira Ifukube has blessed the cinematic world with a treasure of beautiful sound. From the return of the Maser March from War of the Gargantuas to Godzilla's theme playing when he emerges from Mt. Fuji, the viewer is given a wonderful listening experience. But perhaps the best piece of music, however, is the soft melody that plays during the end credits, a modified instrumental version of the piece, "Sacred Springs" from Mothra vs. Godzilla. Another piece, just before this, "Mothra Heads Into Outer Space" is Sacred Springs played with a harp. Listening to both pieces side-by-side is an exquisitely pleasant listening experience.
- Michiru Oshima gives us perhaps one of the best scores ever heard in a Godzilla movie in Godzilla Against Mechagodzilla.
- From Shiro Sagisu, the main theme for Shin Godzilla would do Akira Ifukube proud.
Other Toho Films
- As it has been mentioned before, Akira Ifukube's score for Varan and King Kong vs. Godzilla would be reused and modified for dozens of other films.
The 1998 American film
- As controversial as the film is, David Arnold's score is praised by even those who don't like the film, starting with the main titles, with a theme worthy of Godzilla himself.
- Jamiroquai's "Deeper Underground" is thought of as a highlight on the pop-song soundtrack that was released. Even if it's unfitting, it's pure funk in the best way.
- Puff Daddy's "Come With Me". As narmy as it is, it does lend an epic feel to the whole thing, and was prominently featured in advertisements. Jimmy Page even played on the track, sampling his own song.
Godzilla Spinoff music
- Though it was never really featured in any Godzilla media, the Blue Öyster Cult song from Spectres embodies everything great about the King of the Monsters.
- Many of the Unleashed themes are awesome to listen to, with the most awesome themes going to the GDF and Earth Defenders, but all the factions have awesome themes in there. Kiryu/Mechagodzilla 2's theme in particular, even if it's shared between two characters, is pretty cool-sounding, and Jet Jaguar has a theme that makes him feel badass. The crowning theme has to be Mecha-King Ghidorah's theme, though; it became the main theme of the game for a reason.
- The gloriously creepy main theme to Luigi Cozzi's psychedelic Fan Edit Cozzilla makes an already scary monster ten times scarier. As a sidenote, the composer, Fabio Frizzi, would go on to remix the piece not once but twice, first as the main theme to Zombi 2 and later as the main theme to City of the Living Dead.
