Rock stars often find inspiration through books, storytelling, other people’s music, etc. However, every once in a while, a movie will grace their eyes and thus inspire entire pieces of music. Let’s take a look at just four times some of the famous movies that inspired rock stars to compose music!
1. “The Ten Commandments” inspired Metallica
Ten Commandments is a 1956 religious drama movie starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. It didn’t quite mature well, but the essence of the movie is based on it Prince of Egypt by Dorothy Clark Wilson, which is additional Based on the biblical description of Moses’ life.
James Hetfield was incredibly inspired by the movie. So much so that he and the rest of Metallica worked on the song “Creeping Death” in 1984. It’s a fan-favorite metal festival, where Hetfield screams his story from the perspective of the Angel of Death during the tenth plague in Egypt. “Creeping Death” is one of the favorite songs during their live sets as well.
2. “The Wizard of Oz” inspired Elton John
This example of movies that inspired famous rock stars comes as no surprise, especially to fans of Elton John. John was heavily involved in the 1939 movie Judy Garland The Wizard of Oz. So was John’s collaborator and longtime songwriter, Bernie Taupin.
Tobin wrote “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” in 1973, as well as most of the album of the same name. The duo decided to take an old-school story about a girl being transported to a foreign fantasy world and change it in the context of rock stardom.
3. “Romeo + Juliet” Inspired by Radiohead
Remember the 1996 modern adaptation of Romeo and JulietThe movie, starring a young Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, is well known for its excellent soundtrack. Baz Luhrmann approached Thom Yorke about contributing a song to the project at the time he was working on it OK Computer.
York wrote “Exit Music (For A Film)” after seeing the movie, and wrote the score to play on the final credits. The rest of the band liked it enough to wear it OK Computerand the song has been used in movies and television several times since then.
4. “Badlands” inspired by Bruce Springsteen
Undoubtedly, Bruce Springsteen’s career-enhancing album Nebraska He has a dark and lonely feeling about him. There are a lot of themes that contribute to that feeling on this album, but the record as a whole is also inspired by the 1973 movie. Badlands.
This particular movie follows the story of Charles Starkweather, who committed murder in 1958 with his young girlfriend. Springsteen does a great job of forcing the listener to relate to Starkweather’s descent into violence and madness.
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