Happy Birthday John Williams!

[Hedji]

Happy 83rd Birthday to the man who scored my childhood. We have a living legend still with us, and I for one cannot wait to hear a fresh new Star Wars score from him this year, with hopefully more to come. I feel lucky to have grown up in the era of the greatest film composer ever. Here's a tribute "cake" I made a couple years back (didn't get to do a new one this year )

[Hedji]

[Hedji]

[Hedji]

[Mikey]

Mark my works, in the future this dude will be regarded the same as Beethoven

[Hector]

I agree with Mike...Williams's name deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence with Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Chopin, etc...

[Random Axe]

I've had some music purist friends who think he's just a hack that got lucky with his movie choices. I never said all my friends are smart or have good taste. He is easily a top five all-time composer for me regardless of genre of if he does movie scores. Everything he touches as instant credibility. There will NEVER be another of his kind.

[PNGwynne]

Proof oh his virtuosity? The score of Schindler's List.

I'm a devoted fan of various classical music, and the film scores of the last 80-odd years are truly the continuation of that legacy. It was all pop music at one time, y'know?

[Gorn Captain]

Modern soundtrack composers are just as good as the old masters were, they just don't get the credit.
When I mention people like Jerry Goldsmith, nobody even knows him.
Soundtracks are my very favorite music (have about 700), and I mean proper scores, not something like Flashdance or Footloose. I'm so glad we're getting decent versions of scores on CD now, not just seven "hit songs" (which you barely hear in the movie anyway) and then the real score crammed into 20 minutes of edited highlights.
These days, you get 90-120 minutes of fantastic music, with all the extras included. The 3 disc of Conan is phenomenal.

Looking forward to hearing some new Williams Star Wars music. Glad he's still with us for this!

[Earth 2 Chris]

If Williams did nothing but the score to Superman: The Movie, I'd owe him for helping shape a good chunk of who I am, just with his music.

Chris

[Random Axe]

And, his son is a badass singer. He's fronting the new TOTO album due next month. He passed some talent down.

[YoungOnce]

To me, his music is as important to Star Wars, Superman and Indiana Jones as the actors themselves. Can't imagine my favorite movies without the John Williams scores... He is able to wring out the exact emotion at the exact time... Magical talent!

[Hedji]

Modern soundtrack composers are just as good as the old masters were, they just don't get the credit.
When I mention people like Jerry Goldsmith, nobody even knows him.
Soundtracks are my very favorite music (have about 700), and I mean proper scores, not something like Flashdance or Footloose. I'm so glad we're getting decent versions of scores on CD now, not just seven "hit songs" (which you barely hear in the movie anyway) and then the real score crammed into 20 minutes of edited highlights.
These days, you get 90-120 minutes of fantastic music, with all the extras included. The 3 disc of Conan is phenomenal.

Looking forward to hearing some new Williams Star Wars music. Glad he's still with us for this!

Great to have another film music fan in the Museum! Yes, we live in a golden age of CD releases for film scores. LOTS of Holy Grails have been released over the past decade. I too listen exclusively to film music. Interesting that Jerry Goldsmith's birthday is today, only 2 days after Williams. Don't get me started on how much I miss Goldsmith since he passed.

[Bionicfanboy66]

Don't forget about his scores for the Olympic Games and The NBC Nightly News. People who say he's a hack need to get their ears checked.