Heyo BUTTBOMBS, let’s spend today’s blog talking about my favorite film and video game composers, huh? Because I’ve been Sennheiser-ing it out at night and listening to my favorite scores and it’s hot on my brain at the moment.

Let’s do a ranking, as always. My top 5, starting with the 5th most favorite and ending with my most favorite.

5. Alan Menken
Menken is kind of the “hidden” composer on this list in the sense that I don’t know if many people know who he is (as compared to the two dudes at the top of this list). But I’m putting him as my #5 because he is responsible for many of the classic Disney songs. And those are so connected to childhood that they’re going to forever be important.

Here’s a video showing a lot of his best songs.

[Edit: God, even just listening to those Little Mermaid songs at the start bring back so many memories, haha]

[Edit again: I haven’t watched Beauty and the Beast in forever and HOLY SHIT THE ANIMATION SLKDFJSLKFJSLF]

4. John Murphy
Murphy is on here because of Sunshine. I don’t know any of his other works, but the music in Sunshine is so heartbreakingly beautiful and stressful and haunting all at the same time, making the movie one of my favorites just because of the music alone. Like…listen to Adagio in D Minor and tell me it doesn’t make your heart hurt and soar at the same time.

3. Christopher Tin
Among other things, Tin has done music for the video games Civilization IV and for Civilization VI. Baba Yetu, the song from Civ IV, won a Grammy. But I think Sogno di Volare (Civ VI) is one of the most epic, frisson-inducing songs I’ve ever heard. I’ve posted it here before, but here it is again. Get some Sennheisers and crank this; you won’t regret it.

2. Hans Zimmer
C’mon. Do I really have to explain? Zimmer’s music is so phenomenal that it can’t be explained anyway. I think my favorite thing about Zimmer that is fairly consistent across his work is how so many of his songs swell to an insanely beautiful peak around the 5/6th mark of the song. Here are just a few of what I consider to be his absolute best songs.

3:00 and onwards is stellar.

4:21 and onward.

1. James Horner
Horner and Zimmer are basically tied, but if I HAD to pick a #1, it would be Horner. The main reason is because he is behind the music for two of my favorite movies (Apollo 13 and Titanic). And I’m pretty sure a huge reason why I like these two movies so much is because of their scores. I just really like everything about his style. He uses TUBULAR BELLS, for god’s sake. Examples:

(This is probably my favorite piece from any movie)

The other reason is because of the music in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. As a kid, this was the first movie where I remember consciously paying attention to the music. It was enthralling. I think it’s what really got me into music.

I LOVED this part as a kid.