Cameron Crowe Has the BEST Soundtracks

Every time I'm looking for new inspiration for my writing or my drawing or any of that garbage, I listen to music. Unfortunately, if I listen to just one album by one artist, I won't get anything out of it, because it won't be diverse enough (most of the time; some musicians are versatile enough to pull it off). So what can I do? I can't make my own playlists because then I'll just be bored; I mean, I'll already know everything that's on there, so it'll bland and uninspiring. No, in search of inspiration, I usually end up listening to a Cameron Crowe soundtrack.

Generally, his soundtracks are put together by his wife, Nancy Wilson, who was one of the two leaders of the 7o's band, Heart, and these soundtracks are, in themselves, works of art. I can't even describe in appropriate words the general feeling of Cameron Crowe's soundtracks, because they are all so different from each other too. I mean, they all bend to the whim of the movie they accompany, rather than being stiff and inflexible. For those of you who are sadly ignorant of one of the world's best directors, Cameron Crowe is the one who graced the world with the movies Vanilla Sky, Elizabethtown and Almost Famous.

Almost Famous is one of the movies which is on my very exclusive list of movies which have, literally, changed my life. It's there keeping Moulin Rouge(!) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas company; NOT Juno. As much as I enjoy movies like Juno, there are too many movies similar to it, and it wasn't as new to me as it was to most people. But Cameron Crowe is the only director I know of to this date who has actually captured the feeling of rock and roll, and this in his masterpiece, Almost Famous. The movie itself was a wordlessly incredible depiction of life for a rock and roll journalist touring in the 70's; and as though that wasn't enough, the soundtrack is sheer beauty, featuring almost exclusively songs written by other people, some hits and some not, but it hardly even mattered. The songs were SO perfectly selected that it almost seemed as though they had been written for the movie. And being a rock musician herself, Nancy Wilson did write a couple of songs which the fictional band, Stillwater, performed.

It was from Cameron Crowe soundtracks that I discovered real music. See, when I was a wee lad, we listened mostly to things like Veggie Tales and geography CDs; it wasn't until I heard Weird Al Yankovic's parodies of songs that I began wanting to listen to music, and really it wasn't until just two or three years ago that I started listening in earnest. But Cameron Crowe's soundtracks helped me discover in secret the music which was common conversation in other households; it was almost contraband, and owning a soundtrack was exciting to me as a little kid. But it was in these CDs that I first heard of Elton John, and Sigur Ros, and The Hollies and Yes. So much music that I now know and love was first introduced to me by these movies.

And maybe this is one reason for my loving them so much; nostalgia and all that. But that doesn't change my personal opinion that Cameron Crowe is one of the greatest directors of all time. After all, Almost Famous is on my list, isn't it? Off the top of my head, I can think of only three movies that are on that list; it's pretty impressive, if you think about it.

Songs which I first heard from Cameron Crowe, and which you should listen to:

America, by Simon and Garfunkel

Sparks, by The Who

It'll All Work Out and Square One, by Tom Petty

My Father's Gun, by Elton John

Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, by Elton John

The Same in Any Language, by I Nine

Jesus was a Crossmaker, by The Hollies

there are a lot more, but really, the individual songs don't matter at all. They all need to be together, played in a row, otherwise the spell is broken and the power of music runs through one ear and exists through the other, succeeding in doing nothing but taking up space in your mind and disallowing you to think. No, if you haven't listened to one of his soundtracks, I suggest you do so immediately. Actually, I'd say instead of just listening to the soundtrack, you should go out and buy the whole movie; no reason why not; they're awesome. When looking for inspiration, those movies are always on the top of my list; especially Almost Famous.