Iron Man (soundtrack)

Last updated
Iron Man: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Iron Man soundtrack cover.jpg
Film score by
Ramin Djawadi
ReleasedApril 29, 2008 (2008-04-29)
Length54:12
Label Lions Gate Records
Producer
Ramin Djawadi chronology
Deception
(2008)		Iron Man: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
(2008)		 Open Season 2
(2008)
Marvel Cinematic Universe soundtrack chronology
Iron Man
(2008)		 The Incredible Hulk
(2008)

Iron Man: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2008 film Iron Man , featuring music composed by Ramin Djawadi. The soundtrack was produced in collaboration with Hans Zimmer and Remote Control Productions, and was released on April 29, 2008, by Lions Gate Records.

Contents

Djawadi joined the film after John Debney, who previously collaborated with director Jon Favreau, was unavailable. The score focuses heavily on electric guitar, as requested by Favreau, and was recorded with a rock band as well a traditional orchestra. The soundtrack also includes the classic 1966 Iron Man theme song, and a big band-style arrangement of it by John O'Brien and Rick Boston, who also frequently collaborate with Favreau.

The soundtrack was negatively received by critics, especially the score's use of electric guitar and Remote Control influences. However, the inclusion of the classic theme, in its original and modern cover forms, was received positively, and the soundtrack was ultimately nominated at the 51st Grammy Awards.

Background

After Iron Man director Jon Favreau's previous collaborator John Debney was unavailable to score the film, [1] Iron Man fan Ramin Djawadi sought out the role. [2] Filming on Iron Man had already been completed by the time Djawadi joined the production, [3] and rather than wait until he could see the completed film, as he usually would, Djawadi began "playing with ideas" as soon as he saw the first trailer. [2] Due to time constraints and the final cut of the film changing until "the last possible minute", Djawadi had help with arrangements and additional cues from Hans Zimmer and Remote Control Productions. [2]

Favreau requested Djawadi's score be more guitar and rock focused, with Djawadi's history playing guitar helping with this. Guitarist Aaron Kaplan performed most of the guitar for the score, [4] with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, who makes a cameo appearance in the film, also contributing guitar performances. [5] The rock band Djawadi used was recorded at Remote Control, while recording of a full orchestra took place at AIR Studios. The final score was mixed at Remote Control. [4]

Musicians John O'Brien and Rick Boston, frequent collaborators with Favreau, provided a big band-style arrangement of the Iron Man theme song from the 1966 cartoon The Marvel Super Heroes . [6] "Institutionalized", a song from band Suicidal Tendencies whose lead vocalist Mike Muir went to school with Iron Man star Robert Downey Jr., is also included on the soundtrack. Djawadi performed a piano rendition of Antonio Salieri's "Concerto in Do Maggiroe Per Pianoforte eo Orchestra: Larghetto" which was used exclusively for the film, and as such was not included in the soundtrack. [7]

Track listing

All music by Ramin Djawadi, except where noted. [2]

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Driving with the Top Down" 3:10
2."Iron Man" (2008 version)John O'Brien and Rick Boston 1:05
3."Merchant of Death" 2:14
4."Trinkets to Kill a Prince" 3:07
5."Mark I" 3:53
6."Fireman" 2:09
7."Vacation's Over" 3:34
8."Golden Egg" 4:12
9."Damn Kid"DJ Boborobo1:12
10."Mark II" 2:47
11."Extra Dry, Extra Olives" 1:43
12."Iron Man" 3:30
13."Gulmira" 4:05
14."Are Those Bullet Holes?" 2:00
15."Section 16" 2:33
16."Iron Monger" 4:45
17."Arc Reaktor" 3:55
18."Institutionalized" Suicidal Tendencies 3:49
19."Iron Man" (1966 version) Jack Urbont 0:20

Release

The soundtrack was released by Lions Gate Records, who had a licensing deal with Marvel Entertainment, [8] on April 29, 2008. [9]

Reception

Critical response

Christian Clemmenson of Filmtracks.com was extremely critical of the Remote Control influences on the soundtrack, negatively comparing it to Steve Jablonsky's Transformers and scoring it one star out of five. He stated that there is "nothing inherently wrong" with an electric guitar-focused score, but Djawadi "is not yet ready to provide [the] level of intrigue" that other composers such as Debney and Danny Elfman were able to with the instrument. Clemmenson also questioned Djawadi's use of an orchestra, feeling that it gets "washed away in the mix so thoroughly that the rock band and a set of keyboards is all that was truly required for this music" [10] Jonathon Broxton at Movie Music UK said that Djawadi's approach "seems to have been to appeal to the lowest of common denominators with driving rock rhythms, pseudo-heroic crescendos, and increasingly accelerating tempos. It's the ultimate musical overkill – loud, fast, brash, devoid of any kind of depth, and failing entirely to comment on any nuances which may exist in the film". Broxton said, "it's not even good rock music ... the guitars do little more than repeat themselves over and over again, and the synth overdubs simply add another layer of aural sludge." [11]

Movie Wave's James Southall gave the soundtrack no stars, calling it "yet another phoned-in score" from Remote Control, "completely puerile garbage, as bad as film music gets". [12] Conversely, Christopher Coleman, writing for Tracksounds, gave the score a six out of ten, saying, "as much as I had prepared myself to dislike this score...as much as I thought I'd be among the throngs of haters...and as much as I long for classically-styled scores for superhero films, Iron Man has won me over." He felt that fans of the Remote Control style would find the score an "industrially-clever diversion", but for others it would only give "more fuel for your personal, [Remote Control]-bond-fires". He felt that the release "captures the most of the significant cues", but suffers from the inclusion of Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized". Coleman concluded by saying that "a traditional, all-symphonic score would not have worked better for this film". [13] Allmusic gave the release three stars out of five, with reviewer James Christopher Monger saying that Djawadi "treats the superhero with a predictably heavy hand", and imbues the film with "enough bombast to fuel two sequels". [14]

Many critics praised the inclusion of both the Urbont's classic 1966 Iron Man theme song and the modern cover of it, with Coleman calling it "one of the best surprises of the movie and score", [13] and Broxton highlighting the cover as "a wonderful piece of feelgood jazz". [11] Clemmenson lamented the theme not being integrated into Djawadi's music, feeling that it is "so diametrically opposed to the Remote Control handbook for simplistic progressions that it's disappointing that Djawadi didn't take a stab at coherently interpolating it into the new work." [10]

Accolades

YearAwardCategoryRecipientResultRef.
2009 Grammy Awards Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual MediaIron Man by Ramin Djawadi Nominated [15]
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards Top Box Office FilmsIron Man by Ramin Djawadi Won [16]
Saturn Awards Best Score Iron Man by Ramin Djawadi Nominated [17] [18]

Related Research Articles

<i>Iron Man</i> (2008 film) Marvel Studios film

Iron Man is a 2008 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it is the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Jon Favreau from a screenplay by the writing teams of Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, and Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man alongside Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb, and Shaun Toub. In the film, following his escape from captivity by a terrorist group, world famous industrialist and master engineer Tony Stark builds a mechanized suit of armor and becomes the superhero Iron Man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramin Djawadi</span> German score composer

Ramin Djawadi is an Iranian-German film score composer, conductor, and record producer. He is known for his scores for the 2008 Marvel film Iron Man and the HBO series Game of Thrones, for which he was nominated for Grammy Awards in 2009, 2018 and 2020. He is also the composer for the HBO Game of Thrones prequel series, House of the Dragon (2022–present). He has scored films such as Clash of the Titans, Pacific Rim, Warcraft, A Wrinkle in Time, Iron Man and Eternals, television series including Prison Break, Person of Interest, Jack Ryan, and Westworld, and video games such as Medal of Honor, Gears of War 4, and Gears 5. He won two consecutive Emmy Awards for Game of Thrones, in 2018 for the episode "The Dragon and the Wolf" and in 2019 for "The Long Night".

Remote Control Productions, Inc. is a film score company run by composer Hans Zimmer and based in Santa Monica, California. Originally known as Media Ventures Entertainment Group, which was conceived and founded by Jay Rifkin and Hans Zimmer, the company changed its name after the partners both filed lawsuits against each other. Today, Remote Control is home to a large group of composers mentored by Zimmer, many of whom have had successful film scoring careers as part of the company or on their own.

<i>Iron Man 2</i> 2010 Marvel Studios film

Iron Man 2 is a 2010 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, it is the sequel to Iron Man (2008) and the third film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Directed by Jon Favreau and written by Justin Theroux, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, and Samuel L. Jackson. Six months after Iron Man, Tony Stark resists calls from the United States government to hand over the Iron Man technology, which is causing his declining health. Meanwhile, Russian scientist Ivan Vanko (Rourke) uses his own version of the technology to pursue a vendetta against the Stark family.

Stephen Coleman is an American film orchestrator and conductor. He collaborated with Ramin Djawadi on the Person of Interest soundtrack, and conducted and orchestrated the score of The Predator. In 1994, Coleman received a bachelor's degree in Music Composition from New York's Manhattan School of Music.

Iron Man 2 is a soundtrack album for the 2010 film of the same name consisting of music by Australian hard rock band AC/DC. It was released on April 19, 2010.

The music for the fantasy TV series Game of Thrones is composed by Ramin Djawadi. The music is primarily non-diegetic and instrumental with occasional vocal performances, and is created to support musically the characters and plots of the show. It features various themes, the most prominent being the "main title theme" that accompanies the series' title sequence. In every season, a soundtrack album was released. The music for the show has won a number of awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in 2018 and 2019.

<i>Captain America: The First Avenger</i> (soundtrack) 2011 film score by Alan Silvestri

Captain America: The First Avenger—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the Marvel Studios film of the same name, based on the character created by Marvel Comics. The music was composed by Alan Silvestri and recorded by the Air Studios. Buena Vista Records announced the details for the soundtrack in June 2011 and released it on July 19 in the United States.

Iron Man 3 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score for the Marvel Studios film, Iron Man 3 by Brian Tyler, released on April 30, 2013. A separate soundtrack and concept album titled, Iron Man 3: Heroes Fall (Music Inspired by the Motion Picture) by various artists was released on the same date by Hollywood Records and Marvel Music.

<i>Pacific Rim</i> (soundtrack) 2013 soundtrack album / Film score by Ramin Djawadi

Pacific Rim: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film of the same name. It was released on digital download from Amazon.com on June 18, 2013, and CD June 25, 2013. The physical version of the soundtrack was released on July 9, 2013, three days before the theatrical release of the film itself.

<i>Game of Thrones: Season 1</i> (soundtrack) 2011 soundtrack album by Ramin Djawadi

Game of Thrones: Season 1 is the soundtrack album for the first season of HBO series Game of Thrones. Composed by Ramin Djawadi, it was released on June 14, 2011 for digital download and on CD. Djawadi accepted the task 10 weeks before the show premiered, after Stephen Warbeck left the project.

<i>Game of Thrones: Season 6</i> (soundtrack) 2016 soundtrack album by Ramin Djawadi

The soundtrack album of the sixth season of HBO series Game of Thrones, titled Game of Thrones: Season 6, was released digitally on June 24, 2016, and later released on CD on July 29, 2016. "Light of the Seven" is the first time piano is used in the music for Game of Thrones. The album was composed by Ramin Djawadi. The soundtrack has received favorable reviews and peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Soundtrack Albums chart and number 27 on the US Billboard 200. The track from the season finale, "Light of the Seven", reached number 1 on Billboard's Spotify Viral 50 chart. It won an International Film Music Critics Association for Best Original Score for a Television Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe</span> Film and television scores of the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise

The music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) covers the soundtracks of the American media franchise and shared universe, which is centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The soundtracks include the original scores composed by various composers for the films and television series of the franchise, as well as the songs that are heard in each film.

<i>The Great Wall</i> (soundtrack) 2016 soundtrack album by Ramin Djawadi

The Great Wall: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the film of the same name. This music is composed by Ramin Djawadi and released on December 16, 2016, in China. The soundtrack was released on February 17, 2017, worldwide. The Vinyl version is expected to drop later in March 2017. Ramin Djawadi in composing the score, Djawadi wanted to echo the film's bridging of eastern and western culture by combining a big Hollywood symphony orchestra with iconic Chinese solo instruments. It gives the score a lot of different colors, variety of themes. Brandon Campbell provided additional music for the film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Lewis</span> British film and television composer (born 1985)

Dominic Alexander Charles Lewis is a British film and television composer. He first worked on various music departments for film projects before transitioning into more solo work starting with Free Birds. His other credits includes The Man in the High Castle, DuckTales, Peter Rabbit, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, and Monsters at Work. He serves as the singing voice of Lurch in The Addams Family 2, and of Donald Duck in the DuckTales.

Brandon Campbell is an American music composer for film, TV and video games and is best known for his music contributions to TV series' like Game of Thrones and Person of Interest and movies such as The Thinning and The Great Wall. After graduating from the University of Rochester he interned at Hans Zimmer's studio, Remote Control Productions and later served as an assistant to Ramin Djawadi. Campbell ventured off on his own in with the film Where Love Found Me, and later that year wrote the music for the thriller The Thinning.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (2016 soundtrack) 2016 soundtrack album by John Debney

The Jungle Book (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2016 eponymous Disney film, which is a live-action/CGI adaptation of the 1967 animated film of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film features musical score composed and conducted by his frequent collaborator John Debney, mostly drawing from George Bruns' original music. Few of the tracks were incorporated from the 1967 film's soundtrack written by Sherman Brothers and Terry Gilkyson. The score was recorded at Los Angeles, California and New Orleans, with prominent players and large orchestral members recording the score. Walt Disney Records released the film's soundtrack on April 15, 2016. It received positive reviews for the musical score, as well as incorporated songs from the 1967 film, being well received. John Debney missed the nomination for Academy Award for Best Original Score, though at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, he won Best Original Score – Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film as well as receiving a Satellite Award for Best Original Score nomination.

<i>Eternals</i> (soundtrack) 2021 film score by Ramin Djawadi

Eternals (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the film score for the 2021 Marvel Studios film Eternals. The score was composed by Ramin Djawadi, with the soundtrack album being released by Hollywood Records on November 3, 2021.

<i>House of the Dragon: Season 1</i> (soundtrack) 2022 soundtrack album by Ramin Djawadi

House of the Dragon: Season 1 is the soundtrack album for the first season of the HBO television series House of the Dragon, an independent prequel to Game of Thrones (2011–2019). Ramin Djawadi, who composed for Game of Thrones, returned to score for the series. Djawadi wanted the score to "keep the DNA alive from the original show", hence he created some cues based on the themes from the original show, but included new themes for the characters involved. He also experimented with instrumentation to create a minor difference from the original show. The album was led by four singles — "The Prince That Was Promised", "Protector of the Realm", "Lament" and "Fate of the Kingdoms" — released on August 18, October 9 and 16, 2022. The 44-track score album was released by WaterTower Music on October 24, 2022, a day after the season finale premiered.

References

  1. ↑ Larson, Randall (July 22, 2010). "Of Superheroes and Predators: John Debney Returns to Sci-Fi". Cinefantastique . Archived from the original on May 1, 2016. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Ramin Djawadi: Compositore di Iron Man". Comicus. April 6, 2008. Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  3. ↑ Weedon, Paul (October 17, 2013). "Ramin Djawadi on Game Of Thrones, Iron Man, Pacific Rim". Den of Geek . Archived from the original on September 20, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Brennan, Mike (May 17, 2008). "Breaking Out and Scoring with Ramin Djawadi". Soundtrack.net. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  5. ↑ "RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE Guitarist Faces 'Iron Man'". BlabberMouth.net. May 6, 2008. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  6. ↑ Boston, Rick. "Iron Man Theme by John O'Brien and Rick Boston". Rick Boston Artist Musician. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  7. ↑ "The Marvel Life: Mike Muir". Marvel.com. March 7, 2013. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved June 26, 2016.
  8. ↑ Donahue, Ann (November 15, 2008). "Lions' Share". Billboard . p. 27.
  9. ↑ "Iron Man (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes. April 29, 2008. Archived from the original on May 26, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  10. 1 2 Clemmensen, Christian (May 25, 2008). "Iron Man". Filmtracks.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  11. 1 2 Broxton, Jonathan (May 2, 2008). "IRON MAN – Ramin Djawadi". Movie Music UK. Archived from the original on July 21, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  12. ↑ Southall, James. "Iron Man". Movie Wave. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  13. 1 2 Coleman, Christopher. "Iron Man by Ramin Djawadi". Tracksounds. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  14. ↑ Monger, James Christopher. "Iron Man [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]". Allmusic. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  15. ↑ Seijas, Casey (April 12, 2008). "'The Dark Knight', 'Iron Man' Rock the Grammy Nominations". MTV. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  16. ↑ "ASCAP Honors Top Film and Television Music Composers and Songwriters at 24th Annual Awards Celebration". ASCAP. May 12, 2009. Archived from the original on September 18, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Nominations for the 35th Annual Saturn Awards". saturnawards.org. Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Archived from the original on February 21, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2009.
  18. ↑ "'The Dark Knight' receives five Saturn Awards at the 35th Annual Saturn Awards". saturnawards.org. Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. Archived from the original on July 11, 2009. Retrieved July 11, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.