Well I'll be damned! You mean to tell me I've been doing this column for a year and never realized I hadn't done a piece on soundtracks? What the hell have I been smoking?

Soundtracks. Now there is a subject ripe for comment! First off, let's be clear here. I'm talking "soundtrack" not "score". If you want to read about scores, check out this article by our own Robert Knaus.

Find him on the forums under the name Monterey Jack and discuss scores to your heart's content. He's an afficionado with some serious opinions.

What I want to talk about is the awkward beast that is a compilation of songs which supposedly speak to the film. These days the general trend seems to be a collection of songs that aren't played during the movie but feature throwaway tracks from a handful of big name bands, with the exception being whatever song is played over the closing credits. Sound familiar?

Every year brings a new batch of soundtracks that within a few months wind up in cutout bins across America. One has to wonder who buys these things anymore. Conversely, who sees the sense in continuing to make them? I guess that's a discussion for the forums though.

The reason I'm writing about them is to list the five best examples of soundtracks that are both awesome to listen to and are also integral to their respective films. When looking at my list, I find that it's dominated by soundtracks where the director takes a personal interest in what is played and writes accordingly. That may be a no brainer to you and me, but most directors apparently don't give two shits about the soundtrack. That's why we end up with things like Spiderman 2 - Music From The Motion Picture featuring Dashboard Confessional, Train and Yellowcard.

So, here are the soundtracks (in no particular order) that actually do get played reasonably frequently on my iPod.

1. Jackie Brown: Music From The Motion Picture
Some people may cry foul for not putting Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs on this list. While those soundtracks are admittedly good, Jackie Brown is far and away my favorite Quentin Tarantino soundtrack. Tarantino has made a name for himself by using his exquisite and sometimes obscure taste in music to color his films. Jackie Brown distinguishes itself though by being consistent with it's 70s urban theme. With only three tracks that break up the mood (Johnny Cash's Tennessee Stud, The Lion and The Cucumber from the Vampyros Lesbos soundtrack and a closing track by Elliot Easton), Jackie Brown: Music From The Motion Picture presents some of the best and most undeservedly forgotten 1970s soul nuggets. Bobby Womack's Across 110th Street, Brothers Johnsons' Strawberry Letter 23 and the amazing Bill Withers' track Who Is He (And What Is He To You) sent me straight to the soul aisle of my local CD store in 1997 where I proceeded to school myself in as much forgotten funk as possible. Where other albums from my collection rotate in and out of my 20GB iPod, this one practically lives there.

2. Pretty In Pink: Original Soundtrack
With out a doubt, Pretty In Pink stands out in my mind as the quintessential 80s soundtrack album. It was the first soundtrack to a John Hughes film to be made up entirely of pop songs (no instrumental score passages on this one) and while there was no way of knowing it at the time, Pretty In Pink actually captured some of the better "new wave" groups from that era. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark turn in If You Leave which made it to number 4 on Billboards Hot 100 at the time. The Psychedelic Furs reworked the title song to give it a more pop-friendly mix. While it doesn't hold a candle to the original it's still damn good and served to introduce that band to a wider audience (including me). However, any teen who saw the movie and picked up this soundtrack for one of those two songs also got exposed to The Smiths, New Order, Echo and The Bunnymen, Suzanne Vega and INXS. Talk about an eye-opener! What's better is that while none of the tracks from those bands are their best work, they're all still good songs. I was 17 years old at the time, and I remember that for me personally, picking up Pretty In Pink on cassette in 1986 led to my purchasing The Psychedelic Furs' Pretty in Pink, The Smith's The Queen Is Dead, Echo and the Bunnymen's Ocean Rain. Aside from the Jackie Brown soundtrack listed above, no other soundtrack has ever had that effect on me and in this case, it led me down the rabbit hole of other 80s music I'd previously not been exposed to (such as The Replacements, Bauhaus and The Cure).

3. Heavy Metal: Original Soundtrack
Yes, I'm probably dating myself some by saying this was HUGE when I was in junior high school. But, shit... what else can I say? It simply was a HUGE movie to my friends and I and the soundtrack was no slouch either. Compiled of tracks from some of the eras biggest bands, it does what a good soundtrack should. It plays amazingly well as an album and if you've seen the movie, it acts as an audio souvenier. While many of the best songs were not exclusive to the soundtrack (Journey's Open Arms, Blue Oyster Cult's Veteran Of The Psychic Wars, and Black Sabbath's The Mob Rules for instance) many of the exclusive songs are too strong to be considered throwaways. Cheap Trick's Reach Out sits high on my list of songs I'd cover were I to start a band again. Donald Fagan actually contributed a song I don't mind listening to (True Companion) and Stevie Nicks, Don Felder, Sammy Hagar and Grand Funk Railroad turn in solid tunes also. My two favorites on this though are Nazareth's Crazy (A Suitable Case For Treatment) and the years-before-its-time thrash metal contribution Prefabricated by the French band Trust. I truly, truly love this soundtrack, in some ways more than the movie itself.

4. Singles: Original Soundtrack
Once again, a director takes a direct interest in the creation of the soundtrack and we come up with a cohesive winner. Cameron Crowe's early 90s romantic comedy relied heavily on the music from the city it was set in. Seattle was just beginning to explode into the nation's musical conscious and while it would soon be synonymous with the temporary death of fun in rock music, when this soundtrack hit the streets the scene wasn't full of posers yet. Crowe managed to not only get some of the best acts from the area to participate, but he also got them to contribute songs that were amazingly good. Pearl Jam's State Of Love And Trust, Alice In Chains' Would? and Screaming Trees Nearly Lost You are damn fine examples of the Pacific Northwest sound. Mudhoney's Overblown actually sounds the call for the death of the scene within the year. However, Crowe also took pains to include Jimi Hendrix and the Wilson sisters (not as Heart but in their Lovemongers incarnation). It's a solid album even without it speaking directly to the movie. Paul Westerberg turns in two of the finest songs of his post-Replacements career and Soundgarden's Chris Cornell turns in the only official solo performance he ever recorded that didn't suck. Finally I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that the best song on here is from Chicago's own Smashing Pumpkins (Drown). This disc is a winner all around.

5. O' Brother Where Art Thou: Original Soundtrack
"But Cary, no one listens to bluegrass music!" Ah contraire, my friends. That the Coen Brothers film would be the vehicle that would propel an album full of bluegrass, country and blues to undreamed of heights in the 2000/2001 was the surprise of the new century. The album topped Billboard's Top Country, Top Soundtrack, Top Canadian and Hot 200 albums lists. It spawned a bluegrass single that cracked the Country Top 40 (the Soggy Bottom Boys' Constant Man Of Sorrow) and it took home four Grammy's for Album of the Year, Best Soundtrack, Best Male Country Vocal Performance and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Those are some pretty damn impressive feats and every one of those awards is completely deserved. Most of the praise should go to T Bone Burnett, who was asked to assemble the songs for the movie. However, he not only picked an incredible batch of period music but he also assembled a fantastic group of musicians to record them. There are only two songs on the album that are original recordings from the era. The rest are interpretations by both established country artists like Emmylou Harris, The Whites and Ralph Stanley as well as up and comers like Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss. Every single song is fantastic. I already had a healthy appreciation for alternative country by the time this came out but my bluegrass appreciation was limited to some tracks on Steve Earle albums. While I didn't make a mad dash to the record store, after O' Brother, I went back and explored some of those old bluegrass, blues and country artists that I'd missed. If you're one of the folks who never got this one, pick it up and I bet you'll end up doing the same.

So those are my personal top five faves. However, here is a bonus one. This one didn't make the top five simply because it doesn't exist in an easily purchasable commercial release form.

Chasing Amy - (homemade!)
Kevin Smith is a director people either love or hate but he's also another one who generally picks the songs for his soundtracks and sometimes writes entire scenes with a song already in mind. Clerks had some good music on it (Alice in Chains, Jesus Lizard, Boys Against Girls) as did Mallrats (Belly, Weezer, Archers of Loaf) but the soundtracks overall had their spotty moments. Due to some extenuating circumstances discussed at the link below, Kevin Smith decided not to officially release the soundtrack to Chasing Amy and that sucks because it's actually the best soundtrack compilation he ever put together. Early on in the Napster days, Smith posted up a list of the songs in order and I went about seeking them out. Here it is if you want to build your own.

Smith himself says it's his favorite of the first three films he did. It's a fantastic mix of older tracks by Run D.M.C., Public Enemy and The Cars and lesser known songs like Jump Start by The Hang Ups. Additionally, Dave Pirner from Soul Asylum added his own score to it and contributed the movie's definitive song, Soul Asylum's outstanding We 3. This one is worth the effort to compile, and features the added perk of allowing you to leave off songs you don't like.

So there you have it. The thing is, a good soundtrack really does act as a souveneir for the movie so as with all music appreciation, it's completely subjective. If you really love the movie Spiderman, you may really love hearing that douche from Nickleback singing about being a hero. That said, I have plenty of skeletons in my own closet that don't make this list but are still solid faves. That is fodder for another column though.

Meet me on the forums and tell me what your favorites are.