Iron Man (soundtrack)

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Iron Man: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Film score by

Ramin Djawadi

Released April 29, 2008

Electronic rock
Genre
symphonic rock

Length 54:12

Label Lions Gate Records

Producer Ramin Djawadi

Hans Zimmer

Ramin Djawadi chronology

Deception Iron Man: Open Season 2

(2008) Original Motion (2008)
Picture
Soundtrack
(2008)

MCU soundtrack chronology

Iron Man The Incredible

 (2008) 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.
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. The
initial response might have been because Djawadi was relatively unknown at
the time of its release. Over the years, the score found acclaim with music fans.

Contents

• 1Background
• 2Track listing
• 3Release
• 4Reception
o 4.1Critical response
o 4.2Accolades
• 5References
• 6External links

Background[edit]
Further information: Music of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
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.
Djawaldi 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[edit]
All music by Ramin Djawadi, except where noted.[2]
No. Title Music Length
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 Boborobo 1:12
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[edit]
The soundtrack was released by Lions Gate Records, who had a licensing deal
with Marvel Entertainment,[8] on April 29, 2008.[9]

Reception[edit]
Critical response[edit]
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. Though 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[edit]
Year Award

Grammy Awards Best Score Soundtrack Album for Motion Pictu

2009
ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards Top Box Office Films
 Year Award

Saturn Awards Best Score

References[edit]
1. ^ Larson, Randall (July 22, 2010). "Of Superheroes and Predators: John Debney Returns to
Sci-Fi". Cinefantastique. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved June
13, 2016.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d "Ramin Djawadi: Compositore di Iron Man". Comicus. April 6,
2008. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
3. ^ Weedon, Paul (October 17, 2013). "Ramin Djawadi on Game Of Thrones, Iron Man,
Pacific Rim". Den of Geek. Archivedfrom the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved June
10, 2016.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b Brennan, Mike (May 17, 2008). "Breaking Out and Scoring with Ramin
Djawadi". Soundtrack.net. Archived from the original on August 27, 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 June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
7. ^ "The Marvel Life: Mike Muir". Marvel.com. March 7, 2013. Archived from the original on
June 26, 2016. 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 August 27, 2016. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
10. ^ Jump up to:a b Clemmensen, Christian (May 25, 2008). "Iron
Man". Filmtracks.com. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
11. ^ Jump up to:a b Broxton, Jonathan (May 2, 2008). "IRON MAN – Ramin Djawadi". Movie
Music UK. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
12. ^ Southall, James. "Iron Man". Movie Wave. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016.
Retrieved July 31, 2016.
13. ^ Jump up to:a b Coleman, Christopher. "Iron Man by Ramin Djawadi".
Tracksounds. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
14. ^ Monger, James Christopher. "Iron Man [Original Motion Picture
Soundtrack]". Allmusic. Archived from the original on July 31, 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 June 9, 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 June 9,
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 29, 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.

External links[edit]
• Iron Man Soundtrack - Amazon
• Iron Man Soundtrack - Soundtrack.Net
• Iron Man soundtrack - the SoundtrackINFO project