The Godzilla Theme

Djdndnejwnwn

I was thinking about new themes of Godzilla compared to the new ones. Even though KOTM has one of the best soundtracks I’ve noticed a trend in modern music. They rely heavily on loud percussion  to convey size and power it the song. This trait is clearly Lacking in the original themes, but still is able to convey that power, but how does this do it. 

Well me being a person who enjoys classical music can trace it back to one specific piece. Igor Stravinsky’s Rite Of Spring. This piece was very revolutionary int classical music and shares many similarities to the Goji themes. Essentially it used the entire orchestra as percussion to give the power and having rhythm not melody be the driving force. I believe the Goji themes had this same characteristic. And that’s why they still hold up today.

G theorist

I get chills just imagining what a zimmer Godzilla theme would sound like..

Xenotaris

Oh yeah, I would love to know what a John Williams rendition of the Godzilla theme would of have been like.

Djdndnejwnwn

@Xeno

Noooo... Star Wars has the most plagiarized music I’ve ever heard

G. H. (Gman)

I don't think Star Wars has a lot of plagiarized cues, it's just very recognizably John Williams' style. Which is fine, Ifukube is the same way.

Both have somewhat redundant compositional "voices", but what fantastic voices they have. Every John Williams score is a gift.

Djdndnejwnwn

@Gman

1940’s movie with eeriely similar theme, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf47W9rXzRM

A motif from Rite of Spring and the Introduction music of Tatooine are COMPLETELY indistinguishable.

A theme in the fourth Movie, forgot which one (if I heard It i’d identity it), is almost exactly Gustav Holts “Mars” from his “The Planets” work.

Xenotaris

I was thinking of Jurassic Park rather than Star Wars when I mentioned John Williams

Djdndnejwnwn

my point still stands.

Not everything was "plagarized" and most was likely influence or coincidence, I just wanted to bring it up. Thats only a small part of JOhn William's work on star wars

G. H. (Gman)

SarcasticGoji,
I think those fall more into inspiration for the theme, than flat out plagiarism. George Lucas even asked John Williams to base his score off of movies that Korngold specifically scored.

And while many, including Williams, has cited The Planets as inspiration, specifically Mars, The Bringer of War, I honestly don't hear it all that deeply.

In fact, I don't think anything in Star Wars does it justice as much as Star Trek. Nicholas Meyer, the director of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, wanted to use The Planets as the main score for the movie. He didn't have the budget to secure the rights, so he picked the excellent Cliff Eidelman to compose a score inspired by it. I think Eidelman's inspiration from Mars is far more apparent in the opening cue: Star Trek VI Main Title. But still not plagiarism.

Djdndnejwnwn

@Gman

Heres a theme that shows what I’m talking about, 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pM2SozsyPE

Djdndnejwnwn

Normall I would dismiss this but they have the exact same chords at the later part of the theme

G. H. (Gman)

Ah, yes. Not a full motif but worth examination, certainly. It's definitely a piece that inspired the moment, but Williams actually uses more notes in his variation.

Djdndnejwnwn

I guess.. but it’s just too noticeable.

G. H. (Gman)

If it were a full on melodic motif, I'd be more critical of it. But anyone can blare horns and zip strings at that octave or variants thereof.

Djdndnejwnwn

I has the same chords, build ups, one of the few differences is the inserted Star Wars theme. 

G. H. (Gman)

And the notes. And the timing.

Djdndnejwnwn

Music copyright doesn’t make sense to begin with actually. So IDK anymore.

EdCh

You make an excellent point about the rhythmic elements of Ifukube's music producing memorable themes for Godzilla. I could even consider the opening notes on the 1954 soundtrack as a theme - essentially those tympani accents which are supposed to be footfalls.

The part in Rite of Spring which really has the G vibes for me is the section where strings are doing even rhythmic accents and then the orchestra does syncopated accents on top ("Augurs of Spring").

Another classical piece which has G vibes has got to be Holst's "Mars" from his "The Planets" suite. There's alot!

BTW I did a few analyses of Ifukube G music a while back. You can find them here:

http://cuebycue.blogspot.com/p/godzilla.html

Djdndnejwnwn

EdCh

It might interest you to know that “Rite Of Spring” is the first western piece Ifukube heard.