Eleven years back, my brother Eric and I went to catch the opening release of Dune , the movie that marked David Lynch's descent into the maelstrom of hubris. Eric was one of three who wanted to see what the fuss was about. Nearly everyone else in the theater was a female aged eleven to 17, and they were all there to see Sting in his gold jockstrap. However, music fans tend toward the irrational end of the spectrum, and seeing as how Dune needed all the publicity it could get, one imagines that Universal took advantage of MTV in cultivating this suspicion. For the role he played, Sting was a brilliant choice, but the part of Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen was a minor if pivotal part, and expecting him to sing was comparable to viewing Awakenings expecting Robin Williams to do his comedy routine.
Time wounds all heels.
More than any other category of music, soundtracks get dated fast. Due to the logistics of film production, a soundtrack planned around the hottest acts at the time production started are yesterday's breakfast by the time the movie gets to the theaters. That is, to get the involvement of three of the blokes. Anything Patrick Doyle or Michael Kamen compose is a beauty, and John Harrison's techno-reggae score for Day of the Dead can please even the folks who loathe George Romero films. Whatever happens, just don't expect me to say nice things about John Williams' soundtrack for Jurassic Park .