Music is a gift from God.
It’s difficult to imagine a world without music; without the singing of birds, the songs of whales or even those kids on Glee. Music isn’t solely reserved for nature and glorified karaoke, though, nerds have their piece of the melodic pie.
One of the first CDs I ever bought was a very nerdy Weird Al Yankovic album. My musical tastes have evolved and thankfully there is better nerdy music today than just parodies. Some of the best nerd music comes in the form of soundtracks. Below are a couple of the best.
Tron: Legacy
It’s not often that a soundtrack works in both the club and at Dungeons and Dragons night. Daft Punk was the perfect choice to compose the soundtrack for the sequel to the classic, yet kind of boring, Tron. Obviously the techno and dance tracks are amazing, but it’s the more symphonic songs that are truly impressive. I normally listen to soundtracks while reading or writing because the music doesn’t distract me from my task. The Tron: Legacy soundtrack is so good and exciting, though, that I can’t listen to it and read or write at the same time. Instead of processing thoughts I can only think about light cycles, disc wars and Bruce Boxleitner.
Lord of the Rings
Since the Tron: Legacy soundtrack doesn’t do me any good when reading or writing, I generally fall back on an old standby: The Lord of the Rings. As far as epic movie soundtracks go, I’m really happy that someone other than John Williams composed the LOTR soundtrack. As a nerd I obviously love the iconic work of John Williams, I often listen to the Star Wars soundtrack. However, when The Fellowship of the Ring first came out, it was great to hear someone else’s take on a fantasy epic’s score. Howard Shore has quite the range, composing scores for Tolkien’s Middle Earth as well as Demi Moore’s Striptease. Shore’s work on LOTR creates a musical backdrop for one of the best film series ever as well as for reading in Starbucks. I think I’ll stick with the LOTR soundtrack, though, and not try to write sermons while listening to the Striptease soundtrack. But it would be interesting to see how “Cherry Pie” or “Girls, Girls, Girls” influenced a sermon.
Star Trek
I love the original Star Trek soundtrack, but the soundtrack from the 2009 reboot Star Trek is awesome. Michael Giacchino’s soundtrack captures the essence of the Star Trek universe while updating it for a more modern audience. I loved how the original series’ theme played under Spock’s recitation of “Space, the final frontier…” and the final credits. The soundtrack elicits all the excitement of the movie, from the attack upon the Kelvin to the first time Kirk and McCoy see the Enterprise. Of all the soundtracks mentioned, this is the one that I whistle to myself the most. I thoroughly enjoyed Star Trek and the music added to the enjoyment. In reality, though, nothing can top this number from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZC_v6BRWPM&w=560&h=315]
Thankfully nerd music has progressed beyond Weird Al and Captain Kirk. Whether it’s nerdy or not, music can be a gift from God and a reflection of his intricate creativity.
What nerd music do you like and how does it connect with you?
I really like the music from the 80s transformers cartoon movie. And I like the ones from the lord of the rings and star wars.
Good information. Lucky me I found your blog by chance (stumbleupon).
I’ve saved as a favorite for later!