Batman Forever... Best. Soundtrack. Ever

Batman Forever Lights Up the Grungy 90's Pop Culture Landscape

Joshua Cook
Joshua Cook, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Mar 23, 2011 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
My favorite movie soundtrack? As soon as I saw that question I knew this was the article for me to use to dip my feet back into the daily writing habit. My favorite soundtrack ever is the Batman Forever soundtrack. This soundtrack, as well as Batman Forever the movie, kind of epitomizes the mid-90's pop culture landscape.
The music featured throughout this classic pop soundtrack are very alternative in sound, even when rock legends U2 contribute their own unique sound on Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me , it has a very alt-pop sound. Admittedly, though, this was during their Zooropa tour, which most die hard fans did not care much for. Seal's Kiss From Rose not only took home an MTV Movie Award, along with U2, but managed to snag three Grammy wins in 1996, as well as becoming a number one charting success and Seal's highest selling song to date.

Other songs that really helped boost the Batman Forever soundtrack came from newcomers at the time, but are now known to have stood the test of time. The leaders of these are The Offspring who recorded a cover of The Damned's Smash It Up for the album. PJ Harvey, Massive Attack, and Nick Cave are all to be found within these Batcaves, giving the soundtrack just enough of a true 90's alt-rock feel...

But in order to have a well rounded, and therefor massively appealing, soundtrack, singles were released from hip-hop and R&B stars of the time that have, yet again, stood the test of time. My favorite of these is the single The Riddler, from the Wu Tang Clan's Method Man. A nice easy going beat with Method Man's old-school rap styling... Perfect hip-hop track in my opinion. Of course, the other major single off this 1995 soundtrack come from the talented and beautiful Brandy, with her hit single Where Are You Now?

When you take these and the other great songs featured on this soundtrack and combine that with pop culture, visual assault that was Batman Forever, it is very obvious that we had a pop classic in our hands.

Track Listing

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me - U2

One Time Too Many - PJ Harvey

Where Are You Now? - Brandy

Kiss From a Rose - Seal

The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game - Massive Attack & Tracey Thorn

Nobody Lives Without Love - Eddi Reader

Tell Me Now - Mazzy Star

Smash It Up - The Offspring

There is a Light - Nick Cave

The Riddler - Method Man

The Passenger - Michael Hutchence

Crossing the River - The Devlins

8 - Sunny Day Real Estate

Bad Days - The Flaming Lips

DISCLOSURE OF MATERIAL CONNECTION:
The Contributor has no connection to nor was paid by the brand or product described in this content.

Published by Joshua Cook

I am a freelance writer for hire who has a true passion for writing. Born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, I moved to the Seattle area about three years ago. After a recent dark period in my life, I came out stronger...  View profile

  • Kiss From a Rose won 3 Grammys in 1996
  • U2 and Seal both took home MTV Movie Awards
  • Five hit singles were realeased of this one soundtrack
The Batman Forever soundtrack has gone on to sell almost as many copies as Prince's 1989 classic Batman soundtrack.

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