Disney Debuts THOR: LOVE & THUNDER Soundtrack

According to producer Brad Winderbaum, with songs from Guns N' Roses and a score from Michael Giacchino and Nami Melumad, "Thor: Love and Thunder" simply rocks. "If Ragnarok was a 1980s synth-pop album, 'Love and Thunder' is a metal album," he says. "We knew we wanted a title that would evoke a 1980s rock 'n' roll feeling. And 'Love and Thunder' just seemed to do that."

The film's soundtrack features a range of music hand-selected to highlight story shifts, and it includes more than one hit from Guns N' Roses, the American hard rock band that Rolling Stone called "the most dangerous band in Los Angeles." The band's legendary 1987 debut studio album, "Appetite for Destruction," produced seven singles and spent four non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 and a total of 147 weeks on the Billboard 200.

The song tracks are married with an original score by Academy Award®-winning composer Michael Giacchino and Nami Melumad. "The first piece of music I wrote was the 'Thor: Love and Thunder' suite, which appears on the soundtrack as 'Mama's Gotta Brand New Hammer,'" says Giacchino. "It's basically one part heavy metal, one part electronic, two parts British brass band and a dash of Hollywood strings for garnish."

Giacchino continues, "There's a point where the track suddenly transitions from orchestral to rock, and when I played it for the first time for [director] Taika [Waititi], he abruptly stood up and began playing air guitar. It was really important that this score was able to emphasize the emotional moments as well as the fun ones - and after Taika's spontaneous reaction, I thought that this mixing of musical flavors just might work."

The film's main theme has two parts, says Giacchino: one for Thor and the other for Jane Foster. "Thor's theme is noble, mostly played on horns," he says, "and Jane's theme is more reflective, often represented by a solo cello. There's an unexpected harmonic change between the two, and I did this to convey the effect Jane has on Thor's life. She causes him to look within himself, and she brings out parts of him that he may not have known were there. So, while Jane's theme is similar and connected to Thor's, it offers a new perspective."

About the Score

The original score for "Thor: Love and Thunder" was recorded over 12 days with a 94-piece orchestra and a 36-member choir. The orchestra included 12 horns and eight trombones, and, interestingly no woodwinds, which is unusual for a film score. To pump up the '80s rock vibe, Giacchino added guitar, drums and synth.

Waititi gives equal billing to the music that bolsters his extraordinary style of storytelling. In his words: "I really feel like we're making this a funnier, bigger adventure with even cooler characters and a really kickass soundtrack."

Listen here:

 

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