If you offer yourself as a social commentator of not just how things are, but how things will be, it is important to always report information that is ahead of the curve, well before the mainstream has caught on to the changing circumstances. In that regard articles like the one I’m about to write might seem trivial as it does not deal with any of the major scandals coming out of Washington, the tragedies of education, or the generally demoralization of America by forces of collective remedy, but it is important in a way that hidden behind chaos. The other day my kids gave me for Father’s Day the deluxe soundtrack to Man of Steel, the new Superman movie by Hans Zimmer, CLICK HERE TO REVIEW. This gift was more than just a metaphor for how my children view me, but is one of severe substance for my personal musical tastes. Currently on my iPod I do not have a single lyrical music piece—not a single one that is not associated with a motion picture. I have stated many times that mythology is the most important thing in my life and I study mythology incessantly, especially contemporary mythology. Movies are the biggest contributors to modern mythology so my musical tastes center on enjoying the music that helps tell such stories through sound. So I listen to a lot of movie soundtracks.
To fit the Man of Steel soundtrack which is two disks of music on my iPod I had to take off the last of my favorite lyrical music like the work by Muse and a few classic rock songs. My iPod is an 8 gig type which is plenty for me, but it is currently 99% full and consists entirely of movie soundtracks—everything ranging from The Sound of Music, to Dark Knight Rises. I seldom listen to pop music because they are often songs about small ideas, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl wants a new boy—that kind of garbage that is just tripe. In my music I want to feel from it that I can conceptualize the largest ideas and still have room to spare. For me, it takes symphony orchestra music, and more specifically movie soundtracks. With those qualifiers, the new Man of Steel soundtrack done in a deluxe DTS format is the best of the best. For soundtrack lovers, it is simply the best of its kind to date. It is so good that surprisingly, the soundtrack was sold out all over the city of Cincinnati which I didn’t expect. Only two stores had a copy of Man of Steel, one was the Barnes and Noble at the Streets of West Chester, and the Barnes and Noble in Kenwood. The one in West Chester was a copy that was pre-ordered, and was on hold till the claimant stopped by to pick it up.
This sent my son-in-law on quite an adventure to locate the soundtrack so that he and my daughter could give it to me on Father’s Day. On Saturday June 15th just a few hours after we had seen the movie the night before he stopped by the West Chester location to see if the clerk would cut loose of the one copy they had. Because a sufficient amount of time had transpired the clerk allowed my son-in-law to buy the reserved copy, which then allowed him to give it to me the next day prior to our Father’s Day festivities.
The soundtrack itself has a cover made of metal, which surprised me as the cost of production would have been much higher. Also, the soundtrack contained two disks, one of the actual music used in the film, and another that is experimental music created by Hans Zimmer while he worked out the themes of the film’s characters. It was this second one that had some of the most unusual music I have heard in years. But the more I dug into the soundtrack to the film I noticed there was quite a bit more to it than just musical compositions designed to help tell a story. There was an extra “umpf” to this collection of music that was difficult to put my finger on.
I spent all of Father’s Day listening to the two hours of music when I could, over and over again, and still there was a nagging concept that I couldn’t quite articulate. The music by German born Hans Zimmer created for a movie that had a global market in mind, had written a score that seemed extremely patriotic to American ideas. Zimmer for the track had brought together twelve of the best drummers in the world, names like Shelia E., Junkie XL, Josh Freeze, and many others who worked with a full symphonic orchestra on a score that hit a wide range of themes and emotional arcs. Musically, it is simply fantastic. But there was more to it than just goodness……
As I read through the book that came as an insert in the two CD case, I found a quote by Peter Asher who co-produced the soundtrack with Hans Zimmer. He stated in writing:
For this Superman, Man of Steel, Hans has managed to create a supremely American score. Perhaps we Europeans fall in love with “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” with all the extra enthusiasm of a long-distance romance – maybe with a higher level of commitment than those born into the relationship. While avoiding the specific and lubricious emotionality of rock and roll on the one hand and the corn fields of Aaron Copland on the other, this is the score for an America both modern and timeless, both realistic and optimistic. An ideal and a reality. And for a Superman we can greet as a true hero and in whom we can believe with all our hearts.
Reading this statement from Asher coming from a group of Europeans who worked as producers of not just the soundtrack to Man of Steel but also for the film with Christopher Nolan, there was extra effort by them to pay tribute to the uniquely American ideas that built the mythology behind Superman, particularly in this latest rendition. CLICK HERE FOR MY REVIEW. Hans Zimmer as an immigrant to America himself knows that he would have no place else in the world besides Hollywood, U.S.A. which would allow him to use his unique gift of music to produce the kind of work he currently does for some of the most popular films in the world. Germany does not make films like Man of Steel. For that matter France, Spain, Italy, Russia, China, nobody makes films like what America does, because such ideas are produced under the context of freedom, and no other method. It takes a freely focused society to make a film like Man of Steel where even the music soundtrack is desired with intense demand. For a change, here was a group of very creative people who got together to honor that freedom behind the character of Superman.
I have been collecting movie soundtracks my entire life. I have read the insert to every single one of those soundtracks and I can’t think of a single time that a producer like Peter Asher ever admitted to “loving” America and taking pains to articulate that love through music. The closest to an honest admission to such Americana that I can remember was the score to Far and Away by John Williams. But even that was very subdued by him for obvious political reasons. John Williams was very careful not to show Hollywood any overtly patriotic reverence to America in that movie about the American frontier from the perspective of Irish Americans settling the vast expanses of the Wild West. Williams like all creative people and members of intelligentsia know that to declare patriotism to America is to turn away from the progressive “cause” which has taken over Hollywood, politics, and even American business. So they are careful to keep their opinions neutral and let their art speak where their mouths would otherwise be chastised.
So it is quite extraordinary that Hans Zimmer and the team that put together the soundtrack to Man of Steel have openly declared their love of America, and that Zimmer put together a score that professes a love for everything that is built around the American idea—which is epitomized by Superman. The current trend as I’ve spoken about before, in film is to turn away from socialism and progressive causes. The art produced by Americans are beginning to reflect a shift in values that is first seen in entertainment, which will be followed by the culture at large. I have been thinking such a thing for a long time. The work of Glenn Beck, Doc Thompson, and even Judge Napolitano has opened a dialogue in American entertainment that has not been present since the decline of the western in film. I have listened intently to the music of Hans Zimmer for a long time, from the fantastic soundtrack of Gladiator to the Pirates of the Caribbean and have been convinced that Zimmer has a tremendous love of freedom which emerges from the notes he paints on a page for orchestras to bring to life. In the film Dark Knight Rises Hans Zimmer’s score was dark, brooding, but strangely patriotic. I’ve listened to it hundreds of times over the last year, and there is no mistaking it. But my suspicion has been confirmed with the Man of Steel soundtrack. The music is unquestionably patriotic, even holy, and it doesn’t apologize for it– not once. If the meaning of the music wasn’t clear enough then the words of Peter Asher spells it out.
I expect that an American Renaissance is well underway. With the scandals of the current day in full bloom, many cannot see this renaissance for what it truly is as the effects have not yet hit popular music, television shows, or even politics. But the music of Man of Steel makes clear that a new hope is on the horizon as creative geniuses like Hans Zimmer is honestly scoring music that is reshaping American culture from the jealous minds of the typical European and embracing the value which has long been ignored, and abused. I am deeply grateful that my son-in-law went to the extra trouble to find this fabulous soundtrack for me as a Father’s Day gift. It is one of the best works of music I have ever heard and will remain that way for many, many years. The musical geniuses of old like Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven had their day to export the values of Europe to the entire world through their classical music which held in it the values of Victorian society. The new geniuses of symphony, like John Williams and Hans Zimmer are American, and their mark has been made, and our world culture is shaping around it. To get a hint of what that world looks like and feels, just listen to the new soundtrack to Man of Steel, and the notes provided there by Hans Zimmer will give you a glimpse. That glimpse fills me with overwhelming hope that a day where justice and value will once again be prized components of a society that is not afraid of its own shadow. Remember where you read my words when ten years from now the evidence begins to emerge.
To understand the magnitude of the progressive left media influence and its hatred of goodness read this article for proof:
The Man of Steel soundtrack is so much about goodness that it is simply angelical in every meaning of the word. Thank you Hans Zimmer!
Rich Hoffman
“If they attack first………..blast em’!”
The Overmanwarrior 