''American Beauty: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' is a

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

featuring various artists for the 1999 American drama film American Beauty, released on October 5, 1999 by

DreamWorks Records DreamWorks Records (often referred in copyright notices as SKG Music, LLC) was an American record label founded in 1996 by David Geffen, Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Pictures. The label operated until 200 ...

. It features two tracks from the film's original score, composed by

Thomas Newman Thomas Montgomery Newman (born October 20, 1955) is an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career that has spanned over four decades, he has scored numerous films including '' The Player'' (1992); ''The Sha ...

, which was released in 2000 entitled '' American Beauty: Original Motion Picture Score''.

Description

The soundtrack album was produced by

Chris Douridas Chris Douridas (born September 20, 1962) is an American popular DJ and musical tastemaker at Santa Monica, California's radio station KCRW, where he hosts a two-hour program showcasing progressive new music. He is also a filmmaker, actor, televisi ...

Sam Mendes Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes (born 1 August 1965) is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was Knight Bachelor, knighted in the 2020 New Year Honour ...

, and Michael Ostin, and was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media The Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media has been awarded since 2000. In 2000 the award was presented as the Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album, and from 2001 to 2011 as Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Pi ...

in the year 2000, the first year to offer this award. The soundtrack features two tracks from the film's score, composed by

, which won several awards.

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known professionally as Elliott Smith, was an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of hi ...

's cover of

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

song " Because" was featured over the end credits for the film. The track "Dead Already" was later featured in the 2005 film ''

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

'' (which was also a film from

DreamWorks Pictures DreamWorks Pictures (also known as DreamWorks SKG and formerly DreamWorks Studios, commonly referred to as DreamWorks) is an American film company and distribution label of Amblin Partners. It was originally founded on October 12, 1994 as a li ...

). Newman's "Dead Already" and "Any Other Name" were sampled by

Jakatta David Russell Lee (born 18 June 1964) is an English DJ and house music producer, formerly known by the stage name Joey Negro, which he retired in July 2020 following the George Floyd protests. He has released music under a variety of pseudo ...

for his house track " American Dream" in 2000. The opening track "Dead Already" was used by the band

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

during their 2007

Turn It On Again Tour Turn It On Again: The Tour was a 2007 concert tour of Europe and North America by the English rock band Genesis. The tour was notable for the return of drummer and vocalist Phil Collins, who had fronted the band during their most commercially s ...

and their 2021

The Last Domino? Tour The Last Domino? Tour was a concert tour by English rock band Genesis, staged following the announcement of their reunion after a 13-year hiatus. It featured the core trio of keyboardist Tony Banks, drummer/singer Phil Collins, and bassist/gui ...

as their intro music. Missing from the soundtrack album is

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...

's rendition of

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

's "

Don't Let It Bring You Down "Don't Let It Bring You Down" is the seventh track on Neil Young's 1970 studio album ''After the Gold Rush''. Background The song was written by Young. It also appears on the 1971 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young live album ''4 Way Street'' as well ...

". It is available on her 1995 album ''

Medusa In Greek mythology, Medusa (; Ancient Greek: Μέδουσα "guardian, protectress"), also called Gorgo, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair. Those ...

''. Some of the tracks such as "Dead Already" and "The Power of Denial" (both by Thomas Newman) were used in Pinoy Big Brother as part of the background music and nominations. "Dead Already" was also used as background music on ''

À prendre ou à laisser ''À prendre ou à laisser'' (''Take it or leave it'') is the French version of the television game show ''Deal or No Deal''. It was premiered on 12 January 2004 on TF1. It is hosted by Arthur, the former vice-president of Endemol-France and a po ...

'', the French version of the

television game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, sh ...

Deal or No Deal ''Deal or No Deal'' is the name of several closely related television game shows, the first of which (launching the format) was the Dutch ''Miljoenenjacht (Netherlands), Miljoenenjacht'' (''Hunt/Chase for Millions''). The centerpiece of this f ...

''. The 19-track ''Original Motion Picture Score'' of the film, entirely composed by

, was later released on January 11, 2000.

Track listing

References

{{Authority control 1999 soundtrack albums 1990s film soundtrack albums Drama film soundtracks