Man Of Steel (soundtrack)
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''Man of Steel: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' is the
soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
to the film of the same name composed by
Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...
. It was released on June 11, 2013, by
WaterTower Music WaterTower Music (formerly New Line Records from 2000 to 2010) is an American record label serving as the in-house music label and run by entertainment company Warner Bros., ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The name and logo are based o ...
and
Sony Classical Records Sony Classical is an American record label founded in 1924 as Columbia Masterworks Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Records. In 1980, the Columbia Masterworks label was renamed as CBS Masterworks Records. The CBS Records Group was acquired by S ...
. The exclusive deluxe edition of the album contains six bonus tracks, entitled "Are You Listening, Clark?", "General Zod", "You Led Us Here", "This Is Madness!", "Earth" and "Arcade".
Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer (; born 12 September 1957) is a German film score composer and music producer. He has won two Academy Awards, Oscars and four Grammy Awards, Grammys, and has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards, Emmys and a Tony Awar ...
initially denied popular rumors that he would be composing the film's soundtrack, but in June 2012, Zimmer was in fact writing the film's musical score. To completely distinguish ''Man of Steel'' from the previous films, the iconic "
Superman March The various film and theatre appearances of the Superman character have been accompanied by musical scores. Superman The score for ''Superman,'' composed and conducted by John Williams, was performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, with John G ...
" by
John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
is not heard. The musical score from the third trailer, entitled "An Ideal of Hope", was released online for listening purposes on April 19, 2013. This music was a shortened version of the album track "What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?". In late April the same year, the official track listing of the two-disc deluxe edition was revealed. Popular reception to the score was positive and the album rose to #4 on iTunes during the first week of its release. Critical reception for the score, however, has been polarized. The soundtrack opened at number 9 on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 32,000 copies sold. At the
Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...
, Zimmer won as "Composer of the Year" for his work on the scores of ''Man of Steel'' and ''The Dark Knight Rises''.


Critical response

While popular among fans, the score was polarizing among critics. Some were quite disappointed by the score, citing it as being repetitive, simplistic and over-reliant on drums, while others reacted more positively. In her review of the film, Ann Hornday, from ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', called the score "turgid" and "over-produced". Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK commended the tracks "Flight" and "What are You Doing When You're Not Saving the World?" as the best in the soundtrack album, but criticized the lack of development of those themes and the simplicity of the writing: "For upermanto be saddled with witless percussion, such predictable string writing, and such a simplistic and repetitive thematic statement is disappointing in the extreme". Christian Clemmensen of
Filmtracks.com Filmtracks.com is a modern film score review website created and maintained by its sole reviewer, Christian Clemmensen. Since the launch of Filmtracks in 1996, the website has reviewed nearly two-thousand soundtracks dating as far back as 1954, t ...
dismissed the score as a "lowest common denominator" effort, criticizing the excessive use of percussion over other instruments, such as woodwinds or chimes. He concluded by saying: "Ultimately, Zimmer was right. He was the wrong man for this assignment". James Southall, of Movie Wave, cited concerns with the score's over-reliance on a brass effect, dubbed "horn of doom" (made popular with the music from ''
Inception ''Inception'' is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced the film with Emma Thomas, his wife. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltr ...
'') and wrote: "''Man of Steel'' – the film – may not have the ambition of ''Inception'' – but it still has its unique musical needs, and they’re just not satisfied". Conversely, James Christopher Monger, writing for
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, called the soundtrack "grittier and darker than any of its predecessors, due in large part to Zimmer's proclivity for non-stop, thunderous percussion, though it retains enough goose bump-inducing moments to be called a proper Superman score, especially on the elegiac "Look to the Stars" and its soaring counterpart "What Are You Going to Do When You Are Not Saving the World?", both of which dutifully reflect the iconic superhero's propensity for both goodness and might". Chris McEneany of AVForums stated that Zimmer, despite his excessive use of drums, "
ame #REDIRECT AME #REDIRECT AME {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
up with a work that is blistering, beautiful, bold and, I have to say it, brilliant". Jørn Tillnes of Soundtrackgeek gave the score a rave review: "The purists, the soundtrack geeks of old will no doubt hate this score and will use every ounce of their energy to bash it as nothing more than generic droning music. For the rest of us, I believe the new bold direction the Superman franchise is taking is both brilliant and brave. Superman deserves this score and so do you".


Track listing


Standard edition

All music by Hans Zimmer, except where noted.


Limited Deluxe edition

;Music appearing in the film and not included on the soundtrack


Personnel

;Primary artist *Hans Zimmer – composer, producer ;Production *
Peter Asher Peter Asher, (born 22 June 1944) is an English guitarist, singer, manager and record producer. He came to prominence in the 1960s as a member of the pop music vocal duo Peter and Gordon before going on to a successful career as a manager and r ...
– co-producer ;Orchestrators *
Bruce Fowler Bruce Lambourne Fowler (born July 10, 1947) is an American trombonist and composer. He played trombone on many Frank Zappa records, as well as with Captain Beefheart and in the Fowler Brothers Band. He composes and arranges music for movies, an ...
*Elizabeth Finch *Kevin Kaska *Rick Giovinazzo ;Additional music *
Tom Holkenborg Tom Holkenborg (born 8 December 1967), also known by his stage name Junkie XL or occasionally JXL, is a Dutch composer, multi-instrumentalist, DJ, producer, and engineer. Originally known for his trance productions, he has moved to producing ...
– additional music *
Atli Örvarsson Atli Örvarsson (; born 7 July 1970) is an Icelandic film score composer. Atli's credits include composing and orchestrating music for some of Hollywood's biggest projects, including the Pirates of the Caribbean series, ''Angels & Demons'', ''T ...
– additional music *Andrew Kawczynski – additional music *Steve Mazzaro – additional music *
Geoff Zanelli Geoffrey Zanelli is an American composer working primarily in the medium of film, television, and video game scores. His early career was notable for scoring additional music on roughly 30 film scores written by Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Harry ...
– additional music ;Additional personnel and recording *Mel Wesson – ambient music design *Czarina Russell – score coordinator *Steven Kofsky – music production services *Melissa Muik – music editor *Howard Scarr – synth programmer *Mark Wherry – digital instrument design *Alan Meyerson – music score mixing *Hilda "Thórhildur" Örvarsdóttir – vocals ;Percussion Session Musicians *
Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...
*
Josh Freese Joshua Ryan Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American session drummer. He is the son of tuba soloist Stan Freese and the older brother of musician Jason Freese. He is a member of the Vandals (since 1989) and Devo (since 1996), having forme ...
*
Danny Carey Daniel Edwin Carey (born May 10, 1961) is an American musician and songwriter. He is the drummer for the American rock band Tool. He has also contributed to albums by artists such as Zaum, Green Jellö, Pigface, Skinny Puppy, Adrian Belew, Carol ...
*
Jason Bonham Jason John Bonham (born 15 July 1966) is an English drummer. He is the son of late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. Since his father's death in September 1980, he has performed with the surviving three members of Led Zeppelin on several occasi ...
*
Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...
*
Sheila E. Sheila Cecilia Escovedo (born December 12, 1957) better known under the stage name Sheila E., is an American percussionist and singer. She began her career in the mid-1970s as a percussionist and singer for The George Duke Band. After leaving t ...
*
John JR Robinson John Frederick Robinson (born December 29, 1954), known professionally as JR, is an American drummer and session musician who has been called "one of the most recorded drummers in history". He is known for his work with producer Quincy Jones, in ...
*Satnam Ramgotra *
Toss Panos Anastasios (Toss) Panos is a Greek-American drummer who has played or recorded with Dweezil Zappa, Sting, Steven Stills, Paul Rodgers, Michael Landau, Robben Ford, Toy Matinee, Jude Cole, Mike Keneally, John Goodsall, Steve Vai, Mark Hart, Mel ...
*
Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...
*
Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Colai ...
*
Bernie Dresel Bernard John Dresel Jr. (born November 12, 1961) is an American studio drummer and percussionist. He has been with multi-Grammy award-winning artists and recordings; most notably having performed and recorded extensively with The Brian Setzer Orc ...
*
Curt Bisquera Curt "Kirkee B." Bisquera is an American drummer known for his extensive work as a touring and session musician. Biography Bisquera has worked with Johnny Cash, Josh Groban, Mick Jagger, Seal, Sarah McLachlan, Elton John, Johnny Hallyday and To ...
* Trevor Lawrence, Jr. *Ryeland Allison ;Musicians *
Martin Tillman Martin Tillman (born 6 November 1964) is a Swiss cellist and composer. Biography Tillman was born in Zürich, Switzerland, in 1964. He arrived in the US in 1988. He has since performed/composed on numerous films, television shows, commercials and ...
*
Ann Marie Calhoun Ann Marie Calhoun ( Simpson; born May 26, 1979) is an American classically trained violinist who has performed as a bluegrass and rock musician in a number of prominent acts, including Jethro Tull, Steve Vai, Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews Ba ...
*Bryce Jacobs


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


References


External links


Official site
{{Hans Zimmer 2013 soundtrack albums 2010s film soundtrack albums Hans Zimmer soundtracks WaterTower Music soundtracks Superman soundtracks DC Extended Universe soundtracks Superhero film soundtracks