I’ve had a fragment of a tune in my head for 16 years. It began with the intro to the PC game Syndicate, in 1993:
Later I learned where they stole it from:
Gustav Holst – Mars, Bringer of War, 1914-16
Turns out everybody’s stealing from Holst. Listening to The Planets is like listening to a modern movie soundtrack. Did you hear bits of Star Wars in there? This one is more blatant:
Hans Zimmer – Barbarian Horde, 2000
Hans Zimmer churns out all these aggressive and pompous soundtracks for aggressive and pompous Hollywood movies. I think I dislike him more than I like him, but it’s close, and anyone who steals this fragment from Mars has my approval. To me, it’ll always be that tune from Syndicate.
It seems like almost every sci-fi movie I’ve ever watched have had themes based on “Mars”, more or less. And quite a few of the composers have listened closely to “Saturn” and “Neptune” too, I think.
Brilliant music. Holst, that is.