The Soundtrack of Your Formative Years On Tour With the Kid

Even silent movies were never really silent. Since the first silent film was released in 1902, music has been used to heighten viewers' emotions and enhance the storyline. Music could convey a character's emotions without a single word of dialogue. Cast an ominous mood to denote danger or leave you in tears as lovers are torn apart, or a key character dies.

 The first official soundtrack ever to be released separately from the Disney film was Snow White. That's right, parents; Disney created earworms long before Frozen's Let It Go. Even if you have never seen Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, everyone knows the songs Whistle While You Work and Hi Ho. As soon as I hear either of those songs, I have a visual memory of cartoon men singing as they head off to the coal mines. It happens completely involuntarily. So linked are those memories, the visuals are just there.

In the 1930s and 1940s, composers would use orchestral grandeur to evoke emotion in a film, but as we headed into the Summer of Love in the 1960s, more contemporary music was being incorporated. In 1967, it wasn't commonplace for a film to have a pop music soundtrack. Simon and Garfunkel's addition to the soundtrack of The Graduate, starring Dustin Hoffman, was an early exception. The music resonated so strongly with audiences that they couldn't wait to relive those moments outside the theatre. The song Mrs Robinson went on to become a number one hit, and the link between music chart success and a smash-hit movie was born.

To follow would be the likes of Easy Rider, American Graffiti, Grease, Saturday Night Fever, and Shaft. The first soundtrack to outsell the box office take was Curtis Mayfield's Super Fly, full of Funk and Soul music that perfectly framed the feel of what was happening on screen. As we headed into the early 80s, which count as my formative years for music, one of my favourites emerged. In 1983, The Big Chill was released. It’s an enduring classic that launched the careers of Glenn Close, William Hurt, Kevin Kline, Jeff Goldblum, Meg Tilly and JoBeth Williams. It was full of Motown classics, including I Heard It Through the Grapevine, Ain’t Too Proud to Beg, and I Second That Emotion, mixed with Three Dog Night’s Joy to the World, Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin and Whiter Shade of Pale.

I loved it because I loved the movie, but also because it reminds me of my mum. Memories of dancing around our farmhouse kitchen. Seeing her face light up when she would sing the words Jeremiah was a bull frog, knowing I would join in.

Those memories came flooding back to me when I found out that, starting in February 2026, the winner of The Voice, Judah Kelly, and Asabi Goodman (star of Hairspray and Chicago) will be touring a show called The Big Chillout, featuring the soundtrack from The Big Chill. I can’t wait to take the kid.