Alan Silvestri: Back to the Future

Alan Silvestri's score for the iconic time-travel adventure has become one of the most popular Hollywood themes ever.

Released: 1985
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd

When it comes to Hollywood blockbuster soundtracks, you need to have one killer musical phrase to get you started. Star Wars has one, Lord Of The Rings has one, you could argue that James Bond has dozens… but Alan Silvestri's Back To The Future is right up there with them. Brassy, bombastic and instantly iconic, it sums up the whole trilogy in a simple phrase.

The real trick, though, was to then seamlessly fit that superb theme in with the rest of the film which, don't forget, flits around different areas of popular culture like there's no tomorrow. Silvestri made sure his music slotted around Marty McFly's increasingly wacky adventures, but amongst all the chaos and the pop culture references that run throughout the movie, at its heart it still all comes back to that one main theme.