The Sounds of Awe and Terror: Revisiting the Music of Godzilla [Part 3- The Millennium Era]

 

     No matter what type of music, I always want to create music that would touch the heart of people. I do the orchestration and the composing of the music at the same time, so by watching the scenes, I would select the instruments that would be suitable. 

~ Michiru Oshima

 

Welcome to the third part of my journey through the OSTs of Godzilla films. In the previous editorial, I discussed the music scores from the Heisei series. Now, we proceed to the Millennium era.
     I believe it would not be too much of an exaggeration to say that the Millennium movies owe their existence to the atrociously disastrous, burning dumpster fire that Ronald Emmerich’s Godzilla (1998) movie actually was. After the death of veteran producer Tomoyuki Tanaka, it was Shogo Tomiyama who assumed his duties and greenlit Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999). The director (Takao Okawara), the writers (Hiroshi Kashiwabara, Wataru Mimura), and even the main star (Takehiro Murata) were already old hands at Godzilla flicks because of their experience gained during the Heisei series. The same applied to the composer who was Takayuki Hattori. He previously scored Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla (1994) and again provides a familiar style of digitally-modulated sounds. In addition, the composer also sparingly remixes classic Akira Ifukube’s themes. Interestingly, the American cut of the film sees the inclusion of additional music by J. Peter Robinson who provided a bit of pumped up action cues.

Takayuki Hattori

     Although the Millennium movies are being rediscovered nowadays and appreciated by kaiju fans, it has to be noted that they struggled at the box office. This resulted in lack of continuity throughout the era. Almost every new production (Tokyo S.O.S. being the exception) started from scratch (ignoring everything that was before storywise) in order to appeal to the fanbase. As a result, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) was helmed by director Shusuke Kaneko. The OST for this particular entry was created by Kaneko’s long-time collaborator, the great Kow Otani.

Kow Otani

     The composer is known nowadays for having scored numerous anime shows (the music for Outlaw Star will always be number 1 in my heart!), video games (ex. Shadow of the Colossus) and other Tokusatsu flicks (Gamera: The Heisei Trilogy). In fact, Kow Otani holds the distinction of being the only composer who worked on both the Godzilla as well as Gamera series. His music for the GMK (2001) movie is certainly unique. It can be exotic/haunting and easily turn into a hardcore, meancing march. Kow Otani is certainly a go-to guy for monumental music with space opera vibes. “His music was so emotional and classical; it reminds me of old-fashioned kaiju movies, (Akira) Ifukube’s sound. His music makes me excited. It makes your heart beat,” stated Shusuke Kaneko (source).

      The other films in the Millennium series, Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000), Godzilla X Mechagodzilla (2002), and Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) are arguably the most consistent in terms of style. This was mostly due to the fact that all three pictures were directed by Masaaki Tezuka, written by Wataru Mimura, and scored by Michiru Oshima. The composer had a great deal of experience in writing music for anime, video games, television dramas, and motion pictures but she was never into Godzilla. She went on record to say the following: “Being a female, I had no interests in Godzilla at all; I’ve never watched or known much music of it before. When I composed the music for those films for the first time, I did not watch the movie or listen to music from the previous ones. The director just told me how big and how scary Godzilla was. The rest, I just used my imagination” (source).

Michiru Oshima

     Allegedly, director Tezuka proposed the job to Oshima after hearing her music for the Shomuni (1998) drama. Also, Toho gave her a boxset of Godzilla films for music reference, but she refused to revisit other soundtracks in order to have a fresh approach. It has to be noted that Oshima is well versed in symphonic as well as synthetic music, having been greatly influenced by the classical giant Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. She also admires the works of other film composers, like Masaru Sato and Jerry Goldsmith. Needless to say, her work on Godzilla films is hands down breathtakingly awesome. The romantic music is enchantingly beautiful, whereas the battle pieces are heartbreakingly intense and dramatic. The OSTs by Michiru Oshima are definitely my favorites right after the compositions of Ifukube. I hope I’m not overstating by saying that Oshima reinvented the sound of the entire franchise: “I think that the role of [film] music is like the blood in the human body, and also like a human heart, expressing the feelings that cannot be done by words” (source). Oshima herself considers the soundtrack for Godzilla X Mechgodzilla (2002) to be one of her finest works.

Keith Emerson

     The movie that concluded the Millennium era was Ryuhei Kitamura’s Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). Honestly, I am not a huge fan of this film. It desperately tries to pay homage to Godzilla's past while trying to be as action-packed as possible, but a lot of charm is lost in the process. The same thing goes to music. Pieces written by Keith Emerson, Daisuke Yano, Nobuhiko Morino, Sum41 (plus a touch of remixed Akira Ifukube) are all over the place. The music tries to be hip and all, but ultimately did not win me over. It seems more fitting to a video game rather than a proper motion picture.
     All things considered, this was my “brief” trip down the music lane of Godzilla’s Millennium era. Please make sure to hit the hyperlinks in order to listen to mentioned tracks. If you enjoyed the read, please stay tuned for the fourth editorial in which I will go through the musical history of the Shin era. In the meantime, I leave you with my full “guide list” of the Millennium movies and the people who scored them because I could not find such a rundown anywhere on the internet. Thank you for reading.

• Godzilla 2000: Millennium (1999) music by Takayuki Hattori
• Godzilla vs. Megaguirus (2000) music by Michiru Oshima
• Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001) music by Kow Otani
• Godzilla X Mechagodzilla (2002) music by Michiru Oshima
• Godzilla X Mothra X Mechagodzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003) music by Michiru Oshima
• Godzilla: Final Wars (2004) music by Keith Emerson, Daisuke Yano, Nobuhiko Morino, Sum41

Sources: Talking to composer Michiru Oshima * Michiru Oshima Interview * TohoKingdom * Kow Otani Profile * Shusuke Kaneko Interview.

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