NOTE: Since the publishing of this article 2 years ago, I have been made aware of some major mistakes and misinformation that were in its original iteration. A sincere thank you to Charlie Brigden, a freelance journalist best known for their work talking about film scores. They have informed me of the errors in this article on Wendy Carlos, and helped me amend them. My gratitude to them for helping make this article better, and my gratitude to you for reading. Thanks!
Some musicians actively strive to be the ones brought up in every conversation and fought for in every debate. Some of them even succeed. That some is John Carpenter. You can’t walk more than five feet into a talk about synth music without tripping and falling face-first into Carpenter’s oeuvre. And the reason for that has to do with the outrageous success he’s had in his primary medium: film.
Carpenter’s Lasting Influence on Modern Horror Films
Truly, Carpenter’s soundtracks are one of the first things that come up in any conversation about music in movies. Let alone music in horror movies which he dominated. Go to even his least successful horror film endeavors, and you will find nothing but heat.
For a good reason, I think there’s nothing quite like a Carpenter soundtrack, and many of the artists in the horror scene inspired by him would probably agree. Synth soundtracks emulating his style have since become all the rage with modern horror movies that call back to the 80s and 90s. Terrifier 2, Psycho Goreman, Mandy, The Guest, and It Follows are just what come to mind first. They’re the beginning of an exhaustive list of films with nostalgic synth soundtracks harkening back to his discography. So really, is there anybody who compares when it comes to his influence?
Wendy Carlos. The other some.
Wendy Carlos: Pioneering Electronic Music and Horror Scores
A brief introduction for the uninitiated: when it comes to electronic music, Carlos was the vanguard. Her magnum opus, Switched-on-Bach, is a collection of Bach pieces recreated entirely with the then-mostly unknown Moog synthesizer. The album was met with explosive commercial and critical acclaim for its never before heard innovation, and the Moog became an invaluable studio tool for musicians across the world.
She also became the first transgender Grammy award winner for Switched and by extension, one of the most prominent queer artists of the modern era. If Robert Moog was the man who crafted the ship, Wendy Carlos was the captain who steered it into the great unknown. She returned with untold riches, encouraging others to do the same.
You know, without a John Carpenter’s The Fog situation happening.
Carlos’ Overlooked Impact on Horror Cinema
Carlos has always been at the head of the line when discussing great modern composers. Still, I find that in casual conversation, she’s greatly overlooked and underrated for her influence on movies, particularly horror movies.
Carlos as an artist, and the Switched-on-Bach album, has been cited more than a few times by John Carpenter as one of his big inspirations, alongside bands like Tangerine Dream and the Italian horror mainstay Goblin. He is the way I found out about her in the first place.
After her work on Switched-On-Bach, she went on to produce the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange, a film I would classify as psychological horror (but that’s a discussion for another day). Her cutting-edge reinterpretations of Beethoven and other classical musicians were the level of bold necessary for Kubrick movies. They perfectly engendered the horrors of Alex, his droogs, and the establishment around them. She built a soundscape that fit its mise-en-scene like a glove. And that was a feat she would replicate in another Stanley Kubrick classic she worked on.
Crafting the Iconic Sound of The Shining With Rachel Elkind
If scoring one of the greatest films of all time wasn’t enough, how about two? Proper respect is doled out in doses few and far between when it comes to horror, so let’s acknowledge her crowning achievement in cinematic scores: The Shining (1980), one of the greatest horror movies of all time.
This score was made in cooperation with her partner, Rachel Elkind, a classical musician, singer, and composer. In the original version of this article, I completely ignored Elkind’s massive contribution to the score, a failure of recognition that was unfortunately quite common according to Carlos herself. Rachel’s training as a jazz singer, her vocal range, and her style of musical composition complimented Carlos’ perfectly. It brought dynamism to their work in unexpected ways; her voice is even baked into the opening theme of The Shining, creating what Carlos described as the “sizzle effect” that permeates through the opening of the song.
The blend of music the two made is, frankly, inimitable. The Shining’s self-titled main theme is one of those songs that captures the tensest moments in the film. The piece has these inflection points that can send little noises into your ear and down your spine. The song is the voice of the Overlook and the first voice that speaks to you when you start watching.
A Symphony of Psychological Horror and The Lost Tracks of The Shining
It’s a neat reflection of the situation Stephen King penned and Kubrick adapted. The ghosts of the Overlook are a symphony of many players digging into Jack Torrance’s brain, and you are in the orchestra pit right with him. Carlos’ song embodies the gravity of being trapped in a horror that isn’t immediately apparent, becoming slowly and horribly aware of the overwhelming force you’re already standing inside.
There is one particular sound around the one-minute mark, this reverberating percussive force that shows up in the theme, that makes me want to look over my shoulder; sometimes, I even give in. It’s a fascinating, living noise with its own spirit, just like the hotel, and it is masterful.
Though much of Carlos and Elkind’s original work was shelved for the film and is hard to find outside of some very expensive CD copies, The Shining audio that is available will make your head spin. Carlos wrote the soundtrack to match the book before modifying it for the film, and its seamlessness is impressive. The teaser trailer for The Shining also contains the original “Clockworks (Bloody Elevators)” track that played during the infamous scene if you want a sliver of what could have been.
(P.S. I’m still miffed that it never made the final cut.)
Echoes in Modern Horror Scores
There are echoes of Carlos and Elkind’s work throughout modern horror film scores today. Take the acclaimed work of Colin Stetson in Hereditary, or Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow in Annihilation, or one of my favorites, Mica Levi’s unforgettable score for Under the Skin. All those soundtracks, and countless contemporaries, were touched by Carlos and Elkind.
And now here, in our new golden age of horror through the strange 2010s and roaring 2020s, the scores of a film are no longer a secondary aspect for your general audiences; it’s a deciding factor for many viewers. Bear McCreary for one, has lured me to many movies I wouldn’t have seen otherwise because his soundtracks are golden, and the fundamentals of what Wendy Carlos made run parallel to their works.
Yes, You Should Be Thanking Wendy Carlos
Not every musician is a fan of Carpenter, but most musicians owe Wendy Carlos something for her influence on modern music production, and it shows through the currents of inspiration that she cut indelible grooves into horror movie history.
Carlos famously began her most-seen interview on the Moog Synthesizer with the BBC by saying, “You have to build every sound. And to start to build these sounds, you have to start with something very simple.” While Wendy Carlos’ discography was by no means simple in creation or consumption, it is undoubtedly one massive spawning point, a tree trunk that branches out into the history of music.
And in terms of horror movie soundtracks, you’d be hard-pressed to find me another composer that deserves more credit. So, consider this that long overdue thank you we all owe her.