This Disney Classic Holds the Guinness Record for First Movie Soundtrack

The big picture

• Disney songs are often considered iconic, even regularly dominating the Best Original Song category at the Oscars.
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
  had the first official film soundtrack, starting Disney's musical film trend.
• Since then, Disney has perfected the movie soundtrack formula with timeless songs and innovative marketing.

Any parent who spent November 27th, 2013 and every day since listening to “Let It Go” by frozen may even hate Disney, but you have to admit: House of Mouse knows how to deliver memorable songs. 16 of the 40 nominations have earned the studio the coveted Academy Award for Best Original Song, the most for any film studio in Oscar history. It may be a surprise, but neither is a song from Disney's influential animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs he was even nominated. Not one Walt Disney was celebrated for the innovative techniques that “pioneered a great new field of entertainment”, with an Academy Award of Honor, one full-size and seven miniatures (the year after the film's eligibility), but it's another innovation that Disney created for the film that was then, and still is, largely uncredited, making the oversight for Best Original Song it's even worse in retrospect. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs it was the first film with an official soundtrack, as the good folks at Guinness World Records attest.

'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' set the precedent for Disney films to follow

The story of how Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs it overcame its disastrous production as the first animated feature is legendary. Dubbed “Disney's Folly” by people who had little or no faith that an animated film could capture the public's attention, the film was nearly impossible to budget for, given the variables involved in bringing on the screen. Almost everything was innovative, including the use of music. Disney was no stranger to using music with animation, the company's silly symphonies focused on pieces of music, but Walt Disney wanted something different, feeling that shorts did not bring the visual and audio elements together. “Seriously, we should set a new pattern, a new way of using music. Weave it into the story, so that someone doesn't just burst into song,” was how Disney explained his vision. To say it all paid off seems like an understatement, given the positive critical reaction and $8 million (about $177 million today) at the box office.

The film's success extended beyond the theater doors, with an unprecedented level of related merchandise. Disney Archive David Smith explains that in 1937, “it was, even then, one of the largest merchandising efforts ever undertaken for a motion picture.” Author Steven Watts agrees, saying it was the first time a studio had created such an extensive campaign to coincide with a film release, with merchandising bringing in more than six million dollars during the eighteen months following the film's release. Tea sets, paper dolls, Dopey toys, a board game, radios and, yes, the first movie soundtrack. The soundtrack consisted of three 78rpm singles, all of which reached the US Top 10. “Heigh-Ho”, the most heard film soundtrack, reached number 4 in the charts in April 1938 and remained on the charts for 10 weeks. The success of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs The soundtrack set the precedent for Disney going forward: his animated films were no longer just films, but musicals.

Disney Enhances 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' Soundtrack Legacy

Listening today, the soundtrack snow white it's both a product of its time (the balance of “Someday My Prince Will Come” hasn't aged well) and timeless (“Heigh-Ho” remains to this day one of the most recognizable and beloved songs in the entire catalog of Disney) , so it makes sense that Disney would continue to perfect the formula. By the time of Disney's follow-up feature, the 1940s Pinocchio, was released, Disney had already taken major steps forward, presenting a soundtrack with songs that shed the trappings of the era to become timeless. “When You Wish Upon a Star”, “Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee” and “I've Got No Strings” (which will never be the same after hearing Ultron (James Spader) chilling interpretation a Avengers: Age of Ultron) are still as good as they were then. Disney had found the formula, perennial songs with narrative lyrics that get in your head and never let go, that would carry on. cinderella“Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” and “I Wanna Be Like You” by The Jungle Book.

Disney's Renaissance era, which began in 1989 with The Little Mermaid, saw the studio take its soundtracks to a whole new level. Songs were further integrated into films as sources of exposition, a means of shortcutting plot points, backstory, and character nature. “A leap forward.” Aladdin capture Aladdin (Scott Weinger) rogue ways and his big heart, while The Lion King“Hakuna Matata” is the perfect example of giving Timon's backstory (Nathan Lane) and Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella) as they make their current feelings about life, one of “carefree,” plainly evident. The Renaissance era also sees soundtracks being used even more as marketing tools. Not only do the characters in the films sing their songs, but high-profile music artists are now adding their own versions of the film's songs to the soundtrack, expanding the reach of the film film to the heights of popular music. Take the headliner “Beauty and the Beast,” covered in the movie Mrs. Potts (Angela Lansbury) and as a duet of Celine Dion i Peabo Brysonor “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, sung by Simba (Joseph Williams) during the film and for Sir Elton John to the end credits and music lists. This skillful combination of artistry, commitment, and emotional connection continues to define the Disney soundtrack today.

'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' paves the way for movie soundtracks as marketing

It's no secret that an original idea in Hollywood, at least a successful one, only stays that way for so long before everyone hops on the train and soundtracks the movie it started with snow white soon became a marketing mainstay for the film industry. The rise of musicals as a must-play genre in the 1950s (and again in the 2000s) pushed their soundtracks to the top of the charts, while Elvis Presley, already a regular on the charts, used his music to promote his films. And just like how The Little Mermaid marked an evolution in Disney soundtracks, they had other Hollywood films saturday night fever to thank for turning a movie soundtrack into something with a life of its own. The soundtrack became the best-selling of all time, with over 40 million copies, revitalized the career of The Bee Gees, increased the popularity of the film and is cited as popularizing disco music everywhere. Fortunately or unfortunately, it depends on how cool you find it.

Today, soundtracks still make a connection between the film and its audience, which is presented in different ways. Some songs on a soundtrack are forever linked to a particular scene, for example. “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Thieves' wheel and its association with Reservoir Dogs. Others revive interest in forgotten songs of the past, a la Guardians of the Galaxywhile others, like saturday night fever i purple rain, define the films in which they appear. However, with great power comes great responsibility, and a movie's soundtrack can bring it down just as easily as it can lift it up. And with the popularity of releasing soundtracks before the movie hits theaters, there's a new danger that comes with it: rabid fans scouring the Internet for information on the details of an upcoming movie, similar to what spend with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. But when a soundtrack does everything right, it can be magical, and we have a Disney princess and her seven little friends to thank.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is currently available to stream on Disney+ in the US

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