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In my tween years, the soundtrack to \u201cSaturday Night Fever\u201d<\/a> was on repeat for months in my bedroom. This was via, ahem, an eight-track tape player. So, three or four cuts, clunky pause, three or four more, and so on. Listening this way was work, that\u2019s how much I loved this music.<\/p>\n Too young to see the R-rated movie itself, I only had a hazy \u2014 and, as it turned out, completely incorrect \u2014 idea of what it was about. Imagine my surprise years later when I discovered it was a drama, not the lighthearted ode to dancing that I pictured. (To put it another way: What if you were expecting \u201cBarbie\u201d and got \u201cOppenheimer\u201d?) It\u2019s not a bad film, but instead of the moves of John Travolta, it\u2019s the sounds of the Bee Gees and Yvonne Elliman that are permanently etched in my memory.<\/p>\n Some of the soundtracks I played incessantly back then, such as \u201cStar Wars\u201d<\/a> (really more of a score, but still completely thrilling) and \u201cGrease\u201d<\/a> (c\u2019mon), were more or less universally popular; others (\u201cFame<\/a>,\u201d which I haven\u2019t revisited since; no idea if it holds up) seemed like private obsessions. Years later, that\u2019s how the \u201cGarden State<\/a>\u201d soundtrack felt even though it became a cultural phenomenon.<\/p>\n As you can probably tell, I\u2019ve always loved soundtracks. There are the individual songs, of course, but somehow it\u2019s the album-ness of the thing \u2014 immersing me in a vibe, and reminding me of where I was and who I was when I first heard it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n My favorites (like \u201cPurple Rain<\/a>,\u201d \u201cPulp Fiction<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Matador<\/a>\u201d) aren\u2019t too surprising for a Gen X-er like myself. But with \u201cBarbie\u201d and other new movie-related albums in the last year, including the latest, \u201cI Saw the TV Glow<\/a>,\u201d getting so much love from younger moviegoers, I got to thinking about different eras of film and music and wondering what other soundtracks I should be checking out.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m asking you, readers, what soundtracks do you obsess over? Why do you return to them? I would love to hear your thoughts. Fill out the form below, and your response may be featured in an upcoming story. We will not publish or share your contact information outside the Times newsroom, and we will not publish any part of your submission without contacting you first.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n