Hunger Games Soundtrack

I had so much fun putting together (and listenng frequently to) my Annie On My Mind soundtrack, I decided I would put together a collection inspired by the Hunger Games, too.

Of course, The Hunger Games series is already being made into actual movies, the first REAL soundtrack will probably be coming out in a couple of months. So I focused more on capturing the mood and themes of each book instead of picking particular songs to accompany particular moments. The filmmakers will take care of that in their own way.

In accordance with the themes of the books, I tried to put together a contrast between hollywood action, and brutal depression with a heavy aspect of biting political satire. I imagine scenes of ironic, almost humorously anthemic gore juxtaposed against more serious scenes where the aftermath is confronted.

The Hunger Games


1. Russian Roulette -- Rihanna
2. The Gunner's Dream -- Pink Floyd
3. Epidemic -- Slayer
4. Kill Everybody -- Skrillex
5. I'll Cast a Shadow -- Pantera
6. Fear -- Sarah McLachlan
7. Out of Hand -- Entombed
8. The Fall of Seven Diamonds... -- Tortoise
9. Cleansing -- Wolves In the Throne Room
10. Masters of War -- Bob Dylan




Catching Fire


1. Welcome, Ghosts -- Explosions in the Sky
2. The Good That Won't Come Out of Us -- Rilo Kiley
3. Postmortem -- Slayer
4. Holocene -- Bon Iver
5. The Post War Dream -- Pink Floyd
6. Skyscraper -- Demi Lovato
7. Swinging the Dead -- DevilDriver
8. Creature Fear -- Bon Iver
9. Innocent -- Taylor Swift
10. Ice (Freedom Sessions) -- Sarah McLachlan




Mockingjay


1. Revolution Is My Name -- Pantera
2. American Flag -- Cat Power
3. Love The Way You Lie (piano) -- Rihanna
4. Straitjacket -- Alanis Morissette
5. Life Eternal -- Mayhem
6. Il etat une foret... -- Gris
7. The Fletcher Memorial Home -- Pink Floyd
8. Posession (piano) -- Sarah McLachlan
9. Glittering Blackness -- Explosions In the Sky
10. Fix a Heart -- Demi Lovato
 

(EXTREME SPOILER WARNING: absolutely do not read the following paragraphs unless you have read Mockingjay, the final game of The Hunger Games series!)

You might see a lot of identical themes (and the same bands) in each soundtrack, but it's the nuances that flesh out each book's.... well, each book's nuances lol! Hunger Games is the most anthemic, full of metal. And the political message is sort of basic, universal but impersonal. Katniss is still just a tool of the capitol at this point, focused only on survival,. Catching Fire is just a haze, Katniss is caught between all of this consternation and she is powerless to do much else than stare into space and try to keep the pain from bubbling over.

Mockingjay is my favorite, it details Katniss's descent into... if not necessarily madness, extreme disorientation. The pain, the losses, the unspeakable horrors she herself has visited upon fellow humans start to overcome her, and while her "side" of the fight wins out, there is no triumph in the soul left behind. While the soldiers celebrate victory, all Katniss sees is a world too damaged and unfair to contain any winners.

Revolution Is My Name would fit perfectly for Katniss's rooftop battle scene when she finally becomes "the mockingjay" in action as well as name, while I imagine Love The Way You Lie for the aftermath of Peeta's second propo. Il Etat Une Foret (the saddest song I know) would accompany the death of Prim, the only person Katniss loved. I imagine Fletcher Memorial Home to play as a dazed Katniss kills Coin and then spends the subsequent days in a hospital bed. Fix a Heart sounds like a good place to end it, it just sort of lingers, not overtly sad but certainly far from happy. Phrases like "I just ran out of band aids" and "you never really can fix a heart" seem to fit Katniss's defeated state down to a T.