10 Soundtracks That Have Rightfully Outlived Their Awful Movies

In this era of the digital download, we don't think about movie soundtracks quite as much as we used to unless they're really, really good. (See: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' The Social Network and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo soundtracks.) Or, when they're just pretty good but the movie to which they're attached is truly awful. That's when you remember why soundtracks are still awesome. They can be a mixed tape done by professionals, or an entire concept album developed in collaboration with a professional storyteller and a talented musician. Sometimes they're the only way to get bonus new songs by one of your favorite artists without having to wait for them to finish a new solo album. And, often, they're a way to find music you never would have tried out otherwise.

Even before Fifty Shades of Grey hit theaters, critics were hailing its soundtrack as being inevitably better than the movie — just a few bars of that Beyoncé "Crazy in Love" remix can heat up a room. This is a testament to how convincing Hollywood's behind-the-scenes movers and shakers can be. Fifty Shades is not the first to earn this dubious honor. Will its soundtrack live on in our hearts/hard drives long past the memory of the movie that spawned it, like the other soundtracks on this list? Only time will tell.