What is the latest news on an official Buckaroo Banzai soundtrack release?

By Sean Murphy

This article, called  was originally published in the September, 2018 issue of the World Watch One Newsletter and is the latest information available as of May, 2020.


That sound you hear might just be hell freezing over. There is news, for the first time since the release of the film, that an official Buckaroo Banzai soundtrack may be in the works from none other than the composer Michael Boddicker. (You can read about the "Quest for the Official Banzai Soundtrack” under What is the story behind the Buckaroo Banzai Bootleg?)



When the Five Minutes of Banzai podcast began in 2017, there was no indication that podcasters Josh and Brett would interview Boddicker. Not only did they score an interview withhim, it had to be split over two podcasts since it ran almost two hours. You can find the episodes here: Episode 21 and Episode 22. The last ten minutes of each episode is where the most concentrated information about the Buckaroo Banzai soundtrack can be found if you’d like to dig into the meat of the information yourself.

Many areas of Boddicker’s history were touched on during the podcast including stories about the musicians he’s worked with and the synthesizers he’s used to make music over the years. He shared the fact that he worked on scoring Buckaroo Banzai for a year, which is unheard of today when some films are scored in a matter of weeks. He also revealed that he did the sound effects for the film, including the sound of the Lectroid growl. The whole interview is worth a listen, but a highlight of the conversation was a discussion of the past and potential future of the Buckaroo Banzai soundtrack.

The Past

Boddicker confirmed that some of the music found on the bootleg copies of the Buckaroo Banzai soundtrack is from his demo reel of music at the time and, of course, this music is not found in the film at all. (Check out What is the difference between the Buckaroo Banzai film score and the bootleg soundtrack? for more information) He is understandably upset that what fans of the film think of as the “Buckaroo Banzai soundtrack” is a bootleg full of unrelated music and that they have never been allowed to hear the real soundtrack.

Boddicker also said that he wrote more music for the film at the time than is heard in the film itself. He revealed that he has a two and a half hour version of the film on 3/4-inch videotape that he used to score the film. So there is Banzai music in his possession that has not been heard by the public.

He discussed a cassette of music, given to him during the film’s production, that contained songs written and performed by Earl Mac Rauch. Boddicker said that he really liked the music and could still hum it today. Unfortunately he didn’t discuss how many songs there were on the cassette, the song titles, or what the music sounds like. Although Rauch’s music is not from the film, it is of the time period and would be fascinating to hear.

Finally, Boddicker mentioned something that came as a complete surprise. He said that he’d written, but not recorded, a piece of music that could act as a theme for the unmade Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League!


The Future

The best bit of news from the entire two hour interview was when Boddicker expressed his desire to release the soundtrack. When asked by Josh if there was anything the fans could do to help, he stated that he would have an answer for the fans within the year (2018) [NOTE: There was no update as of May, 2020] and will let them know what they can do to help get the soundtrack out. He has a lot of projects going on and getting this soundtrack done right will be an undertaking for him. He thinks he can be motivated to get something out in a year to a year and a half; just in time for the 35th anniversary of the film’s release.

In order to release the soundtrack he’d need to pull the original tapes and transfer them to a digital medium. He needed to get up into his attic to pull the 3/4-inch videotapes of the longer cut so that he could pull audio off of them as well. He’d like to include the music that Rauch wrote and performed and asked to be put in contact with Rauch. And he’d like to record that unrecorded Against the World Crime League theme that he wrote at the time and add it to the album as well.

“I will,” Boddicker said, “I will get it done.”

So, it sounds like we’ll potentially get the music from the film, music written for the film but never heard, music written by Earl Mac Rauch, and a theme for an unmade movie. Could a Banzai fan ask for anything more?

Although Boddicker did not commit to a release date for the soundtrack, he did mention that he is creating a convention called SynthPlex which will occur March 28-31, 2019 at the LA Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel & Convention Center [NOTE: The convention was a success and is now an ongoing event]. He said they could show the film there and talk about it during the convention as well as using it as a “jumping off place for some of this music.” [NOTE: This did not happen at Synthplex 2019]. Although he did not say that the soundtrack would be released then and there, the convention would seem like an awesome place to debut the album.

So, only time will tell if hell really is freezing over. We’ll know it’s chilly down there for sure if one day we are holding the official Buckaroo Banzai soundtrack in our hands.