Roll over Beethoven. On your bike Lennon. When it comes to musical heroes, a handful of names tower above the rest: Herrmann, Elfman, Goldsmith, Williams and Zimmer. Blockbuster.co.uk's Marshall Julius celebrates the movie soundtrack, and the creative geniuses who produce them.

The next time you're watching Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), try turning down the volume during the infamous shower scene. Stripped of Bernard Herrmann's screeching violins the sequence loses most of its shock value. The same goes for Spielberg's Jaws (1975). When legendary composer John Williams first played the familiar theme for his director, Spielberg laughed and said, "That's funny, John, really. But what did you really have in mind?" Spielberg later declared that without Williams' stress-inducing score, the movie would have only been half as successful.

"Good film music can invest a scene with terror, grandeur, gaiety or misery," clarified Herrmann. "It can propel narrative swiftly forward, or slow it down."

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then music is worth a thousand pictures. Music gives a movie its soul. It inspires joy, fear and everything in between. Sometimes it lurks in the background. Other times it's right in your face. Either way, when it's done right it turns an intellectual experience into an emotional one. Without the collected works of John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman, Bernard Herrmann and Hans Zimmer, along with their peers and talented predecessors, the films they've raised with their scores would come crashing to the ground.

As a kid I rarely listened to anything but movie soundtracks, and though these days my tastes are a little more rounded, film scores will always hold a very special place in my heart. As a lifelong science fiction obsessive, fantasy film scores are of particular importance to me. Though I'm a sucker for any number of famous themes, from Jerome Morros's expansive score for The Big Country (1958), to filmmaker and composer John Carpenter's sparing, spine-chilling soundtrack to Halloween (1978), it's the sounds of those classic sci-fi movies that grab me most of all.

Here's are some favourites of mine that you might like to give a listen;

Superman: The Movie (1978) by John Williams
Building to a triumphant crescendo, Williams' main theme is a celebration of all things Superman. Close your eyes: you will believe a man can fly.

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) by Bernard Herrmann
A supremely eerie, otherworldly soundtrack with some wonderful electronic flourishes. Guaranteed to give you goose bumps.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1978) by Jerry Goldsmith
Fabulous soundtrack, terrible movie. Good thing you can get them separately. Goldsmith's score captures the adventurous spirit of Star Trek without any help from the visuals.

The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by John Williams
From martial masterpiece The Imperial March to the giddy thrills of The Asteroid Field, Williams delivers one incredible theme after another, surpassing his Oscar-winning achievements on Star Wars (1977).

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) by Bernard Herrmann.
A lush and vibrant soundtrack reminiscent of Rimsky-Korsakov's Sheherezade. An exotic, evocative masterpiece from Hitchcock's favourite composer.

Batman (1989) by Danny Elfman.
Beyond the cheesy movie and Prince's dated contribution to the soundtrack lies Elfman's irresistible score, a robust and melodramatic masterpiece.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) by John Williams.
Williams builds a striking score around a simple five-note theme, expertly capturing the fear and wonder of alien visitation.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) by James Horner.
Fabulous soundtrack, brilliant movie. When necessary, Horner's touch is light as a feather, but when battle begins, the big themes kick in and away we go.

Mars Attacks! (1996) by Danny Elfman.
Elfman's music is as playful as the movie itself, simultaneously sending up, and paying homage to, the sounds of '50s science fiction.

Star of the soundtrack world will always be John Williams, winner of five Academy Awards for his scores for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977), E.T. (1982) and Schindler's List. (1993). "His chameleon adaptability was a prerequisite to longevity and success in Hollywood," says Jerry Goldsmith. We used to call him Gorgeous. He was the golden boy, a beautiful presence. His music had a freshness, and he had a freshness."

"If our music survives," adds Goldsmith, who won his Oscar for The Omen (1976), "which I have no doubt it will, then it will be because it is good." You can't argue with that.

"I get drawn to things that don't make any sense," admits Danny Elfman, composer of choice for Tim Burton, Sam Raimi and countless others, "and I learned early on not to resist that."

"If something happened where I couldn't write music anymore, it would kill me," reveals the supremely dedicated Hans Zimmer, winner of a Best Music Oscar for The Lion King (1994). "It's not just a job. It's not just a hobby. It's why I get up in the morning."

Obviously there's a whole wide world of music out there that goes well beyond the soundtracks of classic movies, but film scores I know and love the best. Whatever you might be into, though, whatever gets you going, you're sure to find it here at Blockbuster.co.uk. From epic movie musicals to concert films and video compilations, we don't just have everything you want to see - we have everything you want to hear as well.