George S. Clinton

George S. Clinton ranks as one of the most innovative, versatile, and popular film score composers of the 1980s and 1990s. He specializes in creating fresh new sounds from a variety of often disparate musical elements. For example, for the soundtrack to the Mike Myers spy spoof Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), he drew upon soundtracks from the James Bond and Matt Helm series of the 1960s, as well as the music from other classic spy movies, combining them with psychedelic pop. An amalgam Clinton calls Techno/Taiko/Orcho has become one of his most famous musical formulas. A combination of synthesizer-heavy techno music combined with a symphony orchestra and traditional Asian drumming, he has used it in Mortal Kombat (1995), its sequel Mortal Kombat II: Annihilation (1997), and the comedy Beverly Hills Ninja (1997).

Clinton was still studying music and drama at Middle Tennessee State University when he began making a little money as a songwriter and session musician in Nashville. Upon graduation, he moved to Southern California and founded the George Clinton Band. At the same time, he became a songwriter for Warners and in that capacity had his music recorded by some of the studio's top recording artists, including Joe Cocker, Diana Ross, the Jackson 5, Three Dog Night, and Smokey Robinson. Clinton composed his first film score for the Cheech & Chong vehicle Cheech and Chong: Still Smokin' (1983). One of Clinton's other notable scores is Wild Things (1997).