ASTS 060: Listening To... GODZILLA! (The Heisei Era)
Welcome in to the podcast, listeners! My "Listening To" series covering the music of GODZILLA strides forward into part three, entering what is referred to as the Heisei era of the long-lived series. After wading into the ocean at the close of 1975's TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA, the big screen kaiju took a hiatus, finally returning in the mid-1980's amid a slew of big budget Hollywood blockbusters which were now embellished by advanced FX and rich orchestral scores.
Nostalgia helped return GODZILLA to the big screen for eleven years and seven movies, as Toho Studios and the creative team produced and presented an intricate serialized story across these installments. This Heisei era features four new scores by the legendary Akira Ifukube, returning for the films during the 1990's, as well as scores by newcomers Reijiro Koroku, Koichi Sugiyama and Takayuki Hattori.
Title playtime index:
Intro - 00:00
THE RETURN OF GODZILLA (1984) (Reijiro Koroku) - 00:04:06
GODZILLA VS BIOLLANTE (1989) (Koichi Sugiyama) - 00:16:04
GODZILLA VS KING GHIDORAH (1991) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:27:38
GODZILLA AND MOTHRA: THE BATTLE FOR EARTH (1992) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:38:05
GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA II (1993) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:48:31
GODZILLA VS SPACE GODZILLA (1994) (Takayuki Hattori) - 01:02:06
GODZILLA VS DESTROYAH (1995) (Akira Ifukube) - 01:13:31
Wrap up - 01:24:50
Stay safe out there, take care of yourself and each other!
Connect with the podcast on Facebook, Twitter and Bluesky:
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https://twitter.com/score2settlepod
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Email the show at ascoretosettlepodcast@gmail.com
29 Jun 2026
ASTS 059: Listening To... GODZILLA! (The Showa Era, Part 2)
Greetings listeners! On the scaly heels of my previous episode, I now present the second entry in this "Listening To... " sub-series, covering the music of GODZILLA, the long-lived monster movie series from Japanese film studio Toho. This franchise currently encompasses 38 movies, spanning over seven decades of cinema history and is considered by Guinness to be the longest running continuous film series.
I first focused on the music of revered composer Akira Ifukube, who scored roughly half the movies during this original era of the GODZILLA series, called the Showa era, and now in this episode I will explore music from the guest composers. This includes Masaru Sato, Richiro Manabe, Kunio Miyauchi and Yuji Koseki, who, respectively, wrote scores and songs for beloved and even controversial classics of the series such as EBIRAH, HORROR OF THE DEEP, GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH and GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA.
How did each of these composers approach scoring a Godzilla movie - was it in deference to Ifukube’s style or was something tonally far removed presented? You might be surprised hear the sounds of big band, swing music and surf rock from these guest composers!
Title playtime index:
Intro - 00:00
GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN (aka GIGANTIS, THE FIRE MONSTER) (1955) (Masaru Sato) - 00:03:41
MOTHRA (1961) (Yuji Koseki) - 00:08:00
EBIRAH, HORROR OF THE DEEP (aka GODZILLA VS THE SEA MONSTER) (1966) (Masaru Sato) - 00:10:33
SON OF GODZILLA (1967) (Masaru Sato) - 00:21:27
ALL MONSTERS ATTACK (1969) (Kunio Miyauchi) - 00:31:13
GODZILLA VS HEDORAH (aka GODZILLA VS THE SMOG MONSTER) (1971) (Richiro Manabe) - 00:37:05
GODZILLA VS MEGALON (1973) (Richiro Manabe) - 00:49:05
GODZILLA VS MECHAGODZILLA (1974) (Masaru Sato) - 00:58:54
Wrap up - 01:11:16
Stay safe out there, take care of yourself and each other!
Connect with the podcast on Facebook, Twitter and Bluesky:
www.facebook.com/ascoretosettle
https://twitter.com/score2settlepod
https://bsky.app/profile/score2settlepod.bsky.social
Email the show at ascoretosettlepodcast@gmail.com
9 Jun 2026
ASTS 058: Listening To... GODZILLA! (The Showa Era, Part 1)
Hello and welcome back to the podcast! Starting with this episode, I present another entry in my "Listening To... " sub-series, this time focused on that long running film franchise with a massive pop cultural footprint, GODZILLA!
While it’s a pop culture reference known the world over, GODZILLA is perhaps best understood by one country and culture, that being Japan and its people. But what does GODZILLA music sound like? We might know it when hear it, but where did it begin? The scaly behemoth has been a towering figure of science fiction and monster movie cinema ever since the original movie, GOJIRA, premiered in Japan in 1954, inadvertently beginning what emerged as a popular sub-genre called "kaiju eiga".
During the more than 70 years of big screen adventures, this series has journeyed from apocalyptic, black & white installments, to colorful kid-friendly monster mashes, topical storylines and splashy, big budget epics. Keeping pace with this is a great wealth of musical variety, from a number of talented composers, but the originator of it all is Akira Ifukube, a legend in Japanese film and music circles. It is Ifukube's music for the Showa era that is the focus of this first episode.
Title playtime index:
Intro - 00:00
"Modern Monster Movie Music Suite" - 00:05:33
GODZILLA (1954) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:13:23
KING KONG VS GODZILLA (1962) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:20:30
MOTHRA VS GODZILLA (1964) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:32:46
GHIDORAH, THE THREE-HEADED MONSTER (1964) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:36:42
INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER (1965) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:40:48
DESTROY ALL MONSTERS (1968) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:47:44
GODZILLA VS GIGAN (1972) (Akira Ifukube) - 00:54:33
TERROR OF MECHAGODZILLA (1975) (Akira Ifukube) - 01:04:30
Wrap up - 01:14:22
Stay safe out there, take care of yourself and each other!
Connect with the podcast on Facebook, Twitter and Bluesky:
www.facebook.com/ascoretosettle
https://twitter.com/score2settlepod
https://bsky.app/profile/score2settlepod.bsky.social
Email the show at ascoretosettlepodcast@gmail.com
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20 ratings
Spotify
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6 ratings
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