the buzz log

"Singin' in the Rain." "Saturday Night Live." "Star Wars." "Purple Rain." "Dirty Dancing."

If you are of a certain vintage, you know these titles aren't just generational films. The soundtracks provide the musical backdrop of their era. For this week's movie releases, the songs for "Bandslam" and "The Time Traveler's Wife" debuted in stores and online Tuesday. "District 9"—the most-searched movie of the week and the touted "stealth" summer hit—features some unusual music and an African-influenced score from Clinton Short. He's been called " composer to watch, but the deal for releasing his soundtrack didn't close until days before the premiere.

That might be a coincidence, but even in the digital download era, soundtracks just aren't the money-makers they used to be. Industry execs told The Wrap that studios think this hallowed tradition is "a waste of time." Universal Pictures hasn't bothered with a musical "Bruno" release. Likewise with Sony's stalker thriller "Obsessed," even with Beyonce as its star.

Plus, now that consumers are used to picking out a tune at a time, compilations from a film experience aren't doing that well, even when iTunes requires that folks buy the whole album. The Wrap gives examples of weak sales compared to past hits, such as "Transformers 2" versus the first, or "500 Days of Summer" vs. "Garden State." (Notable latter-day exceptions: Hannah Montana and, of course, "Twilight.")

One columnist from "The Wrap" spreads the blame around, and believes the soundtrack's downfall started in the 90s, when studios opted for cheap tunes rather than original music. Record companies also may have charged too much (and ended up selling the same song over and over).

But some people do. Weak sales or not, below's a Yahoo! Search playlist of popular movie soundtracks from the past 30 days. Incidentally, in the past 7 days, soundtrack demands have been high for films from the late John Hughes, who really knew the score for a generation. Could any of these below define the current one?