Ransom is a 1996 action-thriller film directed by Ron Howard starring Mel Gibson. Half of the soundtrack is James Horner's motion picture score, while the other half is Billy Corgan with Matt Walker on drums. All songs are instrumental. Corgan is credited in the movie as "Kidnapper's Boom Box Music".
Addicted to Noise commented that the "solo sounds crafted by Corgan are perfect for the film."[1]
“
Billy Corgan brought a powerfully disturbing urgency to the music that our kidnappers listen to throughout the ordeal. It was great to have someone with such vision help us musically shape these scenes, instead of the usual series of unrelated songs by different artists. Billy's complete understanding of our movie and his wide range of musical styles made him an inspired choice. Beside that, I just got a big kick out of working with him.
The contributions to Ransom were among the first to follow the massive success of Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.[1] The recordings took place over the course of a week in September 1996 at Penguin Studios and Chung King Studios in New York. Corgan's scant vocals were recorded on a mini tape dictaphone recorder. These songs were curiously copyrighted as "Parallel Stories". It was during these sessions that "Appels + Oranjes" made its first recorded appearance.
“
I just did some music for the Ron Howard movie, Ransom, and some of it is indicative to me of what is ahead-not necessarily the music which is very aggressive electronic music, but the process by which I'm going to approach it. If we do decide to make another record, we feel completely free of the burden of having to do anything, including playing live. I think if we do anything, it will be more music focused and less grind focused.
”
— Billy Corgan, Greg Kot, "Future Tense", Request Magazine, January 1997
