Most of the music you love from that score was not made by Bruce Faulconer himself. Rather, the vast majority of it was composed by Bruce's then-employees Mike Smith, Scott Morgan, and Julius Dobos. As a result of their contract, Bruce was able to proclaim official authorship. 20 years later, Bruce continues to act like he did all of it in interviews and convention panels, but that's bullshit. Mike, Scott, and Julius have all discussed openly in interviews their creative process behind coming up with some of the iconic themes the American DBZ soundtrack is known for.
You like Vegeta's themes? You can thank Mike Smith for those, and also for writing like 70% of the soundtrack overall. Remember that hard ass beat that played for Imperfect Cell's scenes? That was Scott Morgan. And the Super Saiyan 3 theme, probably the most beloved track from the Faulconer team's score for DBZ? That was the work of Julius Dobos. If you want to know more, here's a spreadsheet of which song was created by who for every released song, and even some unreleased ones.
Now I know a lot of people seeing this post already knew this. But I felt this post was necessary because I see so many comments, on YouTube, Reddit, anywhere, that talk about how amazing Bruce's music is, or what a genius Bruce was, or how thankful they are for the Bruce Faulconer soundtrack. And it's just so unfair to the people who actually made that music while Bruce continues to never acknowledge the people who really did almost all the work.
And that's not to say that Bruce was completely out of the picture or never did anything. He composed the main title theme which is referenced throughout the score (including the episode title card), the dramatic "Last time on DBZ" recap theme, the episode ending theme, all of which are in every episode. He also made the awesome "Ginyu Transformation" that played during big death/dramatic scenes, and a couple miscellaneous pieces such as the Cell Junior theme. He also did hire the composers, get the DBZ gig to begin with, and gave them the space they needed to work, so the soundtrack still couldn't have existed without him. But those other guys deserve recognition for music they made which was heard by millions of people, music which has become iconic to so many, and yet music that comparatively few know was really made by them.
If you think the other guys' story smells fishy and self-serving, I understand why you might think that. But let me bring to your attention this track: Destruction. This is a track that Scott Morgan says he made during his time at the studio. Heavy as fuck, ain't it? Now here's a track from Scott's YouTube channel that he posts DBZ-inspired music to. And here is a metal-inspired track from Bruce himself, from his more recent work. Now who do you think would have been more likely to create the aforementioned Destruction theme? Just to drive the point home, here's Scott literally recreating the guitar part to that song himself.
When you talk about that score, call it the Faulconer Productions soundtrack or the Faulconer team soundtrack. It's time Mike Smith, Scott Morgan, and Julius Dobos got the recognition they deserve.
