Favorite Music from fictional works

[Elrik]

There are certain times where Video Game, Animation, or Film music wows me to a point where I add it to my ipod, and people walk into my room and ask me what I’m listening to because it doesn’t have any lyrics. It's weird.

Anyway:

Blazblue: This is the definite soundtrack to go to if you want music as intense as the fighting game itself.
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Particularly “Azula’s Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jm-_aH9xQ7Q)”, but the series as a whole had some excellent music in Animation and set the tone for the scenes/characters.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: *puts on nostalgia goggles* I grew up playing this game and it was probably the first one I played without 8-Bit soundtrack. I particularly liked these (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkS685lIWuk) three (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8JGNPE4ayw) songs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srxI6Xvi3jI&feature=related)- aw screw it, the entire soundtrack was excellent, go and listen to it if you haven't already, it’s worth it.

[Tazar]

Buffy actually has some quite excellent instrumental pieces: The Final Fight (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqiiP6NJkh4)is a particular favorite of mine. Several of the musical numbers from "Once More, With Feeling" are also near and dear to my heart, although I suspect that may have more to do with my love for the show rather than a surpassing technical proficiency.

The Heroes of Might and Magic series also boasts one of the consistently most impressive soundtracks I've had the pleasure to listen to, with HoMM III in particular blowing away every other game I've ever played.
Heroes III Fortress Theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsYjN4wFw4o)

I also feel obliged to mention Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog here, although if you're speaking in terms of instrumental pieces it'd rank a bit lower.

[Mercenary Pen]

Well, lets be honest about this: near enough anything by Yoko Kanno

Libera me from hell (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAlztMvvNkk) from Gurren Lagann.

Probably a few others that I can't think of at the moment.

None of it fits the lack of lyrics part really, but it's certainly not mainstream.

[pita]

The soundtrack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMzbLQBHXqk&feature=related) of (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo2qkMH4i3w&feature=related) Majesty (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53SnAXtwfT8&feature=related) is absolutely my favorite bit of medieval music, it hits all the notes perfectly.
The Starcraft 2 Terran themes (look them up on Youtube) are great.
I also love the opening to Dexter (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej8-Rqo-VT4), as well as the background music on the show. Great creepy music. The opening song, especially, manages to be both upbeat and scary.

[Tenno Seremel]

Awe of she (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3BSSNxKjDk) from Guilty Gear XX #Reload. The best music that defines my "core" (^. ^)

Other than that Ar tonelico has plenty of songs I like, although they do have text in there.

[NikitaDarkstar]

Honestly, this album, based on the Malazan book of the Fallen. (the author of the books even wrote the lyrics.) http://kitsmusic.bandcamp.com/album/like-a-dancer-unstrung

The rest is kind of hard to say since half of my playlist if not more is various soundtracks from movies, tv shows, animes, games and so on so it really depends on my mood. Even if I've been favoring the Unreal Tournament 99 soundtrack lately.. but I've also been replaying the UT games. This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-w4moWNOM&feature=related just makes me want to blast something with the biggest weapon I can find. :) (Preferably UT's mini nuke XD)

[Mauve Shirt]

I really like the soundtrack from Inception. Especially once I heard this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM).
As far as musicals, I like all classic Disney music (Lion King and backwards) and of course Dr. Horrible. And West Side Story will always have a place in my mp3 collection.

[Radar]

I'll second everything by Yoko Kanno.

Yuki (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2UAWw5pqqI&feature=related) Kajiura (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNdLsosx0Lo) composed some great soundtracks for various TV series.

Basil Poledouris and Ennio Morricone don't even need introduction.

A full list of "made for movie/game/TV series" music, that I listen to would be too long, so some examples by respective composers in no particular order:
Jan Hammer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ivx1hcdz5U), Danny (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYx4IKR1CXM) Elfman (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9vdzumXOxI&feature=related), Krzesimir (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUAeq2Euvb4&feature=related) Dębski (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mU9awaRxqCI&feature=related).

edit: Michael (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKWT5wW4gdY) Land (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR6EQ9IdVgk&feature=related) deserves mention as well.

[Tazar]

As far as TV themes go, Angel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPzDaxPaq7s)'s theme is a favorite of mine, the cello is fantastic.

[Whiffet]

As far as musicals, I like all classic Disney music (Lion King and backwards)

Oh, man, The Lion King has some awesome background music that gets forgotten in favor of the regular songs. The stampede is better than anything in the movie with lyrics.

[Tragic_Comedian]

Avatar (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmtD4-WfhMw) definitely has some great music.

[Cyrion]

In a slightly different vein- the book Frostwing by Richard Knaack is what led me to discovering both Bruckner and Mahler symphonies; the main character listens to them a lot, and that got me curious.

[Jalor]

This (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K57qwO722lM) is the best song from any Pokemon game of any generation. Crank up your subwoofer and marvel at the almost Rush-worthy bass line you probably never heard on your crappy little Game Boy speaker before.

Anything Jeremy Soule does is awesome, but his best work in my opinion was on the Total Annihilation soundtrack. Maybe I'm biased, because TA is my favorite game of all time, but... here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_SvjZElgno), just (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CBTZqO83WQ) listen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP2spT0TwCw).

Before the Call of Duty/Modern Warfare, there was Medal of Honor. And it had music like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4K6Q-szNwU).

If you prefer electro/industrial music, check out this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7It4afwcJI) track from Starsiege, a mecha-simulation game with surprising production values for a game made in 1999.

For a more recent example, the Lower Afterlife club music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjDt3N9H210) from Mass Effect 2 deserves mention. And for the most epic song to start a day with ever, look no further than this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhsyV_ikw2o), also from ME2.

[Mauve Shirt]

Oh, man, The Lion King has some awesome background music that gets forgotten in favor of the regular songs. The stampede is better than anything in the movie with lyrics.

When I was little I always was disappointed that the song playing while Simba runs back to the pride lands wasn't longer.

[Eldan]

Morrowind: Call of Magic - Nerevar Rising (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2qDap4hnmk) is the best piece of music ever written.

Then there's the Baldur's Gate II Main Theme. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i38_6oNPE24)

And (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixv_jRI6VqY) of (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUt84LyH2JI&feature=related) course (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvSc5jfZP_g&feature=related) there (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12lgsK63S48&feature=related) is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1cPQH3QoyU&feature=related) Planescape (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1cPQH3QoyU&feature=related) Torment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6MWbv5tctw&feature=related), you (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArMpHw0hYHA&feature=related) know. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Jpm0P2C6E&feature=related)

[Jalor]

And (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixv_jRI6VqY) of (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUt84LyH2JI&feature=related) course (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvSc5jfZP_g&feature=related) there (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12lgsK63S48&feature=related) is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1cPQH3QoyU&feature=related) Planescape (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1cPQH3QoyU&feature=related) Torment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6MWbv5tctw&feature=related), you (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArMpHw0hYHA&feature=related) know. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4Jpm0P2C6E&feature=related)

PS:T has excellent music all the way through; I've used some of it to add atmosphere to Planescape campaigns of my own. No tracks really stand out to me, but that's simply because they're all consistently good.

Speaking of music I've used in D&D games, I once had an evil character partially inspired by Heath Ledger's take on the Joker, and I found that the Joker's theme (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRgrykM3jO0) suited that character and was awesome in general.

Death Note had great (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVaH8m_WKOI) music (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBTw2eHt5dY) too (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdXemVnGqdQ).