Other than Guardians of the Galaxy, are movie soundtrack compilations even a thing any more? Do people dash out of theaters driven with the mission to acquire that album of great music they just heard? This sort of thing went away with the decline of CDs after 2010, but it was a huge part of my cinematic experience in the ’90s.

Here are six soundtracks (note: not scores) that I had to own as soon as I saw the movie back during that decade:

With Honors

Maybe I’m weird, but With Honors encapsulates both the ’90s and college for me. I love that film so much it hurts, and part of that affection is reserved for it’s amazing soundtrack that goes far beyond the well-known Madonna single. It’s a pretty great collection of alt-rock artists, and songs like “Your Ghost,” “Tribe,” and “She Sells Sanctuary” live rent-free in my head now and always.

Cool Runnings

It was always a good time when a movie was not only fun but had such a peppy soundtrack to go with it. Cool Runnings slapped together a great Caribbean sound, perfect for any summer activity. “I Can See Clearly Now” is a stand-out track, of course, but there are a lot of other upbeat tracks including some nice samples from Hans Zimmer’s score.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Listen, I’ll fully concede that the 1990 TMNT soundtrack is full of extremely period cringe — but that’s what made it cool at the time and pretty fun in a retro way now. It’s a lot of early-90s rap (MC Hammer kicks things off) and contains a couple songs that we had on repeat that year: “Spin that Wheel” and “Turtle Power.”

Encino Man

Despite the pictures I’m using, a good chunk of these early ’90s soundtracks I bought on cassette (I didn’t have a CD player until Christmas 1994). And my vast affection for Encino Man led me to practically wear out my copy. It’s a surprisingly good album, with plenty of high-energy party songs including “Wild Thing” (Cheap Trick), “Stone Cold Crazy” (Queen), “Treaty” (Yothu Yindi), “Wooly Bully” (The Smitheeens”), and the dance scene track “Feed the Monkey” (Infectuous Grooves).

Dumb and Dumber

I’m willing to wager that Dumb and Dumber is probably the second most-purchased soundtrack on this list (TMNT reached platinum, this one went only gold), but it’s the superior album. In fact, I just re-purchased the CD the other week when I found it at a thrift store and had a delightful time exploring its alt-rock vibes. There are so, so many good tunes crammed on here, including “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead,” “New Age Girl,” “Whiney Whiney,” and “The Bear Song.” That last one is by the group Green Jelly, and a guy at my church is still in that band. Weird!

Pump Up the Volume

I mean, c’mon, a movie about a rogue radio DJ needs an amazing soundtrack, and Pump Up the Volume remains a fan-favorite even in the 2020s. It’s a little darker and moody, but that’s perfect for this film. My favorites are “Everybody Knows” and “Why Can’t I Fall in Love.” This was a staple of my college music rotation.