All releases of this movie, with both versions of the score, have jointly credited The Eurythmics and Muldowney in the opening and closing credits.ĭirector Michael Radford once said of this movie: "There are attitudes of doublethink all around us. All home video versions have used the theatrical Eurythmics score, except a 2003 DVD release that featured the Muldowney score this version quickly went out of print. The Eurythmics' soundtrack was released as the album "1984 (For the Love of Big Brother)" in 1984 the complete Muldowney score was finally released as a limited-edition CD "Nineteen Eighty-Four: The Music of Oceania" in 1999, to commemorate this movie's 15th Anniversary. The Eurythmics released a statement that they were unaware of the dispute, and would not have accepted the commission if they had known it was done against Radford's consent.
When the movie did win the Evening Standard award for Best Film of the Year, Radford used his acceptance speech at the nationally televised ceremony to denounce the Eurythmics' involvement. Radford was displeased with this development, and retaliated by withdrawing this movie for consideration for BAFTA award for Best Picture.
Virgin Films exercised their right of final cut, and replaced most of Muldowney's score with the Eurythmics' score, for the theatrical release (some of Muldowney's score remained, particularly the state anthem, "Oceania, 'Tis for Thee"). Michael Radford was unaware of this plan, and had already hired Dominic Muldowney to compose the entirety of the score. They opted instead for Eurythmics, who had initially turned down the offer, but later accepted. Originally, they approached David Bowie, who had used George Orwell's novel as inspiration for some songs on his 1974 album, "Diamond Dogs", but he demanded too much money for the job. Richard Branson's Virgin Films, the production company bankrolling the movie, had wanted a commercially viable pop act to compose the music for this movie to increase its market potential.