Although he continued composing, Badalamenti saw his career take off when he was hired as Isabella Rossellini's vocal coach and subsequently wrote the atmospheric score for Lynch's "Blue Velvet" (1986). He has continued a long association with the director, including scoring TV commercials and films like "Lost Highway" (1997). Badalamenti's non-Lynch credits include "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (1989), but he seems most at home with darker fare like the noirish "Tough Guys Don't Dance" (1987) and "The Comfort of Strangers" (1990), the black comedy "Parents" (1989) and the phantasmagoric "The City of Lost Children" (1995).