Side A was devoted to 20 minutes of Ken Thorne's score (including new material such as a comedic cue that corresponds with the opening slapstick sequence, a theme for Richard Pryor's character, Gus Gorman, and the climactic fight between Clark Kent and Evil Superman).

He specifically contributed a synthesized version of the main title march from Superman II, although it wasn't used in the film.

He also created a new love theme for Clark and Lana Lang and contributed three other songs that appear mostly as instrumentals in the film, the most prominent being "They Won't Get Me" for Roger Miller, which is heard twice during Gus' presence in Smallville.

The track listing on the soundtrack album is as follows: "Roll Over Beethoven" by the Beatles (a 1963 remake of Chuck Berry's hit) and "Earth Angel" by the Penguins can be heard at Clark's high school reunion.

John Philip Sousa's "King Cotton" military march and the traditional Italian standard "When Your Mama Made You" are heard later in the film.