That is not true. It is just that Horner's scores sound mostly the same.
That tag ending to Die Hard was slapped on last minute because audiences wanted McClane to meet Al Powell....and they got Horner to tag it (for some reason Kamen was unavailable) -- that is why the movie suddenly sounds completely different. I remember seeing it the first time in the theater and going: why the hell is Horner suddenly here. He uses his usual building fanfare that finally crescendos. The Alien bit you guys all love that became THE music cue for most 20th Fox action movie trailers in the 90's. You hear that same bit in Khan, Cocoon, Krull, Willow, ST3, Brainstorm, Commando, on and on.
He's a composer with a very limited range, much like Alan Silvestri, but I like what both of them do.... over and over again.
Wor-Gar thanks for your comments. That's very interesting, I had not realised that they tagged that scene in at the last minute of Die Hard but it would make complete sense. The track is definitely from the aliens soundtrack though, it is called 'Resolution and Hyperspace' - I've listened to it sooooo many times (including the percussion only track which really takes a ridiculous level of Aliens fandom to enjoy haha) that I would recognise it anywhere. I was wrong though as the part that was used in Die Hard (the first part of the track) was cut from the theatrical version of Aliens (though still on the soundtrack).
I heard that the track was originally only placed in Die Hard as temporary music to track with the film until Michael Kamen could write his own cue for the scene. However, director McTiernan liked it so much / didn't like Kamen's efforts that the track was retained in the finished film. This was covered on the Netflix show 'Movies we love' when they did the spot light episode on Die Hard. If you've heard differently and they actually did get Horner back into to score it I would be very interested to find out more.
Perhaps one of the reasons the score for Aliens seems so generic to people know is because the track 'Bishop's Countdown' was used so much during the lat 80s and 90s in trailers for other action movies?
I completely agree that you can hear the signatures of most composers in their music. They make certain stylistic choices and will often fall back on similar movements, melodies in many of their scores. John Williams is one of if not the best and you can definitely hear hints or parts of OT Star Wars riffs appearing in some of his other works... impossible to avoid when you have such a large body of work.
Horner is a strange one as his scores almost fall into two camps with all his later stuff sounding quite different (but similar to each other) compared to and distinct from the sound of all of his earlier stuff (which also sounds similar to each other) - I think it might have been when he fell in love with using pipes in his music later during his career (Avatar, Titanic).
I noticed the other day that Michael Giacchino had lifted a whole part out of his Rogue One score and put in into Fallen Kingdom - It's funny how something like that can take you out of a movie (not that Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom is any good to start with!). I do like Giacchino, they put on show for him at the Royal Albert Hall a few years ago for his birthday where he conducted the orchestra through various parts of his movie scores. John Williams was big influence on him and you can hear it, he also said that he loved old Hollywood movies when he grew up and always knew that he wanted to work in movies.
I agree that Vangelis is phenomenal with such a distinct voice to anyone else. I really enjoyed Junkie XL on his score for Fury Road but don't think he has ever captured that magic again (I'd need to double check it but I think the track is 'Brother's in Arms' which is really powerful).
Zimmer is also up there for me with Williams and Goldsmith.
I love Silvestri's soundtrack for Predator. I really enjoyed Infinity War as well but I think he might phone it in a lot nowadays haha.
One of my other personal favourites is Basil Poledouris (Conan, Robocop, Starship Troopers).
I rarely listen to 'pop' music nowadays only musical scores so would be interested in other peoples recommendations.