Movie Tunes: The Top 40 music moments in film history
There’s nothing better for someone who’s a fan of both music and movies to sit down in a theater, watch a film, and find yourself in awe of how the director has utilized a pop song to set a scene or convey a mood. It’s easy to know that you need a romantic song for a romantic moment, but finding the right song…? That’s the hard bit…and it gets even harder as you have to provide the proper sonic backdrop for just about every key moment in the film. Bullz-Eye polled all of our movie and music writers (and then some) to get their favorite uses of pop songs in movies.
The only real criteria we set was this: the song couldn’t have been written specifically for the film or have made its debut on the film’s soundtrack. This was pretty rough on us at first, because it meant we had to say so long to Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” (“The Breakfast Club”), bid bye-bye to O.M.D.’s “If You Leave” (“Pretty in Pink”), and offer a fond farewell to Kate Bush’s “This Woman’s Work” (“She’s Having a Baby”).
Fortunately, we had a lot of great songs – and movie moments – waiting in the wings. But be advised: our descriptions contain spoilers galore.
Some sample choices:
36. “Closer,” Nine Inch Nails – Se7en
When I popped in the DVD of “Se7en” to refresh myself with the film’s usage of Trent Reznor’s composition, I was legitimately surprised to find that it didn’t actually begin with it; there are, in fact, four minutes of screen time preceding the song’s appearance. The thing is, the film’s opening credits – over which the harsh, thumping industrial beat of “Closer to God” plays – are so damned creepy and set the tone of the 123 minutes that follow that it never occurred to me that they weren’t the first thing in the movie. The quickly-cut close-up shots of an unidentified individual (later revealed to be our man “John Doe,” a.k.a. Kevin Spacey) filling journals with miniscule handwriting, blacking out lines in books, going through photos of various medical experiments, and – worst of all – using a razor blade to remove his fingerprints will make you shudder. Reznor’s music does most of the talking. In fact, he only sings one line at the very end of the credits: “You get me closer to God.” Uh, actually, it’s about as far away from heaven as you can imagine. If you’d had any idea that this would be the most comfortable you’d feel for the next two hours, you’d’ve walked out of the theater right then and there. – Will Harris
28. “Jump in the Line,” Harry Belafonte – Beetlejuice
With all due respect to the “Day-O” sequence in “Beetlejuice” – it does appear first, and therefore comes as a complete surprise – it is the movie’s closing number, as it were, that gets our vote. Perhaps it’s the song’s relative obscurity (it did not make the Top 40, while “Day-O,” actually titled “Banana Boat,” reached #5), or maybe it’s the song’s brash energy and instant familiarity that roped us in. Oh, who are we kidding, it’s then-fifteen-year-old Winona Ryder, suspended in air and lip-synching to Harry Belafonte, shake, shake, shaking her body line, while the dead football players do a hilarious callback as her backup singers. It was also great to see Michael Keaton’s title character get a, um, little dose of karma from a witch doctor as well. All in all, it is the perfect ending to an unforgettably loony movie. – David Medsker
19. “Tequila,” The Champs – Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
I think it’s safe to say that my entire generation discovered this classic rock song thanks to Pee-Wee Herman and his first flick. Seeing him turn a rowdy biker bar’s clientele into a bunch of grooving softies while dancing to the song on top of the bar in his trademark shoes was the highlight of the movie. How can you not hear this song and not get images in your head of Pee-Wee doing his great little dance? I recall seeing and hearing it for the first time and wondering just what the hell that song was; I even went so far to tape it from the movie itself onto a cassette, so I could groove along with it whenever I liked. Pee-Wee has always been one of the coolest, and we owe him so much thanks for introducing a ton of kids to this always-great song. – Jason Thompson
To see the entire list, click here. What music-in-movies moments did we miss? Let’s hear some of your favorites.
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Some others that I thought of: You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling from Top Gun and either Shout (already used for Animal House) or Hava Nagilah from Wedding Crashers. Best T&A sequence ever during Shout.
Oh, and there’s Superstar (“Don’t you remember you told me you loved me baby!”) and It’s the End of the World As We Know It from Tommy Boy.
Argh, Tommy Boy. A serious mistake leaving that one off the list…
Should anything from Walk the Line have been included?
I don’t think so. Once you get into biopics where the songs are by the artist that’s the focus of the film, you’re into a whole new list…
I think one really good scene has been forgotten in this list. The opening of “Blade”, with the track from New Order, “Confusion”. Great stuff!!
When the man comes around by Johnny Cash from the movie Dawn of The Dead. That song brought chills to me when it started playing at the begining.
Can Casablanca and the third man really be off this list? Am I that old- and no list should be without the Songs of the Graduate- the movie that put pop songs dead center for every future movie. Chills don’t hit you with Sound of Silence to open it? or Mrs. Robinson? Well, I stop the rant and go back to the chant: alot of your choices were genius, loving and welcome memories.
It is our understanding that none of the music of The Graduate is eligible, since it was written exclusively for the movie (that was our one rule, which is why you won’t find any theme songs here either). If we’re wrong about that, then we gravely regret the error.
One of my favorite movie music moments is from Cruel Intentions. The Verve – “Bittersweet Symphony”. A most awesome ending,
Everyone is going to have favorites that were left off of the list. With only 40 songs, it’s just the nature of the beast.
Hell, even the people who put it together had favorites left off the list.
I cant believe that “These Boots are made for walking ” By Nancy Sinatra from “Full Metal Jacket” where the vietnamese prostitute goes walking accross to the GIs wasnt included! Guys get serious with some of your choices… Terrible top 40 I could name 20 films that didnt get a Guernsey!
I wanted to post two that should have made the list (in my opinion). One was already mentioned (the opening sequence of Blade by New Order). The one that sticks out as one of the most memorable is Tears in Heaven — Eric Clapton from Rush. That was a great little ditty. Also, now that I’m typing along…how about Lunatic Fringe — RedRider from Vision Quest?
Sweet Home Alabama from Forrest Gump.
If “Sweet Home Alabama” makes the list, it’s for its usage in “Con Air,” where Steve Buscemi says, “Definition of irony: a bunch of people on a plane dancing to a song by a band that was killed in a plane crash.”
And I’m kicking myself for not remembering that scene, DM. Anybody out there have a running Way-Back Machine I can borrow?
On Broadway/George Benson – All That Jazz
Openning sequence
Waren Zevon/Werewolves of London – Color of Money
Cruise running the table at Chalky’s
Moonchild/King Crimson – Buffalo 66
Christina Ricci Dancing at the Bowling Alley
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In – 40 Year Old Virgin
Fooled Around and Fell in Love/Elvin Bishop – Boogie Nights – Pool Party at Jack’s House
Change/John Waite – Vision Quest
The use of tunes by Yes and King Crimson went very well with the stylized filmaking.
How About, “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” by The Rolling Stones in the beginning of Blow?