Best Songs In Films

Jeremy Ordan

Jeremy Ordan

Major Contributor
A buddy of mine sent me this link to this band who does this great cover version to Cry Little Sister from 'The Lost Boys' and it got me thinking, what are the greatest uses of music in a film? Not score, but licensed music, what are the best examples of a song being used to either create mood or progress the story?

Right off the back the song and film that comes to mind is Elton John's 'Tiny Dancer' in Almost Famous or 'In Your Eyes' by Peter Gabriel in Say Anything (obviously both Cameron Crowe films).

So what else is a great use of music?

-Jeremy

BTW: If you want to check out that cover version of Cry Little Sister I posted it on my site, here. [NOTE: They are distributing it for free on several websites so it's not violating any copyright or distribution agreement]
 
'Danger Zone' by Kenny Loggins (Top Gun)

'Unchained Melody' by The Righteous Bros. (Ghost)

A lot of the songs from (The Breakfast Club)

...to name a few.

Jeremy, you always get me thinking with your posts. As I was starting to read your post, I had thought of 'In Your Eyes' by Peter Gabriel before you mentioned it in the next paragraph. Thanks.
 
"Girl, you'll be a woman soon" by Urge Overkill - Pulp Fiction

"Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield - Boogie Nights

Actually, every song in these two films works beatifully.
 
"Old Time Rock and Roll" Bob Seger - Risky Business

The singing underwear part

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"A Million Miles Away" The Plimsouls - Valley Girl

When Cage takes Deborah Foreman into his kind of bar and they start to fall in love. I to this day, still have a crush on Deborah Foreman.

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"Weird Science" Oingo Boingo - Weird Science

When they are creating woman

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"Moving In Stereo" The Cars - Fast Times at Ridgemont High

When Judge Reinhold spied Phobe Cates and does his business 'Jeez. Doesn't anyone ****ing knock any more?'

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"Partytime" 45 Grave - The Return of the Living Dead

When the Zombies are let out of their graves 'Do you wanna party?'

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I don't know if this would be considered a licensed song or not... but the BEST regular song in a movie has got to be... That Thing You Do... from: That Thing You Do!
 
fincher ended fight club and the game on great notes...

pixies - where is my mind

jefferson airplane - white rabbit
 
I thought one of the most interesting from recent films was "Wise Up" by Aimee Mann in "Magnolia" where all the characters sing the song. It was my favorite part of the film.

Chris
 
Something else that really worked great was the use of 'Free Bird' which is THE southern rock anthem in Rob Zombie's The Devil's Rejects. I think this is a great example of music used for effect and mood. Actually, The Devil's Rejects uses music throughout just like a Cameron Crowe film.

$hit list and Something I can Never Have (by L7 & NIN respectively) from Natural Born Killers I think are used perfectly.

I'm suprised no one mentioned "Stuck in the middle with you" from Resevoir Dogs, but well, now I did.

"Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head" from Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid (I beat Callahan to that one!).

and of course:

Ice Ice Baby from Cool as Ice :)

-Jeremy
 
There have been a lot of good song choices pointed out here. Cameron Crowe has a special feel for music in movies, along with his wife, Nancy Wilson. Tiny Dancer was a great choice in Almost Famous. This site's "most hated" director :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG) George Lucas revolutionized the idea of songs used to help tell the story in movies with American Graffiti. All that said, I don't think there's anyone better at using songs in movies that Quentin Tarantino. My personal favorites are:

Little Brown Bag - Reservoir Dogs
Stuck in the Middle With You - Reservoir Dogs
Across 110th Street - Jackie Brown
Didn't I Blow Your Mind This Time - Jackie Brown
Lonesome Town - Pulp Fiction
Son of a Preacher Man - Pulp Fiction
Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon - Pulp Fiction
Bang, Bang My Baby Shot Me Down - Kill Bill V1
A Satisfied Mind - Kill Bill V2
 
I'm sorry, but I think "The Crow" is one film in overall film history that used commercial songs to the utmost level. They don't make band soundtracks like that anymore. That film defined the 90's for me.
 
How could I forget:

Lily Chou Chou - Kaifuku Suru Kizu - Kill Bill Vol. 1

I can't believe they didn't put that on the soundtrack. It's probably the best song in the Kill Bills.

It's the track that plays when the bride goes up into that attic-like place with Hattori Hanzo and sees the collection of swords.

Also:

Battle Without Honor or Humanity - Tomoyasu Hotei - Kill Bill Vol. 1

That moved me, and established the house of blue leaves in my head.
 
Easy Rider;born to be wild (steppenwolf),if 6 turned out to be 9(hendrix),if you want to be a bird,don't bogart that joint. Shaft1 ;theme song(issac hayes) Philadelphia;streets of philadephia haunting tune(the boss) The Good, Bad, and the Ugly(?) Exorcist(tubular bells?) Westside story;when you're jet,i want to live in america. Legends of the Fall(?) Dr. Shivago(?)
 
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