Oct 23 2009
10 Memorable Songs From Movies…With a Catch
There are literally thousands of songs found in thousands of movies, but some songs are written specifically for a movie’s soundtrack and feature lyrics that specifically refer to the movie’s title. Even though a song like Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” is associated with Say Anything, the song wasn’t written for the movie - it was just a song the movie’s creators decided to use - and makes no references to the title of the film. Even songs like “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and News, which was heavily associated with Back to the Future, wouldn’t be able to make this list because the song is just too, well, ambiguous. After the jump, I’ll show you 10 songs from movies that specifically reference either the movie’s title or make specific references to the movie itself. If starting your day off with some Oingo Boingo is wrong, I don’t want to be right.
Pineapple Express (Huey Lewis and the News) - Pineapple Express
“The Power of Love” didn’t make it onto this list, but Huey Lewis and the News get on because of their song “Pineapple Express.” Hilarious movie, and a Huey Lewis song at the end just seems kind of right.
Ghostbusters (Ray Parker, Jr.) - Ghostbusters
Ray Parker, Jr. is the guy who sued Huey Lewis and the News - and won - claiming that their song “I Wanna New Drug” was a ripoff of Parker’s “Ghostbusters.” He’s right; the songs are identical. Perhaps the catchiest song on this list. If you’re from the South Florida area, you know that the Maroone Toyota commercials rip the song off, too. But they got permission!
Footloose (Kenny Loggins) - Footloose
I don’t think anyone could mistake a song about cutting loose and dancing your ass off to help a town being for any movie other than Footloose, even if the song was called something else.
Men In Black (Will Smith) - Men in Black
I still don’t understand the alien and Will Smith dancing together. Who is supposed to enjoy that?
Weird Science (Oingo Boingo) - Weird Science
Oingo Boingo could quite possibly be THE quintessential 80s band. In addition to providing the song for Weird Science (my favorite 80s comedy? It might be), Oingo Boingo also had a cameo in Back to School.
Theme from Shaft (Isaac Hayes) - Shaft
I think this song may be more popular than the movie itself. Just the words “He’s a bad mother…” immediately bring to mind Shaft. And Hayes - despite his late fling with Scientology - was one bad mofo.
“9 to 5″ (Dolly Parton) - 9 to 5
I’m guessing most of you guys don’t want to watch Dolly Parton sing this song, so I used a much funnier clip of Super Dave Osborne “performing” it instead.
Wild Wild West (Will Smith) - Wild Wild West
I’m not sure which is worse - the movie or the song. And hey, I didn’t say this list was going to be all good songs. The key word here is “memorable.”
Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough (Cyndi Lauper) - The Goonies
Does anyone else remember this song? The Goonies were as much of the 80s as Cyndi Lauper was, so it’s somewhat appropriate that she provide a song for this movie. Gotta love the late Captain Lou reprising his role as Cyndi’s dad.
Animal House (Stephen Bishop) - Animal House
I consider Animal House to be the greatest comedy of all time. It’s a nice bonus that the soundtrack is pretty good, too: you’ve got Sam Cooke, Otis Day and the Knights (best fake band EVER), and some good Stephen Bishop, too. Bishop’s “Animal House” plays during the movie’s closing credits, so instead of that clip, I posted one of MXPX covering the song on Hollywood Boulevard.
Are there any songs I missed that you think should have been on this list? I’m guessing there are at least half a dozen James Bond-related songs.
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The only song that comes to mind is the Snakes on a Plane song…I think it was by Cobra Starship (of course I went to see Snakes on a Plane, on opening night and they were handing out surveys at the beginning to complete at the end of the movie - well my best friend and I filled them out before the movie even started and wrote ‘Kicks Ass’ all over them) =)
@ Cheryl
Ah, of course. I forgot about that one. I actually saw that movie in the theater. It was pretty much a bunch of giggling on my end in anticipation of Sam Jackson screaming about “motherf*cking snakes on this motherf*cking plane!”
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Solid list sir Madison. I know “Dead man’s party” wasn’t written for Back to School but seeing Oingo Boingo in that movie was awesome.
Get the facts right though…It was Huey Lewis who sued Ray Parker Jr, not the other way around. And no one “won” the suit…they settled out of court with a confidentiality clause.
@ Noah
I got my lawsuits mixed up…Parker had sued Lewis, too, but for breach of contract:
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/hueylewisandthenews/articles/story/5932560/parker_sues_huey_lewis
But thanks for the heads up, and thanks for reading.
Cool List.
But I have some more!
The Graduate: Mrs Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel
8 Miles: Lose Yourself by Eminem
The Neverending Story (yikes)
Charlie’s Angels (yikes²)
Yes Man - Yes Man by Munchausen by proxy a.k.a. Zooey Deschanel (I love that one)
random:
the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang song
that Bud Spencer movie spencer “Banana Joe” has a song, I will never forget that one
Breakfast at Tiffany’s - no, just kidding
maybe one could count the james bond title songs, like die another day
and there are some half-musical movies like Tenacious D with songs which mention the title, but one probably can’t count these.
@ Lagrange
Oh man - I actually meant to include The Neverending Story when I thought up this list. Doh!
And yikes? The song and movie both rule!
Thanks for reading.
Come on, the Wild Wild West movie was way worse than the song. Even though the song is a total rip off of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish”. Pretty sad for Big Willie to be on here twice.
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The theme from Requiem for a Dream comes to mind as well, basically becoming the song for any trailer for an action movie ever afterwards
I notice one terrifying and fatal flaw with this list, it doesn’t mention Curtis Mayfield’s soundtrack for the movie Superfly
I mean, not only did the album have three major hits (Freddys Dead, Superfly, The Pusherman) but sales of the soundtrack OUTGROSSED the movie itself.