The musicto curator community heads for the popcorn
This quarter we’re diving into your most iconic and unforgettable tracks from movies. These are the songs that define the moments on screen and stay with you long after the credits roll!
Main Titles – John Williams
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial
The “Universal Logo/Main Titles” from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is unforgettable—soaring, cinematic, and instantly nostalgic. It was the very first movie I ever saw in a theater, and not just any theater—Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. John Williams’ score captures the awe of childhood and the wonder of the unknown, setting the emotional tone for a story that defined a generation. That opening music, paired with the glowing Universal globe, left a lifelong imprint—magic, mystery, and movie memories all wrapped into one perfect theme.
Bellbottoms – The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Baby Driver
Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright is a master of the big screen needle drop, but music is especially integral to the plot of 2017 heist movie Baby Driver, about a hearing-impaired getaway driver (Ansel Elgort) whose iPod playlist is an escape into his own world. And in the unforgettable opening sequence, Jon Spencer’s frantic, sporadically energetic, chaotic rockabilly garage punk, is deliciously synced to the action.
Alone in a bright red Subaru and free of inhibition behind his oh-so-cool sunglasses, Baby wigs out to the raucous music in his head while his partners in crime turn over a bank across the street. And then, as the bank alarm wails, he is tearing up the city streets, the music still blaring where only he – and we – can hear, weaving the vehicle in and out of highway traffic, dodging the cops at a terrifying velocity, eventually ditching it in a multi-storey and vanishing into the distance as the track fades out. Where some movies tease you with a few seconds of a great track, Baby Driver gives us the full 5 minutes 18 seconds of breathless action that is ‘Bellbottoms’.
Emerald City Sequence – Quincy Jones
The Wiz
To me, it is what made Quincy Jones, Quincy Jones. It’s literally three songs as one, and he changes the arrangement based on the colors in the scene—green, red, yellow. And when you’re listening to it, which I know he tied to the scale—I know he did it because I could feel it.
In Your Eyes – Peter Gabriel
Say Anything
Here’s mine: There are few images in movie history as iconic as Lloyd Dobler holding up a boombox in Say Anything. Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” may be a song, but it makes the entire film with that scene, which is about love, longing, and being at your most vulnerable. It is as grand of a gesture as they come.
Ma Meilleure Ennemie – Stromae
Arcane Season 2
So not really a movie person so chose a song from a series.
The whole soundtrack is pretty stellar for the arcane series, but love this song by stromae. It’s mostly in French so didn’t realize how much the lyrics painted the scene till looking them up. But the song paired beautifully with these childhood friends who became enemies due to life circumstances. And in the montage with the song, it explores a parallel universe where everything went “right” and got to see a timeline they fell in love instead of feuding. That scene stuck in my head for weeks and then later dissected the song lyrics and how well it paired with subtle stories that were happening all at once. And this all happened in the span of the song. It felt 20 mins of content fleshed out in a few minutes. Could’ve spent days exploring the parallel universe.
On & On – Longpigs
Face
So I’m in my living room – working on my relationship with Guinness – which was going considerably smoother than the one I had with my soon to be ex-wife. I’m following my new behavior: get off train, stop at off-licence & buy beer, stop at blockbuster & get movies, ignore market, Guinness counts as both liquid and food.
By this point I’ve watched most of the well known films available so I’m barreling down obscure British crime movies and come across Face – a ’97 movie starring Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone and bugger me if it doesn’t have Damon Albarn in it too.
I can’t really remember the story, although I feel as though I did enjoy the movie – what I do remember is this track coming on during some super poignant part of the plot and just being floored by it. I didn’t know the band, Google wasn’t yet a thing, and I had no hope of finding out more about it or where the track came from. And yet – one day a few months later I (probably literally,) stumbled into a record store only to find the soundtrack for the movie in a reduced sale bin.
The Sun Is Often Out was their only album and it’s one of my favorites – I add this track to as many lists as I can. And just writing this has me thinking I should go check out the movie – and lo and behold – it is available to stream on Netflix! Wins all round.
Back to Life – Soul II Soul
Belly
If you don’t acknowledge the opening armed-robbery-in-a-strip-club sequence in Belly as one of the most iconic scenes in movie-making history, we can’t be friends. Sure, the visuals are stunning, but it’s the use of the lesser known a capella album version of Soul II Soul’s “Back To Life” that takes it from “this is cool” to “this is game changing”. It’s the bridge between the opening scene of Shaft two decades prior and the climactic battle in Jordan Peele’s Us two decades later. Soundtrack dissonance executed at a master level. As Martin Scorcese says in memes across the internet, this is cinema.
Where Is My Mind? – Pixies
Fight Club
Absolutely thought it was cinematic gold to have that play in the final scene of Fight Club. I thought it really showed the journey of the main character and the way all the chaos appeared — really stuck with me as a final song too!
Death Is the Road to Awe – Clint Mansell
The Fountain
This is one of those pieces that just never gets old. I feel like it’s a complete experience that builds and crescendos into this perfect combination of sounds. There is so much emotion that continues to build and pulse, which aligns with the plot of the movie. As Hugh Jackman’s character races against time to save his wife from death, he experiences whole other worlds of pain, discovery, and enlightenment… all of which you can feel in waves through the song… probably my favorite movie score of all time.
Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?
Jackie Brown
I’m gonna have to go Tarantino.. who is he by Bill Withers (from Jackie Brown) is just cool & groovy AF
Star Wars (Main Theme) – John Williams
Star Wars
I’m going to go right back to the classic: the opening theme to Star Wars. It was the first time I heard music in a film that affected me that way – where I felt I was about to see and witness something epic. The way those horns came in… if I think about it right now, I can actually feel the hackles on the back of my neck stand up. I remember being a kid, looking up at the screen, seeing that graphic go across, then Princess Leia’s little gunship, and suddenly that Imperial Star Destroyer descending – taking up the whole screen – and you’re just like, what the…?
That piece of music takes me right back to being eight years old. In terms of an inspirational, epic piece – Star Wars, Superman, Raiders of the Lost Ark – John Williams just wrote so much epic stuff. Everything he did made you feel like a hero. I love that.
Giving Him Something He Can Feel – En Vogue
Sparkle
I got Sparkle in the back right here. En Vogue’s version is my favorite. Why this song? Because that is when I really knew I was gay. It was that moment when I watched them in these red dresses, and they were so gorgeous, and I was like… I was reacting the way the men were reacting. But it was the most classy video. And of course, their harmonies again, and they brought the song up to the 90s – more of a current drum, a lot more crisp. But I ain’t gonna lie – watching them, I used to just be hypnotized. I would wait all day to see that video as a kid. I would wait all day.”
Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers
Ghost
Asking about the most iconic and unforgettable tracks from movies is a bit tricky, not least because what’s iconic isn’t necessarily unforgettable, and what’s unforgettable isn’t necessarily iconic, even if both have the power to define a moment in a film that lingers.
To me at least, an iconic song in a film might be something like Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now,” which is inextricably linked, not only to the original Rocky film in 1976, but pretty much any sequel. One can’t separate the song from the film, so when it’s used in anything else, it’s usually done so ironically, for parody, or for some very specific and meaningful purpose that’s instantly understood by the audience.
On the other hand, a song like “Where is My Mind” by the Pixies, punctuates an iconic moment in the 1999 film Fight Club, for example, but isn’t in and of itself iconic, because it existed years before it appeared in the film and easily transcends the movie in cultural consciousness.
Under this definition, my idea of an iconic song in film has a symbiotic relationship where its identity is deeply rooted, not only in the visual and narrative elements of the movie, but also in that greater cultural consciousness.
Of course, this doesn’t exactly leave a whole hell of a lot of songs to choose! So, just to bridge the gap a bit, I’m going with “Unchained Melody” from the 1990 movie Ghost. On the one hand it’s a song that existed before the movie so transcends it, but due to the mass popularity of the film at the time, and the pottery scene in which it prominently exists and thematically defines, it’s also iconic in context. It doesn’t hurt that the song/scene is among the most parodied moments in cinema’s history, or at least it was for a good decade or two after the movie’s release.
I See Fire – Ed Sheeran
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
There’s way too many songs I think about when it comes to this playlist, and I even made a 22 track playlist of songs from some of our favorite movies. Instead of an opening song of a movie, I might go with a song that plays at the end. Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire”. As this song plays after the second Hobbit movie it’s such a standout. After everything you’ve just watched at the end of the 3 hour movie, and the previous 3 hours in the first one if you’re anything like me you’re on the edge of your seat waiting to see what happens next. This song perfectly captures the action and fits SO well. From the lyrics itself to the way it’s performed I couldn’t have asked for a better closing.
Track Listing
- Main Titles (Soundtrack Reissue 2002) – John Williams
- Bellbottoms – The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
- Emerald City Sequence – The Wiz Choir
- In Your Eyes (2012 Remaster) – Peter Gabriel
- On & On – Longpigs
- Back To Life – Soul II Soul
- Where Is My Mind? – Pixies
- Death Is the Road to Awe (feat. Kronos Quartet) – Clint Mansell
- Who Is He (And What Is He to You)? – Bill Withers
- Star Wars (Main Theme) – John Williams
- Giving Him Something He Can Feel – En Vogue
- Unchained Melody – The Righteous Brothers
- I See Fire – Ed Sheeran
Playlist image by Krists Luhaers on Unsplash
Want more musicto playlisticles like Top Movie Songs? Check out our previous playlisticles: https://www.musicto.com/community/
