But I’ve finally found some motivation from somewhere and
this theme is quite fun… and includes a couple of guilty pleasures, which I’ll
leave you to guess at. Now I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I think if a film
has a good soundtrack, it adds something extra. An extra dimension for you to
enjoy. Now it’s only a small selection of films, but there’s a wide variety
there and really wide variety of songs.
There’s a number of songs that I haven’t included for
various reasons including ‘You Could Be Mine’ by Guns n Roses (Terminator 2)
and AC/DC (Iron Man 2) amongst many others. However enjoy the list anyway… I
think you will :)
About A Boy
Song featured: Badly Drawn Boy- Something To Talk About
Written especially for the film by singer songwriter
Badly Drawn Boy, ‘Something To Talk About’ is the song most associated to the
film. Released as a single in the summer of 2002, the song reached the heights
of number 28 in the UK charts. It’s a song I’m really fond of. It’s both
chilled and laid back whilst also being quite fun and catchy. It doesn’t take
too many listen for you to start singing along.
Armageddon
Song Featured: Aerosmith- I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing: Released in 1998, ‘I Don’t Want To Miss a
Thing’ became Aerosmith’s biggest hit, going straight to number one in America
and staying there for 4 weeks. Even though it only peaked at number 4 in the
UK, it topped the charts in Australia, Ireland and Germany amongst others. It
was also the 17th best-selling single of 1998 in the UK. Even though
it is the band’s biggest hit, it was actually penned by Dianne Warren and was
used as the theme for the film ‘Armageddon’, featuring Liv Tyler, daughter of
vocalist Steve Tyler. It is a real fan favourite and still included in the set
list for the band’s live performances.
James Bond
Featuring: Adele- Skyfall/Chris Cornell- You Know My Name: Now I haven’t included every bond theme
here as the list would be enormous, so I picked a couple of my favourites,
which happen to be two of the most recent. Chris Cornell’s ‘You Know My Name’
was the theme for Daniel Craig’s debut ‘Casino Royale’ in 2006, and Adele’s
massive hit ‘Skyfall’ was the theme for the 2012 film of the same name. Having Cornell do a Bond theme was a bold
move, but after changing Bond’s image to a more rugged look, they arguably
needed a voice that fitted. That’s where Cornell comes in with his distinctive
gravelly voice. Then you have Adele, who had the task of singing the theme to
the best Bond movie ever (I would say arguably, but there’s no argument to be
had). She pulled it off in amazing style with awesome song that matched the
movie perfectly; old fashioned yet firmly in the 21st Century. Both
great songs in great films.
Bourne
Featuring: Moby- Extreme Ways: This song doesn’t just appear in one film, it appears
it the entire Bourne series. Released as the second single off Moby’s 2002
album ‘18’, new versions of ‘Extreme Ways’ were recorded for ‘The Bourne
Ultimatum’ and ‘The Bourne Legacy’. The distinctive intro remains the same
throughout the set though, and in my opinion, helps complete the films. I’m a
big fan of the Bourne movies and feel that having this song at the end is part
of what makes them so good. Can’t really explain why, it sounds and feels
right. Apart from anything it’s a fantastic song in its own right Chart wise it’s
never set the world on fire, but who cares. It’s just one of those songs that,
when you hear it, you can’t help but turn the volume up a tad.
Coyote Ugly
Featuring- LeAnn Rymes- Can’t Fight The Moonlight: This may be a bit surprising,
but I really like this song; I think it’s fantastic. Featured in the hit movie
Coyote Ugly, ‘Can’t Fight the Moonlight’ had huge success of its own hitting
the number spot in 8 countries including the UK and Australia. In fact the song
went triple platinum in Australia where it was the highest selling single of
2001. It’s not hard to see why to be frank. It’s super catchy and is easy to
sing along to; perfect ingredients for a top selling pop song.
Drive
Featuring: College and Electric Youth- A Real Hero: The film ‘Drive’ was recommended to me by a friend
and I’m glad I watched it as it includes this absolute gem of a song that
sounds like it should have been released in 1981. If you like 80s/New Wave
music you have to listen to this, as it’s a little piece of the 1980s made in
the 21st century and its absolutely brilliant. Give it a listen and
I dare you not to love it.
Gone in 60 Seconds
Featuring: War-Low Rider/Apollo 440- Stop The Rock/Moby-Flower: One of my favourite
car movies, Gone In 60 Seconds had a fantastic soundtrack. It starts off with
Moby and the song ‘Flower’, a song from his album ‘Play- The B-Sides’. The song
is played over the opening credits and is incredibly catchy. It’s also the song you think of when
you hear think of the film. Other songs in the film include ‘Low Rider’ by one
hit wonders War and ‘Stop the Rock’ by Apollo 440. Everybody knows ‘Low Rider’,
even if you don’t realise it by name. ‘Stop the Rock’ is a brilliant song that
was also on the soundtrack for Fifa 2000. It spent 6 weeks in the charts,
managing to peak at number 10.
Ice Age
Featuring: Rusted Root- Send Me On My Way: I love Ice Age, and I think this song really
does help with that. Being used to close the film is fitting as it is perfect
for the final scene of the movie. Quite a few people may know this song from
Matilda, the adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel, but being as I haven’t seen
that film for a very long time, I had to choose Ice Age instead. It is Rusted
Root’s most well- known, and to my knowledge, only hit, but if you’re going to
have one, may as well make it a good one. Which is exactly what they did.
Johnny English
Featuring: Robbie Williams- A Man For All Seasons: Growing up with Robbie Williams as
part of the soundtrack to my youth it’s not surprising that I quite like his
music. Everyone knows ‘Angels’, ‘Millenium’, ‘Rock DJ’ et al.,, but I think
this, alongside ‘It’s Only Us’ (the theme tune to the videogame Fifa 2000), are
two of his best and most underrated songs. Written with acclaimed
writer/composer Hans Zimmer especially for Johnny English, ‘A Man for All
Seasons’ manages to fly under the radar. It fits the movie perfectly, something
you realise when you listen to the lyrics. Even though the film is a spoof, with
the theme song essentially the same, it manages to fit the film just as well as
a Bond theme would. It’s a brilliant song, very catchy and very underrated.
Lock Stock and two smoking barrels- Zorba the Greek: This is
without doubt one of my favourite pieces of music. It’s a fun piece of music to
listen to and very catchy, although I think its use in the TV show Top Gear
also aided my liking towards it. Orginally recorded in 1964, a new version was
recorded by John Murphy and David Hughes for the film Lock Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels. It’s a piece of music
that every man and his dog will recognise and one that everyone should enjoy.
Love Actually
Featuring: The Beatles- All you need is love/ The Beach Boys-God Only Knows/ The Calling-Where Ever You
Will Go: Love Actually probably is a
guilty pleasure of mine, but in its defence it is a fantastic film with an
amazing soundtrack. I’ve picked three here, but the soundtrack as a whole
really is awesome. First off you have The Beatles and ‘All You Need Is Love’
which is just a classic and a wonderful song. It may be an old song compared to
some others on this list but who cares. One song that is around the same age is
‘God Only Knows’ by The Beach Boys, another all-time classic. It is impossible
not to like The Beach Boys. To balance out it out, there’s a much younger song
by the way of American outfit The Calling with their smash hit ‘Wherever You
Will Go’. It’s another song that everybody knows, and its one I am a big fan
of.
The Runaways
Featuring: The Runaways- Cherry Bomb/Joan Jett- I Love Rock n Roll: I know the film The Runaways
is focussed on the band that Joan Jett had before she went solo, but it’s an
excuse to include this song in the blog so here it is. The band was
revolutionary; being an all-girl group in the very male dominated world of rock
music in the mid 70’s was incredibly brave. Even more so given how young they
were at the time. However if it wasn’t for The Runaways, then we might not have
had the pleasure of Joan Jett releasing ‘I Love Rock n Roll’ which is a
fantastic song, even if her version if a cover.
The World’s End
Featuring: Blur-There's No Other Way/The Soup Dragons- I'm Free/Happy Monday’s- Step On: It may have only
been out a few weeks, but The World’s End has a fantastic soundtrack. With all
the music being around the early to mid-90s Britpop, it is a very British
soundtrack to a very British film. The music fits the film perfectly and I certainly
enjoyed the film because of it. Featuring the likes of Pulp, Suede and Primal
Scream, there is a real selection of classic 90s bands to listen for while you’re
watching the film. I’ve picked three of the more widely recognisable songs, but
the soundtrack is available on iTunes and other places if you want to have a
look at the rest of the songs.
Toy Story- You’ve got a friend in me: Now this is a song right out the
heart of my childhood. A classic song, from a classic trilogy of films. There’s
not much more to be said than sit back and enjoy the music.
Wayne’s World
Featuring: Queen-Bohemian Rhapsody: Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the most famous
songs ever written, arguably one of the best ever. So to use it as effectively in
a movie as it was in Wayne’s World was an inspired idea. It’s an iconic image
with all four guys singing then head banging along in the car to the song. The
song itself had resurgence in popularity following the film, while it also
helped make the film’s soundtrack a big success. Funnily enough, the film’s
director Penelope Spheeris was hesitant to use to song at first before being
convinced it would work by Mike Myers. Its success proved Myers right and it
provided the world with an iconic cinema moment.
Well there you go, hope you enjoyed a quick run through of some the best soundtracks to films.
Thanks for reading, and I'll try not to leave such a big gap before the next one.
Until the next time :)
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