Tired of hearing the same music over and over agin in movies and trailers? Well Rob sure is. Take a look at his list below of some of the most abused song tracks and music in film.
“Mad World”
This song was great in the movie Donnie Darko. Michael Andrews and Gary Jules did a great job covering this classic song for that film. It laid out the mood perfectly and left an eerie taste in our ears. Since then the song has been used in Lost Islands, The Boondock Saints II, and I Will Follow You Into The Dark. It has also been used in over a dozen television shows and the Gears of War video game. It sort of brings down the significance of its maiden appearance to hear the song played over the CW version of 90210.
“Black Betty”
This song has been used entirely too much. It has been used in over 20 different films, by three different bands. Nineteen of these occurrences have happened after the year 2000. So basically, it was used once, appropriately, decades ago. Then, someone decided to put it in a movie in 2001 and 18 other people figured that was a good idea. Anytime there needs to be a song that shows you’ll have a rip-roaring good time at the theater, there’s a pretty good chance that Black Betty will make an appearance.
“Sweet Dreams”
The Eurythmics’ classic synth pop song has showed up in about half a dozen movies, either in its original form or the Marilyn Manson cover version. It’s used in a variety of different genres, but always as a way to express a melancholy over the audience. There has to be other songs that movies could be using to showcase this emotion so that I don’t have to change the station whenever this song comes on the radio because I have heard it way too often in other media.
“Requiem For A Dream OST “
Requiem kinda got screwed more than most of the other movies on this list. While their songs were originally featured in their movies, Requiem’s soundtrack has been used in other films. Music written as the score of this movie has shown up in The Da Vinci Code, Sunshine, Lost, I Am Legend, Babylon A.D., and Zathura. The Lord of the Rings contained a reimagined version of the main theme in their second film. This music was made for this film, literally. It’s supposed to take you back to this movie, but that’s been muddle by the half a dozen other movies that have used its music.
Anything by Muse
Muse allows a lot of their music to be used in trailers. It got to the point where I would notice it around the time The Tourist came out. I thought that “Maps of the Problematique” was okay for the movie, but it seemed like the producers were trying to push this epic feeling onto the film artificially. It didn’t seem natural. Then I heard a Muse song in the trailer for Crazy, Stupid, Love and I had enough.
“Don’t Stop Believing”
I gotta say, every time this song comes up in a movie I still like it. I think I’m remembering specifically the scene in The Losers when Chris Evans is singing along to his headphones to clear out a crowded elevator. Even though the song usually results in a good feeling for me, I’d still like to see producers go out and find another song to use. I’m sure there are countless “feel-good” songs.
“Magic Carpet Ride”
This song is like Black Betty, but if the movie wants to be more trippy. Steppenwolf was one of the bands that embodied 1960’s rebellion and their music holds that feeling. Movie makers have utilized this in a way to show that a character has started a new or is living his or her life in a more carefree way. This song shows up in a lot of comedies, so they may be trying to really harness that “fun-time” rock music to help set up the mood, and they probably aren’t worried if they are stepping on other movies’ toes.
“Mr. Blue Sky”
This ELO song has popped up in handful of movies. Some of the films (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind for example) make sense. It has also been used in a few tv shows and a JetBlue commercial. Once a song could remind an audience to fly JetBlue, it probably shouldn’t show up in too many more films. Despite that, it was used in Paul Blart: Mall Cop the year after.
“You’re the Best Around”
The song became notable when Ralph Macchio was beating his 80’s movie villain in climax of The Karate Kid. The song has since been used in parodies of other people becoming the best around. It’s shown up in over a dozen television shows, been used by around ten actual sports figures, some commercials, a few video games, and even a couple other movies. It‘s always used to promote a joke, it was only over serious once (expect for the sports figures, some of them used it unironically). Either way, “You’re the Best Around” is going to show up in some form of media pretty soon.
-List by Rob