Awesome licensed soundtracks

[BleuPanda]

I've been on such a Life is Strange kick lately. It's one of the best video games of last years, and one of its key features is its soundtrack, which comes off as a perfect tour of the modern indie scene.

What I've always found most interesting about using licensed music is how the context of the song in a new way can change its perception. "Miserlou" seems to be one of the biggest examples, perfectly setting the mood for one of the 90s' best movies.

Life is Strange definitely got me to check out songs I would have otherwise overlooked. I feel like the real winner there is Syd Matters. "Obstacles" somehow makes me nostalgic, for a game I only played about 2 months ago. Then there's its use of the acclaimed-but-oft-forgotten "Spanish Sahara," which combined with its scene is one of the most powerful moments I have encountered in a visual medium. I can pinpoint when that song shot into my all-time top 100, though there's now the unfortunate side effect of bringing me nearly to tears every time I listen. Part of its impact is the irony; "leave the horror here" repeated over and over across a scene that's impossible to leave behind.

Has anyone else had such a powerful connection form after hearing a song in a new context? This was my most recent experience, but there are definitely others.



And since it's such a pitch perfect soundtrack (if not in song quality, at least in capturing the exact kind of music a bunch of pretentious photography majors would listen to), here it is:





(Yes, this topic might have been an excuse to specifically discuss Life is Strange's soundtrack. So?)

[Nassim]

I have a surprisingly hard time remembering music scènes that really hit me in theater.
I link 4 of my top 100 songs to a specific movie scene, and only 2 are in my list in big part because of the impact of that scene :

First is :

Pale Blue Eyes gives a nice mix of melancholy, love and tenderness to the scene.
The use of The Replacements Unsatisfied is also very good, though a bit counter-intuitive, but the song was already close to my top 100 before.
The whole soundtrack is very good, Shannon's Let The Music Play also gets a well-deserved nod.

The other is a bit different as it was written for the movie :

I loooooooove that soundtrack, but most of the scènes I remember have music specifically written for the movies. Lots of songs I love in there (Broken Social Scene - Anthems of a Seventeen Year Old Girls, The Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb, Blood Red Shoes - It's Getting Boring By The Sea, The Bluetones - Sleazy Bed Track...) I could not tell when you can hear during the movie. The other exception is Metric's Black Sheep during the Clash at the Demonhead concert, but it's actually covered by Brie Larson <3

Last among my top 100 songs is Don't Stop Me Now in Shaun of the Dead, but I loved the song years before the movie.

I probably have more with video games actually, but if I stay in the topic of 2015 videogames, I'll go with the various intros of Tales From the Borderlands (ok, first épisodes are 2014...).
The first intro is especially great, with blood and crashes to the sounds of Jungle - Busy Earnin', it really puts you in the mood of the game, of Pandora's world and of the characters you're meeting.

The Rapture's Pieces of People We Love also works pretty well in a more chill-out part of the game and Twin Shadow's Back to the Top gives some cheesy epicness to the very humourous intro of chapter 4, but the other top use of a song is the intro of chapter 5, with James Blake's Retrograde, emphasizing the feelings of loss, betrayal and hopelessness of the characters. Also works pretty well with the space setting. "And your friends are gone, and your friends won't come".

[acroamor]

I agree so much with that scene from Adventureland - a terminally underrated film.

I think The Royal Tenenbaums has my all-time favorite licensed soundtrack. "These Days" and "The Fairest of the Season" by Nico, "Stephanie Says" by the Velvet Underground, "Fly" by Nick Drake, "Gymnopedie No. 1" by Erik Satie, "Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones, "Me and Julio Down by the School Yard" by Paul Simon, "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi, "Police and Thieves" by The Clash, "Everyone" by Van Morrison, and of course, "Needle in the Hay" by Elliott Smith. Every song's used perfectly for the context when they occur - you can't imagine Royal playing with his grandchildren without "Me and Julio" or Richie seeing Margot without hearing "These Days".

Other movies with scenes that particularly stick out to me for their perfect usage of licensed music are Vera Lynn's "We'll Meet Again" over the ending of Dr. Strangelove (there's something hysterical about using a WWII peace song over footage of nuclear armageddon), David Bowie's "Modern Love" over footage of Frances Ha running down the streets of New York, Annie Lennox's cover of Neil Young's "Don't Let It Bring You Down" during the climax of American Beauty, and Kath Bloom's "Come Here" during Before Sunrise.

[Setherex]

David Bowie's "Modern Love" over footage of Frances Ha running down the streets of New York

It's always bothered me that "Frances Ha" receives so much credit for that scene, rather than it's original, far superior inspiration.

[Nick]

I think The Royal Tenenbaums has my all-time favorite licensed soundtrack. "These Days" and "The Fairest of the Season" by Nico, "Stephanie Says" by the Velvet Underground, "Fly" by Nick Drake, "Gymnopedie No. 1" by Erik Satie, "Ruby Tuesday" by The Rolling Stones, "Me and Julio Down by the School Yard" by Paul Simon, "Christmas Time Is Here" by Vince Guaraldi, "Police and Thieves" by The Clash, "Everyone" by Van Morrison, and of course, "Needle in the Hay" by Elliott Smith. Every song's used perfectly for the context when they occur - you can't imagine Royal playing with his grandchildren without "Me and Julio" or Richie seeing Margot without hearing "These Days".

The Royal Tebebaums has a load of fantastic music, but one of my favorite songs from it is one you didn't mention- the Ramones "Judy is a Punk", which was used during Gwenth Paltrow's character's montage.

[Jackson]

My favorite recent use of a song in a movie was "Starman" in The Martian. I think the movie is somewhat overrated, but that scene was very emotional for me, as I watched the movie the week after David Bowie died and I didn't know that song would be in the movie. It's great how they let the whole song play out rather than cutting it off abruptly. I think it was by far the best part of the movie, and got me to reconsider Starman as one of the highlights of Bowie's career.

[BleuPanda]

The "Needle in the Hay" scene in Royal Tenenbaums is jaw-dropping.

[Nick]

On the topic of amazing movie soundtracks that use licensed music, allow me to nominate Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, and Boogie Nights.

If you've forgotten the amazingness of these soundtracks, allow me to remind you of some of the highlights.

Pulp Fiction:

Dick Dale and His Del-Tones- Mirilou
Kool and the Gang- Jungle Boogie
Al Green- Let's Stay Together
Rick Nelson- Lonesome Town
Dusty Springfield- Son of a Preacher Man
The Centurions- Bullwinkle Part II
Chuck Berry- You Never Can Tell
Urge Overkill- Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon
The Revels- Comanche

Boogie Nights:

The Emotions- Best of My Love
Marvin Gaye- Got to Give It Up (Part 1)
The Commodores- Machine Gun
McFadden and Whitehead- Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now
Electric Light Orchestra- Livin' Thing
The Beach Boys- God Only Knows
Elvin Bishop- Fooled Around and Fell in Love
K.C. and the Sunshine Band- Boogie Shoes
Rick Springfield- Jessie's Girl

But Forrest Gump?? That movie is the absolute king of soundtracks. A brief overview of some of the highlights-

Elvis Presley- Hound Dog
Wilson Pickett- Land of 1,000 Dances
Creedence Clearwater Revival- Fortunate Son
Aretha Franklin- Respect
The Beach Boys- Sloop John B
The Mamas and the Papas- California Dreamin'
Buffalo Springfield- For What It's Worth
The Doors- Break On Through
Simon and Garfunkel- Mrs. Robinson
The Byrds- Turn! Turn! Turn!
Harry Nilsson- Everybody's Talkin'
Lynyrd Skynyrd- Sweet Home Alabama
Fleetwood Mac- Go Your Own Way
Willie Nelson- On the Road Again