The Songs That Make the Film

Studying Film at A-Level was one of my best choices because it meant I could expand my love, passion and knowledge of them. One of the key aspects of any film is the score and the soundtrack; I could spend all day talking about the score music for films, how important it is to each scene, the goose bumps you get when a good scene has a good score and the magic of the composers (whether it’s Hans Zimmer, Alexandre Desplat, Carter Burwell, John Williams and many, many more).

Soundtrack music within a film relates to songs with lyrics which are put into the film or created especially for them. For example, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.1 is a soundtrack of all the hit 70’s and 80’s tracks which play in the film. This article could go off on a tangent about the greatest movie soundtracks of all time, but instead I’m going to focus on the scenes which are made all the more better because of the right song choice. I’m not a fan of films which are deemed to be classics, mainly because I’m told that I should love them because they are classics and everyone else does - so you may not see what you are expecting to in my list below. If you want a list of famous music moments in film then you can Google search them: there are hundreds. However, to me, a pivotal movie scene with a good soundtrack doesn’t need to be a classic to be remarkable or to be remembered – it just needs to be enjoyable.

 A song can make or break a scene in my opinion; choose the wrong song and the audience can, at best, forget about the scene entirely, or at worst, find themselves eliciting an emotional response that wasn’t necessary. You want to hear a song which makes you want to cry at the right moment, laugh at the right moment, or make you fist pump the air, which leads me nicely in to my first pick: 

Don’t You Forget About Me – Simple Minds

The Breakfast Club

A seminal classic (and the only classic you’ll find on this list); I don’t think there’s much to say about this except that if you haven’t seen it you should. If this song doesn’t make you want to fist punch the air like Bender does then we clearly aren’t watching the same film. The song was written by Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff whilst scoring the film, and was written specifically for Simple Minds (although they turned it down at first!). When they did accept and record it for the film, it became a number one hit for the band in the USA, their first and only number one single in the United States.

Sabotage – Beastie Boys

Star Trek Beyond

Perhaps a less well known scene or film, but the Star Trek remakes, I believe, are brilliant films: they re-imagine the originals in a way which feels fresh, new and enjoyable. They have the same characters but with different villains and story-lines (and Chris Pine). The third film in the franchise has a scene typical in any action movie; they can finally fight back and are in a position to win. Without giving too much away, the crew of the Enterprise need to disrupt this swarm attacking a planet and use music to do it. They use Beastie Boys to do it. The opening of the song plays and everything starts to explode and it makes me smile from ear to ear. It’s a perfect song for the scene as the chords and melody match the action and leave you feeling like you’re there, you’re part of it, and you’re winning right alongside them.

Rapper’s Delight - The Sugar Hill Gang

Everybody Wants Some

Is there anyone who doesn’t know at least all/most/part of the lyrics of this classic? In the film, Jake and his new college mates drive to a bar listening to this and for a round 3-4 minutes of the scene they all rap along to it, taking turns to rap different lyrics. It’s funny, it’s refreshing and it’s perhaps not as memorable as other scenes but just as remarkable.

Nightcall – Kavinsky

Drive

If you haven’t seen this film – I implore you to. A neo-noir film which stars Ryan Gosling as a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver, this song plays during the opening sequence as Driver (you never learn his name) makes his way through LA to his home; it’s a slow, languid scene that doesn’t show you much except the night lights of LA through Driver’s eyes. And Nightcall fights perfectly over the top.

Low Rider – War

Gone in 60 Seconds

Nicholas Cage may have made some absolutely shit films recently but Gone in 60 Seconds still remains a classic in my eyes. Right before boosting fifty cars in one night, Memphis (Nicolas Cage), plays this song to prepare everyone; you see everyone rolling their shoulders, moving their heads and closing their eyes ready for the song to hit the opening crescendo when Memphis then says “let’s ride” and they all leave to steal cars. Iconic.

Golden Years – David Bowie

A Knight’s Tale

A film set in a medieval time period about a peasant pretending to be a knight to win a jousting contest wouldn’t usually be a film I’d enjoy, but the soundtrack, plot, and cast make this a film which is definitely worth a watch. Heath Ledger, Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell and Alan Tudyk are part of this brilliant cast and the film is both heart-warming and hilarious. The film is told in an anachronistic style with multiple modern day references, which is why putting Golden Years by David Bowie in the film somehow works. It plays over a scene in which the antagonist tries to embarrass William (Heath Ledger) by asking him to show off a dance from his country. The dance starts off as quite typical of the medieval period with the same style, but instead of the usual score from that period, Bowie plays. It’s unexpected, funny and just plain enjoyable to watch. For a song that should be so out of place in a medieval period set film, it fits so well, proving that Bowie really is timeless.

To be honest, this list could go on and on and on; I could write about Rush Hour, Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Man from UNCLE, Baby Driver and a hundred more - but this list would probably become quite tedious. I hope this list makes you want to watch or re-watch these films, or at least makes you realise that some of your favourite films, or your favourite scenes have some fucking good music in.


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Written by Harriet Packer

Hi, I’m Harriet – Haz to my friends. I’m a 23 year old BA English Literature and Language graduate from Bristol; I have a twin sister, and am passionate about a range of things such as feminism, reading, film, travelling and scuba diving.

Film, OpinionJessica Blackwell