Music To My Eyes

As I sat there in the dying minutes of Avatar, a moment of dread washed over me. Would Cameron do it again? Would he end his movie with a signature song that would haunt me? (A few years after Titanic, once the world couldn’t escape the Celine Dion nightmare that spread like Ebola, I went traveling to Europe. While working in a restaurant in Gibraltar, I was cornered one day by the Moroccan and British staffers who proceeded to taunt and torture me, blaming the only Canadian they knew for the damage done to their ears by ‘My Heart Will Go On.’)

Thankfully, Cameron didn’t do it again this time, but I left thinking about movie/song combinations that worked. So, here we go – I tried to avoid orchestral scores, as that is an epic list on its own. Instantly, classics jumped to mind like ‘In Your Eyes’ by Peter Gabriel from Say Anything; every Quentin Tarantino movie, especially Reservoir Dogs; ‘Fight The Power’ from Do The Right Thing; and all of the Beethoven in Clockwork Orange. We all know these, though. I figured I should try to avoid that list as well. So off the top of my head, here are some of my favorite movie/song combos that aren’t scores or classics (although I’m sure that some may argue their classic status). If you have any to add, please do so in the Comments; I’m always excited to hear new amazing combos.

Three Kings – Chicago, ‘If You Leave Me Now’
Probably one of my favourites ever. They tease this song earlier in the movie when Ice Cube and Spike Jonze are flipping through CD’s, but it is PERFECT when Jonze is driving during the Saddam ruse.

Better Luck Tomorrow – DJ Shadow, ‘Blood On The Motorway’
I’ve always loved this song, but after being pleasantly surprised by the movie, this song kicking in at the end sealed the deal for me. I still have this song in heavy rotation, and I think of the movie every time.

Fight Club – Pixies, ‘Where Is My Mind’
I didn’t know many people that were “hip” and “cool” enough to have already been into the Pixies when this movie blew every male’s mind in the late 90s. Within the next week, we all were listening to the soundtrack, loving it, and wondering “Why the hell isn’t that kick-ass song from the end of the move on this soundtrack!?” That movie must have exponentially increased the Pixies fan base (much to the disappointment of the pre-existing fans, I’m sure).

Devil’s Rejects – Blind Willie Johnson, ‘Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground’ & The Allman Brothers Band, ‘Midnight Rider’
Not since Reservoir Dogs have I been this impressed with a director’s choice of music. As with the aforementioned Pixies track, Blind Willie’s song was nowhere to be found on the soundtrack (I was cool enough to already have this one, though). These two songs kicked off the movie with the perfect musical accompaniment to a specific mood that Zombie was shooting for. I don’t care if you think the movie was too dark/violent/disturbing, it was beautifully made and deserves credit for the craft. ‘Free Bird’ should also be on this list, but if I talked about it, the ending would be spoiled for others.

Office Space – Geto Boys, ‘Damn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta’
Perfect! This defines the perfect combination of a song and a montage. Everyone wanted to blast this song and do exactly what they were doing in the montage. Office electronics will forever fear the Geto Boys because of this song.

Requiem For A Dream – Kronos Quartet, ‘Lux Aeterna’
Ok, so technically this might classify as a score. This track stood out as a song to me though, and to this day, if I set it as my alarm tone on my phone, I jolt awake filled with panic, fear, anxiety, and guilt. Again – disturbing movie, brilliant execution, amazing music. This piece was revamped and reused for a million trailers after this movie, but every time it’s used I think of rotten infected track marks and drug induced prostitution. Kind of changed my expectations for Lord of the Rings once they used it…

Donnie Darko – Gary Jules, ‘Mad World’
I don’t care how sick of it you are now; at the time, no one saw this movie coming. This song IS this movie. The two are inseparable.

Into The Wild – Eddie Vedder, ‘Hard Sun’
This song fit this movie so well that I reread the book one night with this song playing on repeat through a few chapters; a rare case where the remake actually outdid the original song.

Layer Cake – Duran Duran, ‘Ordinary World’
I never liked Duran Duran. Ever. This song comes up on my iPod all the time, though, since seeing this movie. The coffee shop scene (which I won’t ruin, but needs to be watched), is one of the most memorable scenes from this movie and a large part of it is due to the fantastic way that ‘Ordinary World’ starts off in the background and comes on in full force to perfectly accompany a visual assault.

The Limey – The Hollies, ‘King Midas In Reverse’
Brilliant movie, equally as amazing soundtrack, but this song stands out from the pack. Listen to it with your headphones on to truly appreciate the stereophonic wonder as the left and right channels are used independently.

Goodfellas – Derek and the Dominoes, ‘Layla’
This could probably fit into the ‘Classic’ category, but I felt like it needed to be mentioned. Arguably one of the greatest montages ever.

Snatch – The Stranglers, ‘Golden Brown’
Brad Pitt’s crazy gypsy, Turkish’s voice-over, a slow motion depiction of Tommy’s dilemma, and this song all blend together beautifully to perfectly capture the essence of this movie.

Stranger Than Fiction – Spoon, A Bunch Of Their Songs
Being a Spoon fan to begin with, I was blown away when this movie was both entertaining and chock full of instrumental Spoon songs. Technically this could be considered a score, but each piece was originally an individual song before the instrumental versions showed up in the movie.

The Hangover – Phil Collins, ‘In The Air Tonight’
Watching the trailer with Mike Tyson singing this song had absolutely everyone wanting to go see it. The definition of a great scene is seeing it a million times in the trailer and still loving every second of it when it shows up in the movie.

Breakin’ – The Bar-Kays, ‘Freakshow On The Dance Floor’
A little old, I know, but watch this movie and you’ll know this scene because a young JCVD is wearing a unitard on the beach, dancing incessantly while this song is playing. Van Damme stole the scene as an extra, and this song helped. Nuv and Miss Teen USSR put this song on their wedding playlist, just for me, and Anami turned it off after 30 seconds. Van Damme should kick his ass.

Karate Kid – Joe Esposito, ‘You’re The Best’ & Karate Kid II – Peter Cetera, ‘Glory Of Love’
Each movie could be played as a montage to it’s respective song and I would be perfectly happy. As far as I’m concerned these are the only Karate Kid movies that were ever made (sorry Swank), and that’s largely due to the amazing 80s-ness that is defined by the song/movie marriage.

K-9 – Yello, ‘Oh Yeah’
Ok, it’s use in Ferris Bueller is probably more appropriate, but that borders on ‘Classic’ status, which I said I wouldn’t do.  Still, this song is literally the only thing I remember about Belushi’s 1989 comedy/action duo with a dog, and no list is complete without a Belushi entry.

– Pig