This is tough right? How the hell do you pick the best songs there’s ever been on film in the world ever? Man, there are so many of the little blighters all over the place, from the rock’n’rollin’ fifties to just last week. I didn’t know whether to pick the best songs, the best scenes or a little bit of both, where the song fits the scene so well it’s impossible to imagine any other soundtrack.
Naturally these are my personal favourites and mine alone. 44 songs from films I’m rather fond of, the ones where I can be any place, anytime but as soon as I hear them the blue ray player in my head immediately switch’s to play. It matters not whether they were written specifically for film or rescued from obscurity, all have become inextricably linked to the celluloid scenes or title sequences they soundtrack.
Who could ever forget the opening of Apocalypse Now, Jim Morrison declaring ‘All the children are insane’ as the choppers float by and a forest erupts in a slo mo napalm shower; and what about Silence Of The Lambs cross dressing serial killer Buffalo Bill sashaying freakily to ‘Goodbye Horses’; or the final seconds of brutal, split personality brawl fest Fight Club where urban Armageddon is played out to The Pixies ‘Where Is My Mind?’; or on a much lighter note, the appearance of perennial guilty pleasure ‘Walking On Sunshine’ on Jack Blacks Monday morning mixtape in High Fidelity. One thing I know for sure is that together they represent some of the most iconic cinematic moments from the last six decades.
Reel One
01 LITTLE RICHARD / THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT / From ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ December 1956
02 ELVIS PRESLEY AND KITTY WHITE / CRAWFISH / From ‘ King Creole’ July 1958
03 RICKY NELSON / FOOLS RUSH IN / From ‘Scorpio Rising’ October 1963
04 THE YARDBIRDS / STROLL ON / From ‘Blow Up’ December 1966
05 SIMON AND GARFUNKEL / APRIL COME SHE WILL / From ‘The Graduate’ December 1967
06 MANFRED MANN / UP THE JUNCTION / From ‘Up The Junction’ October 1968
07 THE BYRDS / BALLAD OF EASY RIDER / From ‘Easy Rider’ July 1969
08 ROLLING STONES / MEMO FROM TURNER / From ‘Performance’ August 1970
09 CAT STEVENS / DON’T BE SHY / From ‘Harold And Maude’ December 1971
10 CURTIS MAYFIELD / PUSHERMAN / From ‘Superfly’ July 1972
11 THE SLICKERS / JOHNNY TOO BAD / From ‘The Harder They Come’ February 1973
12 PERRY COMO / CHRISTMAS DREAM / From ‘The Odessa File’ October 1974
13 DAVID ESSEX / STARDUST / From ‘Stardust’ December 1974
14 CARLY SIMON / NOBODY DOES IT BETTER / From ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ July 1977
15 WALTER MURPHY / A FIFTH OF BEETHOVEN / From ‘Saturday Night Fever’ November 1977
16 THE RAMONES / ROCK’N’ROLL HIGH SCHOOL / From ‘Rock’n’roll High School’ August 1979
17 THE DOORS / THE END / From ‘Apocalypse Now’ November 1979
18 CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL / BAD MOON RISING / From ‘American Werewolf In London’ August 1981
19 PSYCHEDELIC FURS / PRETTY IN PINK / From ‘Pretty In Pink’ February 1989
20 THE FLOWERPOT MEN / BEAT CITY / From ‘Ferris Bueller’s Day Off’ June 1986
21 GERALD MCMANN / CRY LITTLE SISTER / From ‘The Lost Boys’ July 1987
22 LL COOL J / GOING BACK TO CALI / From ‘Less Than Zero’ November 1987
23 PETER GABRIEL / IN YOUR EYES / From ‘Say Anything’ April 1989
Reel Two
01 CHRIS ISAAK / BLUE SPANISH SKY / From ‘Wild At Heart’ May 1990
02 Q. LAZZARUS / GOODBYE HORSES / From ‘Silence Of The Lambs’ February 1991
03 COWBOY JUNKIES / SWEET JANE / From ‘Natural Born Killers’ August 1994
04 DICK DALE / MISIRLOU / From ‘Pulp Fiction’ October 1994
05 UNDERWORLD / BORN SLIPPY NUXX / From ‘Trainspotting’ February 1996
06 ELLIOTT SMITH / MISS MISERY / From ‘Good Will Hunting’ December 1997
07 JONATHAN RICHMAN / THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY / From ‘Something About Mary’ July 1998
08 GRANT LEE BUFFALO / THE WHOLE SHEBANG / From ‘Velvet Goldmine’ November 1998
09 PIXIES / WHERE IS MY MIND? / From ‘Fight Club’ October 1999
10 KATRINA & THE WAVES / WALKING ON SUNSHINE / From ‘High Fidelity’ March 2000
11 AIR / PLAYGROUND LOVE / From ‘Virgin Suicides’ May 2000
12 JOE STRUMMER / MINSTREL BOY / From ‘Black Hawk Down’ December 2001
13 EMINEM / LOSE YOURSELF / From ‘8 Mile’ October 2002
14 TOMOYASU HOTEI / BATTLE WITHOUT HONOUR / From ‘Kill Bill Vol One’ October 2003
15 POLYPHONIC SPREE / LIGHT AND DAY / From ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’ March 2004
16 DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL / VINDICATED / From ‘Spider Man 2’ June 2004
17 THREE 6 MAFIA / HARD OUT HERE FOR A PIMP / From ‘Hustle And Flow’ July 2005
18 GANG OF FOUR / NATURAL’S NOT IN IT / From ‘Marie Antoinette’ May 2006
19 MOLDY PEACHES / ANYONE ELSE BUT YOU / From ‘Juno’ September 2007
20 KAREN O & THE KIDS / ALL IS LOVE / From ‘Where The Wild Things Are’ October 2009
21 NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS / O CHILDREN / From ‘Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows Pt 1’ November 2010
