The Top 50 Most Over-Used Pop Songs In Modern Movies

"I lost the plot for a while then. And I lost the subplot, the script, the soundtrack, the intermission, my popcorn, the credits, and the exit sign."
- Nick Hornby "High Fidelity" (1995 Novel)

Film babble blog is back!

Not to piss on AFI'S 100 YEARS...100 SONGS - I mean they have a fine list of songs that enhanced many a classic film but we wanted to draw attention to the tunes that cheapened many movies. Not to say these are all cheap bad songs - no it's just how they've been used over and over to manipulate the viewer to a certain mood. As you look it over I think you'll recall not just the movie or song you'll also recall the emotion, time, or spirit they're trying for.

So here's :

THE TOP 50 MOST OVER-USED POP SONGS IN MODERN MOVIES

1. "I Got You" - James Brown
2. "Walking On Sunshine" - Katrina & The Waves
3. "All Along The Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix
4. "Born To Be Wild" - Steppenwolf
5. "Let My Love Open The Door" - Pete Townshend
6. "Kug Fu Fighting" - Carl Douglas
7. "Suspicious Minds" - Elvis Presley - INTOLERABLE CRUELTY, BLACK HAWK DOWN, LILO & STITCH, HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, and so on...
8. "Melt With You" - Modern English
9. "Let's Get It On" - Marvin Gaye
10. Tie - "Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic/"Every Step You Take" - The Police/Sting
11. "Time Of The Season" - The Zombies : This is one of many songs on this list that film-makers use to immediately evoke "the 60's" Notable uses : AWAKENINGS, 1969, AUSTIN POWERS - THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME, SHANGHI NIGHTS, and too many more to mention.
12. "All Star" - Smash Mouth : MYSTERY MEN, SHREK, INPECTOR GADGET, CONTACT, and a bunch of other movies tried to hitch on to this piece of pop culture plastic. Shame really.
13. "Waiting For The Miracle" - Leonard Cohen
14. "Oh, Yeah" - Yello
15. "ABC" - Jackson 5
16. "Lust For Life" - Iggy Pop
17. "California Girls" - The Beach Boys
18. "Bad To The Bone" - George Thorogood
19. "Staying Alive" - The Bee Gees : Of course SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and its sequel (of course called STAYING ALIVE) but also AIRPLANE!, and many other satirical disco-era sequences that came about in the 70's resurgence of popularity in the 90's.
20. "Tracks Of My Tears" - Smokey Robinson : PLATOON and THE BIG CHILL are the most notable films but the song also appears on the soundtracks for the TV shows The Wonder Years and "ER" oddly enough.
21. "Surrender" - Cheap Trick : Matt Dillon's first film OVER THE EDGE used Cheap Trick, the Cars, and even Little Feat to make it's track housing teen rebellion point. It's use in DETROIT CITY ROCKS and FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH hammers home that same point but its appearance in SMALL SOLDIERS AND DADDY DAY CARE does not.
22. "Mama Told Me Not To Come" - Three Dog Night
23. "More Than A Feeling" - Boston
24. "White Rabbit" - Jefferson Airplane
26. "We Are The Champions" - Queen
27. "It's The End Of The World..." - R.E.M.
28. "Dreams" - The Cranberries
29. "Low Rider" - War
30. "Get Ready" - The Temptations
31. "The Boys Are Back In Town" - Thin Lizzy
32. "Celebration" - Kool & The Gang
33. "Sweet Emotion" - Aerosmith
34. "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" - James Brown
35. "For What It's Worth" - Buffalo Springfield
36. "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" - Cyndi Lauper
37. "Respect" - Otis Redding/Aretha Franklin
38. "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" - Procol Harem (EASY RIDER, BIG CHILL, WITHNAIL & I, NEW YORK STORIES, BREAKING THE WAVES, I mean I'm just sayin'.
39. "You Really Got Me" - The Kinks/Van Halen
40. "Higher And Higher" - Jackie Wilson
41. "Dream Weaver" - Gary Wright : Just to say that 2 of the titles that used or mis-used this tune were DADDY DAY CARE and WAYNE'S WORLD. 'Nuff said.
42. "Fortunate Son" - Creedence Clearwater Revival
43. "Changes" - David Bowie
44. "Takin' Care Of Business" - Bachman Turner Overdrive
45. "Shining Star" - Earth, Wind & Fire
46. "Turning Japanese" - The Vapors
47. "The Weight" - The Band
48. "Mr. Tambourine Man" - Bob Dylan/The Byrds
49. "Cocaine" - Eric Clapton
50. "Wooly Bully" - Sam The Sham

More later...