Soundtrack Saturation

Hello and welcome to Cinema Wellman. I am your host David, and today we’re going to be talking about movie music.

We’re not going to be looking at movie scores today, but rather individual songs and their use in movies.  

Some of them are actually used over and over and over. 

Some songs are now forever matched with a specific scene from a movie so much so that you can never hear that song again without thinking of the scene that accompanied it. 

Two examples of that are “American Girl” by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in Silence of the Lambs and “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel in Reservoir Dogs.

If you’ve seen either of those films, you know exactly what I’m talking about. 

In Silence of the Lambs, Petty’s poppy, upbeat tune is played as Buffalo Bill lures one of his victims into his van. Even though the act being carried out is extremely sinister, the positive tone of the song does not seem to fit, yet it fits perfectly. 

She was an American girl…

Reservoir Dogs may be one of the “wettest” films in movie history. Poor Tim Roth was absolutely drenched in blood for a majority of the film.

Stealers Wheels’ “Stuck in the Middle With You” is played over a scene in which Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) tortures a captured police officer.

Madsen slices off the officer’s ear with a straight razor before dousing him with gasoline. 

What makes this so disturbing and terrifying is how gleefully Madsen dances around with the razor while menacing his victim as the music plays. 

You’ll never hear that song again without seeing those images in your mind. 

I’ve talked about movie music more than a few times here, and I’ve mentioned its importance.

This is very expensive business, so directors need to be extremely careful about which songs are included.

Too many popular songs used in a film can balloon a budget in a heartbeat.

Today we’re going to look at 10 songs that have appeared in 13 or MORE films each! 

That’s a lot of exposure which may have you at the movies saying to yourself, “This song again? Wasn’t this in….?”

Yes. Yes, it was. 

It is NOT your imagination. 

I’m not going to mention every film each song has appeared in, but I’ll throw out five each to give you an idea of the types of films choosing to feature that particular song. 

I’m sure you’re going to hear about a song today that you remember hearing in one of these movies at some point. 

I won’t be playing any of the songs for you since I cannot afford to do that in any sense of the imagination. As I mentioned, this is some expensive business we’re talking about. 

I also won’t be including “Happy Birthday” which has been used in a ton of films, but I don’t really consider that part of this discussion.

I found all of this information on a website called what-song.com 

All you need to do is enter a song title to see which movies and television shows have featured it over the years. 

I found a couple of redundancies in their stats, but I fixed those when I spotted them for the purposes of this episode. 

Even though these songs have been used many times, I recently heard one of today’s songs AGAIN when I recently screened Irish Wish starring Lindsay Lohan.

Do not ask me why I did that. 

We will begin with songs that have appeared in 13 different movies!

“How You Like Me Now?” by The Heavy (2009)

13 Film Appearances

Horrible Bosses (2011)

Horrible Bosses 2 (2014)

Ride Along (2014)

The Transporter Refueled (2015)

Men in Black International (2019)

How you like me? I guess in a bunch of sequels. I find it odd when a song shows up in more than one film in a series, unless it’s some kind of theme song or something.  

Did they get some kind of deal on using the song in multiple films? A bundle perhaps?

“I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor (1978) 

13 Film Appearances

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

Coyote Ugly (2000)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Meet the Spartans (2008)

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

I remember enjoying this song back in 1978 and hoping that someday someone would create a set of toys that would someday be made into a series of terrible movies based on those toys so this song could be included. Perfect fit! 

“Escape (the Pina Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes (1979) 

14 Film Appearances

Mars Attacks (1996)

Grown Ups (2010)

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Deadpool 2 (2018)

This is an absolutely terrible song. So terrible and universally hated that you’d think filmmakers would avoid using it in their films.

You’d be wrong in that thinking since it's been used in 14 films and counting.

Then again, I think the Guardians of the Galaxy series ended up using every song ever written at some point along the way. 

 

“Bust a Move” by Young MC (1989) 

14 Film Appearances

Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000)

17 Again (2009)

Pitch Perfect (2012)

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

It (2017)

It was great fun looking at the list of films connected with each of these songs. Since I was already familiar with all of the songs, I tried to imagine what type of film would include it. 

“Bust a Move?” How would that song be used? 

Silly comedy, body switching comedy, musical comedy, romantic comedy, and Stephen King’s It.

Go figure. 

“September” by  Earth, Wind & Fire (1978)

14 Film Appearances

Night at the Museum (2006)

Trolls (2016)

Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016)

Ma (2019)

Irish Wish (2024)

Not only a favorite of every wedding since 1978, “September” has been a favorite of movie directors for quite a while as well. 

I had already been preparing this episode and had the songs selected when I watched Irish Wish and heard “September” again!

I guess filmmakers don’t use what-song.com as often as I do. 

“Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor (1982)

17 Film Appearances

Rocky III (1982)

Rocky IV (1985)

Big Fat Liar (2002)

Night at the Museum (2006)

The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019)

This ultimate “Pump You Up” anthem was NOT part of Rocky OR Rocky II!

I would have lost that bet. I must have mistaken it for that other “Pump You Up” anthem that WAS in Rocky and Rocky II!

Not only has this song been featured in 17 movies and counting, it also had its moment in a popular insurance ad. 

Doesn’t make it good. 

Next up is a song by an artist with a history of financial trouble so extensive it’s surprising this song isn’t in EVERY movie in order to pay off his debts.

 

“U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer (1990)

18 Film Appearances

Hot Shots! (1991)

Tropic Thunder (2008)

Grown Ups 2 (2013)

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)

Is it possible that they just continue to make these awful Transformers movies just so they can keep using “U Can’t Touch This?”

Do you know how many Transformers movies there are?!?!

Eight!!!

The toy debuted in 1984, so in 40 years we’ve had 8 movies based on this toy.

And zero movies based on Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.

“Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye

(1973) : 18 Film Appearances

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo (1999)

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

Bridget Jones’s Baby (2016)

The Garfield Movie (2024)

It figures that this groovy sexy make out song was featured in an Austin Powers movie, a terrible sex farce, two thirds of the Bridget Jones franchise and THE GARFIELD MOVIE?!?!

Seriously?!

I don’t want to know what scene in The Garfield Movie features this, and I’m hoping it’s not an American Pie homage featuring lasagna. 

“Push It” by Salt -N- Pepa (1986)

18 Film Appearances

10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)

Project X (2012)

Booksmart (2019)

Father of the Bride (2022)

First of all, a great song. This is a song that I could see featured in any movie. 

I actually think that would be a great set of clips, inserting “Push-It” into all the great films in history.

Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Wizard of Oz…

 

“Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum (1969)  

19 Film Appearances

Wayne’s World 2 (1993)

Apollo 13 (1995)

Contact (1997)

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

This song has been used in almost 20 movies, yet it may not be recognizable by title alone.

All you need to hear is the first few notes, and you’ll be able to place it. 

Without a doubt. 

Thank you, Norman Greenbaum, for the current #1 song used in films over the years.

I’m sure film #20 is right around the corner. 

Well, that is a wrap for our “Soundtrack Saturation” episode.

I’m sure it’s not the last we’ve heard of these songs in the movies.

Hollywood does love to repeat itself, after all. 

We hope you join us next time as we belatedly recap the Best & Worst of August AND September in a COMBO episode since we never got around to doing that!

Until then, take care.