Top Five Songs You Can’t Hear Without Thinking Of The Movie

1. “Stuck in the Middle With You,” Stealers Wheel - Reservoir Dogs
   Annie hates it when I play this song. How can anyone who saw this movie not think of a cop tied to a chair getting his ear cut off when this song plays? It helps that the lyrics are oddly appropriate.
2. “Where is My Mind,” Pixies - Fight Club
   I’m sure this doesn’t qualify for people who had listened to any Pixies songs before Fight Club, but that was the first time for me, so “Where is My Mind” is forever branded with the images of Jack and Marla watching office buildings collapse.
3. “Golgatha Tenement Blues,” Machines of Loving Grace - The Crow
   Really, anything on the first soundtrack qualifies, but especially this track, since it was early enough in the CD that I heard it all the time, but it was by a band I’m not very familiar with, so I don’t know any of their work outside of the context. I always picture Brandon Lee running along rooftops to this song.
4. “Halcyon & On & On,” Orbital - Hackers
   I had probably heard the song once or twice before I saw Hackers, but it was used to perfection in that movie, during the flyover of the digital city. To this day, I can’t hear this song without getting a desire to open up a terminal window and start dorking around on a Unix system.
5. “Dry The Rain,” The Beta Band - High Fidelity
   “I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.s by the Beta Band.” And they played the finale to the song, and everyone in the store is nodding their heads. Annie and I both love this song, and playing it gives me the feeling that I’m in a warm friendly neighborhood music store.

Ground Rules
What I’m talking about here is songs that you can’t hear without thinking of the movie that you first heard the song in. In your head, the scene from the movie and the song are permanently linked, for better or worse. The obvious example is “Also Spake Zarathustra” from 2001. There are some exceptions, however. No Musicals: Songs used in musicals like The Blues Brothers or Evita are exempt because it’s not clever usage of a well-chosen song by the director to nail the scene, it a scene written around the song. No Songs Written For The Movie: Obviously, if the song was written specifically for the movie, like “The Crying Game,” it’s exempt. And lastly, No Theme Songs: You can’t say that the “Theme From Mortal Kombat” always makes you think of Mortal Kombat - it was designed to do so. Now, let’s make this an audience participation sport! Everyone leave a comment with your top five!

Honorable Mentions

• “Spybreak,” The Propellerheads - The Matrix
  It’s usage in the lobby scene certainly qualifies it, but I had the Propellerheads CD for quite awhile before the movie, so I don’t always associate it with the movie.
• “Flat Beat,” Mr. Oizo - Levi’s Commercial
  Those Levi’s commercials with the muppet headbanging along with the song was the first place I heard the song, but I hesitate to include it because it was a commercial and not a movie.
• “Canned Head,” Jamiroquai - Napoleon Dynamite
  This song certainly qualifies, since I can’t think of it without thinking of Napoleon’s awesome dance scene, but it’s a bit too recent for me to include it on the list. Maybe in a few years.
• “Boogie On The Beach,” The Red Elvises - Six String Samurai
  Sadly, I had to disqualify one of my favorite bands, since they did the whole soundtrack, and some of the scenes were clearly written around their songs. Also, I saw the movie after I heard of the band, so I don’t always associate the tracks with the movie.
• “Let Go,” Frou Frou - Garden State
  Just like Jamiroquai, I had to disqualify this one because it’s too recent. However, it’s quite powerfully associated for me, due to its usage in the trailer, so in a few years it will definitely be on the list.
• “Girl, You’ll be a woman soon,” Urge Overkill - Pulp Fiction
  This would qualify, except that I heard the song so many times and in so many other contexts, that I don’t associate it only with the movie. Lots of Tarantino’s other soundtracks do the same thing - look at that 5,6,7,8 song on the Kill Bill soundtrack, it’s being used in tons of commercials now. Tarantino’s a victim of his own success, it seems.