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30 items

Isaac Hayes, ‘Theme From Shaft’ in ‘Shaft’ (1972)

The wah-wah essence of pimp-strut funk. Richard Roundtree’s Shaft swaggers out of the subway and through the sleaze of 1970s Times Square, stopping the traffic cold with his sheer badness, walking to the beat of his own personal theme song. Isaac Hayes tells you who this guy is (a black private dick), what he does […]

Otis Redding, ‘Try a Little Tenderness’ in ‘Pretty in Pink’ (1986)

Some of the most awesomely terrible dancing ever captured by a camera crew – and that’s just part of what makes this a perfect rock & roll moment, from a perfect teen flick. Everybody loves Pretty in Pink for all the new wave John Hughes put on the soundtrack – the Smiths, Echo and the […]

Elvis Presley, ‘C’mon Everybody’ in ‘Viva Las Vegas’ (1964)

And this is why Elvis is the King. Not because he made dozens of these movies, most of them total cheese. Not because they’re all full of corny scenes where he can just stroll into the local gym and get begged to do a song like this. (“C’mon Everybody” is no relation to the Eddie […]

Public Enemy, ‘Fight the Power’ in ‘Do the Right Thing’ (1989)

Brooklyn, the summer of ’89: city heat, race riots, trigger-happy cops, crack, poverty, pizza and a boombox on every corner blasting hip-hop. Spike Lee sets the scene right in the streets of the hood, kicking off the action with Rosie Perez dancing through the credits to Public Enemy: “1989! A number! Another summer! Sound of […]

7 Year Bitch, ‘The Scratch’ in ‘Mad Love’ (1995)

The Nineties-est moment of all time. Drew Barrymore plays a psycho teen from Seattle (every Nineties movie had one of those) who finds salvation in punk rock. She goes to see her fave riot grrrl band, screaming along with the lyrics (“I will have my cake! And I will eat it too! Just like you!”), […]

The Doors, ‘Moonlight Drive’ in ‘Two Lane Blacktop’ (1971)

James Taylor and Dennis Wilson in a ’55 Chevy – a couple of rock stars acting in Monte Hellman’s classic indie film, the ultimate existential road trip. They’re a pair of hippie con men, rolling into a new town, cruising the local hot-rod spot looking for a sucker they can lure into a high-stakes drag […]

Motley Crue, ‘Home Sweet Home’ in ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ (2010)

One of the true cinematic masterpieces of our time. This is perhaps the film’s most poignant scene, with Rob Corrdry as an ordinary loser who can only live out his fantasies in the privacy of his own garage, singing to “Home Sweet Home” on the radio and playing his Tommy Lee drum solo on the […]

Jesus and Mary Chain, ‘Just Like Honey’ in ‘Lost in Translation’ (2002)

Listen to the girl, as she takes on half the world. This music is what it sounds like inside Scarlett Johansson’s heart at the end of the movie, a heart that’s like a honey-dripping beehive full of lust and anguish and guitar feedback cranked up to 10. “Just Like Honey” has the same Phil Spector […]

The Pogues, ‘The Old Main Drag’ in ‘My Own Private Idaho’ (1991)

The coda to Gus Van Zant’s devastating tale of young American hustlers in the heartland. River Phoenix stands on the open road, looking at the wheatfields under the spacious skies of Idaho. “I’m a connoisseur of roads,” River says. “I’ve been tasting roads my whole life.” The accordion and banjo fade in, as if a […]

Iggy Pop, ‘Lust for Life’ in ‘Trainspotting’ (1996)

In real life, junkies are the second-most boring people on earth. (They had the Number One slot locked up until the recently invented category of “People who complain about how Girls is unrealistic.”) But Trainspotting‘s “Lust for Life” opening hijinks somehow make these Scottish drug addicts seem like a barrel of giggles. Ewan McGregor and […]

New Order, ‘Dreams Never End’ in ‘Carlos’ (2010)

Carlos does for Seventies terrorism what Goodfellas did for the mob, chronicling the epic rise and fall of a real-life criminal empire. Edgar Ramirez plays Carlos the Jackal as a self-styled revolutionary guerrilla, carrying himself like a rock star and falling hard for his own celebrity image. The soundtrack is full of postpunk bands like […]

Bauhaus, ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ in ‘The Hunger’ (1983)

There are so many vampire movies out there, but none of them has a beginning anywhere near as cool as this one. It starts in a New York goth club, where the children of the night groove to Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead.” Vampire power couple David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve move through the dance floor, […]

The Doors, ‘The End’ in ‘Apocalypse Now’ (1989)

Vietnam movies seem to get all the cool songs, but it’s only because Francis Ford Coppolla showed them how. Apocalypse Now wasn’t the first great film to use “The End” – that would be Scorcese’s 1968 Who’s That Knocking On My Door? But as “The End” crawls through Martin Sheen’s war-ravaged brain, Apocalypse Now taps […]

Rolling Stones, ‘Tops’ in ‘Adventureland’ (2009)

The Stones have inspired countless classic screen moments, from “Tell Me” in Mean Streets to “Satisfaction” in Apocalypse Now to “I Am Waiting” in Rushmore. And “Gimme Shelter” is the Robert De Niro of Stones songs – every director wants to put it in every movie, whether it belongs or not, because it never fails […]

Yardbirds, ‘Stroll On’ in ‘Blow-Up’ (1966)

Michaelangelo Antonioni’s tour of Swinging London breaks open with this scene. David Hemmings stumbles into a mod club where the Yardbirds are playing, during the brief period when both Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck were in the band. The hipster fans stare blankly like robots while the Yardbirds do the proto-Zeppelin thrash “Stroll On,” a […]

The Beatles, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ in ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ (1964)

The dawn of Beatlemania: John, Paul, George and Ringo race down the street, chased by their fans. Everybody gets swept up in the high-speed excitement of that mega-reverbed opening guitar chord. The Beatles might be trying to run away from the lust-crazed, clothes-tearing, screaming girls, but they can’t stop grinning, especially John — they love […]

Led Zeppelin, ‘Kashmir’ in ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’ (1981)

Right before Ratner’s first date with Stacey (the young Jennifer Jason Leigh), Damone gives him a five-point crash course in dating etiquette that ends with the most important advice: “When it comes down to making out, whenever possible, put on Side One of Led Zeppelin IV.” Ratner can’t even get that one right — the […]

Country Joe and the Fish, ‘Section 43’ in ‘Monterey Pop’ (1967)

The film is full of unforgettable performances by charismatic stars: Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin. This is not one of them. Instead, it’s a dreamily psychedelic guitar instrumental, droning over the final morning of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, waking up the sleepy hippie kids for a bright new day in the California sunshine. […]

Alice Cooper, ‘School’s Out’ in ‘Dazed and Confused’ (1993)

Richard Linklater’s classic portrait of small-town Texas in the summer of 1976. As your stoner uncle will tell you, Linklater depicts the Seventies aura so authentically, you can practically brush your teeth in the bongwater. The music is a constant presence in these kids’ lives, whether it’s “Do You Feel Like We Do?” on the […]

Killah Priest, ‘From Then Till Now’ in ‘Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai’ (1999)

The Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA worked with director Jim Jarmusch, giving this cult-classic crime film a haunted hip-hop soundscape. Forrest Whitaker lives the solitary life of a hit man, living by the code of the samurai. After he steals a Lexus, he drives through the deserted late-night city streets, brooding to this mystical deep cut from […]

Elton John, ‘Tiny Dancer’ in ‘Almost Famous’ (2000)

Something about “Tiny Dancer” brings the drama — it also provided the love theme for a very special episode of WKRP in Cincinnati. (The one where the visiting Russian diplomat falls in love with Bailey.) Cameron Crowe made it the highlight of Almost Famous, his autobiographical account of hitting the road as a young Rolling […]

Spinal Tap, ‘Stonehenge’ in ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ (1984)

And oh, how they danced, the little children of Stonehenge. The Tap’s druid-metal epic remains popcorn-pukingly funny no matter how many times you’ve seen it, because they get every musical detail right. For some reason Spinal Tap aren’t in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet, though it’s only a matter of time. No […]

Donovan, ‘Atlantis’ in ‘Goodfellas’ (1990)

We’re trying not to keep repeating directors on this list, but Martin Scorsese is the exception to every rule, including this one. In fact, you could pack this entire list with Scorsese films – you could stock a Top 30 from Goodfellas alone. He can jolt you with a song you’ve never heard, or bring […]

Chuck Berry, ‘You Never Can Tell’ in ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)

Nobody makes cinematic mix tapes as brilliantly as Quentin Tarantino. He keeps finding new ways to weave music into the action, from the Delfonics in Jackie Brown to Santa Esmeralda in Kill Bill. Even his World War II movie has a David Bowie jam. Reservoir Dogs put him on the map with the “Stuck In […]

Creedence Clearwater Revival, ‘Lookin’ Out My Back Door’ in ‘The Big Lebowski’ (1999)

The Dude abides! And after he gets reunited with his car and his Creedence tapes, the Dude needs to catch up on his abiding. So he celebrates behind the wheel on his drive home — smoking, drinking and drumming on the roof of his car. If you don’t play air guitar to this scene, you […]

The Faces, ‘Ooh La La’ in ‘Rushmore’ (1998)

Spoiler alert: This is the last scene, in case you haven’t seen Rushmore yet. At the after-party for Max Fischer’s new play, everybody moves to the dance floor. Miss Cross takes off Max’s glasses, looks into his eyes, sees them as the eyes of her dead husband. Then two of the most miserable characters in […]

Andrew Gold, ‘Lonely Boy’ in ‘Boogie Nights’ (1998)

One of the most unbelievably sad moments ever captured on film, as P.T. Anderson takes a harmless bit of Seventies soft-rock fluff and turns it into a heartbreaking requiem for basically everybody in the movie, if not America in general. It’s a druggy L.A. pool party at Burt Reynolds’ mansion, in the coked-out stupor of […]

Queen, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in ‘Wayne’s World’ (1992)

A carload of suburban-loser party commandos cruise the wastelands of Illinois. Another Saturday night with no girls, no future, no particular place to go. Then they pop in a cassette of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Suddenly, they’re not losers anymore – they turn into an epic choir of rockness. They are the coolest guys on earth, even […]

The Ronettes, ‘Be My Baby’ in ‘Mean Streets’ (1973)

This is where it all begins – and really, this is as far as it could go. With this moment, director Martin Scorsese invented a whole new way to use rock & roll to tell a story, right in the opening scene of his Little Italy street-crime tragedy. Late at night, small-time gangster Harvey Keitel […]

Peter Gabriel, ‘In Your Eyes’ in ‘Say Anything’ (1989)

Who else but Cameron Crowe could create a moment like this: John Cusack stands outside Ione Skye’s house, holding up a boombox. He’s playing their song, “In Your Eyes,” to remind her of their shared memories, but also to express everything he wishes he knew how to tell her himself. Crowe turned this into a […]