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Movie soundtrack singles that eclipsed the films they were made for


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I read somewhere that the accent that Brits have now didn't develop until well after the time that movie was set and it's probable his accent is much closer to how people would have sounded back then. Not that that is why Costner did it.

Apparently our accent nowadays was an effort to distance ourselves from our American cousins, that we affected what was exclusively an upper-middle class accent to better differentiate ourselves. The Australian accent also apparently developed from the lower-class accents of the convicts deported there and those sent to guard them.

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Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler, Beaches.

 

Does anyone even remember that movie existed?

I think quite a few women might, Beaches seems to get referenced in modern stuff (dramedies at least) that are female centric either in cast or production.

 

I agree, from perhaps the male perspective at least, that the song eclipsed the movie, tho.

 

Also:

 

Any Elvis song from any Elvis film.

 

And what about Danger Zone or Playing with the Boys by Kenny Loggins, both from Top Gun? Are they a cultural callback just because of the film or did they transcend it? Actually, same thought for most of that soundtrack... probably Dirty Dancings The Time of My Life too.

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Most of the music from the prequels

I always appreciate when we can work PT bashing into any topic, but nothing from Star Wars was a pop hit single. Duel of the Fates being on MTV due to Star Wars hype doesn't count.

 

And what about Danger Zone or Playing with the Boys by Kenny Loggins, both from Top Gun? Are they a cultural callback just because of the film or did they transcend it? Actually, same thought for most of that soundtrack... probably Dirty Dancings The Time of My Life too.

Those are both pretty iffy... those movies are pretty iconic. I've never heard Dangerzone without it referring back to Top Gun somehow. MAYBE I'll give you the Dirty Dancing one, if only because it lived on in middle school dances for a good decade after the movie.

 

I'm going to give you Stayin' Alive by the BeeGees. It's become the go-to song to represent disco and/or strutting cool dudes in the 70s after being used as just that in Saturday Night Fever.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

Purple Rain for the film Purple Rain.

 

 

 

 

Staying alive by the BeeGees for Saturday Night Fever.

 

I Will Always Love You covered by Whitney Houston in the Bodyguard.

 

 

 

 

Sometimes I worry there will be a movie about a baseball game played in the old west and Costner won't be available.

Speaking of Costner, getting us back on track:

I Will Always Love You, Whitney Houston, The Bodyguard

I hate this version of the song. I can't stand Houston's voice, this is the gold standard of songs people who think they can sing but cannot always seem to go for.

It was a Dolly Parton song first, which I actually do like. I mean, it's no Jolene, but it's decent. Houston's version made for the crap move just won't die.

 

 

I'm going to give you Stayin' Alive by the BeeGees. It's become the go-to song to represent disco and/or strutting cool dudes in the 70s after being used as just that in Saturday Night Fever.

 

 

I prefer the Dolly Parton version, too. Whitney's version is OK, but damn is it played out.

 

Stayin' Alive is like a mandatory use for any movie about the 1970s at this point.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

Wind Beneath My Wings, Bette Midler, Beaches.

 

Does anyone even remember that movie existed?

 

Yes. I had an ex that loved that movie.

 

 

Speaking of Bette Midler, The Rose for the film The Rose. It was a pseudo biopic about Janis Joplin, with Bette Midler as Mary Rose Foster, a fictional stand in for Janis.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

 

Purple Rain for the film Purple Rain.

I'll give you When Doves Cry.

 

Might as well give me the Purple Rain album, then. :)

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Kiss by Primce from the movie that came after Purple Rain.

 

Pennies from Heaven by Bing Crosby from Pennies From Heaven.

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Most of the music from the prequels

I always appreciate when we can work PT bashing into any topic, but nothing from Star Wars was a pop hit single. Duel of the Fates being on MTV due to Star Wars hype doesn't count.

 

I'm not a PT hater, but they are pretty terrible in places. Having said that, there's some pieces from the trilogy that are instantly recognisable, almost as much as the opening fanfare and the Imperial March. Duel of the Fates is one example, as is the love song tune from AOTC (we recently went to a concert where they played John Williams and Hans Zimmer soundtracks, they played the AOTC music and my missus who actively avoids Star Wars recognised it straight away). Even I sometimes have to stop and think when I hear certain pieces and remind myself that the music I feel like I've always associated with Star Wars is very often from the newer movies and not the OT.

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Scores are very rarely released as singles, so that alone would disqualify.

 

But there are better examples, like the Jaws song. Everyone knows it, even people who have never seen the movie.

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Guest El Chalupacabra

So...does the 1970s disco version of the Star Wars theme count as a sound track or single?

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Guest El Chalupacabra

I think it was, actually. But I was kidding about that. Though, I think it wasn't officially connected to Star Wars, anyway.

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What about The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News for Back to the Future? I mean, obviously BttF is a pop culture icon, but that song is still played on radio (granted oldie stations now). It also went number one at one point. I mean, when people listen to that are they actually thinking, Oh yeah its that song from Back to the Future. ???

 

I really dig this thread/game btw.

 

Also, I had never seen that Kinect thing. Amazing. I immediately shared it with my son, his fiancé, and my wife in our geeky text chat.

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I think Power of Love is in the same boat as Purple Rain. I think people will always associate it with the movie. You could say that damn song from Titanic has lived on in karoke bars and weddings, but everyone knows what movie it came from.

 

I think most of the time, the song has to be a hit, and the movie a bomb, or a hit that hasn't held up well (like the Batman movies).

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Also, what about Take My Breath Away by Berlin for Top Gun? It succeeds and still is played because of the iconic nature of Top Gun, the nostalgia, or because the song is good enough to stand on its own and then did so?

 

Side Note: I searched Google for the Take My Breath Away song, so that I could see if it was actually written for Top Gun, but I ended up laughing quite heartily because I actually searched for...

 

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