Songs and the Movies that Made Them

I dont think "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler would have done so well if it hadn't been in Footloose.

My Heart Will Go On -- it's a cliched, tiresome, overdone song and wouldn't have been a huge hit if not for Titanic.

Maniac from Flashdance.

nevada said:

Maniac from Flashdance.

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One of the WORST songs ever recorded. Thanks so much for reminding me and getting that annoying tune stuck in my head again.

fullbookjacket said:

One of the WORST songs ever recorded. Thanks so much for reminding me and getting that annoying tune stuck in my head again.

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Hey, I did it to myself too you know. lol It'll be days before that's gone now. A burden shared is a burden halved. or some such crap. lol

Would St Elmo's Fire have been a hit without its theme song?

The theme for Chariots of Fire.

Battle Without Honor Or Humanity from Kill Bill Vol. 1.

Seriously, I'm hearing that song everywhere now, just as it was all over after the first Kill Bill came out.

I hated the movie City of Angels, but I'm a sucker for Iris.

I'm going to go with either "Eye of the Tiger" from Rocky III or "Ewok Victory Celebration" from Return of the Jedi.

I hated "You Sexy Thing" by Hot Chocolate until I saw The Full Monty.

I'm confused. Is this about songs that make the movie better, or the movie that makes the song a hit?

The Final Countdown

I thought it was about a song that became a hit because it was in a movie.

Right. No song could have saved Titanic...

A couple of James Bond themes, such as A View to a Kill, Live and Let Die, Diamonds are Forever, Goldfinger, and For Your Eyes Only.

Unchained Melodies from Ghost.

Highway to the Danger Zone and Take My Breath Away from Top Gun.

"Laura," from the movie with the same name from 1944. Indeed "haunting."

maestrowork said:

A couple of James Bond themes, such as A View to a Kill, Live and Let Die, Diamonds are Forever, Goldfinger, and For Your Eyes Only.

Unchained Melodies from Ghost.

Highway to the Danger Zone and Take My Breath Away from Top Gun.

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Unchained Melody was a hit song long before Ghost. The Righteous Brothers did it back in the sixties.

rhymegirl said:

Unchained Melody was a hit song long before Ghost. The Righteous Brothers did it back in the sixties.

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But Ghost made it a HUGE hit again in the 90s.

Severian said:

I dont think "Holding Out For A Hero" by Bonnie Tyler would have done so well if it hadn't been in Footloose.

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Of course it wouldn't have.

It would never have been written if NOT for the movie.

Jim Steinman tends to only pair with other songwriters for specific projects and not "just because". Otherwise he pretty much makes Phil Spector look like an extrovert.

Rabe...
...raving steinmaniac...

CaroGirl said:

What other songs can you name that wouldn't have made it if they hadn't been associated with a particular movie?

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Let's see - some that haven't been mentioned yet:

Vogue - Madonna (Dick Tracy - not made to be in the movie but on the movie inspired album)

After All - Cher and Peter Cetera - not a very good song but became a hit because of the movie it was in (Chances Are)

Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss) - the Cher version (Mermaids). Again, probably wouldn't have been made without the movie - and Cher made sure her royalties were split with the original performer who got shafted with her version of it.

Beyond Thunderdome - Tina Turner (Mad Max)

We Are the Champions/Who Wants to Live Forever - Queen (Highlander). Though I'm not sure about the second one. The Sarah Brightman version is very good - not sure if it did so well because it's an excellent remake or because the original was such a hit.

Bohemian Rhapsody - Did this become huge because of Wayne's World or was it huge before? I'm leaning to the movie being it's salvation from non -hitsdom.

I Will Always Love You/I Have Nothing - Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston (Best Little Whorehouse in Texas/Bodyguard). And unfortunately the Whitney version of the former song *is* the better version.

9 to 5 - Dolly Parton (9 to 5).

Hopelessly Devoted to You - Olivia Newton John (Grease) - also in this category would be Magic and Xanadu from the same artist and the movie Xanadu. Curiously we could even throw in "Physical" to this category because it was from doing "Grease" that ONJ went to do a more rock oriented sound and less country. Starting with her "Totally Hot" album released after Grease. "Twist of Fate" from Two of a Kind also belongs in this category.

Hero - Chad Kroeger (Spiderman)

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing - Aerosmith (Armageddon) - but then again, Diane Warren wrote this song for the film so...

So we could put in any other Diane Warren penned theme song for the movies to include - But I Do Love You, How Do I Live, Can't Fight the Moonlight, Right Kind of Wrong (Leann Rimes/Trisha Yearwood). And yes, Leann originally recorded How Do I Live for the movie Con-Air but the producers felt she was a bit too young for it so they brought Trisha Yearwood in to do a record. There is also "There for Me" by Faith Hill and a whole host of others. A lot of which I'm blanking on right now. Wasn't there even a 'Bad Boys' theme song which became big?

Ghostbusters!

Original Sin - Taylor Dayne (The Shadow) though the original Pandora's Box version kicks it's ass! Even the Meat Loaf remake is better.

Orinico Flow - Enya (forget the name of the movie here)

What was the Celine song from Bicentennial Man?

I Want to Spend My Lifetime Loving You - Tina Arena/Marc Anthony from Zorro.

Stayin Alive - Beegees (Saturday Night Fever)

I'm sure I've got a ton more but I'm blanking on them now. And on the laptop. If I weren't too lazy to go to my desktop I'd just look in my 'movies' song folder and be able to list a ton of them.

Rabe...

maestrowork said:

But Ghost made it a HUGE hit again in the 90s.

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Well, the way I look at it, many singers recorded Unchained Melody on their albums before it was used in Ghost. I had it on a Cher album.

My vote is for Live and Let Die it won an Oscar for best song And is one of my favorite Paul McCartney songs.

dclary said:

I'm going to go with either "Eye of the Tiger" from Rocky III or "Ewok Victory Celebration" from Return of the Jedi.

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I strongly disagree. "Ewok Victory Celebreation" would have still been a massive hit, even without "Jedi"!

CaroGirl said:

I was stuck in traffic on the way to work this morning and Simple Minds came on the radio. You know the song. The only one. And I thought, if Don't You (Forget About Me) hadn't been featured in The Breakfast Club, it probably wouldn't have been a hit.

What other songs can you name that wouldn't have made it if they hadn't been associated with a particular movie?

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In my circle, that song made a comeback in that movie. It was popular for us long before the movie.

Just like I'm Gonna Be (500 miles) had a resurgence when it was in the Benny & Joon soundtrack.

Both of those songs are now completely burned in my memory from the movies...yet they were in my life long before the movies that re-made them.


ETA: Looks like I may be wrong. I just googled the song. I was sure it was around before the movie...but all accounts suggest it was made for the movie. I was a huge Minds fan before the movie...my chronology of events is obscured by band ownership. (-;