The Waterboys “Fisherman’s Blues” at the beginning of Waking Ned Devine.
Don Felder’s “Heavy Metal (Take a Ride)” in the movie Heavy Metal.
I Heard it Through the Grapevine over the opening of “The Big Chill”
Yep! Just came in to post “Sax and Violins,” myself. One of my top five movies AND soundtracks!
(Featuring Kevin Costner in his most convincing role to date. ;))
To me, it’s about the right music to set the tone for the film irrespective of whether it was written specifically for it. The main theme of Star Wars definitely worked.
Good call on Joe vs. the Volcano and The Breakfast Club. I thought of a few more:
“Rainbow Connection” in The Muppet Movie.
Woody Allen’s film Sleeper had a great Dixieland Jazz soundtrack. I always thought it sounded a lot like the silly-but-smart mayhem that Sleeper held in store for the viewer.
Hunt for Red October used the some great Soviet music. Got me in the mood for some Cold War espionage.
Ennio Morricone’s opening themes:
I’ts been a long time since I watched The Land of Plentyby Wim Wenders, so I don’t remember if the title song was in the opening, but that movie has an outstanding soundtrack overall. It’s where I discovered Leonard Cohen, who wrote the song the title of the movie came from.
Groundbreaking for its time, but Vangelis’ Chariots of Fire filled the airwaves when the movie came out.
Smash Mouth’s “All Star” at the beginning of Shrek. Definitely set a tone which said “this isn’t your typical animated feature.”
Enjoy,
Steven
This is what I came to this thread to post. Props.
This was the one I first thought of when reading the topic title and the one I was coming in to mention if it wasn’t mentioned already.
Ah. In that case I’ll mention David Julyan’s score for Insomnia. So awesome that I borrowed the DVD from my then-GF to listen to the main title over and over.
Another of my favorite movies, and I’d need to pull out my DVD to double-check, but didn’t that song play over the end credits rather than the beginning of the movie?
I’m surprised the thread got this far and I’m the first to mention…
“Sweet Emotion” at the beginning of ‘Dazed and Confused.’
First thing that came to mind was “Amoreena” from Dog Day Afternoon
Maybe just because of familiarity, but I’d have to nominate the opening to Dr. No.
Damn, most of the good openings have already been taken. Pulp Fiction is clearly the best IMO.
Juno had a great opening.
While not the best movie, Buffalo Springsteen’s “For What it’s Worth” from Lord of War was a good opening.
Can’t You Hear Me Knocking from Blow is a favorite of mine.