# Classical, Popular, and Movie Music Ruined by Other Associations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 6, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871 "2024-09-06T19:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/1 "2024-09-06T19:36:24Z")
Whenever she hears Wagner’s _Ride of the Valkyrie_ my wife inevitably thinks of Emer Fudd singing “Kill the Wabbit! Kill the Wabbit!” (Although a big Bgs Bunny fan, I think of _Apocalypse Now_. Or the DR. Manhattan in Vietnam scene in _Watchmen_, which ripped it off from AN) When she hears Strauss’ _The Blue Danube_ she thinks of the segment with the cartoon swans in Bob Clampett’s _A Corny Concerto_ (which also had Bugs, although in a another segment (Me, science fiction fan that I am, invariably think of _2001: A Space Odyssey_) Music has a powerful link to memory, and a lot of us no longer think in terms of the original music, but have these other pop-cultural images associated with them, often by dint of repetition. The standard for this used to be associating Rissini’s _William Tell Overture_ with _The Lone Ranger_, but I suspect that modern kids no longer suffer from that affliction – who the hell watches those old Lone Ranger shows anymore? Some others: Aaron Copland’s “Hoe-Down” from the _Rodeo_ Suite – “Beef – It’s what’s for Dinner” Elmer Bernstein’s theme for _The Magnificent Seven_ – Marlborough cigarettes. (This one marks me as Old. I love the music, but I saw the commercials umpteen times before I saw the movie Max Steiner’s theme for _Gone with the Wind_ – The opening of WWOR 's (Secaucus NJ) “Million Dollar Movie”. I saw a gazillion movies on Million Dollar Movie – mostly low-budget monster films ad King Kong – before I ever saw Gone with the Wind. Gounod’s _Funeral March of a Marionette_ – "Alfred Hitchcock Presents – I didn’t even know this music existed before Alfred Hitchcock until I read about it in one of Tom Weller’s books Ponchielli’s “Dance of the Hours” from _La Gioconda_ – Allan Sherman’s “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah (A Letter from Camp”) I heard this LONG before I heard the opera. In fact, if Allan Sherman hadn’t ruined it for me, Disney’s _Fantasia_ would have. I feel fortunate that my mother used to love playing the overture to Bizet’s _Carmen_ while doing housework. I heard it many times over, and never saw _The Bad News Bears_, so I never made that association with it. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/2 "2024-09-06T19:46:20Z")
The 20th Century Fox Fanfare is indelibly linked in my mind to Star Wars. Every other use of it is terrible. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/3 "2024-09-06T19:49:16Z")
In my mind, “Stuck in the Middle with You” will always, indelibly, be the music of a sadistic psycho guy cutting off another guy’s ear (_Reservoir Dogs_). ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/4 "2024-09-06T19:50:53Z")
Whenever I hear Don’t Fear the Reaper I automatically think of “Needs more cowbell!”. It has ruined a damn good song for me and millions of others. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/5 "2024-09-06T19:52:12Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Whenever she hears Wagner’s _Ride of the Valkyrie_ my wife inevitably thinks of Emer Fudd singing “Kill the Wabbit! Kill the Wabbit!” > (Although a big Bgs Bunny fan, I think of _Apocalypse Now_. Or the DR. Manhattan in Vietnam scene in _Watchmen_, which ripped it off from AN) Whenever I hear Wagner, I think of the Nazis. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/6 "2024-09-06T19:58:40Z")
of Montreal’s “[Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games](https://youtu.be/qVX9cjXxOv0),” better known as the “Let’s Go Outback Tonight” song (spoilered in case you want to play the song without foreknowledge). I know money is necessary in today’s society, but… ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/7 "2024-09-06T20:02:17Z")
Monty Python killed off any non-comedic uses of Sousa’s “Liberty Bell” march. > [@CalMeacham](#): > > I feel fortunate that my mother used to love playing the overture to Bizet’s _Carmen_ while doing housework. I heard it many times over, and never saw _The Bad News Bears_, so I never made that association with it. I can never hear the “Habanera” without thinking of “He wants his shirt!” from _The Cocoanuts_. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/8 "2024-09-06T20:07:06Z")
I think that for almost everyone today, _Entrance of the Gladiators_ brings up associations with circuses and clowns, and its original serious tone is completely lost. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/9 "2024-09-06T20:11:11Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > The 20th Century Fox Fanfare is indelibly linked in my mind to Star Wars. Every other use of it is terrible. What’s even more hilarious is that the 20th Century Fox theme even appeared on various _Star Wars_ soundtracks of the John Williams scores over the years. I can’t think of another soundtrack that did that. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/10 "2024-09-06T20:17:51Z")
Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” is forever _O’Hare Airport United Terminal Theme Song_ in my brain. While I personally don’t hate the Eagles, hearing them will invariably call to mind the _Big Lebowski_ line “I’ve had a rough night and I hate the fuckin’ Eagles, man!” ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/11 "2024-09-06T20:20:10Z")
Bob Seger’s Like a Rock will forever be an ad for Chevy trucks. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/12 "2024-09-06T20:26:57Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Whenever I hear Don’t Fear the Reaper I automatically think of “Needs more cowbell!”. It has ruined a damn good song for me and millions of others. I associate that song with the beginning of the 1994 miniseries _The Stand_. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/13 "2024-09-06T20:31:10Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > > [@Pleonast](#): > > > > The 20th Century Fox Fanfare is indelibly linked in my mind to Star Wars. Every other use of it is terrible. > > What’s even more hilarious is that the 20th Century Fox theme even appeared on various _Star Wars_ soundtracks of the John Williams scores over the years. I can’t think of another soundtrack that did that. The soundtrack for Bohemian Rhapsody has the 20th Century Fox fanfare as the first track, performed by Brian May. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/14 "2024-09-06T20:33:23Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” is forever _O’Hare Airport United Terminal Theme Song_ in my brain. Ha, same! I was once watching a show where they played that music and I said “Oh, that’s the United Airlines theme!” to the confusion of others with me. I hadn’t realized at the time it was actually a very famous piece of music… ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/15 "2024-09-06T20:37:53Z")
“Old Time Rock n Roll” will always be associated with Tom Cruise dancing around in his underwear. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/16 "2024-09-06T20:39:33Z")
The last third of Rossini’s “William Tell Overture,” arguably the greatest horse music ever written, turned up in _A Clockwork Orange_, though no horses were involved in the scene in question. An earlier section of it is familiar from many cartoons in which it was used as a pastoral theme. _ACO_ also used a number of riffs from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, indelibly linked to certain sequences, to say nothing of “Singin’ in the Rain.” “Flight of the Bumblebee” by Rimsky-Korsakov was better known as the theme music for the _Green Hornet_ radio show. Rearranged, it was also used for the TV show. _Crossroads_ (1986) – (from IMDB) “Eugene’s Trick Bag”, the updated classical piece at the film’s climax, is largely based on Niccolò Paganini’s “Caprice #5.” I doubt most viewers were aware of that. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/17 "2024-09-06T20:48:38Z")
[Classics Explained](https://classicsexplained.com/) on YouTube touches on this issue as well as others. Stravinsky _hated_ the Rites of Spring becoming “Dinosaur Music” (as well as getting $0.0 because the Bolshevik revolution somehow voided all Russian copyrights). Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights gets used for every “portentous” history documentary. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/18 "2024-09-06T20:51:34Z")
Yep, I hear the fanfare, and _expect_ the first notes of the Star Wars opening song to follow. It always sounds wrong when that doesn’t happen. Also, those Modelo Especial commercials have ruined the Ennio Morricone song “Ecstasy of Gold” from “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” for me now. When I hear it, I think of those stupid commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/19 "2024-09-06T21:14:57Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I associate that song with the beginning of the 1994 miniseries _The Stand_. I used to as well. 😮‍💨 ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871/20 "2024-09-06T21:25:58Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > Monty Python killed off any non-comedic uses of Sousa’s “Liberty Bell” march. I had the TV on in the background during Obama’s second inauguration, when the Marine Corps Band played the “Liberty Bell” march during the ceremony. And my first thought was “Why are they playing the Monty Python Theme?” It took me a second to remember that the song was originally meant to be a patriotic march. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classical-popular-and-movie-music-ruined-by-other-associations/1006871.md?page=2)