# Most overused background music **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 19, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143 "2006-02-19T01:15:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/1 "2006-02-19T01:15:45Z")
The topic is songs that are used a bit too much as background music in movies, TV and commercials. My pics off the top of my head: -Pretty much any Enya song -100 Years by Five for Fighting, anytime you want to show the passing of years and that retirement fund vesting before your eyes -And if I never see another Saab jet chasing a Saab car, a covert ops team running a mission or a gunbattle in a night club set to Paul Oakenfold’s Ready Steady Go, it will be too soon. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/2 "2006-02-19T01:25:31Z")
Had to ask: What was that Muzak like tune that appeared in intermissions and commercial parodies in Monty Pyton? That tune was already being parodied there and I \*\*still hear it \*\* in new commercials. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/3 "2006-02-19T01:54:40Z")
“O Fortuna” from Orff’s “Carmina Burana”. Not so much now as about three to five years ago. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/4 "2006-02-19T02:08:59Z")
I Feel Good makes me feel bad when I hear it in a laxitive commercial. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/5 "2006-02-19T02:40:19Z")
“Battle without Honor” from Kill Bill is getting seriously overused, and it’s a cool song. I hear the main theme music from Requiem for a Dream, which was rescored and used in Lord of the Rings, in what feels like 50% of all movie trailers these days. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/6 "2006-02-19T02:51:10Z")
> [@mailman](#): > > I Feel Good I knew that you would … get here to post that before me, that is. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/7 "2006-02-19T12:19:08Z")
Spring from the Four Seasons. Canon in D (every ad for single funeral homes plays it). Walking on Sunshine. Things can only get better. The last two for “lifestyle” ads, meaning everything from Promensil to bananas to laxatives. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/8 "2006-02-19T12:28:29Z")
“Spirit in the Sky,” or “Green Onions,” or some variations of them. Every damn movie involving football seems to feature them. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/9 "2006-02-19T12:45:55Z")
Gorecki’s third symphony. It’s pretty much the stock ‘sad story’ background music for all mediocre documentary-makers. ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/10 "2006-02-19T12:56:33Z")
Any scene portraying snobbish, rich people attending high-class social affairs will invariably be accompanied by Vivaldi’s “Spring” from the Four Seasons. If not that, then Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” can be expected. I was also going to mention “I Feel Good.” Another top contender for music overuse is George Thoroughgood’s “Bad to the Bone.” ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/11 "2006-02-19T13:10:25Z")
> [@Argent Towers](#): > > “Spirit in the Sky,” or “Green Onions,” or some variations of them. Every damn movie involving football seems to feature them. There is a programme on Australian TV called **20 to 1** which goes through 20 of some thing - stuffups, funny on air moments etc. Last week was **One Hit Wonders** and one was **Spirit In The Sky**. They mentioned that it has featured in 30 film soundtracks. ---
**Author:** ![zenith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zenith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zenith)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/12 "2006-02-19T15:12:24Z")
_Beyond the Sea_ by Bobby Darin, for some cruise line. They’ve been playing it for a couple of years,now. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/13 "2006-02-19T15:55:02Z")
“I Can See Clearly Now”, by Johnny Nash. Any allergy, sinus, headache or whatever commercial thinks that this song will lead us to a bright sunshiny day, but really it just makes me turn the channel. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/14 "2006-02-19T16:01:48Z")
The “generic love scene music” where it keeps building to the violins’ long run up to the climax. . . ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/15 "2006-02-19T16:07:55Z")
> [@dwc1970](#): > > Another top contender for music overuse is George Thoroughgood’s “Bad to the Bone.” Yeah, but you’ve gotta admit, it **worked** in Terminator 2… ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/16 "2006-02-19T16:11:25Z")
It was effective the first million times it was used, but the _Also Sprach Zarathustra_ bit (aka 2001 theme) has worn way too thin. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/17 "2006-02-19T16:17:36Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > The “generic love scene music” where it keeps building to the violins’ long run up to the climax. . . Are you thinking of the theme from _A Summer Place_? ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/18 "2006-02-19T17:11:34Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > The “generic love scene music” where it keeps building to the violins’ long run up to the climax. . . The love theme from Tchaikovsky’s _Romeo and Juliet_? ---
**Author:** ![Ottoerotic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/6de8d8/32.png) [@Ottoerotic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ottoerotic)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/19 "2006-02-19T17:24:47Z")
Peter Gabriel - Salisbury Hill It seems like half of all love story/family movies use this damn song. It has gotten better in recent years, but hell enough already. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143/20 "2006-02-19T17:29:04Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The love theme from Tchaikovsky’s _Romeo and Juliet_? Ah, yes…that’s it. Thank you. I couldn’t think of the name. There’s also the typical “sunrise”/“early morning” music overplayed in cartoons (at least when I used to watch them). And finally, around here (and perhaps most college towns), the college’s fight song is WAY, WAY overused as background music. I have, no joke, been watching TV and counted FOUR CONSECUTIVE (different) commercials that used it. Three consecutive happens once a week or so, and two consecutive is so common as to not be worth noting any more. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-overused-background-music/345143.md?page=2)