# Music for crusin' in a helicopter gunship? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 22, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742 "2003-05-22T04:24:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/21 "2003-05-22T15:43:00Z")
Flight of the Valkyries. Fortunate Son is a great second. Now can someone put the song’s they’ve listed to the movies they were in? Flight is from Apocalypse Now, Fortunate Son is from Forrest Gump. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/22 "2003-05-22T15:56:21Z")
Surfin’ Bird is from Full Metal Jacket ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/23 "2003-05-22T16:00:39Z")
Instead of “Run to the Hills,” I’d go with “The Prisoner” … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/24 "2003-05-22T16:03:54Z")
How about the theme to ‘Airwolf’? ---
**Author:** ![Kombucha\_ShroomPerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7c8e57/32.png) [@Kombucha\_ShroomPerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kombucha_ShroomPerson)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/25 "2003-05-22T16:04:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KidCharlemagne \* > \*\*Flight of the Valkyries. Fortunate Son is a great second. Now can someone put the song’s they’ve listed to the movies they were in? Flight is from Apocalypse Now, Fortunate Son is from Forrest Gump. \*\* Mine weren’t from any films, they’re just what I’m listening to at the moment. addition: “The Hate Song” - Raging Speedhorn. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/26 "2003-05-22T16:33:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KidCharlemagne \* > Now can someone put the song’s they’ve listed to the movies they were in? \*\* That’s easy: Groovin’ - The Rascals [Platoon](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002IKT/qid=1053619963/sr=8-10/ref=sr_8_10/104-1938334-2564736?v=glance&s=music&n=507846) Surfin’ Bird - The Trashmen - [Full Metal Jacket](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002LCG/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/104-1938334-2564736?v=glance&s=music&n=507846) Wooly Bully - Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs - [Full Metal Jacket](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002LCG/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/104-1938334-2564736?v=glance&s=music&n=507846) Nowhere to Run - Martha Reeves -[Good Morning Vietnam: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002GEA/qid=1053621040/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-1938334-2564736?v=glance&s=music) I Got You (I Feel Good) - James Brown-[Good Morning Vietnam: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000002GEA/qid=1053621040/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-1938334-2564736?v=glance&s=music) Fortunate Son - CCR - [Forest Gump](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005NKK8/qid=1053620605/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-1938334-2564736#product-details) Suzie Q - Flash Cadillac-[Apocalypse Now Redux](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005M98K/qid=1053620708/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/104-1938334-2564736#product-details) American Woman - The Guess Who -[Vietnam: Songs from a Divided House](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005AU53/ref=pd_sim_music_1/104-1938334-2564736?v=glance&s=music&n=507846) War - Edwin Starr -[Vietnam: Songs from a Divided House](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005AU53/ref=pd_sim_music_1/104-1938334-2564736?v=glance&s=music&n=507846) IMHO, Metalica and Iron Maiden are a poor choice for that ride into the bush cause it just gets everyone even more wired up. ---
**Author:** ![Wyld\_Stallyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8dc957/32.png) [@Wyld\_Stallyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wyld_Stallyn)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/27 "2003-05-22T16:47:26Z")
> [@](#): > > IMHO, Metalica and Iron Maiden are a poor choice for that ride into the bush cause it just gets everyone even more wired up. See, I was imagining a situation more akin to the Desert Strike video game, where you just get to kill everything in sight, and so I was imagining what music I would want to blare out of the front speakers to scare the people who I was about to kill. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de053/32.png) [@Umbriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/28 "2003-05-22T17:09:57Z")
I had thought it was a unique peculiarity of mine that there are a number of songs that have developed this association in my head. Of course, the internet has shown us that there are no _unique_ peculiarities… My sampler, mostly post-Nam, for flying into battle, guns blazing and rockets ripple-firing: “Dragula” – Rob Zombie “Gel” – Collective Soul “Zero” – Smashing Pumpkins “Nightcrawler” – Judas Priest “The Hunt” theme from Jerry Goldsmith’s score for _The Final Conflict_ or, for cheerier, more whimiscal devastation – “Daydream Believer” – The Monkees “Take a Chance on Me” – ABBA “This Kiss” – Faith Hill For cruising over the jungle/rice paddies/etc., in a variety of moods: “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” – The Walker Brothers “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” – Judas Priest “No Surrender” – Bruce Springsteen “Shadows of the Night” – Pat Benatar “Twilight Zone” – Golden Earring ---
**Author:** ![NameAlreadyTaken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@NameAlreadyTaken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NameAlreadyTaken)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/29 "2003-05-22T17:32:15Z")
If you want a classical score, you could steal most of the psy-ops torture list from [Eric Flint’s 1632](http://http://www.baen.com/library/0671319728/0671319728.htm): Wozzeck - Berg Night on Bald Moutain - Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition “Bydlo” - Mussorgsky Peer Gynt “In the Hall of the Mountain King” - Greig Alexander Nevsky “Arise, ye Russian People” - Prokofiev Piano Concert #3 - Prokofiev The Rite of Spring - Stravinsky Tristan & ISolde’s “Liebestod” - Wagner Der Ring “Entry of the Gods Into Valhalla” - Wagner Der Ring “Ride of the Valkyries” - Wagner Der Ring “Wotan’s Farewell” - Wagner Der Ring “Siegried’s Funeral March” - Wagner Der Ring “Immolation of the Gods” - Wagner Symphony #8 - Shostakovich And yes, I did just post something similar to the Iraqi musical torture thread, but it fits nicely here too. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/30 "2003-05-22T17:35:48Z")
I’d want some good opera, NOT Wagner - but I repeat myself. I just think some nice, heartbreakingly beautiful music would be just the thing to go with large-scale death and destruction. ---
**Author:** ![Breezy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@Breezy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Breezy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/31 "2003-05-22T18:00:13Z")
I was thinking “American Badass” by Kid Rock. ---
**Author:** ![Race\_Bannon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Race\_Bannon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Race_Bannon)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/32 "2003-05-22T18:25:16Z")
“Gimmie Shelter” - The Rolling Stones ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/33 "2003-05-22T18:39:39Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Mr. Excellent_ > **I’d want some good opera, NOT Wagner** Mark Twain observed that “Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.” ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/34 "2003-05-22T19:09:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor \* > \*\*Your hands, rendered shaky by years of indulgence in Trade Gin, rattled the “Enter” button like a telegraph key, that’s what. > > Good job, man. New SDMB record. 😃 \*\* I have GOT to lay off that “Lord Julius’ Ring Around the Bathtub Gin.” “Great new label, same funny aftertaste” indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de053/32.png) [@Umbriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/35 "2003-05-22T19:21:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Excellent \* > \*\*I’d want some good opera, NOT Wagner - but I repeat myself. I just think some nice, heartbreakingly beautiful music would be just the thing to go with large-scale death and destruction. \*\* I should think that Wagner’s “Liebestod”, as recommended by NameAlreadyTaken, would fit the bill nicely, whatever your prejudices. The “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s Ninth would seem to hit the right note, though it’s become a running gag in the Die Hard movies. How about some show tunes? Some brassy stuff like “Everything’s Comin’ Up Roses” from Gypsy, or “Oklahoma”, or “One” from A Chorus Line, could be a good tongue-in-cheek counterpoint to carnage… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/36 "2003-05-22T19:31:20Z")
Since no one has mentioned it, in _Predator_, future Senator Ventura is playing “Long Tall Sally” by Little Richard. My personal choice would be “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” - opening scratch during slo-mo advancing scene, opening wailing guitar during close-ups of the guys in the chopper, slow drum beats during scene of unsuspecting village, then when the drums and jammin’ guitar kick in, asses kickin’. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/37 "2003-05-22T20:04:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrotherCadfael \* > \*\*Mark Twain observed that “Wagner’s music is better than it sounds.” \*\* He also said, on his way out of some opera or another, “I haven’t heard anything like that since the orphanage burned down.” 😃 Back to the OP, For that familiar Vietman era gunship swoop, I’d suggest: Time - Chambers Brothers Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) - Janis Joplin Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull 40,000 Headmen - Traffic Reach Out - The Four Tops Let’s Live for Today - Grassrooots (on second thought, perhaps not) ---
**Author:** ![NameAlreadyTaken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/97f17d/32.png) [@NameAlreadyTaken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NameAlreadyTaken)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/38 "2003-05-22T20:17:55Z")
I’d also like to add Immigrant Song by Led Zepplin. I hate their music but that song is a good one to play when in your gunship blowing things up. But what about for after you land during your post-traumatic stress disorder? How about: Veteran of the Psychic Wars - Blue Oyster Cult Spiral - Jesus Jones One - Metallica ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/39 "2003-05-22T21:02:26Z")
Vietnam: **Last Time Around** - The Del-Vetts Now: Anything by **The Hellacopters** ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742/40 "2003-05-24T01:21:39Z")
Has to be Paint it Black, but I’ll only say it once. That opening sequence was one of the best parts of “Tour of Duty”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-crusin-in-a-helicopter-gunship/176742.md?page=3)