# Music for supervillainy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2004, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612 "2004-01-04T07:12:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/21 "2004-01-05T14:32:09Z")
After watching the movie Manhunter last night on TV I have to go with Ina Gada Davida (sp?). Watch the end of the movie and see if you don’t agree ---
**Author:** ![Dawne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Dawne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dawne)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/22 "2004-01-05T14:37:09Z")
Cossack Patrol, by Ivan Rebroff (I think it’s an old Russian folk song, or something.) As seen [here](http://www.rathergood.com/vid) on [rathergood.com](http://rathergood.com) ---
**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/23 "2004-01-05T14:48:16Z")
Oh!, Enough by Gravity Kills would be perfect as you personally engage in wanton destruction and unleash your terrifiying powers on an unprepared world. My speed always jumps by about 15mph when I hear this in the car. ---
**Author:** ![Adamcomic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/977dab/32.png) [@Adamcomic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Adamcomic)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/24 "2004-01-05T15:17:06Z")
I remember the theme to The Andy Griffith Show being whistled menacingly in a short lived TV show a while back. Sent shivers EVERYWHERE. Think it was called American Gothic. Not sure though. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/25 "2004-01-05T15:20:06Z")
That would be [Iron Butterfly](http://www.ironbutterfly.com/bio/)’s _In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida_, the first classic heavy metal song (1968). ---
**Author:** ![LeeshaJoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@LeeshaJoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LeeshaJoy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/26 "2004-01-05T16:03:33Z")
The Beatles’ “Run For Your Life” is an ideal psycho-stalker theme song. ---
**Author:** ![vsquist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/58956e/32.png) [@vsquist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vsquist)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/27 "2004-01-05T16:07:46Z")
The Rolling Stones: “Sympathy for the Devil” The Doors: “The End” ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de053/32.png) [@Umbriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/28 "2004-01-05T16:16:46Z")
The soundtrack from _[The Final Conflict](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082377/)_ (the third _Omen_ movie) is wonderfully menacing and megalomaniacal, particularly the main title and the fox hunt sequence. The soundtrack for _[Hellbound: Hellraiser II](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095294/)_ has similar charms. Both are far better than their respective movies. As for pop tracks – Public Image Limited’s _The Order of Death_ The Smashing Pumpkins’ _Zero_ ---
**Author:** ![Moe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moe/32/2972_2.png) [@Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moe)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/29 "2004-01-05T16:39:54Z")
**Radiohead’s** _Everything in its Right Place_ I think would make a great soundtrack to a killing montage where the evildoers sneak into people’s bedrooms at night with knives. The 5th mov’t to Berlioz’s **fantastic Symphony** is a very evil narrative. An artist, thoroughly rejected by his ultimate female object of desire in earlier movt’s, now in an opium-induced nightmare imagines himself dead and and looking on to a party that this woman is having. She is now a witch and seems to be celebrating his demise with all the other evil spirits. Oh, and it desearves mention for using the _Dies Irae_ theme. Excerpts from **Bartok’s** _Bluebeard’s Castle_. **Ozzy Osbourne’s** _Diary of a Madman_. **Steve Reich’s** _Proverb_ I think would be interesting behind a sorta satanic ritual sacrifice-type thing. ---
**Author:** ![dman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f0a364/32.png) [@dman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dman)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/30 "2004-01-05T16:58:07Z")
The theme from “ **Phantom of the Opera** ” is now stuck in my head. Evil genius/madman incarnate 😃 … And I’ve now got to track down the [Techno Remix](http://200.185.8.50/bmp3musicas/%28dj_lucio_junior%29phantom_of_the_opera-techno_mix.mp3) of it I heard years ago. Movies usually cement the scene, although I’m trying to come up with something original… and failing, so _Pink Floyd - The Wall_ : **In the Flesh/Run Like Hell** _David Bowie/Trevor Jones - Labrynth Soundtrack_ : a track in there really stuck with me. May have been “ **Goblin Battle** ” ---
**Author:** ![Yamirskoonir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/c0e974/32.png) [@Yamirskoonir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yamirskoonir)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/31 "2004-01-05T17:15:18Z")
I was also thinking Depeche Mode, but more in a “Enjoy the Silence” kinda way as you cradle your assault rifle/grenade launcher/flame thrower and you’re blowing everything around to smithereens - enter the irony… Hehe, anybody else have a least one stanza of “Badger Badger Badger…Mushroom, _Mushroom!_” run through their head when considering evil songs? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/32 "2004-01-05T17:24:11Z")
Another vote for Holst’s **Mars, Bringer of War** ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/33 "2004-01-05T17:43:13Z")
A third vote for _Mars, Bringer of War_. It’s the perfect processional song as the supervillain deploys his armor legions, his brand new battleship, or other BF weapon. (Oh wait, it was the theme for _Expedition: Bismark_.) For a certain kind of villain, “I’ve got a pretty big list” (“Contadine, signorine, marchionesse, principesse”) from Motzart’s _Don Giovanni_ is the perfect theme song. For the particularly sarcastic villain, _Liberty Bell March_ (aka _Theme from Monty Python’s Flying Circus_) is an effective entrance song. ---
**Author:** ![Nanny\_Ogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a87d85/32.png) [@Nanny\_Ogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanny_Ogg)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/34 "2004-01-05T18:07:45Z")
What’s that song from Sleeping With The Enemy with Julia Roberts? That one gave me the creeps for a while. I also think “MLK” from U2 would be a perfect quiet and bloody killers theme. Picture it playing in the background as you see his face incredibly devoid of emotion while standing over his last victim… the camera closing in on his blank stare. … or the quiet yet disturbing Pink Floyd’s “Run Rabbit Run” (I think I got the title wrong) during the chase scene. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/35 "2004-01-05T18:09:35Z")
Some songs make me think of evil and horror and terrible villainy thanks to their use in movies and TV, even though their musical and lyrical content doesn’t have anything to do with it: Stealers’ Wheel’s “Stuck In the Middle With You” from the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs Tom Petty’s “American Girl” from the kidnapping scene in Silence of the Lambs The Revels’ “Comanche” from the rape scene in Pulp Fiction That old '50s song “Wonderful, Wonderful” from the intensely-creepy X-Files episode “Home” ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/36 "2004-01-05T18:52:05Z")
**Queen** ’s _Princes of the Universe_. ---
**Author:** ![Glassy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Glassy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glassy)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/37 "2004-01-05T19:22:04Z")
“You Better Run” from Pink Floyd’s The Wall. The intro sound - that Gilmourian guitar thing that sort of sounds like someone starting up a Harley - is creepy, as are the lyrics. “Welcome to the Machine” would be good, too, as well as just about any chapter of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond.” In fact, I think most Pink Floyd songs (Roger Waters era) would be suitable for chaotic mayhem, quiet plotting, or obsessive out-of-control evildoing. ---
**Author:** ![baldric](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@baldric](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/baldric)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/38 "2004-01-05T19:26:12Z")
my two tunes worth: Guster - Airport Song DJ Chris - Fetts Vette ---
**Author:** ![Pez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5e9695/32.png) [@Pez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pez)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/39 "2004-01-05T19:49:44Z")
Just to imagine it in a movie: For a car chase scene: **Jesus Built My Hotrod** by \*Ministry \* (well, anything by _Ministry_ sounds evil anyway) For the build-up to the final shoot-out scene (á la Matrix #1 selection of weapons): **Power of Lard** by _Lard_, the first 3-4 minutes should be enough **Whip it up** and **Freedom of Choice** by _Devo_ for the teenage angst of the villain For a cruising in his/hers evil-BAD-mobile looking for trouble: **Bad to the Bone** by _George Thoroughgood and The Delaware Destroyers_. If the car breaks down the _Adam Sandler’s_ **Ode to my Car** will come in handy 🙂 _Santana’s_ **Black Magic Woman** or **Evil Ways** should fit in somewhere - evil boy meets future villainess? (or villain-ass?). **I put a Spell on You** by _Screamin’ Jay Hawkins_ could also fit in this category, so would his **Is you is or is you ain’t my baby** though maybe more in the evil boy loses evil/nice girl. And if the villain is an American then of course his theme song will be _Chris Rock’s_ **American Badass**. Since all the bad tunes belong to the bad guys I think we will have to figure out a way for squeezing in a few songs by_The Clash_, such as **The Magnicifient Seven** (evil crew walking into the sunset?), **Charlie can’t surf** or **Rock the Casbah** - maybe for a non-amercian badass? _Nine Inch Nails’_ **Terrible lie** and **Head Like a Hole** are just plain evil, good for plotting scenes. For the final nuke-out scene I think _Tom Waits’_ **The Earth Died Screaming** will be perfect. Other good sources (no scratch that, EVIL SOURCES): Dead Kennedy’s, Front 242, Metallica, B-52’s And since Baldric was just posting, then the theme from **Blackadder** ---
**Author:** ![Redhawke.the.bard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Redhawke.the.bard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redhawke.the.bard)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612/40 "2004-01-05T20:05:59Z")
A few of mine: _Dogs of War_ - Pink Floyd _Enter Sandman_ - Metallica (kind surprised no one’s mentioned this one yet) _Bad to the Bone_ - George Thorogood [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-for-supervillainy/222612.md?page=3)