I see we have not had this thread for over a decade so rather than resurrecting a zombie …
I am making a playlist of songs that make you immediately think of a movie.
One song per movie.
If it is not a song written specifically for a movie, then it counts if you immediately think of a specific movie when you hear it. For example, you hear (Don’t You) Forget About Me by Simple Minds and you can see Bender walking across the football field putting in Claire’s earring (and crave a turkey pot pie).
If there is a movie version and an album version, the movie version goes on the playlist. For example, Mother in the movie The Wall is very different than the album
Limit 5 per person. My current playlist is over 80 entries so this could get out of hand fast if no limitations.
So here are my five. I’ll start with the first two that inspired the concept
Wrecking Ball from Strayz (a great film if you like low-brow humor)
Like a Prayer from Deadpool & Wolverine
The one that got me off my ass and start the actual Spotify playlist
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door from Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Next up
Christmas is All Around from Love, Actually. The movie version is credited to Billy Mack, not Bill Nighy
Danger Zone from Top Gun. Could have been Take My Breath Away but one per movie.
“Thus Spake Zarathustra” from 2001: A Space Odyssey
“I’m All Right” from Caddyshack
“Jingle Bell Rock” from Lethal Weapon
“Axel F” from Beverly Hills Cop
“Singing in the Rain” from A Clockwork Orange
(Stanley Kubrick does perverse things to my musical memories.)
La Gazza Ladra from A Clockwork Orange. In Your Eyes from Say Anything Singing in the Rain from - Singing in the Rain. Where do the Children Play from Harold and Maude Everybody’s Talkin from Midnight Cowboy
Home Sweet Home, already was a cornball song from the 19th C., used in Bugs Bunny cartoons. Incredibly this was able to be shed in 1956’s Burmese Harp, when the defeated Japanese are in the hut waiting to be shot to pieces by the British, but they start singing it together instead.
“Colonel Bogey March” - Bridge On The River Kwai
“Money for Nothing / Beverly Hillbillies” - UHF
“Kiss Me” - She’s All That
“I Got You Babe” - Groundhog Day
I know 2001: A Space Odyssey has already been done, but:
“Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)” - 2001: A Space Odyssey
“Stuck in the Middle With You” – Reservoir Dogs
“Chariots of Fire theme” – Chariots of Fire
"Man of Constant Sorrow " – O Brother, Where Art Thou (could have substituted many songs here)
Also question: you say one song per movie, but what about multiple movies per song. I’m specifically thinking of the James Bond opening theme that has been in every Bond film since Dr. No. If it’s one-to-one, then I’d say “Goldfinger” from Goldfinger.
Great and iconic usage, without a doubt…but it also serves to accompany a masterful sequence in Once Upon a Time in America (1984), so it evokes two movies for me, not just one, in violation of the op.
But mostly Forrest Gump