Why did the Highlander movie use so many Queen songs?

[msmith537]

@kenobi_65

Hampshire actually listed several in post #12, though you may not have seen those films, or remember the heavy use of songs by one artist:
*
Harold and Maude* lists nine songs by Cat Stevens on its soundtrack.
The Graduate lists fourteen songs by Simon and Garfunkel on its soundtrack.
Batman lists six songs by Prince on its soundtrack.

And, as snfaulkner notes, Queen had already done the Flash Gordon soundtrack, too.

A few others that come to my mind:
Xanadu has five songs by Electric Light Orchestra, including a duet with Olivia Newton-John (who also performed on six songs, though she was the movie’s star; ELO never actually appears in the film).
The Magic Christian has three songs by Badfinger.
Tron: Legacy’s soundtrack was done by Daft Punk.

*Away We Go * featured a lot of songs by singer songwriter Alexi Murdoch.
Maximum Overdrive’s redeeming quality is it’s AC/DC soundtrack.

[Jonathan_Chance]

@Kamino_Neko

At least partially filmed, too, as I understand it. Who Wants to Live Forever was apparently written after watching the scene it ended up playing behind.

Yes, indeed. The band got to see rough cuts of scenes to write songs to. They were able to take cues from the movie in writing the songs.

[Grestarian]

@Arkcon

Which makes it the real question, “Why did Queen write a soundtrack, and give it their own title, instead of the movie title?”

Because, strictly speaking, it wasn’t exclusively or entirely the Highlander soundtrack.

One Vision was originally used in Iron Eagles* On the bootleg copy of Highlander that I used to have, it’s playing behind the closing credits.

Hammer to Fall was an original off Queen II and is playing on the Merc’s cassette stereo when he goes out looking for trouble.

Pain is so Close to Pleasure was referenced in One Year of Love as sort-of a sideways joke, but was never used in a scene in Highlander (not even the Directors Cuts). One Year of Love is playing on the jukebox in the bar scene.

and, conversely,

New York New York was used in the movie but never included on any published recordings. In fact, the official word (as of January 2019) is that the recording was lost. It’s the closing music to the scene where The Kurgan is driving like a maniac.

And then there’s Forever, which is a beautiful instrumental piece that is clearly inspired by Who Wants To Live Forever but just seems to be a lovely filler on the album. I’m glad it was included; it gives me chills more than its inspirational piece.
—G!

• A young pilot-as-hero movie that played at the theater where I worked. I always thought looked like it was cobbled together from remnants of the Top Gun blockbuster.

[Jonathan_Chance]

@Grestarian

Because, strictly speaking, it wasn’t exclusively or entirely the Highlander soundtrack.

One Vision was originally used in Iron Eagles* On the bootleg copy of Highlander that I used to have, it’s playing behind the closing credits.

Hammer to Fall was an original off Queen II and is playing on the Merc’s cassette stereo when he goes out looking for trouble.

Pain is so Close to Pleasure was referenced in One Year of Love as sort-of a sideways joke, but was never used in a scene in Highlander (not even the Directors Cuts). One Year of Love is playing on the jukebox in the bar scene.

and, conversely,

New York New York was used in the movie but never included on any published recordings. In fact, the official word (as of January 2019) is that the recording was lost. It’s the closing music to the scene where The Kurgan is driving like a maniac.

And then there’s Forever, which is a beautiful instrumental piece that is clearly inspired by Who Wants To Live Forever but just seems to be a lovely filler on the album. I’m glad it was included; it gives me chills more than its inspirational piece.
—G!

• A young pilot-as-hero movie that played at the theater where I worked. I always thought looked like it was cobbled together from remnants of the Top Gun blockbuster.

Well, Hammer to Fall was on The Works from 1984. Queen II was ten years before that. And One Vision was written post-Live Aid and included in the Iron Eagle soundtrack opportunistically rather than commissioned for the movie.