20 Unforgettable Movie Soundtrack Moments

Andrew Buckle, July 21st, 2022

Inspired by the joyous garden party sequence in S.S Rajamouli’s extraordinary RRR, which I enjoyed immensely, I started thinking about some other uses of music in movies that took my breath away and have since become synonymous, at least to me, with their presence in that movie. How many tracks do you hear on the radio that immediately remind you of a movie scene where that track has been used? There are likely more than you think. I have attempted to curate a selection of some of these most unforgettable moments.

Now, there has to be some criteria in place in order to select from such an extraordinary range. First of all, these are just from movies. I have tried not to include many songs that solely accompany the opening or closing credits. While these may be iconic to the film (such as “Danger Zone” in Top Gun), I was more interested in music – and to put it simply ‘good songs’ – that characters interact with or are part of a key sequence within the body of the film. Original music created for the movie (haunting tracks like “The Masked Ball” in Eyes Wide Shut for example) has also been less weighted in the consideration too. Some tracks, like “Staying Alive” in Saturday Night Fever, are just too monumental in significance to ignore on either of these fronts. If some of your favourites are missing from the list, this might explain why.

So, check out some of my favourite needle-drop moments below. These are in no particular order. I hope you have enjoyed these sequences as much as I have, and if you haven’t seen the movies that inspire the selections they are well worth seeking out. They offer more than just a magical musical moment, but are outstanding films in general.

Warning: many of the following clips contain spoilers of the movies, and some included clips contain strong adult content.

“Come On Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners in The Perks of Being a Wallflower