5 Songs That Were Given A New Lease On Life By Movies

Movies and music are two things that will forever go hand in hand. Imagine your favourite movies without a memorable song or soundtrack following it. Chances are it’s not quite the same and something feels missing. The visuals are enhanced by the sound accompanying it

The same logic applies the other way round at times too. Some songs become iconic because of their music video or a movie. While meant to be an auditory experience, the visual aspect does help us enjoy a song more whether we realize it or not. A good accompanying visual experience can help enhance a song even long after it’s initial release.

In this list, we will look at 5 songs that enjoyed popularity because of movies. Before getting into it, let me clarify a few details. We won’t be covering any songs written specifically for the movies that made them popular. We will however, take a look at songs that existed prior to the movie’s release that may have either been redone for the film, or presented in its original form.

Without further ado, let’s begin.

All Star by Smash Mouth: Shrek

A song that continues to be popular today thanks to its status as a meme (you cannot spend more than 10 minutes on social media without hearing it!), Smash Mouth’s All Star was first released in 1999. Borrowing from the 90s rock style of its contemporaries, Smash Mouth wanted to create a song that was heavy instrumentally but contained an upbeat and positive message.

Released to positive reviews which praised the song’s message, All Star was also nominated for a Grammy Award. Looking to capitalise off the song’s success, the band agreed to have it used in the film Mystery Men with it’s cast also appearing in the music video for All Star. However the film did not perform well at the Box Office and the popularity of the song began to fade.

It seemed that All Star had run its course and to be fair, it had quite a respectable showing. However, few would realize that in a few short years, the song would reach heights that it has yet to come down from. Featured in the opening scenes of the first Shrek movie, the song’s popularity was restored to unprecedented levels and remains a staple of pop-culture today.

Although more well known as a meme than a song in a film today, the only reason All Star is as famous as it is now is because of its appearance in Shrek. Thus, Smash Mouth has that movie to thank for immortalising it’s song in the hearts and minds of an entire generation of internet users.

Come And Get Your Love By Redbone: Guardians of the Galaxy

In recent years, audiences have praised James Gunn’s ability to seamlessly blend music into his movies and TV shows. In fact, you could even make a whole list of songs that enjoyed newfound popularity thanks to James Gunn.

However, for the sake of variety we’ll stick to the first big instance of a song that became popular in a James Gunn film.

Released in 1973 by Redbone, Come and Get Your Love was met with a respectable degree of success for the time. Hitting number 5 on the charts, the song allowed Redbone to be the first ever Native American band to reach the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100.

Just as with any serviceable song, Come and Get Your Love’s popularity came and went and eventually fell very much under the radar. However, this all changed with 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Played in the opening of the film, the song helps set the tone of the movie and it’s catchy melody coupled with Chris Pratt’s enthusiastic performance catapulted the song into the hearts and minds of a new generation of listeners.

8 years on from it’s resurgence, Come and Get Your Love remains popular among both the young and the old and can be found anywhere from your grandpa’s record collection to a newly released Tik Tok video.

Mamma Mia by ABBA: Mamma Mia

Most of the time, it is the song that is written for the movie and not the other way around. Catherine Johnson however, proves that the opposite is not only possible but also very successful. Creating an original story based on the music of ABBA, Johnson’s Mamma Mia borrowed the name of the band’s most famous song.

Initially released as a musical in 1999, Mamma Mia was adapted into a film in 2008. It was to say the least, a roaring success. So much so that it put ABBA back into the mainstream again. This was no easy feat too as ABBA was already an iconic group with a memorable repertoire of great songs.

Prior to this, ABBA had been informally dissolved since 1982. However, the movie stirred up renewed attention for the band with their songs once again being heard everywhere. The titular tune stood out exceptionally well with Meryl Streep’s rendition doing it justice.

Mamma Mia the movie not only revived the popularity of it’s titular song but also the band who performed it. Since the release of the two Mamma Mia movies, ABBA has reformed and have continued on to new successes.

Misirlou by Dick Dale: Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is known to have done wonders for the careers of the people involved in it. Everybody from actors John Travolta (no stranger to movies with famous soundtracks in it) and Samuel L. Jackson, and director Quentin Tarantino all benefited immensely from the film.

The beauty about Pulp Fiction is that it not only revived the popularity of it’s actors. Used as the film’s opening theme, Dick Dale’s rendition of Misirlou became an iconic song synonymous with action films over three decades from it’s release.

Interestingly, Dale himself was not the song’s original artist. In fact, Misrlou was actually a Middle Eastern folk song with origins dating back no later than the 1920s. Dale took the song and reimagined it in a surf rock style. Riding off the surf sound of the 60s, the song was popular but it soon faded along with the fad.

However, thanks to Pulp Fiction, Misirlou continues to exist in popular culture over a century from when it was first widely heard. To this day, many who hear the song mistakenly believe that it was written specifically for the film that launched it into immortality. To say that Misirlou really evolved with the times would be an understatement.

I Will Always Love You By Whitney Houston: The Bodyguard

It is no easy feat to take a song that was already a number one hit and turn it into one of the greatest songs in the history of music. Whitney Houston did exactly that in 1994s The Bodyguard which she also starred in.

Covering the Dolly Parton classic as a last minute decision by the studio, Houston reinvented the song. Turning it from a heartfelt country requiem to an emotional power ballad with an instantly recognisable chorus, Houston made the song hers. Despite the movie itself acknowledging that song had been around from before, many still assume that Houston was the song’s original artist.

In more recent years, Houston’s version of I Will Love You has eclipsed the popularity of the movie in which it was featured. Not only did she outdo an already amazing song but she was able to outshine one of the highest grossing films in history.

No matter where you go in the world today, if you were to play this song, people of all ages and from all walks of life will instantly recognise it. I Will Always Love You is the prime example of an already great song that was given a new lease on life thanks to a film. In fact, it was not as much a lease on life as it was a one way ticket to everlasting immortality.

That does it for this list. I am aware that there are plenty of other songs that were made more popular by films but to me this, these five are the most notable examples. Lists like this do involve a bit of personal preference so feel free to disagree with any of these picks.

I’d love to know if there are other similar songs not featured here that you’ve enjoyed listening to. Anyway, if you made it this far I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read this. Till we hear from each other again, take care!