Happens to me quite a bit, so...
Volume 1
It seems that a lot of the recent animated family movies are the most guilty of this song repetition. Like there isn't enough different music out there in the world! They have to use a tune which has just been featured quite prominently in a similar style movie.
So for this first installment, those popular kids films will be our starting point. Beginning with...
Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
The BBC recently served up some fine family films over the festive season. One of them was Megamind, which features Mr Blue Sky by ELO, one of my favourite songs ever which also popped up during The Magic Roundabout movie from a few years ago...
Not only used in kids films, you can also hear Mr Blue Sky in Role Models, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, The Game Plan, Martian Child and The Invention Of Lying. Plus it was used very effectively in the trailer for Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind...
That's 8 movies Mr Blue Sky has been used in, in the space of under 10 years!
Plus it's worth mentioning its use in Doctor Who...
Bad To The Bone - George Thorogood and the Destroyers
Megamind once again!
This song seems to be used exclusively in the scene which first introduces the villain, or something nefarious (or, at one time, Chris Moyles!).
As well as Megamind, other family films featuring Bad To The Bone include Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Firehouse Dog and the Lindsay Lohan remake of The Parent Trap.
Further back, I remember it being used in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Problem Child, Major Payne, Talk Radio, Joe Dirt and right at the start of Christine...
Wooly Bully - Sam The Sham And The Pharaohs
Guess what? Yep, it's another one used in Megamind!
I also heard Wooly Bully just a few days later when watching Monsters vs Aliens. Other movies it's used in include Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, The Rookie, Happy Gilmore, Scrooged, Full Metal Jacket, Splash, Mr. Holland's Opus and Fast Times at Ridgemont High to name just 10!
Unfortunately, every time I hear Wooly Bully I always think of a version recorded by Alvin & The Chipmunks back in the 80s...
Oh Yeah - Yellow
Following on from that Chipmunk assault on the ears, and proving that I don't just throw this stuff together, this classic 80s tune was recently featured in the live action/aniamtion Chipmunks film Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.
Oh Yeah is another one of those songs which always seems to play over the same type of scene. Film critic Jon Bernstein perfectly summed up the overuse of this song:
"Every time a movie, TV show or commercial wants to underline the jaw-dropping impact of a hot babe or sleek auto, that synth-drum starts popping and that deep voice rumbles, 'Oh yeah . . .'"Movie wise I've heard Oh Yeah in The Secret Of My Success...
It's also used in Soul Plane, Not Another Teen Movie, K-9, She’s Out of Control, American Pie: The Book Of Love and probably most famously in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off...
Low Rider - War
Robots is a very underrated animated movie with a great soundtrack. If you've never seen it it's definitely worth looking out for, it often pops up of Film 4, and you can hear this tune in it.
Oddly the last time I watched it, on the exact same day over on one of those ITV channels (ITV7+42 or something like that!) was Beverly Hills Chihuahua (not such a great movie, but...), that also features Low Rider. It must be a LA thing because you can also hear it in Beverly Hills Ninja too.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg, surely this is the most overused song ever? As it also features in A Knights Tale, 21 Grams, Colors, A Gnome Named Gnorm, Dazed & Confused, Cheech & Chong's Up In Smoke, Paulie, The Young Poisoner's Handbook, Friday, The Odd Life Of Timothy Green and Gone In Sixty Seconds...
14 movies right there! And it wouldn't surprise me if there were more.
However, I don't know about you but whenever Low Rider gets played in a film I always get a craving for some Marmite on toast!
That's all for now, but as you may have guessed, we've got a "Now! That's What I Call Music-You-Always-Hear-In-The-Movies" Volume 2 coming soon, and you can help us finish compiling it by telling us know what songs you always hear in the movies. Let us know in the comments below.
