The Top 10 Greatest Movie Soundtracks Ever In The Whole Entire World

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Lately I’ve started to notice, and consequently obsess over, the way that movies and tv shows feature songs where the lyrical mimics the exactΒ same story that’s playing out on screen. Now I’m no music director, but evenΒ though Missy Higgins’ “Steer” is a lovely song I’m not convinced it should be the auto-choice for every scene involving a cute girl driving determinedly off into the sunset. Anyhow! I was inspired to compile the top 10 greatest movie soundtracks*.

* This top 10 is completely subjective, obviously. I’ve not listened to every soundtrack ever released nor have I developed any sort of rating system for the ones I have heard. What we have here is the result of a looming deadline, a quick scan of my iTunes library and a pop quiz sprung on a computer delivery guy who loathes the Grease Mega Mix as much as I do. SoΒ add your own favorite soundtracks below in the comments section. And if yelling at me for not includingΒ theΒ Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack is going to somehow be therapeutic then by all means, let it out.

10.Β The Breakfast Club

Hey hey hey hey! Thank god for John Hughes. I suspect I wouldn’t be the person I am today had I’ve not grown up alongside John Bender and Allison Reynolds and Simple Minds. Admittedly the Pretty In Pink soundtrackΒ would’ve beatenΒ The Breakfast Club soundtrack in a 1986 dance off, but the latter was responsible for making β€œDon’t You (Forget About Me)” a defining song of the 80s. It’s seriously on every 80s ‘best of’ compilation in existence, look it up.

9.Β Reality BitesΒ 

Back in the 90s one of my favorite movie scenes was when The Gang went to the gas station to buy snacks and they all started dancing to The Knacks’ “My Sharona”.Β Even though now I find the film to be slightly obnoxious, I’ll always be grateful to it for introducing me to artists like Lisa Loeb, The Juliana Hatfield and Dinosaur Jr. I still listen to the soundtrack on the reg and reflect on how I thought I’d be something at twenty-three.

8.Β Natural Born Killers


 This is one of those few occasions where I loved the soundtrack but didn’t enjoy the movie. It’s compiled by Trent Reznor and features the likes of Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, Bob Dylan, L7, Nine Inch Nails, Juliette Lewis. It lacks nothing, there not a gap or lull to be found.

7.Β This Is Spinal Tap

I have this thing for movies that create fictional bands and then record their music for the soundtrack. If you’ve never seen it,Β This Is Spinal Tap is a rock/mockumentary about a British heavy metal band. The soundtrack consists entirely of tracks performed by Spinal Tap in the movie, such as “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight,” which you’ve possibly heard in many other films and never realised it’s by a fictional band.

6.Β Almost Famous

The only gripe I have about the Almost Famous soundtrack is that it could’ve easily been a double album or even a box set, so many great tracks from the film didn’t make the final cut. I can’t help but to adore the fictional hit “Fever Dog”, I’ve been waiting for Stillwater to release the album since 1973.

5. TwilightΒ 

I was recently advised that a writer who mentionsΒ TwilightΒ in a music-related post cannot be taken seriously as it’s an indication that they have absolutely no taste in or knowledge of quality entertainment. So take it with a grain of salt when I tell you that if you enjoy artists like Thom Yorke, Bon Iver, Muse, Metric, Lykke Li and Florence + the Machine then don’t let your distaste for abstinence-practicing vampiresΒ stand in the way of owningΒ some killer soundtracks.

4. High Fidelity

At no surprise to anyone who has seen the film, the High Fidelity soundtrack is jam packed with cult bands, including Love, Stereolab and not one but two tracks fromΒ The Velvet Underground.

3. Josie & The Pussycats

When Laneia included “3 Small Words” in her ‘Like It’s 2003’ playlist,Β the whole internet applauded and agreed that the Josie & the Pussycats soundtrack is the most underrated thing. What more can I add.

2. D.E.B.SΒ 

Remember when Lucy Diamond vowed to give up her life of crime for a shot of love with Amy and she danced around the compound to Erasure’s A Little Respect? Is the song stuck in your head now? You can hear it on this soundtrack, alongside a handful of other memorable and totally perfect song choices such as The Cure’s “Love Cats” and Goldfrapps’ “Strict Machine”.

1. Dazed & ConfusedΒ 

“This is probably my favorite soundtrack. It’s filled with rock classics that remind me of being an American high school student coming of age during the 70s even though I’m not an American and I wasn’t alive in the 70s. That’s how good it is.”Β — Me, in ourΒ Build A Better Music Library post.

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Crystal

Founding member. Former writer. Still loves Autostraddle with her whole heart.

Crystal has written 320 articles for us.

172 Comments

  1. Damnit, the Twilight soundtrack sounds gooood, but…I can’t look past the fact that it is still Twilight…

    Some of my best soundtrack nominees, in no particular order:

    -Beauty and the Beast
    -Star Wars
    -The Lion King
    -Blade Runner
    -Pulp Fiction
    -The Virgin Suicides
    -Purple Rain
    -Easy Rider

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  5. Josie YES! I think I listened to “you don’t see me” for weeks on end after a particularly tragic breakup. I also have a thing for instrumental soundtracks, like dramatic music? Blood Diamond, Avatar, The Rock. Excellent study materials. If there’s such a thing as being the champion of the library, Hans Zimmer will bring you that feeling.

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    • GARDEN STATE

      I loved this movie and the soundtrack feels more like a score to me…as though it were orchestrated specifically for the movie and not just a collection of songs.

      I <3 Huckabees has a really interesting score from Jon Brion! Not one i would listen to frequently apart from the movie, but one where the music also seems to progress the story a bit.

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    • YESSSSS Garden State!

      As someone who worked in a music store when that came out, let me tell you it was a big freaking deal. It took me a really long time to get sick of it, too, which is really my favorite measure of how good/how much I like a CD.

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  9. Yesss, awesome post. I loved the Josie & the Pussycats soundtrack THIS MUCH when I was twelve. Some of my favorites:

    Empire Records
    Velvet Goldmine (two awesome songs by a fictional band)
    Marie Antoinette
    Donnie Darko (both the soundtrack and the score)
    Amelie
    Sid & Nancy (worth it for Gary Oldman yowling out “My Way” by Frank Sinatra)
    The Commitments (also when a fictional band performs covers of real songs for a movie and you end up liking the covers better)

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  13. Lost Highway
    Singles
    Pulp Fiction
    Hedwig and the Angry Inch
    The Crow
    The Crow: City of Angels (but don’t watch the movie)
    Higher Learning (also if you haven’t seen this movie you need to do that right now)
    Trainspotting

    And this doesn’t have any musicals. You should do a thing about musicals. I love musicals. Like 10 Classic Musicals You Need To Watch If You Haven’t Already Seen Them And If You Have You Should Watch Them Again.

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  19. Going to second all the ones for Empire Records, because without its soundtrack, that movie just wouldn’t be very good (but it remains the only Renee Zellwegger movie I can stand).

    And I’m not going to yell at your for not including O Brother, Where Art Thou, but it’s definitely one of my favorites, and is an absolutely phenomenal album on its own. Ralph Stanley’s “O Death” is perhaps one of the most haunting songs of all time. And its version of “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” is beautiful.

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      • It’s a pretty good movie, one of my fave Cohen brothers films, but seriously the soundtrack is AMAZING. It’s all traditional folk and bluegrass, with some of the great artists of the genre on it. Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Ralph Stanley, Dan Tyminski, and The Fairfield Four, among others. I cannot say enough good things about it.

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  20. Someone did “A Little Respect” on Singstar a couple of weeks ago and I had never heard it before and it got stuck on repeat in my head/itunes…I had got it OUT of my head UNTIL TODAY when I read this post. RETURN OF THE EARWORM!

    Reply to This Comment

  21. Oh man. It breaks my heart not to see Hedwig and the Angry Inch or Death Proof. But I appreciate the [limited] time frame in which this was written, so I’ll refrain from using multiple question marks followed by exclamation points followed by a series of ones.

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  33. The Garden State soundtrack pulled me through and made me survive one very long, rough year. Zach Braff has a way of choosing such songs for soundtracks that they feel like they’re mix cds made just for you, just from him. The Last Kiss – while never touching Garden State – is also amazing.

    The Devil’s Rejects soundtrack is great because it’s got all that fantastic, classic southern rock AND soundbites from the movie itself.

    Others I never tire of:
    Magnolia, because yes, all that Aimee Mann really is necessary.
    Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Obvs.
    Evil Dead: The Musical, because yes I’m that much of a geek.
    Soundtracks from any and all Silent Hill game. Akira Yamaoka is so brilliant and the ambient, deep and heavy music he makes is so beautiful. Also the songs where Mary Elizabeth Mcglinn does vocals are ~awesome.

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  34. I had just been thinking about how I prefer films with great soundtracks over plot.

    A great soundtrack can make me like a mediocre film. (However, the great Twilight soundtrack has not made me like those film.)

    Some favourites of mine:
    – Musicals: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Cabaret, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Across the Universe
    – Non-Musicals: Sucker Punch, Harold and Maude, Velvet Goldmine, C.R.A.Z.Y., The Crow, Romeo + Juliet, etc.

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  36. even though it’s no movie so technically i’m cheating but

    MUSIC FROM THE O.C.

    so. good.

    gosh, i listened to those 5 cds all through my teenage years and THEY’RE STILL SO GOOD! especially mix #2 and #4.

    Reply to This Comment

    • yes, the o.c. as embarrassing as it is to admit, i have the o.c. (and its music supervisor, alex patsavis) to thank for my enduring love of indie music. i remember buying mix 1 in eighth grade, and just listening over and over and over. it was like this new world of endless musical possibility opened up for me. never again would i listen to john mayer and dave matthews.

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  42. Okay, my top 10, dgaf about repeating stuff from above.

    Hedwig
    Velvet Goldmine
    High Fidelity
    Empire Records
    Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Album
    Blues Brothers
    Kaboom (okay, was unofficial, but all of the songs in that film were fucking rad)
    Marie Antoinette
    Singin’ in the Rain
    The Wizard of Oz

    OH GOD, THERE ARE TOO MANY AMAZING SOUNDTRACKS IN THE WORLD.

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  50. ‘Velvet Goldmine’! Glam goodness, with bonus Ewan McGreggor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers singing. Too fun.

    Also, there’s this German movie called ‘Bandits’ about a group of women who form a band in prison, then escape and go on the run when they are taken to play at a police ball. The actresses wrote most of the songs and did all their own singing and even though I don’t think they played all of the instruments for the actual studio recording, they did play some and did play them in the movie. (Here are the music video for “Puppets” from the DVD and “Catch Me”, which is actually one of my favorite songs ever.)

    Jasmin Tabatabai, the actress who played Luna, is also a musician and still plays some of the songs when she’s on tour :)

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  51. If you ever decide to do a great-TV-show-soundtracks list I am preemptively nominating Due South because 1) Stan Rogers, 2) Sarah McLachlan, and 3) at least two incredibly gay cops in love.

    (Elaine and Frannie were totally bangin’ and you cannot tell me otherwise.)

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  54. Oh God I just thought of one that I’d completely spaced on and that no one’s ever really seen the movie but OMG the music…

    Six-String Samurai which is a mix of score and dialogue but also music from the Russian surf-punk rockabilly band The Red Elvises.

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  58. Elizabethtown.

    I really loved Nino Rota’s score for The Godfather.

    Whomever mentioned Empire Records, Dirty Dancing and all Tarantino soundtracks, I totally agree.

    Also great are, Grosse Point Blank, Saturday Night Fever, The Wedding Singer, Goodfellas, Forrest Gump and Pretty in Pink.

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  62. The Twilight soundtracks are the BEST and when I found out that the last book was going to be split into two movies I was excited because that meant it would be split into two soundtracks. Whatever you think about the Twilight franchise, those soundtracks have legitimately good music.
    Another soundtrack I really liked was the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack… and of course Garden State because in high school that was how everyone found out about the Shins, etc.
    I guess musical soundtracks are a different story, but like, Moulin Rouge/RENT/Phantom of the Opera/Rocky Horror/etc have been very important to me.

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  66. I <3 the soundtrack to A Lot Like Love. Because the movie spans a long timeframe the music goes from 90s-tastic to more recent awesomeness.

    Also, Amanda Peet may or may not have influenced my love of that movie….

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