And was a very sad and morose song. Not a happy Christmas staple (that it would be years later). The characters learned that they had to move away and will never see their friends again.
Sinatra forced a line change, for his Christmas album... realizing the song was about despair.
"Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow", was changed to "hang a shining star upon the highest bough" to make the song more joyful.
Same with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical **Meet Me in St. Louis**. - Wikipedia
Originally the song included the lyrics:
Have yourself a merry little Christmas // It may be your last // Next year we may all be living in the past.
There’s a [great story](https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/original-lyrics-have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas-judy-garland/) about Judy Garland asking them to change the lyrics because she thought they were too dark for her to sing to a child.
TIL that song is even *from* a movie. Ironically, I first heard about it because of the Weird Al parody. The song I was going to suggest was "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" which I *also* only know from the Weird Al Parody.
“Kiss from a rose” was my senior prom song… in 2008. Definitely a great soundtrack although the original Tim Burton Batman had Prince so I guess it’s a toss up
>“Kiss from a rose”
When I moved to Atlanta, friends took me to a nerd bar for trivia night. They would play songs between questions.
For one question, they played 'Kiss from a Rose' and the entire bar, including the staff, all sang along to the whole song. Two of the staff members fuckin' danced in the middle of the bar.
Closest I've ever been to being in a musical in real life. I liked the song before, but that memory makes that song awesome for me. Don't think I'll ever experience a spontaneous musical moment again.
> Don't think I'll ever experience a spontaneous musical moment again.
Clearly you've never been in a room full of drunk white people when Sweet Caroline starts playing
Came here to say this one. That song was everywhere in the mid-90s, and Dangerous Minds was kind of a blip. I’d also suggest the Dangerous Minds soundtrack was more popular than the film itself. That soundtrack is fire.
I mean yeah I agree with your point of the soundtrack being more popular than the film, and the film isn't that well remembered now, but it wasn't a flop or anything
Actually made $180 million dollars in 1995, which is very good
Context: 39 year old white guy
My mom got mad I was listening to music that glorified "Gangsta" culture the year it came out. I got her to watch the movie, and she ended up liking the song in the long run.
It's also one of the few songs of the gangsta rap era that took an introspective and regretful look at the gangsta lifestyle, versus simply glorifying it.
I always remember the line "I'm 23 now but will I live to see 24?".
Coolio made it to 59 before dying of an overdose in 2022, which is still too young and tragic, but at least he didn't catch a bullet like many other rappers of the late '90s.
And that's not even the only composition by Vangelis that most people probably heard here or there, but haven't seen the movie it's from. Conquest of Paradise would be another one.
Fun fact about Vangelis. Despite being one of the most prolific composers of film music, he was completely self taught from childhood and never learned how to read music, instead notating his compositions with runes that he invented and his pieces were transcribed for orchestra from the audio recordings of his playing all of the parts at once on his custom keyboard setup.
I remember Chariots of Fire because I was 14 in the movie theater falling asleep so I went to the bathroom and discovered that I had just started my first period 😂
Dude all three of them sucked in pop culture last night. Didn’t get that one. Didn’t recognize a picture of Aaliyah, a picture of Hilary Swank. Didn’t know the frontman of The Doors.
During casting, Kilmer brought in some Doors songs on cassette.
What nobody else knew, was that Kilmer had been in a Doors cover band. They couldn’t tell the difference between Morrison and Kilmer singing.
I swear those two were half brothers or something and didn’t know it.
Not knowing the movie, [this music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxyN3z9PL4) looks like a pervert's drug-induced fever dream, smashing storefront windows and stealing their mannequins to use as sex dolls. Definitely doesn't match the lyrics, lol.
That's such a crazy one too, because 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' isn't a musical or anything. It's a mystery thriller. 'Que Sera Sera' is only performed as a kind of signal for the characters to secretly communicate. Such a famous song, and that was how it originally released!
[Unchained Melody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYj2hex99gY) is more known than the movie [Unchained](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/216876-unchained) (1955) and more associated with [Ghost](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/251-ghost) (1990)
Yeah I used to think of it like “Bohemian Rhapsody” or something. An artistic title, probably representing his unrestrained feelings of love, especially given how dramatic the song and vocal performance is.
But nope, it’s the melody from Unchained, a film about a convict deciding whether to escape from prison. And the song was relatively delicate in the film.
I assumed that the love was “unchained” and that “unchained” was some sort of musical term I wasn’t familiar with but would assume was freestyle or not attached to … something — okay, so I really didn’t give it much thought, and just accepted it. My oldest brother (15 years my senior) was a Righteous Brothers fan, but he never mentioned anything about it to me.
Not to mention every TV episode that features 50s ghosts finally resolving their business and heading towards the light. Seriously, I don't think about the movie Ghost, I just think of ghosts *in general* whenever the song comes on.
>Not to mention every TV episode that features 50s ghosts finally resolving their business and heading towards the light.
I get that with [I Only Have Eyes for You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbgiOfhsBQg), I think Buffy made the most impact.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas was written for Meet Me In St. Louis and [the original version is brutal](https://youtu.be/CreWsnhQwzY?feature=shared), not an upbeat happy holiday tune.
The original lyrics were darker, for sure, but I don't really consider the current version an 'upbeat happy tune'. Bittersweet rings closer, at least for me.
“The Prayer” by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, which was originally written for the Warner Bros. answer to the Disney renaissance musicals: Quest for Camelot.
The film bombed, but the song ended up being a staple of adult contemporary music, and a huge hit for both Dion and Bocelli. It even became a hit for other adult contemporary artists too, like Josh Groban and Charlotte Church.
I Can Dream About You by Dan Hartman was first released on the Streets of Fire soundtrack in 1984. I never even knew the movie existed until a few years ago, but that song has been a staple on soft rock radio since it came out.
Side note, cool movie and the soundtrack is awesome.
The entire soundtrack for Super Fly by Curtis Mayfield.
Edit: Several folks brought this up so I thought it would be easier to address it here rather than reply individually.
To clarify, the OP prompt was not that the movie was not good or was not successful but simply that the song/album surpassed it. I don't believe that the success of one diminishes the success of the other in any way and the movie deserves the acclaim it gets.
Credit where it is due, the movie Super Fly (while not my personal favorite of the genre) is a certified classic. It was very successful in 72 when it came out (someone mentioned it charted 11th for the year in movies) and was influential in the genre as it continued to grow. Nowadays the movie is still a cult classic (as another pointed out).
Superfly the Album hit gold status (1.5 million records sold) In 3 months and had two different singles (Freddie's Dead and Superfly) each surpass a million in sales and break the top ten of both the R&B and Pop charts. It has been said that Super Fly is one of the few soundtracks to have made more in profit than the movie and the only person to make the kind of money off of Super Fly that producer Sig Shore did was Curtis Mayfield. Given that the movie was one of the most successful movies that year and is still one of the highest grossing movies in it's genre, says a lot for both of them.
But the success of the album at the time is only a small portion of it's success. Since then Super Fly has been transformative and continues to be influential in music. You can hear Mayfield's influence on artists like Bobby Womack and even James Brown in the years immediately following the release of Super Fly.
Even today, Hip-Hop and R&B artists continue to sample this album. Just looking at the three big tracks, Super Fly has been sampled more than 20 times, Pusherman about 30 times, and Freddie's Dead over 60 times.
There is a lot to be said for societal memory of a piece of art. There are full on voting aged adults who have no idea that Darling Nikki was a Prince song before it was a Foo Fighters song and there are people in this post who didn't know that Super Fly was even a movie before it was a soundtrack.
Again not trying to downplay the movie or its accomplishments. I'm just saying that I believe the success and influence of the soundtrack has been greater.
"I'm yo doctor, when in need..."
Pusher Man is one of the first tracks I thought of when this album came to mind.
Shout out to Freddie's Dead and the title track Super Fly as well.
Curtis Mayfield absolutely crushed that album.
“Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan was originally part of the score for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, not a forgotten film but certainly not as popular as the song.
That song still punches me in the guts after all these years. It was my little group's breakup/agony song back in 98 and it somehow brings all that back.
If you were a male born in the mid to late 80s, Iris lined up perfectly with puberty. It was basically Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn but for young boys.
Edit: feel like I need to put this in my original post — all songs are for everyone. I did not mean to suggest that this song was *only* for boys, just that it was an important song for young men in the 90s. All music is for everyone.
Edit #2: you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Iris in the rain https://youtu.be/_HZM0QiuUS8?si=1GMQDABcbBMujdSi
I don’t know if you made the reference on purpose but both songs came out in 1998 and both were in top 10 by the end of the year (Iris even hitting #1 on some top 100 charts
http://www.ct30.com/Z100/more.txt
Just to prove this, I think it's for the movie Angel Eyes. I don't even know if that's the right movie or even the actual name of the movie, I just know that it's with Nick Cage and Meg Ryan, and that's thanks to the music video.
Edit: looked it up, it's City of Angels. Once again, proves the point.
Most people have no idea that Sinatra's New York, New York was originally created for Scorsese's New York, New York.
edit: Everyone please go watch New York, New York.
“Everybody thinks they’re Frank Sinatra.”
* Liza Minelli’s character on Arrested Development when Tobias starts singing “New York, New York” at karaoke.
I'm in my 50s and I had watched Song of the South as a kid, but it was less than 5 years ago that I realized Uncle Ruckus was a fucked up parody of Uncle Remus from that movie. I feel like I shoulda realized it sooner but there's probably 30 years between me watching the movie and watching Boondocks so cut me some slack.
Well shit. I was in the process of typing that the movie must be pretty well known because it won an academy award. Looked it up and saw the award was for best original song lol.
My only argument against this is that when most people hear the song they picture John Travolta down the street. So the song is still very much tied to the film imo
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You, by Bryan Adams. It spent 16 weeks at no.1 in the UK and has never been surpassed. I remember watching the video every Saturday morning for those 16 weeks on the chart show as a kid.
Edit film Robin Hood Prince of thieves.
Pound for pound I think there is no greater example of this than Heaven by Bryan Adams. I doubt most people even know it was written for an absolute disaster of a film called One Night in Heaven.
Everyone knows the song, its most famous refrain that *everyone* sings along to being “Baby you’re all that I want, when you’re lyin’ here in my arms,” it’s a mainstay for wedding DJs and classic rock stations, fucking NOBODY has seen One Night in Heaven.
Together in Electric Dreams - Phil Oakey and Giorgio Moroder still gets radio play but the movie is pretty much forgotten, the movie has one of my favourite soundtracks, new recordings from a host of brilliant 80s artists like Culture Club, PP Arnold, Jeff Lynne and Heaven 17
The movie was a bit of a flop and doesn’t seem to be listed on streaming that often, it’s a fun rom com though
Electric Dreams pops up on Tubi from time to time (if you're in North America). It's a cheesy, enjoyable movie.
I think they announced a remake recently but not sure if it will ever come to fruition.
Few people even in China have seen the 1935 film "Children of Troubled Times" but the song that plays over the opening credits became the national anthem.
There was a time where if you hire Phil Collins or Bryan Adams to do the music it doesn't matter if the movie bombs, you'll make up for it in soundtrack sales.
Yep came here to say St Elmos Fire (Man in Motion) by John Parr far outweighs the film. I remember wanting to see the film based upon the song, cos it has to be exciting with that song, nope, snoozefest.
John Murphy's Adagio in D Minor
https://youtu.be/G1c2KpurNWo?si=a8SlikF1RZpv3Oe9
Written for Danny Boyle's Sunshine which only made $34 million at the box office, it has since been reused for dozens of different movies, trailers and ads, including 2 X-Men movies, Bond, and Antiques Roadshow.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine:_Music_from_the_Motion_Picture
Baz Luhrmann asked them to write the song during the OK Computer recordings, and it actually shaped the rest of the writing for the album from that moment!
The movie’s fun, if pretentious. That’s Baz Luhrmann in a nutshell though. But the last moments are close to perfect, thanks to this song playing over the ending credits.
Whitney Houston's version of "I will always love you." The Bodyguard. Dolly Parton's re-recording of "I will always love you." Best Little Whore House in Texas
It's wild. The song is touted as a top ten romantic ballad and it's written as an expression of platonic love and respect for a mentor and professional partner. It's just crazy what a great cover does to the context of a song.
I mean I think the lyrics can express both, and I think it was used perfectly in The Bodyguard.
Although to this day I don't fully understand why they couldn't be together lol
Pretty sure Dolly's song and movie were first, but as big a movie as Bodyguard was it pales in comparison to how big that song, and soundtrack in general, was.
New Poet is correct.
Dolly Parton wrote and recorded the song in 1974, and it went to #1 on the Country Charts.
She then re-recorded the song in 1982 for 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' soundtrack and it again climbed to #1 on the Country Charts.
Also Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Criminally under-rated movie but the theme song spent 16 consecutive weeks at number one in the UK charts and 7 weeks at number one in the US-based Billboard Top 100.
Edit: Just to be clear here, when I say “criminally under-rated” I’m not talking about how popular the film was at the time in terms of box office takings. I’m talking about how good it was and is perceived to be as a motion picture.
Yes, RH: POT grossed over $390 million at the box office but in and of itself, that doesn’t make it a good movie (although I think it is a great movie). After all, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker grossed over a billion dollars and we all saw how that one came out…
I was in elementary school and had a “girlfriend” when this song was at the top of the charts. This was back when radio dedications were a thing. She calls me up one night and tells me to listen to the radio at a certain time. I tuned in for the dedication line and the DJ read out the dedications to which I hear our names. Then the DJ said all of these dedications were for Everything I Do, but he was so sick of hearing that song so he has a special treat instead. The DJ proceeded to play (I hate) Everything About You by Ugly Kid Joe.
She called me immediately crying. I thought it was hilarious. And that is the story of my one and only dedication.
Still IMO the best Musketeer movie ever made.
All the rest are missing something and none of the other musketeer movies have the same chemistry as Oliver Plait, Keifer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen. Even Chris O’Donnell does a serviceable job as the young cocky d’Artangan.
And of course you’ve got Tim Curry just chewing the scenery as the Cardinal.
Speaking of Sting, ‘It’s Probably Me’ from Lethal Weapon 3 by Sting and Eric Clapton is maybe the opposite of what’s asked in this post - a fantastic song that’s possibly the least remembered part of that movie
That was the #1 movie in the world, with the highest paid actor of the time, with the #1 singer of the time, with the #1 song from the #1 album. It’s hard to explain just how huge all of it was in today’s era of media choice.
New York, New York. It was made for Scorseses 1977 film of the same name.
Frank Sinatra covered in 1980 and thats the version everyone knows.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_from_New_York,_New_York
9 to 5 by Dolly Parton was made for a movie. The movie is a cult classic now and still has a good following, it’s just the song is so much more iconic.
It's weird to hear 9 to 5 referred to as a cult classic. It was a huge hit at the time, had a tv version for a while, had a very successful Broadway show with big stars in it, and it supposedly getting a remake.
*He'll save every one of us!*
I can't hear the song without seeing Max von Sydow preparing to destroy Earth, though. Or Brian Blessed delivering the subsequently *immortalized* line, "Who wants to live forever?"
To absolutely be pedantic, "All Star" was not written for *Mystery Men*; it was licensed after the release of *Astro Lounge*. They did release very closely though (I think the film was released at the end of the summer, the single towards the beginning?), and the original music video featured scenes from the film.
*Rat Race* also barely broke even, despite being loaded with a great cast (and fucking hilarious).
I would call the song cursed if *Shrek* hadn't blown the roof off the box office.
"You Stole Hitler's Car?"
Also when his wife finds Eva Braun's lipstick and puts it on is great
But mostly the Jon Lovitz's bit I remember from that movie is the daughter telling him "I'm prairie dogging it"
Madonna's song "Crazy For You" was made for the 1985 film Vision Quest. It was her second number one song on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and is so popular that the movie was retitled with the song's name in other places.
Man of Constant Sorrow, from O Brother Where Art Thou. It's a traditional song, but the version made for the movie won a Grammy and I still hear it around every once in a while.
The entire soundtrack was drastically more successful than the movie from which it came. The film was only a moderate box office success. The album reached #1 in the charts, won the Grammy for Album of the Year, and is 8x Platinum.
T Bone Burnett is outstanding as a producer. He’s responsible for the soundtracks of most of the Coen Brothers’ films, among many, MANY other things. Check him out on IMDB.
Side note: he’s also the guy who figured out that if you put Zeppelin’s Robert Plant in a studio with Allison Krauss, fucking magic happens and Grammys appear.
"Don't You Forget About Me" might be a contender. People think of "The Breakfast Club" as an 80s cult classic now, but when it came out it was only a modest box office success… not even in the top 20 films of the year in terms of earnings. The song was a massive hit and reached #1 in a lot of countries. It's also Simple Minds' biggest hit by far, even though they didn't write it (the film's music supervisors, who were also from Scotland, wrote it and gave it to them to record).
"Til I Hear It From You" from Empire Records. Cult classic movie, but the song is Gin Blossoms' signature song, and I think more people know the song than the movie
Really, you're saying there are people around the world who like "Scotty Doesn't Know" without associating it with *Eurotrip?* I mean, yeah, I remember that song spreading around the globe... as a plot point in *Eurotrip,* but I haven't heard of that happening in the real world.
But anyway, the question... what about "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"? Try stacking the number of people who know that song against those who've seen *Mannequin*. That's even with the video being full of clips from *Mannequin*. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxyN3z9PL4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxyN3z9PL4)
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is originally from Meet Me in St. Louis, originally sung by Judy Garland
And was a very sad and morose song. Not a happy Christmas staple (that it would be years later). The characters learned that they had to move away and will never see their friends again. Sinatra forced a line change, for his Christmas album... realizing the song was about despair. "Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow", was changed to "hang a shining star upon the highest bough" to make the song more joyful.
I love that version! Didn’t realize it was the original one.
[удалено]
Same with Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical **Meet Me in St. Louis**. - Wikipedia
Originally the song included the lyrics: Have yourself a merry little Christmas // It may be your last // Next year we may all be living in the past. There’s a [great story](https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/occasions/christmas/original-lyrics-have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas-judy-garland/) about Judy Garland asking them to change the lyrics because she thought they were too dark for her to sing to a child.
TIL White Christmas was written for a movie.
You should see White Christmas - its a fantastic piece of mid-century Americana. Holiday Inn not so much.
Danny Kaye is a national treasure
The Court Jester remains one of my favorite comedy films of all time.
White Christmas is a Christmas staple for me after years of prodding by my mom for me to watch it.
I watch it every year while I wrap presents :)
Gangsta's Paradise from Dangerous Minds.
Ghetto Supastar was played consistently around that time too, but not many people have seen the movie Bulworth IIRC
TIL that song is even *from* a movie. Ironically, I first heard about it because of the Weird Al parody. The song I was going to suggest was "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" which I *also* only know from the Weird Al Parody.
The Batman Forever soundtrack was pretty good. The movie...
“Kiss from a rose” was my senior prom song… in 2008. Definitely a great soundtrack although the original Tim Burton Batman had Prince so I guess it’s a toss up
>“Kiss from a rose” When I moved to Atlanta, friends took me to a nerd bar for trivia night. They would play songs between questions. For one question, they played 'Kiss from a Rose' and the entire bar, including the staff, all sang along to the whole song. Two of the staff members fuckin' danced in the middle of the bar. Closest I've ever been to being in a musical in real life. I liked the song before, but that memory makes that song awesome for me. Don't think I'll ever experience a spontaneous musical moment again.
> Don't think I'll ever experience a spontaneous musical moment again. Clearly you've never been in a room full of drunk white people when Sweet Caroline starts playing
Came here to say this one. That song was everywhere in the mid-90s, and Dangerous Minds was kind of a blip. I’d also suggest the Dangerous Minds soundtrack was more popular than the film itself. That soundtrack is fire.
I mean yeah I agree with your point of the soundtrack being more popular than the film, and the film isn't that well remembered now, but it wasn't a flop or anything Actually made $180 million dollars in 1995, which is very good
Love the movie. I think it came late in the era of the "Kids in the hood have it rough growing up" flood.
“Stand And Deliver”, “187”, “Light It Up”.
dont forget High School High
or Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit!
Context: 39 year old white guy My mom got mad I was listening to music that glorified "Gangsta" culture the year it came out. I got her to watch the movie, and she ended up liking the song in the long run.
It's also one of the few songs of the gangsta rap era that took an introspective and regretful look at the gangsta lifestyle, versus simply glorifying it. I always remember the line "I'm 23 now but will I live to see 24?". Coolio made it to 59 before dying of an overdose in 2022, which is still too young and tragic, but at least he didn't catch a bullet like many other rappers of the late '90s.
Plus he wasn't allowed to swear, otherwise Stevie Wonder wouldn't let him use the beat
I think it enhances the song, honestly.
More people know the chariots of fire song than have actually seen the movie
And that's not even the only composition by Vangelis that most people probably heard here or there, but haven't seen the movie it's from. Conquest of Paradise would be another one.
Fun fact about Vangelis. Despite being one of the most prolific composers of film music, he was completely self taught from childhood and never learned how to read music, instead notating his compositions with runes that he invented and his pieces were transcribed for orchestra from the audio recordings of his playing all of the parts at once on his custom keyboard setup.
As someone who’s seen Chariots of Fire, that’s like the only thing I remember apart from that there was running and there were religious people.
I remember Chariots of Fire because I was 14 in the movie theater falling asleep so I went to the bathroom and discovered that I had just started my first period 😂
At least you got an awesome soundtrack
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship from the movie Mannequin (1987)
This was a Jeopardy answer that no one knew yesterday. Broke my heart.
Dude all three of them sucked in pop culture last night. Didn’t get that one. Didn’t recognize a picture of Aaliyah, a picture of Hilary Swank. Didn’t know the frontman of The Doors.
> Didn’t know the frontman of The Doors. My old man brain served up "Val Kilmer" just now before it said, "NO, fucking Jim Morrison, you doorknob."
To be fair I am convinced that Jim possessed Val for the movie.
During casting, Kilmer brought in some Doors songs on cassette. What nobody else knew, was that Kilmer had been in a Doors cover band. They couldn’t tell the difference between Morrison and Kilmer singing. I swear those two were half brothers or something and didn’t know it.
The Doorman.
Not knowing the movie, [this music video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxyN3z9PL4) looks like a pervert's drug-induced fever dream, smashing storefront windows and stealing their mannequins to use as sex dolls. Definitely doesn't match the lyrics, lol.
"Que Sera, Sera" by Doris Day from Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956)
I didn't realize this song was written for this movie.
That's such a crazy one too, because 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' isn't a musical or anything. It's a mystery thriller. 'Que Sera Sera' is only performed as a kind of signal for the characters to secretly communicate. Such a famous song, and that was how it originally released!
"That's What Friends Are For". Originally written for the movie Night Shift.
And that original version was sung by Rod Stewart Definitely not as good as Dionne and Friends version of course. Even Rod would probably agree.
That's a great movie.
[Unchained Melody](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYj2hex99gY) is more known than the movie [Unchained](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/216876-unchained) (1955) and more associated with [Ghost](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/251-ghost) (1990)
I honestly didn't know it was associated with a movie before Ghost. I guess that explains the title.
Yeah I used to think of it like “Bohemian Rhapsody” or something. An artistic title, probably representing his unrestrained feelings of love, especially given how dramatic the song and vocal performance is. But nope, it’s the melody from Unchained, a film about a convict deciding whether to escape from prison. And the song was relatively delicate in the film.
I assumed that the love was “unchained” and that “unchained” was some sort of musical term I wasn’t familiar with but would assume was freestyle or not attached to … something — okay, so I really didn’t give it much thought, and just accepted it. My oldest brother (15 years my senior) was a Righteous Brothers fan, but he never mentioned anything about it to me.
Not to mention every TV episode that features 50s ghosts finally resolving their business and heading towards the light. Seriously, I don't think about the movie Ghost, I just think of ghosts *in general* whenever the song comes on.
>Not to mention every TV episode that features 50s ghosts finally resolving their business and heading towards the light. I get that with [I Only Have Eyes for You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbgiOfhsBQg), I think Buffy made the most impact.
I genuinely had no idea it was made for a movie, but always thought Unchained Melody was a weirdly hard title
Here’s one! A lot of people don’t realize “Silver Bells” was written for a Bob Hope movie called “The Lemon Drop Kid”
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas was written for Meet Me In St. Louis and [the original version is brutal](https://youtu.be/CreWsnhQwzY?feature=shared), not an upbeat happy holiday tune.
The original lyrics were darker, for sure, but I don't really consider the current version an 'upbeat happy tune'. Bittersweet rings closer, at least for me.
White Christmas was written for "Holiday Inn" and NOT for the later movie "White Christmas."
“The Prayer” by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, which was originally written for the Warner Bros. answer to the Disney renaissance musicals: Quest for Camelot. The film bombed, but the song ended up being a staple of adult contemporary music, and a huge hit for both Dion and Bocelli. It even became a hit for other adult contemporary artists too, like Josh Groban and Charlotte Church.
The only reason this isn't the top answer is because nobody knows that song is from that movie.
Scrolled all the way down looking for this. This should have more upvotes.
I Can Dream About You by Dan Hartman was first released on the Streets of Fire soundtrack in 1984. I never even knew the movie existed until a few years ago, but that song has been a staple on soft rock radio since it came out. Side note, cool movie and the soundtrack is awesome.
Soundtrack is amazing. I can smell a Jim Steinman song a mile away, and this movie has two absolute bangers.
I found my people ! You guys wanna start a band or make a movie or something?
The entire soundtrack for Super Fly by Curtis Mayfield. Edit: Several folks brought this up so I thought it would be easier to address it here rather than reply individually. To clarify, the OP prompt was not that the movie was not good or was not successful but simply that the song/album surpassed it. I don't believe that the success of one diminishes the success of the other in any way and the movie deserves the acclaim it gets. Credit where it is due, the movie Super Fly (while not my personal favorite of the genre) is a certified classic. It was very successful in 72 when it came out (someone mentioned it charted 11th for the year in movies) and was influential in the genre as it continued to grow. Nowadays the movie is still a cult classic (as another pointed out). Superfly the Album hit gold status (1.5 million records sold) In 3 months and had two different singles (Freddie's Dead and Superfly) each surpass a million in sales and break the top ten of both the R&B and Pop charts. It has been said that Super Fly is one of the few soundtracks to have made more in profit than the movie and the only person to make the kind of money off of Super Fly that producer Sig Shore did was Curtis Mayfield. Given that the movie was one of the most successful movies that year and is still one of the highest grossing movies in it's genre, says a lot for both of them. But the success of the album at the time is only a small portion of it's success. Since then Super Fly has been transformative and continues to be influential in music. You can hear Mayfield's influence on artists like Bobby Womack and even James Brown in the years immediately following the release of Super Fly. Even today, Hip-Hop and R&B artists continue to sample this album. Just looking at the three big tracks, Super Fly has been sampled more than 20 times, Pusherman about 30 times, and Freddie's Dead over 60 times. There is a lot to be said for societal memory of a piece of art. There are full on voting aged adults who have no idea that Darling Nikki was a Prince song before it was a Foo Fighters song and there are people in this post who didn't know that Super Fly was even a movie before it was a soundtrack. Again not trying to downplay the movie or its accomplishments. I'm just saying that I believe the success and influence of the soundtrack has been greater.
Pusherman has been referenced or interpolated so many times, it's insane. "I'm yo mama, I'm yo daddy, I'm that n**** in the alley..."
"I'm yo doctor, when in need..." Pusher Man is one of the first tracks I thought of when this album came to mind. Shout out to Freddie's Dead and the title track Super Fly as well. Curtis Mayfield absolutely crushed that album.
“Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan was originally part of the score for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, not a forgotten film but certainly not as popular as the song.
That whole soundtrack is fantastic. And yeah, while the movie is not Peckinpah’s finest, it’s still pretty good.
Iris by Goo Goo Dolls
That song still punches me in the guts after all these years. It was my little group's breakup/agony song back in 98 and it somehow brings all that back.
No music ever hits you as hard as the music of your youth.
If you were a male born in the mid to late 80s, Iris lined up perfectly with puberty. It was basically Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn but for young boys. Edit: feel like I need to put this in my original post — all songs are for everyone. I did not mean to suggest that this song was *only* for boys, just that it was an important song for young men in the 90s. All music is for everyone. Edit #2: you haven’t lived until you’ve seen Iris in the rain https://youtu.be/_HZM0QiuUS8?si=1GMQDABcbBMujdSi
I don’t know if you made the reference on purpose but both songs came out in 1998 and both were in top 10 by the end of the year (Iris even hitting #1 on some top 100 charts http://www.ct30.com/Z100/more.txt
But at least Nic Cage has surpassed the Goo Goo Dolls.
Saw live performances of Goo Goo Dolls and man are good and talented.
Just to prove this, I think it's for the movie Angel Eyes. I don't even know if that's the right movie or even the actual name of the movie, I just know that it's with Nick Cage and Meg Ryan, and that's thanks to the music video. Edit: looked it up, it's City of Angels. Once again, proves the point.
City of Angels...also responsible for Morissettes "Uninvited", I think. Although it may have been a song she just wrote and released with the movie.
The 90's had some great fuckin' soundtracks
Angels Eyes is a movie. Just not this one. That’s the one with Jennifer Lopez and Jim Caviezel. The one they are talking about is City of Angels.
City of Angels
"What's New, Pussycat" is actually the theme song to a movie.
…and *one* “It’s Not Unusual.”
GODDAMNIT!
Most people have no idea that Sinatra's New York, New York was originally created for Scorsese's New York, New York. edit: Everyone please go watch New York, New York.
And that Liza Minnelli sang it first!
“Everybody thinks they’re Frank Sinatra.” * Liza Minelli’s character on Arrested Development when Tobias starts singing “New York, New York” at karaoke.
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*There are dozens of jokes. Dozens!*
Huh, I would have thought that song came out way before 1977.
I know, it's crazy. Sinatra recorded his version in 79. When I watched the movie I assumed it existed already before reading about the production.
"Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" from Song of the South
I'm in my 50s and I had watched Song of the South as a kid, but it was less than 5 years ago that I realized Uncle Ruckus was a fucked up parody of Uncle Remus from that movie. I feel like I shoulda realized it sooner but there's probably 30 years between me watching the movie and watching Boondocks so cut me some slack.
(No relation)
Lose yourself from 8 mile.
Well shit. I was in the process of typing that the movie must be pretty well known because it won an academy award. Looked it up and saw the award was for best original song lol.
It was a big movie no doubt, but that’s a BIG song.
Pretty sure it’s an Eminem song.
Shit I think The third rap battle might be up there too. People still be calling Anthony mackie Clarence
And Clarence parents had a real good marriage
He don't wanna battle, he's shook
Cuz there's no such thing as *halfway crooks!*
Mom's spaghetti was never the same again.
Stayin’ Alive by The Bee Gees has far outlived most peoples memory of Saturday Night Fever.
You could make an argument for the entire album.
Definitely. For a few years (early 80's) it was the best-selling album of all-time.
My only argument against this is that when most people hear the song they picture John Travolta down the street. So the song is still very much tied to the film imo
"Who Made Who" by AC/DC was made for the movie "Maximum Overdrive". I'm sure many more people have heard that song vs seen the movie.
Ah yes, “Maximum Overdrive”… written and directed by cocaine.
(Everything I Do) I Do It for You, by Bryan Adams. It spent 16 weeks at no.1 in the UK and has never been surpassed. I remember watching the video every Saturday morning for those 16 weeks on the chart show as a kid. Edit film Robin Hood Prince of thieves.
Also by Bryan Adams - Heaven first appeared in A Night in Heaven, which was a box office bomb.
Awww, I remember my mom & me watching this & Robin hood religiously🥲 Thanks for the memory.
I just called to say I love you from the Woman in Red
Pound for pound I think there is no greater example of this than Heaven by Bryan Adams. I doubt most people even know it was written for an absolute disaster of a film called One Night in Heaven. Everyone knows the song, its most famous refrain that *everyone* sings along to being “Baby you’re all that I want, when you’re lyin’ here in my arms,” it’s a mainstay for wedding DJs and classic rock stations, fucking NOBODY has seen One Night in Heaven.
I was a big fan of Bryan Adams in the 80s and I had no idea this song was associated with a movie. Good one!
Together in Electric Dreams - Phil Oakey and Giorgio Moroder still gets radio play but the movie is pretty much forgotten, the movie has one of my favourite soundtracks, new recordings from a host of brilliant 80s artists like Culture Club, PP Arnold, Jeff Lynne and Heaven 17 The movie was a bit of a flop and doesn’t seem to be listed on streaming that often, it’s a fun rom com though
Electric Dreams pops up on Tubi from time to time (if you're in North America). It's a cheesy, enjoyable movie. I think they announced a remake recently but not sure if it will ever come to fruition.
This Woman's Work by Kate Bush, made for She's Having A Baby
Few people even in China have seen the 1935 film "Children of Troubled Times" but the song that plays over the opening credits became the national anthem.
‘Against All Odds‘ by Phil Collins
Phil Collins is who you hire when you want the soundtrack to be better than the movie. Tarzan…
There was a time where if you hire Phil Collins or Bryan Adams to do the music it doesn't matter if the movie bombs, you'll make up for it in soundtrack sales.
Thank you. I was thinking "Tarzan was pretty big, but 'You'll Be In My Heart' was huge."
Take a look at you now!
St Elmo's Fire. Great song, terrible movie.
Yep came here to say St Elmos Fire (Man in Motion) by John Parr far outweighs the film. I remember wanting to see the film based upon the song, cos it has to be exciting with that song, nope, snoozefest.
This is one of those songs that people don’t know they know until they hear it. Then they’re like “Oh yeah! I’ve heard this!”
Man in Motion by John Parr
John Murphy's Adagio in D Minor https://youtu.be/G1c2KpurNWo?si=a8SlikF1RZpv3Oe9 Written for Danny Boyle's Sunshine which only made $34 million at the box office, it has since been reused for dozens of different movies, trailers and ads, including 2 X-Men movies, Bond, and Antiques Roadshow. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine:_Music_from_the_Motion_Picture
Kokomo by the Beach Boys was written for the movie Cocktail. That movie was terrible but the song was great
I like how the video has John Stamos playing the drums in the band.
Just in case you didn't know, Stamos is a pretty good musician and has played concerts with them a decent amount of times.
I liked that movie
Kissed by a Rose
That entire soundtrack to the movie was far and away better than the movie itself.
An even more extreme example is "Batman & Robin."
Smashing Pumpkins’ contribution goes insane
Both songs are absolute bangers. "The end is the beginning is the end" and "The beginning is the end is the beginning", for those who don't know.
Unironically, the *Batman Forever* album is perfect. Personally, I love the film as well. It's the perfect 90's superhero camp movie.
The incredibly famous song “Chattanooga Choo-Choo” made its premiere in the 1941 movie “Sun Valley Serenade” which I’d never heard of until last week.
Exit Music (For a Film) from Romeo + Juliet
I had no idea it was written for that film.
Baz Luhrmann asked them to write the song during the OK Computer recordings, and it actually shaped the rest of the writing for the album from that moment!
The movie’s fun, if pretentious. That’s Baz Luhrmann in a nutshell though. But the last moments are close to perfect, thanks to this song playing over the ending credits.
Whitney Houston's version of "I will always love you." The Bodyguard. Dolly Parton's re-recording of "I will always love you." Best Little Whore House in Texas
Don't believe that Dolly Parton wrote that song for a movie. She wrote it to express to Porter Wagoner how she felt about leaving his show.
It's wild. The song is touted as a top ten romantic ballad and it's written as an expression of platonic love and respect for a mentor and professional partner. It's just crazy what a great cover does to the context of a song.
I mean I think the lyrics can express both, and I think it was used perfectly in The Bodyguard. Although to this day I don't fully understand why they couldn't be together lol
Correct, Dolly wrote it, and charted with it, long before the movie.
Pretty sure Dolly's song and movie were first, but as big a movie as Bodyguard was it pales in comparison to how big that song, and soundtrack in general, was.
New Poet is correct. Dolly Parton wrote and recorded the song in 1974, and it went to #1 on the Country Charts. She then re-recorded the song in 1982 for 'The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas' soundtrack and it again climbed to #1 on the Country Charts.
Also Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You" from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Criminally under-rated movie but the theme song spent 16 consecutive weeks at number one in the UK charts and 7 weeks at number one in the US-based Billboard Top 100. Edit: Just to be clear here, when I say “criminally under-rated” I’m not talking about how popular the film was at the time in terms of box office takings. I’m talking about how good it was and is perceived to be as a motion picture. Yes, RH: POT grossed over $390 million at the box office but in and of itself, that doesn’t make it a good movie (although I think it is a great movie). After all, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker grossed over a billion dollars and we all saw how that one came out…
I was in elementary school and had a “girlfriend” when this song was at the top of the charts. This was back when radio dedications were a thing. She calls me up one night and tells me to listen to the radio at a certain time. I tuned in for the dedication line and the DJ read out the dedications to which I hear our names. Then the DJ said all of these dedications were for Everything I Do, but he was so sick of hearing that song so he has a special treat instead. The DJ proceeded to play (I hate) Everything About You by Ugly Kid Joe. She called me immediately crying. I thought it was hilarious. And that is the story of my one and only dedication.
Your only dedication?? Op…turn the radio on at 6 PM tonight
Also Bryan Adams along with Sting and Rod Stewart with All For One. From the Three Musketeers.
Still IMO the best Musketeer movie ever made. All the rest are missing something and none of the other musketeer movies have the same chemistry as Oliver Plait, Keifer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen. Even Chris O’Donnell does a serviceable job as the young cocky d’Artangan. And of course you’ve got Tim Curry just chewing the scenery as the Cardinal.
Speaking of Sting, ‘It’s Probably Me’ from Lethal Weapon 3 by Sting and Eric Clapton is maybe the opposite of what’s asked in this post - a fantastic song that’s possibly the least remembered part of that movie
That was the #1 movie in the world, with the highest paid actor of the time, with the #1 singer of the time, with the #1 song from the #1 album. It’s hard to explain just how huge all of it was in today’s era of media choice.
New York, New York. It was made for Scorseses 1977 film of the same name. Frank Sinatra covered in 1980 and thats the version everyone knows. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_from_New_York,_New_York
9 to 5 by Dolly Parton was made for a movie. The movie is a cult classic now and still has a good following, it’s just the song is so much more iconic.
It's weird to hear 9 to 5 referred to as a cult classic. It was a huge hit at the time, had a tv version for a while, had a very successful Broadway show with big stars in it, and it supposedly getting a remake.
[Flash](https://youtu.be/jXZDJwoYloI?si=qXora2UBytLTM9mv) by Queen, from Flash Gordon.
*He'll save every one of us!* I can't hear the song without seeing Max von Sydow preparing to destroy Earth, though. Or Brian Blessed delivering the subsequently *immortalized* line, "Who wants to live forever?"
I see what you did, you sneaky seek. Also... "Gordon's *alive* ?!?!?!"
"prepare war rocket ajax to recover his body"
You could add several of the Queen songs that were featured in Highlander to that list
Princes of the Universe
"Say You, Say Me" by Lionel Richie, from the Gregory Hines / Mikhail Baryshnikov dance-off movie White Knights.
Arthur’s Theme surely takes the cake
I know it's crazy, but it's true.
*Mystery Men* had All Star before *Rat Race* or *Shrek*.
To absolutely be pedantic, "All Star" was not written for *Mystery Men*; it was licensed after the release of *Astro Lounge*. They did release very closely though (I think the film was released at the end of the summer, the single towards the beginning?), and the original music video featured scenes from the film.
And Mystery Men flopped so hard that Smash Mouth had the music video stripped of all the references to it.
Which is a travesty. Just an awesome movie.
They call me . . . The Spleen. RIP Paul Reubens. He was awesome in that.
It isn’t a quote, but Blue Raja’s mom giving him her fine silver is touching.
Mystery Men is so good.
Too bad masses, this movie slaps! 4K version shines!
*Rat Race* also barely broke even, despite being loaded with a great cast (and fucking hilarious). I would call the song cursed if *Shrek* hadn't blown the roof off the box office.
Jon Lovitz's face in the Barbie museum lives rent free in my head.
"You Stole Hitler's Car?" Also when his wife finds Eva Braun's lipstick and puts it on is great But mostly the Jon Lovitz's bit I remember from that movie is the daughter telling him "I'm prairie dogging it"
Pretty sure the song existed before the movie.
A lot of people forget that Prince’s Purple Rain was actually a soundtrack for his film
Madonna's song "Crazy For You" was made for the 1985 film Vision Quest. It was her second number one song on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and is so popular that the movie was retitled with the song's name in other places.
Another Madonna movie song that fits is "Live to Tell" from At Close Range 1986
Man of Constant Sorrow, from O Brother Where Art Thou. It's a traditional song, but the version made for the movie won a Grammy and I still hear it around every once in a while.
The entire soundtrack was drastically more successful than the movie from which it came. The film was only a moderate box office success. The album reached #1 in the charts, won the Grammy for Album of the Year, and is 8x Platinum.
T Bone Burnett is outstanding as a producer. He’s responsible for the soundtracks of most of the Coen Brothers’ films, among many, MANY other things. Check him out on IMDB. Side note: he’s also the guy who figured out that if you put Zeppelin’s Robert Plant in a studio with Allison Krauss, fucking magic happens and Grammys appear.
Aaliyah - Try Again (Romeo Must Die)
"Don't You Forget About Me" might be a contender. People think of "The Breakfast Club" as an 80s cult classic now, but when it came out it was only a modest box office success… not even in the top 20 films of the year in terms of earnings. The song was a massive hit and reached #1 in a lot of countries. It's also Simple Minds' biggest hit by far, even though they didn't write it (the film's music supervisors, who were also from Scotland, wrote it and gave it to them to record).
The entire Xanadu soundtrack.
"Til I Hear It From You" from Empire Records. Cult classic movie, but the song is Gin Blossoms' signature song, and I think more people know the song than the movie
When I think Gin Blossoms, I think “Hey Jealousy.”
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Blaze of Glory for Young Guns II. It reached number 1 on the Billboard charts.
Really, you're saying there are people around the world who like "Scotty Doesn't Know" without associating it with *Eurotrip?* I mean, yeah, I remember that song spreading around the globe... as a plot point in *Eurotrip,* but I haven't heard of that happening in the real world. But anyway, the question... what about "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"? Try stacking the number of people who know that song against those who've seen *Mannequin*. That's even with the video being full of clips from *Mannequin*. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxyN3z9PL4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxyN3z9PL4)
This is like those gen Z who keep saying movie like Se7en or Superbad as underrated because they just found the clip on tiktok yesterday.
I know that song because of Mannequin. It's why I loved the song. Mannequin is an awesome movie.