4 Iconic Songs You’ve Most Likely Heard But Not Realized Their Connection to the Silver Screen!
Many of us have very different opinions of movie soundtracks. Maybe hearing songs in movies fans your love of new music, or you may discount movie soundtracks as less than true albums (I am closer to this second boat than the first); but you can’t change the fact that these four tracks I am going to highlight have strong connections to the soundtracks they were featured on. Just a simple list this time, no ranking or theme; just wanted to highlight these four songs. Let’s get into it!
“I Disappear” – Metallica – From Mission: Impossible 2
Metallica doesn’t do too many tracks outside their released albums so to get a movie soundtrack song is a bit unique for them. It was made at a time between their 90s hard rock sound and their St. Anger crap-rock sound; and much more resembles the former. This is actually one of the first rock songs I was hearing when I was just getting into music, not knowing much about the song and history of the band or any of the ones I was listening to. But this is a very solid Hard Rock Anthem. The short lick featured throughout the song really hooks you in.
Fun Fact: Each band member acted out scenes referencing different movies (None of which was MI 2):
- Kirk Hammett was chased by a plane (North by Northwest)
- Jason Newsted struggled against crowds in a mansion (Brazil)
- James Hetfield drove a car in a chase scene (Bullitt)
- Lars Ulrich jumped from an exploding building (Die Hard)
“Hero” – Chad Kroeger (From Nickelback) Feat. Josey Scott – From Spiderman
You may have not known this was from a movie soundtrack, or you may have not even known this was a song at all; I really like it though. The lyrics almost contradict the plot of the movie (Not waiting for a hero… in a super-hero movie), but from a standalone from the movie, its really got some good vocals. The Song is pretty short but they still fit in a little interlude in it; overall it is a little softer than most Nickelback songs. Still it’s got pretty powerful elements including the Chorus and the Outro. I think quite an underrated song.
A couple fun facts:
- Several other artists collaborated on the song, including Josey Scott (from Saliva), Tyler Connelly (from Theory of a Deadman), and Matt Cameron (from Soundgarden/Pearl Jam)
- Also the song was released as a single not too long after 9/11, and you could certainly connect the themes of the lyrics to the aftermath of that tragic event.
“Kiss From a Rose” – Seal – From Batman Forever
Probably the biggest song on this list; and while Seal is a well known accomplished artist, this is pretty much the only song I listen to from him. This song wasn’t written for the soundtrack of Batman Forever but it certainly took off after being included on it. In fact the song first appeared in The NeverEnding Story III in 1994, a year before Batman Forever (Why was he pimping this song out to so many movies); so maybe this isn’t a perfect fit on this category but it was too large to leave off.
And too beautiful, this is truly a gorgeous sounding song. Not sure what the hell these lyrics are supposed to represent but the melding of Seal’s vocals to the background tracks go perfectly; And Seal pretty much put it all together himself (and he did originally write it long before getting signed to a record label). The song also has large appeal to the masses, I think fans of most any genre enjoys listening to this song. I remember hearing it in many a department store back in the day and I was a child; That’s Staying Power!
Rick Beato has a pretty good breakdown and interview with Seal in his video, I’ll share the interview portion link here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Vp7Fpv5BI&pp=ygUbcmljayBiZWF0byBLaXNzIGZyb20gYSByb3Nl
“Take My Breath Away” – Berlin – From Top Gun
Ok so this one you may have known was from a movie; it’s pretty iconic and sounds so 80s movie but since it doesn’t explicitly say from Top Gun (and it’s possibly not the biggest song from that soundtrack), maybe this is new information for you! It’s a slow love ballad and hits you throughout with that synthesizer twang sounds which fluctuates a bit in tone to not be entirely guilty of repetitiveness. Good, not Great song but a pleasant listen to.
Now while I maybe alluded that another song “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins to this day is probably bigger (although I will admit that is arguable), this song did win an Oscar which of course is a tremendous achievement. Still the band didn’t anything else particularly notable other than this song really (and they even attribute its success to their breakup); But they will always have this smash hit and they can thank Top Gun for that exposure.