Top 15 movies with exceptionally accurate titles

Greetings, reader!

Last week's post was a ranking of the films with the most misleading titles, so now I'm doing the opposite. While every movie title tries to give the audience just the right amount of information with an attention-grabbing title, some titles certainly succeed at adjusting our expectations better than others. These are the films where you know what you're getting, to a staggering degree, due to the production having a name that uniquely defines the film's essence, working as a synopsis in a manner that puts most movie trailers to shame.

Here are my honorable mentions: Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (1964), Love Story (1970), Mean Girls (2004), School of Rock (2003).

15. Clerks (1994)

This is one of those rare and delightful cases where you see the title, imagine what the movie will be about in your mind, then figure "ah, it's probably something else and the title is just a clever metaphor or something" - but then you watch the film, and it really is just a comedy about a couple of store clerks on a regular day.

14. The Princess Switch: Switched Again! (2020)

If you saw the first Princess Switch, the title of this sequel works as an extremely accurate assessment of the level of shenanigans you ought to be mentally prepared for when gearing up for the film. It really says it all.

13. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)

This semi-biographical film follows a group of guys in Alcatraz prison - and you'll never guess what they attempt to do. Excitement ensues!

12. Sisu (2022)

The Finnish film industry has its strengths and weaknesses - and prominent among the things we do well over here is naming our films in a way that skips the pretentious Hollywood bullshit and gets right to the point. Naming a film after sisu, a specific type of grit that is our culture's proudest trait, was an ambitious choice - but for this very film, it was the right one. If there ever was a film that deserved to be called Sisu and nothing else, it's this one.

11. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004) AND Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)

I had to count this double feature as one, because the sequel matches the exact level of the original in terms of noteworthy title accuracy. The title of the first film in this stoner saga promises just the sort of chill, low-stakes stoner comedy adventure that we ended up getting, while the sequel takes a bizarre turn story-wise which is illustrated by the wild-ass title with perfection.

10. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

If you're expecting this film to be about a guy named Bill, and a guy named Ted, who embark on an adventure, and a thoroughly excellent one at that - you'd be right! That's exactly what the movie is!

9. Hamlet Liikemaailmassa (1987)

Aki Kaurismäki was f**king cooking with this one.

8. American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (2006)

For those acquainted with the franchise based on the four films that came before this one, American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile gives you the exactly correct expectations for the level of stuff we'd be dealing with in the fifth instalment.

7. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

That's it. That's the movie.

6. 12 Angry Men (1957)

Not to be a "they just don't make 'em like they used to" boomer - but I gotta say, if this film was made today, you know they'd call it either "Jury" (not even "The Jury" but just "Jury" for extra faux-serious gravitas) or then some shit like "Doubt: One Reluctant Juror on a Road Less Traveled". Gone is the art of simplicity, where filmmakers would find the perfect middle ground between over-minimalistic and overtly grandiose titles, thus grabbing your attention by telling you exactly what the main thing will be but nothing extra.

5. Speed (1994)

Out of every movie ever made, this is the one that deserves to be called Speed the most. Hell yeah.

4. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

In the very highest tier of today's list, we have those special films with which you don't have to hear the synopsis, see the trailer, or even see the poster - the title will do all that work for you. You will hear the film's name, and then walk into the movie with the exact amount of information you should have. Utter brilliance.

3. Snakes on a Plane (2006)

Beautifully, even eloquently, to the point. Extra points for not only giving a great preview of what the film will be about, but for also telling any given viewer with absolute certainty whether or not this will be their type of film. I guarantee that not a single person has watched this film and went "Damn, this wasn't at all what I was expecting", just as I'm sure that there isn't a single soul that would like the film but has skipped it because of the title.

2. KPop Demon Hunters (2025)

One time, my mom was reading one of my blog posts from last year, and asked "So what is this KPop Demon Hunters about?". I started my response with: "Okay - you're not gonna believe this..."

1. Cocaine Bear (2023)

Is Cocaine Bear the greatest movie of all time? No, certainly not. But is it the greatest movie title of all time? Yes, and bear with me here (heh), it is. No film title ever created, not The Godfather or All Quiet on the Western Front or Dead Poets Society, holds a candle to this one in terms of how uniquely true to the film in question the title is. If there ever was a film that completely lived up to its title, it's Cocaine Bear.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my list of the greatest episodes from Sex and the City, a modern classic that I recently finished watching for the first time.

Top 15 movies with exceptionally misleading titles

Greetings, reader!

Here's a fun idea I had: combing through all 1000+ movies I've seen, and picking out the ones with the absolutely most misleading titles, as well as the most exceptionally accurate ones. This week's post is the first half of the project, and we'll get to the accurate ones with next week's post. So, today's list is all about movies where, regardless of how good the movie is, the name does not tell you the full story (or goes even further and gives you a set of false expectations). These are the top 15 movies with the most remarkably misleading titles!

Here are my honorable mentions: Reservoir Dogs (1992), The King of Comedy (1982), The Piano (1993), The Room (2003), Trainspotting (1996).

15. The Emoji Movie (2017)

The "Emoji" part is accurate, but I take issue with this disasterfest's use of the word "Movie", as it creates an illusion that the art of cinema is somehow involved in the project.

14. The Girl Next Door (2004)

I actually have no issue with this title, no matter how objectively misleading it may be, because it's a genius marketing strategy. Together with the aesthetic in the film's poster, the cute title creates a carefree vibe, with viewers maybe expecting a summer romance or a hilarious crush - which makes the film's true nature as a surprisingly dark exposé about the adult film industry hit quite hard.

13. The Rock (1996)

Despite the immediate imagery conjured up by any viewer's mind upon hearing the title, Dwayne Johnson does not, in fact, appear in the film.

12. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989)

Over half of this slasher sequel takes place on a ferry, en route to Manhattan. And even when the titular killer finally arrives on the promised island, all that ensues is so tame that he hardly "takes" the place.

11. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Using a phrase from the original Star Trek show's opening sequence monologue as the film's subtitle is a pretty cool move, but here's my thing: out of all FOURTEEN films in the franchise, this particular title would've been more fitting for any other instalment than the one it was used for. This title is the promise of something epic, and something deep in the vein of the franchise's premise, and what we got was certainly not that.

10. Goodfellas (1990)

I gotta tell you, those fellas are morally grey at best.

9. Bridge to Terabithia (2007)

SPOILER ALERT: Much like the entire first hour of the film, the title delivers a promise of something pure and magical, therefore making that gut-wrenching twist all the more traumatic. The mislead may be the key to why the film is so powerful, but it's a mislead nonetheless. Honestly, anything else than "WARNING: THIS UPSETTING PIECE OF CINEMA WILL HAUNT YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE" would be a dishonest title with this one.

8. The Deer Hunter (1978)

If you go into this film expecting it to be about a person who hunts deer, you're in for a wild ride.

7. Inside Man (2006)

To this day, I have no idea who the titular inside man was. It's a heist flick, as one might guess from the title - and a damn good one, thanks to Spike Lee's directing and the dynamite performances by Denzel Washington and Jodie Foster. But, the thing is - in this particular heist, unless you over-interpret the plot and go into conspiracy theories, there is no man on the inside! Therefore, this title would be more fitting for almost any other heist flick than the one where it was used.

6. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

Leave it to the most bleakly unimaginative, thoroughly generic film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have the coolest, zaniest name. How dare they give such a promise of fun.

5. Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991)

Between the New Nightmare pseudo-sequel, the Freddy Vs. Jason crossover and the Nightmare on Elm Street remake, this film isn't even close to being the franchise's last, despite the inherent promise of finality in the title. Also, Freddy isn't dead at the beginning of the film like one is lead to believe, and I'm pretty sure he's not dead at the end, either!

4. X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Once again, marketing a film that now exists in the "early days" of a film series as the franchise finale is a pretty hilarious move. Furthermore, my other issue with this title is that it sounds much too dramatic and high-stakes, for what ended up being a fairly cruddy and unremarkable instalment.

3. Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)

Once again, a slasher sequel with a title that promises to end things for once and for all, only for the franchise to keep churning out sequels afterwards like nothing happened. Also, "Jason Goes to Hell" is very misleading in itself, as the title is barely accurate on a highly interpretational level at best. If you're expecting to see Jason Voorhees in the fires of the underworld with a bunch of demons, you'll be sorely disappointed.

2. Back to the Future (1985)

They travel to the f**king past. That's the movie. At the very end, they return, back...to the present. They only ever visit the future in the sequel.

1. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984)

Yes, this same f**king franchise has called two different instalments "final", only for neither one to be anything of the sort. In my view, The Final Chapter gets even more merit as an outrageously misleading title, because as the fourth film out of thirteen, it's even less final than Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, which is the ninth. Also, the film after this one picked up as a very direct sequel, following the same hero and everything, so this isn't final even in a "end of an era before a soft reboot" way. Christ.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for a fun companion piece - the top 15 movies with the most remarkably accurate titles.

Top 15 original songs made for movies

Greetings, reader!

I'm still continuing the soundtrack posts, as today's list will focus on original songs composed for movies. Many difficult and somewhat arbitrary lines had to be drawn for this one: I ended up not including musical numbers, as they're difficult to compare to more soundtrack-y ones and they deserve their own list, and I also excluded all the James Bond theme songs because I've made a whole separate post about them (and honestly, they'd take up so much of the space on this list as they go so hard).

I'm also limiting this list to popular music, as a means of differentiating from tracks of a film's instrumental score - there were many grey areas, as movie scores often do have vocal parts, but I ended up ruling out a few songs that the Oscars have nominated for Best Original Song but that I personally felt were more a part of the score than a separate popular music song made for the soundtrack (such as Gonna Fly Now from Rocky and Somewhere In My Memory from Home Alone). Also, it should be noted that these aren't ranked just based on how good the song is, but rather how well the song fits the film, and how good the specific moment when the song hits is in the context of the film, whether it be the end credits or a specific scene.

Here are my honorable mentions:

Berlin - Take My Breath Away (Top Gun)

Counting Crows - Accidentally in Love (Shrek 2)

Enya - May It Be (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)

Radiohead - Exit Music (For a Film) (Romeo+Juliet)

Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters (Ghostbusters)

15. Billy Boyd - The Last Goodbye (The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies)

Obviously, the Lord of the Rings films are vastly superior to the Hobbit trilogy in basically every regard - except for the category of end credit songs, in which both trilogies are neck to neck with greatness. Half of the six original songs composed for Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth films made it onto today's list, and kicking things off is The Last Goodbye.

Billy Boyd, the absolute legend who played Pippin in the LOTR films, wrote and performed this for the very ending of the franchise's final film - and oh boy(d), does it hit hard. The bittersweet lyrics, complemented by the beautiful composition, really resonate with the viewer's emotions and wrap up the saga in an elegant manner.

14. Survivor - Eye of the Tiger (Rocky III)

This f**king song is so good that it was made for something as culturally irrelevant as the third film of a boxing franchise, yet it became an overall iconic rock anthem that people associate with not just the film but the entire franchise (I can't be the only one who was confused about the absence of this song when watching the original Rocky for the first time, as the franchise's pop culture legacy had convinced me that it would be a part of it from the beginning).

But, yeah - ever since Rocky III, the franchise and the song have been inseperable in humanity's collective memory, and no wonder why. The song totally slaps regardless of context, but comes into its own on a whole new level when put into the context for which it was composed.

13. Tommi Läntinen - Jari Ja Minä (Kulman Pojat)

This was a thoroughly fascinating grey area for my list-making distinctions: last week's post was for the use of pre-existing songs used in a film's soundtrack, and this week's post is for original songs made specifically for a film - so where the hell do I put this one? I had ruled that even if a new cover of an existing song is made for a film, it belongs more on last week's list than this one (which is what I did for Rascal Flatts' cover of Life is a Highway for Cars), but leave it to the Finns to create an even weirder precedent: for those not familiar with this case, rock star Tommi Läntinen had a hit song called Kevät Ja Minä, and for the film Kulman Pojat, he made a new version with new lyrics specific to the film to play over the end credits.

Yeah, it's an odd and unique case, but honestly, I think Hollywood should start doing this on a regular basis, due to Jari Ja Minä being an incredible bop that makes the film about 150% better than it would be without it.

The new lyrics are such a blast, and my genuinely favorite part of the whole film is seeing Läntinen sing it together with the film's cast over the end credits. Goes f**king hard.

12. Ramones - Pet Sematary (Pet Sematary)

The backstory to this one is so f**king cool. Stephen King is a massive Ramones fan, and invited the band to visit him when they were gigging in New England. During the visit, he handed bassist Dee Dee Ramone a copy of Pet Sematary. Dee Dee disappeared with the book into the basement, and arrived an hour later with the lyrics to Pet Sematary.

The song was finished by the band in cooperation with the production of Mary Lambert's 1989 film adaptation, and oh man, the song is such a great fit for the film. Iconic stuff.

11. Ed Sheeran - I See Fire (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)

This song was so overplayed in its heyday that it's easy to forget what a hard-hitting, world-shattering listening experience it initially was. It's not just that it's a great song for the end credits of the film, as is the case with all of Peter Jackson's Middle-Earth films, but that it fits the vibe of the specific tone the film ended on even better than its Hobbit and LOTR counterparts.

I remember so vividly what it felt like, sitting in that movie theater, when the credits started to roll after that massive Smaug cliffhanger, and this masterclass started to play. By itself, the song reads as a typical folk-pop ballad, but in the context of the film, it feels all sorts of cataclysmically gripping.

10. Kenny Loggins - Danger Zone (Top Gun)

I feel the need - THE NEED FOR SPEED! The transition from the intro-track version of Harold Faltermeyer's Top Gun Anthem into this energetic 80's rocker, in what is possibly my favorite movie opening sequence of all time, is such a f**king jolt of adrenaline every time. An all-time cool song for an all-time cool film.

9. John Legend & Common - Glory (Selma)

Like most of the songs on today's list, this won the Oscar for Best Original Song - and no wonder. Making a theme song for a Martin Luther King Jr. biopic can't have been an easy job, because there are such larger-than-life themes to deal with, but John Legend and Common sure were up for the job.

The combination of gospel and hip hop elements, the key points of MLK's philosophy being cleverly interpreted in the lyrics, and the empowering general vibe that colors the end credits in a truly pallet-cleansing manner to make sure that the ideas presented in the film stay with the viewer - it's cool, touching and historically fascinating all at once. Amazing stuff.

8. Annie Lennox - Into the West (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King)

My overall ranking of the six Middle-Earth films is extremely different from my ranking of their end credit songs, but there is one clear correlation - The Return of the King takes the coveted #1 spot on both lists. Built off of one of Howard Shore's best melodies in the trilogy's instrumental score, this soaring masterwork creates just the perfect atmosphere for the end credits of the greatest film ever made.

It always hits extra hard when you marathon the entire LOTR trilogy - the feeling you get from this song fits ridiculously well with the feeling of sitting on the couch after 12 hours of sheer high-fantasy epicness, tears in your eyes and an empty yet fulfilled cacophony of heroic themes playing in your mind.

7. Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)

If you asked 100 random people to name the first song made for a movie that comes to their mind, I'm guessing that this would very likely be the most-named one - and what a legacy that is to have. It's also a very well-earned one, because let's be real - this song is such a f**king diamond. It's also one of the best examples of a popular music song written for a film cooperating with the film's instrumental score - and fittingly, the film won the Oscars for Best Original Song and Best Original Score (and, like, nine other Oscars as well, because Titanic f**king rules).

James Horner and Celine Dion wrote the song together, and Titanic's score is largely as fantastic as it is because it gets to coast off the melodies and chords of My Heart Will Go On, making the most out of its emotionally charged chord progressions in various arrangements while teasing the eventually heard full song. Brilliant stuff, and one of those cases where it's absolutely impossible to imagine what the film would be like without the song.

6. Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - (I've Had) The Time of My Life (Dirty Dancing)

It doesn't get much better than this. Written for the climactic scene of this 80's classic, this banger of historical proportions is quite frankly the best part of the film, and boosts the end result to a whole other level. While the song has gained a reputation and lots of usage outside the film (especially as a wedding band mainstay), it still very much is "the song from Dirty Dancing" at heart, and no wonder why.

5. Public Enemy - Fight the Power (Do the Right Thing)

Do the Right Thing is the best movie from Spike Lee's impressive catalogue, and one of the most important movies ever made. One of the many reasons for my high regard for Do the Right Thing is its signature atmosphere, and this masterpiece by Public Enemy does so much work in its creation. The vibe of the song goes together beautifully with the imagery at hand - it's revolutionary, it's counter-culture, and accomplishes its heavy message in a groovy, colorful and fun package. Which is just what the film itself does.

4. Simple Minds - Don't You (Forget About Me) (The Breakfast Club)

This song is so good that it appeared twice on my list from two weeks ago, where I ranked the best uses of licensed songs in TV soundtracks - to the context of certain episodes from Community and Futurama, it found whole new meanings. But still, at the end of the day, you can't beat the original context of this Simple Minds classic.

When this starts to play at the end of the film, to the visual of Judd Nelson's iconic fist pump right after the sweet ending monologue, the sensation is unreal. The viewer has just experienced a roller coaster of emotions, heard the words that tie it all together, seen one of the most iconic visuals in cinema history - and the only thing that could make this combination even sweeter is this all-timer among movie songs.

3. Bruce Springsteen - Streets of Philadelphia (Philadelphia)

This melancholic and reflective slow-rocker sets the mood right in the opening montage of this remarkable movie. Director Jonathan Demme wanted an artist like Springsteen to make the song, because as outspoken as the singer has always been, a large chunk of his core audience probably were the kinds of Americans who could use a lesson about prejudice and the gay experience in the early 90's.

Springsteen was happy to lend his songwriting and voice for such a project, and the rest is history - not only is Streets of Philadelphia one of the greatest songs written for a movie, but it's one of the very best songs by America's arguably greatest songwriter.

2. Andy Williams - Where Do I Begin (Love Story)

Ah, right in the feels. Technically, this one shouldn't count, as the movie doesn't feature the song in this form, but I decided to make an exception for this rather unique case. The chords, melody and atmosphere of the song are introduced as the main theme of the film's Oscar-winning score, composed by Francis Lai. However, a need for a version of "Theme from Love Story" with lyrics was felt, and such a version was recorded and released shortly after the film. Culturally, it has become very intertwined with the film, so much so that there's somewhat of a Mandela effect of people remembering Williams' version being in the movie.

Anyhow, as far as songs composed for films go, this one right here is heart-wrenching perfection. Composing a tune that is appropriately heartbreaking for what is one of the most emotionally powerful romantic films ever made cannot have been an easy task, but they sure got it done. Tears, man.

1. Eminem - Lose Yourself (8 Mile)

This right here is the gold standard. Not only is Lose Yourself the first-ever hip hop song to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song - it's also the #1 best song in Eminem's entire discography, which is quite the accomplishment when looking at his multiple decades of iconic bangers. The use of Lose Yourself in 8 Mile follows the classic Stand By Me structure - the beat is teased and built throughout key moments in the film, until we finally hear the full version as the credits roll.

It works incredibly well, and makes the film so much greater than it would be without it. When considering the film's story, themes and premise as a semi-autobiographical Eminem film, the lyrics of the song - especially the emotional burst of flames that is the third verse - hit so much harder, and really color the viewing experience in that magical way that only movie music can do.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for a silly one: my list of the movies with the most misleading titles.

Top 20 Epic Soundtrack Moments from Movies

Greetings, reader!

Following last week's post about the greatest soundtrack moments from TV, I'm doing a similar one but for all the movies out there. Bear in mind, this list will not include original songs that were made for the purpose of the film, like Danger Zone from Top Gun or I've Had the Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing - those cases will get their own list in next week's post. So, this list is all about movies using pre-existing, licensed songs as a part of the soundtrack, in a memorable key moment of the film. A spoiler alert is in order, so please skip over the descriptions for any films you don't want spoilers from!

Here are my honorable mentions:

Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones in Casino (1995)

Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Laid by James in the American Pie franchise (1999-)

September by Earth, Wind & Fire in The Intouchables (2011)

Wicked Game by Chris Isaak in Wild At Heart (1990)

20. I'm Shipping Up to Boston by Dropkick Murphys in The Departed (2006)

This certified banger of celtic punk sets the mood for a few key scenes in this Martin Scorsese masterclass. The intensely energetic vibe of the song's intro makes it into a delicious motif, and for a film about the Irish mob battling the police force in Boston, they really couldn't have picked a more appropriate song.

19. Danza Kuduro by Don Omar and Lucenzo in Fast Five (2011)

Say what you will about the Fast & Furious movies, they sure know how to curate a soundtrack department. The fifth and best film in the franchise is a full-on heist flick, reading like Ocean's Eleven on wheels, and what every good heist flick needs is the "haha, it only looks like the plan failed, but this safe was a fake and our heroes made off with the real one" reveal at the end. And for that sweet payoff, this reggaeton banger underscores the feeling in a fun, hype-filled fashion.

18. Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones in Goodfellas (1990)

Not only is Gimme Shelter the best song that the Stones ever produced - it also has the best combined soundtrack mileage of all time. Its use in an episode of Person of Interest made it to the top ten on last week's TV soundtrack list, and in the world of cinema, one Mr. Scorsese has used the same song in three of his films - and all three instances made it onto today's list and/or honorable mentions.

Scorsese and Gimme Shelter are a match made in heaven, as proved by the deliciously specific atmosphere that it helps create for the drug-business montage in this mafia epic. Fantastic stuff.

17. You Could Be Mine by Guns N' Roses in Terminator II: Judgement Day (1991)

Most of the items on today's list are cases where the song is heard once in the film, in a very specific scene - but like I'm Shipping Up to Boston in The Departed, this is one of the few exceptions. We hear this hard rock thrill ride multiple times in what I consider to be the greatest action movie ever made, and honestly, I'm not sure it would be the #1 action movie of all time without this song.

The adrenaline-charged groove and heavy sound of You Could Be Mine fit the atmosphere of the Terminator sequel with unreal perfection - so much so that I, a massive Guns N' Roses fan, cannot hear this song without immediately thinking of the film. Truly a match made in heaven.

16. Layla by Derek and the Dominos in Goodfellas (1990)

Ah, a song choice so great that they had to include it in the Goodfellas homage episode of Community as well. In a major turning point for the film, we follow a montage of how the bad times have started to roll, and that moment called for something particularly bittersweet in the soundtrack department. Thankfully, they got the permit to use the Layla outro - famously one of the most bittersweet pieces of music ever composed. It works so incredibly well in this context.

15. Ain't No Mountain High Enough by Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

The entire Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack famously slaps, with Star-Lord's "Awesome Mixtape" being a fun plot element in addition to giving us an auditive blast of energy throughout the runtime. If an individual high point has to be singled out, there's no way around it - it's gotta be Ain't No Mountain High Enough in that utterly brilliant ending montage. Such a delicious motown vibe, concluding the film on the exact right note!

14. Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival in every Vietnam war movie ever made

I'm pretty sure this song spontaneously appears in the air around us whenever someone even mentions the Vietnam war. And for good reason - both the lyrics and the sound of this CCR classic are profoundly fitting for that context, and it has been used so much that the ringing of that opening riff is inseparable from imagery of choppers and jungles in the minds of cinephiles around the world.

13. All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix, also in every Vietnam war movie ever made

It's hard to choose which one is better out of the legendary 'Vietnam movie song' duo, but at the end of the day, I had to go with Jimi Hendrix's legendary cover of Bob Dylan's All Along the Watchtower. For whatever reason, this tune has found an even more profound connection to 'Nam than Fortunate Son - historical juxtapositions between Hendrix, Woodstock, the hippies and the anti-war movement definitely help. I just know that when this starts to play during the Vietnam section of Forrest Gump, the vibes are immaculate.

12. Blue Velvet by Bobby Vinton in Blue Velvet (1986)

It's a pretty special case when a film gets its whole title from an old, pre-existing song, and builds at least part of its whole vibe around it. The first moments of David Lynch's greatest film are such a delicate mixture of beautiful elements - the imagery of the red roses, in front of the white picket fence, to the backdrop of a bright blue sky, is absolutely iconic in itself, but this song is what really solidifies it as one of the most aesthetically impeccable film openings of all time.

11. Life is a Highway by Rascal Flatts in Cars (2006)

This was a bit of a grey area. Today's list is about pre-existing songs being used in a film soundtrack, and next week's list will be its own separate post for original songs made for movies - so what to do with a case where the song already existed, but a different artist made a cover of it specifically for a movie? I went back and forth on this, but ended up counting it on today's list - at the end of the day, Life Is a Highway predates Cars, and the filmmakers wanted to use that specific song but just commissioned a slightly different version to be made.

(Sidenote: an even greyer area had to be ruled the other way: Finnish artist Tommi Läntinen has a song called Kevät Ja Minä, and he made a different version of it for the film Kulman Pojat, with new lyrics specific to the movie. Now that's an interesting case, but I had to put that on next week's list and not this one).

Anyways, Life Is a Highway (and Flatts' version in particular) makes the film so much better than it would otherwise be, and its vibrant and goofy energy has a massive impact on its whole atmosphere.

10. Redbone by Childish Gambino in Get Out (2017)

Ah, such a vibe. The opening act of Get Out doesn't even call for a very specific type of song as strongly as many of the moments on today's list, and I could imagine it working well enough with any number of good songs. But when reaching for the stars and shooting for perfection, I cannot think of a better tune to set the mood than Redbone. Absolute cinema.

9. Monster Mash by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett in The Bride! (2026)

I felt like I should start clapping when I recently experienced this moment of utter brilliance in the cinema. It's one of those song choices that isn't at all predictable, but feels completely obvious in hindsight. Like, no part of my mind was expecting to hear this Halloween-time golden oldie when watching Maggie Gyllenhaal's surrealist-feminist take on the Frankenstein lore, but the very moment it started to play as the credits started to role, it felt like it's the only piece of music in the world that could've been considered for that moment. A true cherry-on-top song choice if I ever heard one.

8. Where Is My Mind by Pixies in Fight Club (1999)

The final scene of David Fincher's masterpiece Fight Club is certainly one of the greatest movie endings of all time, and oh man, did they nail it with the song choice...I can't quite put my finger on what it is about Where Is My Mind, a song that seems like just a regular alt-rock tune, that boosts an already amazing culmination scene into even further levels of greatness.

Something about the combination of the song, the cataclysmic imagery and the line "You met me at a very strange time in my life" just creates an untouchable atmosphere, one that feels dreamy and apocalyptic and romantic and nihilistic all at once. It's bizarre, in the best possible way.

7. Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

This one means everything to me. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a very personal film to me, as so much of the narrative resonates with my own life and experiences from my youth, and the movie has had a profoundly healing effect on me over the years. One of the many key scenes that really moved me is the school dance, where protagonist Charlie is observing from the background, until this song starts to play and his cool new friends invite him onto the dance floor, and he gathers his courage and joins them.

Logan Lerman's acting in this scene is bound to resonate deeply with us shy, awkward and self-aware people, and the banger energy of this song makes the moment infinitely more empowering and unforgettable.

6. Wake Up by Rage Against the Machine in The Matrix (1999)

Most of the songs on today's list play in the background of certain scenes, and only very few end credit songs made it onto the list (usually the very best end credit songs are original compositions, so next week's list will have plenty of those). However, this is one of the exceptions - when this specific RATM song starts to play as the credits to this particular film start to roll, it goes so incredibly f**king hard that there's nothing quite like it.

Everything fits so well - the lyrics match the themes of the film, the badass tone of the track goes together with the cool action flick style, the transition as the opening build-up chord starts to play in the final seconds of the final scene before the main riff explodes into action just as the credits begin...utter perfection.

5. All Star by Smash Mouth in Shrek (2001)

Very few pieces of media are as deeply ingrained into my generation's collective childhood nostalgia as the opening moments of Shrek. Our introduction to the iconic ogre, to the backdrop of this blistering banger by Smash Mouth, is somehow silly, endearing, badass and chill all at once. The entire Shrek trilogy is filled with great song choices, but really, you can't beat the very first one in terms of what a mood it sets.

4. Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones in The Departed (2006)

Out of all the fantastic uses of Gimme Shelter in movie and TV soundtracks, the opening of The Departed is the GOAT. The brilliant atmosphere of the song's all-timer intro forms a perfect harmony with Jack Nicholson's opening words: "I don't want to be a product of my environment - I want my environment to be a product of me".

The Departed is the film that Scorsese finally won the Best Picture Oscar for, and honestly, you can feel this already from this opening: deep down, it feels like the opening to a true Best Picture winner. And the song choice, and just how well it plays together with the imagery and the opening monologue, is a big part of that.

3. Stand By Me by Ben E. King in Stand By Me (1986)

In a deeply artistic move, Rob Reiner and company made a genius connection. They were adapting Stephen King's short story The Body, but decided not to call the film that, because they realized that this immortal song by Ben E. King deals with such similar themes and ideas as the story that they should include the song in the film - so much so that they decided to name the entire film after the song.

That's some out-of-the-box thinking right there, but God damn, it sure paid off. Stand By Me (the song) is such a crucial part of building the atmosphere for Stand By Me (the film), as we hear brilliant arrangements of its bass line throughout the film's atmospheric score, before eventually gifting us with the payoff of the entire song in the end credits. Many of the entries on today's list are cases where the song really makes the scene, but it's an extremely rare thing for the song to make the entire f**king movie.

2. Heroes by David Bowie in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

I had to consider whether I'd even qualify this song for today's list, as the existence of this song on a certain mixtape is such a big part of the plot and themes that it doesn't feel like a mere 'soundtrack moment'. But still - the context in which Heroes starts to play at the tail end of the final scene, right after Charlie's closing monologue (one of my all-time favorite moments in cinema), and continues to play throughout the closing credits, is such a pitch-perfect needle drop.

It really feels like it mashes together everything that the film did well, working as a brilliantly pallet-cleansing bookend for the deeply emotional viewing experience that has just come to a close. As much as I loved the song already before this film changed my life, it has most definitely become one of those cases where the song and scene are forever linked in my mind.

1. Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

I had to think long and hard about which way I'd rank my top two, but in the end, I had to put this formidable feat of soundtrack artistry at #1. It just doesn't get better than this. Classical music isn't used for licensed soundtrack moments as often as popular music, and as movie score composers use many elements familiar from classical music, it's understandable that a whole lot of people think that Also Sprach Zarathustra was composed for 2001: A Space Odyssey. The movie did such wonders to boost Strauss' composition culturally, making it an instantly recognizable household name for decades to come.

I don't know if it was Kubrick himself, or someone from his soundtrack department, who had this genius vision - but the world of cinema is better off for it. The atmosphere created by this piece of music, together with the grandiose visuals, at the beginning of this film, is a promise of greatness to come if I ever saw one - and not to spoil too much, but the full-circle moment when the piece reappears at the film's end is profound on all the levels. 2001 is one of the three only films that I have ever given a 10/10 rating to on IMDB, and this choice of music is one of the many big reasons that paved the way for such an opinion. Astronomically good stuff.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I contrast this list of licensed soundtrack choices by ranking the greatest original songs written for movies.

Top 40 epic soundtrack moments from television

Greetings, reader!

My fiancée Martta suggested this topic a while back - it was supposed to be a top ten, but there are so many great instances I wanted to discuss that it kinda blew out of proportion. Anyhow, this week's post is all about TV soundtracks - not the composed score, nor the theme songs made for the series, but the use of a licensed, pre-existing song for a specific scene. There are many great TV scenes that are made even better due to the usage of just the right song, and these moments are the best of the best.

NOTE: Covers are generally included for this list, but instances where the song has been heavily arranged to fit the specific TV scene even better are not, as that becomes its own thing and is a bit unfair to compare to ones where a scene is molded to fit the song as it is. So, as brilliant and artistic as the moments in question are, there will be no Every Breath You Take / Peter Gunn Theme mash-up from The Sopranos, Somewhere Out There -medley from Community, or the gargantuan half-hour mix of Nine Inch Nails' Together from The Bear on today's list.

Also, a SPOILER ALERT is in order as I will be discussing specific events from key plot moments for multiple shows, so please use discretion and skip anything you might want to skip!

Here are my honorable mentions:

Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd in The Sopranos (Kennedy and Heidi, Season 6 Episode 18)

Listen to Your Heart by Roxette in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Dennis Takes a Mental Health Day, Season 16 Episode 8)

Purple Rain by Prince in Stranger Things (The Rightside Up, Season 5 Episode 8)

Take Five by Dave Brubeck Quartet in Twin Peaks (Part 4, Episode 4 of The Return)

The Times They Are a-Changin' by Bob Dylan in The West Wing (Election Night, Season 4 Episode 7)

40. Getting in Tune by The Who in The Bear (Groundhogs, Season 4 Episode 1)

I initially thought that I'd limit the list to one entry per series, but then decided against it - some shows are exceptionally good at always picking the right song for the right occasion, and they deserve to be praised for this. The critically acclaimed culinary drama The Bear is one of those shows that you'll be seeing a lot of on today's list, and we're kicking things off with the highpoint of its season 4 premiere - this banger by The Who makes an already kick-ass montage all the more full of hype and anticipation.

39. Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol in Grey's Anatomy (Losing My Religion, Season 2 Episode 27)

Grey's Anatomy is another show that definitely made it onto today's list multiple times - Shonda Rhimes' medical drama sure knows how to write and produce a massively emotional moment of storytelling, and to further punctuate said emotions with an amazing song choice. Chasing Cars ends up appearing multiple times on the show, but you can't beat the first instance - I'd estimate that Denny Duquette would make it onto a list of the top 20 saddest TV deaths even without this song, but the use of Chasing Cars might lift him all the way to the top ten.

38. Con Te Partiro by Andrea Bocelli in The Sopranos (Commendatori, Season 2 Episode 4)

Sometimes, it won't be an individual scene, but rather a certain song playing throughout multiple key moments of an episode, therefore creating a mental blueprint where you forever connect the song and the episode to one another in your brain. That's what happened here - the use of Con Te Partiro throughout the Sopranos episode where they visit the Old Country is so sublime, that it's still the #1 context I associate the song with after all these years.

37. Let Your Heart Hold Fast by Fort Atlantic in How I Met Your Mother (The Final Page, Season 8 Episode 12)

There are a few dramas that are even better at always choosing the right song, but in the realm of sitcoms, How I Met Your Mother remains undefeated in this category. One of their many immortal soundtrack moments is this one - the midseason finale of season 8, considered by many to be the show's finest hour, ends with climactic imagery as Barney and Robin have just gotten engaged while Ted soaks in the unveiling of his new building. And this beautiful song starts to play throughout those final moments. It fits so well that you'd think the song was created for this very moment.

36. Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight & The Pips in Modern Family (The Late Show, Season 5 Episode 5)

My fiancée is the biggest Modern Family geek you'll ever meet, and she considers The Late Show to be the show's best episode, so you know it's a good one. And I for one cannot imagine that episode without this song, as it does such wonders for the atmosphere. We first see and hear just a snippet of it as a part of the plot, as we cut from the adults wondering how the kids are doing to a clip of Haley and company having an absolute blast with the karaoke machine.

In the grand scheme of things, that moment reads as a brilliant Chekov's gun for the viewer's subconscious, as the song feels freshly familiar when it starts to play in the soundtrack towards the end of the episode. It fits the mood of what's going on so well, and makes an already brilliant feel-good episode feel even better.

35. The Day the World Went Away by Nine Inch Nails in Person of Interest (The Day the World Went Away, Season 5 Episode 10)

Goosebumps…major goosebumps. The episode that even takes the name of the song in question is many things: the 100th episode of Person of Interest, the fourth-last episode of the entire series, and the dramatic turning point in the greatest final season any series has ever produced.

The only reason why this isn’t ranked even higher is that the final moments of this episode would be 10/10 television even without the song, so it’s not quite one of those cases where the song absolutely makes the scene and/or you can’t imagine the moment without that specific music. Still, it’s a great addition to an already perfect episode, and a real cherry on top for these moments of escalating endgame madness.

34. Baby Blue by Badfinger in Breaking Bad (Felina, Season 5 Episode 16)

The all-time best needle drop for the very final scene of an entire series will appear later on today’s list, but the close runner-up is this one right here. The bittersweet, utterly poetic atmosphere is just too good to be true: the opening riff starts to play, followed by the line ”Guess I got what I deserved”, just as a fatally wounded Walter White starts to take a final walk around the meth lab that was his undoing. Couldn’t have gone with a better tune.

33. You'll Never Walk Alone by Gerry & the Pacemakers in Ted Lasso (The Hope That Kills You, Season 1 Episode 10)

This one defies all logic, as this Merseybeat classic is absolutely specific to Liverpool F.C. and not football in general - yet Liverpool has nothing to do with the events of football dramedy Ted Lasso’s season 1 finale, where the fictional AFC Richmond has just faced off against Manchester City. But somehow, it all fits - of course I might be biased as a lifelong Liverpool fan, but hey, at least it hits incredibly hard for me.

It’s not just that they chose a song associated with football - the moment works because the lyrics to You’ll Never Walk Alone fit that specific moment in the show’s trajectory so incredibly well, that in that specific moment, it doesn’t feel like the Liverpool anthem, but something much larger. After being berated by his dad and his own team, former Richmond player Jamie Tartt enters the team bus feeling terrible - and then he notices the note from Ted, saying "Way to make that extra pass" and including one of his toy soldiers. In the show's narrative, this is an emotionally charged major moment, and the sweet melodies of YNWA fit it like a glove.

32. Reflecting Light by Sam Phillips in Gilmore Girls (Last Week Fights, This Week Tights, Season 4 Episode 21)

Ah, what an absolute vibe. Lorelai and Luke dancing at Liz and TJ's reneissance-themed wedding is arguably the most romantic moment in the entire series, and oh boy, what a song choice they went with. This beautifully eloquent Sam Phillips ballad really tugs at the viewer's heartstrings, and that scene juxtaposed with the song is just as much a match made in heaven as Luke and Lorelai themselves.

31. No Sleep Till Brooklyn by Beastie Boys in Brooklyn Nine-Nine (99, Season 5 Episode 9)

HELL YES! It was only a matter of time that this Brooklyn-themed anthem would play on the show, and oh man, they couldn't have gone with a better moment. It was a special moment, as B99 is (for obvious reasons) the only show where the show's ninety-ninth episode is an even bigger deal than the 100th - and the appropriately titled 99 was it.

In the highpoint of this magnificent episode, the squad realizes that Captain Holt still has a chance of becoming commissioner - if they can make it back to New York in time. Amy Santiago, who had been trying to ditch her uptight persona and be laid-back for a majority of the episode, is unveiled as their secret weapon, as she taps into her utmost Amy-ness in what is one of the finest character-defining moments in sitcom history. And as her organizational skills lead the squad on their way, this Beastie Boys banger sets the mood for a totally badass travel montage.

30. The Story by Sara Ramirez in Grey's Anatomy (All of Me, Season 14 Episode 24)

Mm, more Grey's Anatomy - they sure know how to pick 'em. The song The Story, originally by Brandi Carlile, has had quite a bit of mileage in the series, even being one of the performed songs in the infamous musical episode Song Beneath the Song. However, the instance that I chose for this list is the cover, performed by former cast member Sara Ramirez (who played the legendary Callie Torres), in the season 14 finale.

Having a song that already had a strong Grey's connotation, and such a version of it with such a delightfully familiar voice singing, in the final moments of an episode that would be the final episode for both Arizona Robbins and April Kepner as main castmembers, was enough to make me shed my share of tears. It's especially powerful when considering Callie and Arizona, one of the show's best love stories - they never got back together, at least in a canonically confirmed way, but having Callie's actor sing this song in the background while Arizona exits the show is such a strong signal to them possibly finding each other again off-screen, that I certainly choose to believe.

29. Home by Vitamin String Quartet in Modern Family (The Wedding Part 2, Season 5 Episode 24)

The only instrumental song on today's list is this brilliant Vitamin String Quartet composition, that plays in Modern Family's iconic wedding episode as Jay walks Mitch down the aisle. In a show full of storylines that tug at one's heartstrings, this is the most tear-jerking moment from all eleven seasons, and the song choice enunciates the emotions at hand in a raw, vulnerable fashion. It truly hits you right in the feels.

28. Hallelujah by Jeff Buckley in The West Wing (Posse Comitatus, Season 3 Episode 22)

The West Wing doesn't feature all that many major character deaths, but when they do, they're exceptionally cruel ones. Such was the case with special agent Simon Donovan, played by a pre-NCIS Mark Harmon - the absolute sweetheart had a four-episode arch of being a bodyguard (and budding love interest) to CJ, and their electric chemistry made those episodes amazing.

In the season 3 finale, the threat on CJ's life is finally neutralized and the couple is finally free to explore a romantic relationship - and agent Donovan happens to be at the store, buying flowers for her, when an armed robbery takes place and trying to defuse the situation costs him his life. This Jeff Buckley masterclass starts to play as the backdrop to the visual of CJ finding out, and the inherent sadness of the song's fits Allison Janey's heartbreaking acting performance incredibly well in this harrowing moment.

27. I Will Wait For You by Michel Legrand in Futurama (Jurassic Bark, Season 5 Episode 2)

One of the most emotionally haunting melodies ever created, I Will Wait For You was originally composed for the French musical film Les Parapluies De Cherbourg. Not to take anything away from that masterful film - but the song hits arguably even harder here, in a f**king Futurama episode. You just have to see it in order to believe it. The story of the show's highest-rated episode is incredibly moving in itself, and this song choice is the nail in the coffin to guarantee major waterworks for us emotional viewers.

26. Sinnerman by Nina Simone in Person of Interest (Witness, Season 1 Episode 7)

There are many shows that are exceptionally good in the skill of choosing the right licensed songs for key scenes - The Bear, How I Met Your Mother and Grey's Anatomy all appear multiple times on today's list - but the undisputed king is Jonathan Nolan's sci-fi crime drama Person of Interest, with a record-breaking 7 appearances on this top 40 -list.

One of these greats is Nina Simone's Sinnerman, which is heard in its entire runtime for the ending montage of the season 1 episode Witness. The episode features one of the coolest, most mind-blowing plot twists in the show's run, and the juxtaposition that is created from this song's intro starting to play just as the viewer realizes how they've been fooled is just SO. FUCKING. GOOD. Nobody does it better than the POI crew.

25. Love Story by Taylor Swift in The Bear (Forks, Season 2 Episode 7)

A part of me wanted to rank this even higher, largely because the entire episode is such a goddamn masterpiece that everything associated with it feels extra good. When ranking these purely as soundtrack choices for specific scenes, there are quite a few even better ones out there - but man, it's still one of the best.

The episode Forks is one of the most efficient character-driven episodes in TV history, with the character Richie undergoing such a transformation and some brilliantly realistic character growth throughout the episode. And among the many great moments throughout it, one that stands tall is the Love Story scene. It creates a victorious mood for the moment, and the joy in actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach's facial expressions melts together with the vibe of the song to create a truly larger-than-life feeling of gleeful hype. It's a magnificent, genuinely wholesome moment.

24. Make Your Own Kind of Music by Cass Elliot in Lost (Man of Science, Man of Faith, Season 2 Episode 1)

The first season of Lost ended with one of modern television's most iconic cliffhangers (the survivors blowing up the entrance to the mysterious hatch, and looking down) - and the first scene of the second season follows up by becoming one of the all-time greatest openings to a TV season.

Make Your Own Kind of Music starts to play, as we see a mysterious man waking up in some sort of building, and going through a morning routine, begging the viewers to contemplate questions like "Whose flashbacks are these" and "Why are we opening the season with this". The vibes, especially thanks to the song choice, are immaculate. And when the plot twist hits - we hear a big BOOM, the music stops, and it's gradually revealed that it's no flashback at all but rather taking place beneath the hatch, on the island, in the very moment that season 1 ended on - the contrast from song to no song makes the sudden jump in atmosphere extra mysterious and jarring.

23. Come Sail Away by Styx in Community (Geothermal Escapism, Season 5 Episode 5)

"Why am I crying? Did I accidentally listen to Come Sail Away by Styx again?"

This is what Troy says when watching Abed's short film about the study group, way back in season 1 - now that's foreshadowing. You see, when the time came for Donald Glover to exit the series four seasons later, this was the song choice for Troy's last-ever scene in his emotionally charged swan song episode. Well, technically it's Aimee Mann's cover of the Styx song, but still - the song fits the imagery and emotional atmosphere with perfection.

To the backdrop of those visuals, as Troy (and shipmate LeVar Burton) leaves on his grand adventure while the study group (Abed in particular) looks at him with bittersweet emotion, no other song would've been fitting as this one. It's a majestic end to an emotional powerhouse of an episode, bidding farewell to a truly special character with style.

22. Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler in Grey's Anatomy (Get Up, Stand Up, Season 10 Episode 12)

Again, it's the Jill Andrews cover and not the original, but really, it works so well that I do not care. While this isn't quite as legendary and beloved among the Grey's Anatomy fan community as the usage of Chasing Cars and The Story, I would personally rank this even ahead of those instances. I'm not sure whether it's more because of the song itself being even greater, the mixture of song and scene hitting even harder for me specifically, or due to the moment being extra special because Jackson and April are my #1 favorite love story from the series and this was their big moment.

In any case, I know I'll never listen to this song (the original or the cover) the same way again. The moment of Jackson interrupting April and Matthew's wedding, in all melodramatic messiness, is such a massive juggernaut of emotions, that the song will be forever tied to it in my mind. Honestly, just thinking about the song makes me think about the scene and suddenly I'm on the verge of tears. Indeed, every now and then I fall apart...

21. Hurt by Nine Inch Nails in Rick and Morty (The Wedding Squanchers, Season 2 Episode 10)

The Johnny Cash cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt had surpassed the original in pretty much every regard, so much so that Trent Reznor stopped wanting to perform the song live because he felt it belongs to Cash now - so using the original Hurt, after it had fallen into obscurity, was quite the out-of-the-box choice. And for this out-of-the-box TV moment, it was perfection.

By now, Dan Harmon's animated sci-fi sitcom Rick and Morty has gotten real and emotional for its fair share of occasions, but when the season 2 finale rolled around, this was a new thing - the show had been silly, cynical and full of dark humor, but never particularly sentimental, genuine or wholesome. That makes it hit all the harder, when in a completely surprising move, the selfish and jaded Rick finds his inner humanity and sacrifices his freedom to save the Sanchez family. The very specific vibe of the original Hurt, with raw emotion stylized behind an experimental industrial-rock sound, is so fitting for that specific moment in that specific show, and the juxtaposition of that song and the visual of Rick turning himself in is quite simply spine-chilling.

20. New Noise by Refused in The Bear (Multiple episodes)

For most songs that appear in multiple episodes of a series, I chose the best individual instance to represent the song on this list. But I couldn't do that with New Noise, because the whole thing is how the song is used as a motif throughout many key scenes, especially in season premieres and finales, across The Bear. It has come to a point where I love to blast this song when I start cooking, because the association with the show and its vibe is so strong and special.

If I had to choose my favorite appearance of the song in the show, I'd go with the montage from the season 2 premiere Beef, where the trio in charge lays out their plans for the restaurant opening timetable. Totally badass.

19. Baba O' Riley by The Who in The Newsroom (The Greater Fool, Season 1 Episode 10)

I feel like this should be even higher, as it's one of my favorite songs of all time and it appears in a key moment in one of The Newsroom's greatest episodes - but still, for whatever reason, there are many song+scene combinations that hit even harder even if the song and/or the episode aren't as 10/10 as the ones in this combo. That being said, this is definitely among the better ones out there.

The season 1 finale of The Newsroom is a classic dramatic arch, where things look more and more bleak and desperate until a sudden turning point makes things look up against all odds. The specific moment of this happening begins in a hospital bed, when an over-worked, over-stressed Will McAvoy has a sudden realization that he knows will help him get the upper hand against the corrupt forces who have been sabotaging his ambitious News Night project. The intro to The Who's masterpiece starts to play in this moment, to ensure an effect of maximum hype, leading up to the next scene on full blast.

18. New York Minute by Don Henley in The West Wing (Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail, Season 2 Episode 16)

Many of the songs on today's list come in ending scenes of episodes, or at least towards the end - but it's a whole other skill to pick the perfect song for an especially important opening sequence. Only a few such cases made it onto today's list, but this right here is the third-highest-ranking one from the realm of brilliant opening tracks.

This episode, that gets its title from the lyrics of the song they chose, is probably the best West Wing episode for Rob Lowe's character Sam Seaborn, as we take a deep look at his psyche while Lowe delivers a brilliantly nuanced performance. The opening montage wants to make it clear that Sam is feeling melancholic and not doing too well, and oh man, the atmospheric intro to New York Minute gets that done to a staggering degree. No other song would've been quite as effective for the visual of Sam looking out of the window on a rainy night than this one.

17. Simple Song by The Shins in How I Met Your Mother (Something New, Season 8 Episode 24)

I adore a good ending montage, and the finale to How I Met Your Mother's penultimate season is one of the best to ever do it. For this montage, where each character is about to embark on some important journey and/or make a consequential decision, and that culminates in the huge moment of seeing the mythical Mother character for the first time, they really needed the right song. And they f**king nailed it.

Simple Song sounds like it was made for a montage scene - and I don't mean this in a generic sense, but rather that it just has such a specific sound that works incredibly well in this context. From the moment where the ominous intro starts to play right as Lily warns Ted to be careful with his bizarre idea, every moment where a certain part of the song matches with a certain visual is just fantastic.

16. Exit Music (For a Film) by Radiohead in Person of Interest (Deus Ex Machina, Season 3 Episode 23)

Radiohead's greatest song was, as one might surmise from its title, originally written for a movie - specifically Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet from 1996. It has garnered a lot of additional soundtrack mileage since, and this usage in particular is even greater than the context it was originally written for. In the long-ass ending montage of Person of Interest's third season, we hear the song in its entirety, and for the cataclysmic chain of events the show's narrative was dealing with at that turning point, Exit Music makes every second of it feel extra haunting and tragic.

15. Don't Stop Believin' by Journey in The Sopranos (Made in America, Season 6 Episode 21)

Here we have the only licensed song choice for the final scene of an entire series to be even better in its context than Baby Blue in Breaking Bad. The way in which The Sopranos ends is many things - bold, unforgettable, absolutely f**king bonkers, and made infinitely better by the song playing in the background.

It's such a weird contrast because it almost feels like it shouldn't work - an inspiring, even cheesy feel-good song like Don't Stop Believin' would fit in a conventional manner if it was a show like Ted Lasso or The Good Place, but in a show as anti-heroic and cynical as The Sopranos, the ethos of the song feels somewhat out of place. But, for whatever reason, it just fucking works. Something about the specifics in Journey's composition just feels made for this scene, and the end result is amazing.

14. Animal by Pearl Jam in The Bear (The Bear, Season 2 Episode 10)

Yeah, The Bear is ridiculously good at choosing the right songs to elevate its best scenes, and their soundtrack department deserves all the acclaim. A brilliant example is this moment from the dramatic and eventful season 2 finale - with Carmy stuck in a walk-in freezer on the grand opening night of the restaurant, panic is running high among the staff and things look bleak.

But Richie, having arrived at a point in his character arch where he has gained the cool-headed responsibility required to save the day in just the nick of time, takes charge of the kitchen. This utterly badass grunge banger sets the mood as Richie starts to call the shots, creating a method to the madness and order to the chaos, and the song and the scene play together in delightful harmony. Top notch work.

13. Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds in Community (Heroic Origins, Season 4 Episode 12)

The use of this song in Community is very nearly as good as it is in the movie it was composed for. And no, I'm not talking of the time where the outro of a Don't You Forget About Me cover plays in the closing moments of the pilot episode, although that one is also really good. No, I'm referring to the time when they finally got the rights to use the original Simple Minds version, and used in such a profound, full-circle manner for the penultimate episode of season 4.

Throughout the episode, Abed has been mapping the study group's 'origin story', finding bizarre connections from their past - which was cool, until it wasn't, as all sorts of dark twists of fate were revealed. But then, he dug even deeper, and uncovered something incredible: by all accounts, all seven of them have been at the same fro-yo stand, at the same exact time, before they knew each other, when they decided to apply to Greendale. The flashback scene is as emotionally hard-hitting as it is hilarious, and the use of this song (especially considering the Breakfast Club thematics in the pilot episode that those events would lead to) is quite simply profound.

12. Don't You Forget About Me by Simple Minds in Futurama (The Luck of the Fryish, Season 3 Episode 10)

Here we have the same song back-to-back, and yes, the use in Futurama is even better (and honestly right up there with the original Breakfast Club use). Out of the infamous, abruptly emotional episodes in Futurama's run, I've always considered the underrated Luck of the Fryish to be even better than the more generally acclaimed Jurassic Bark, and while this whole episode is remarkable, it's the very ending that really gets to you and seals the deal. And they couldn't have gone with a better song - in the context of those closing moments, it hits you deep in the feels.

11. Hurt by Johnny Cash in Person of Interest (The Devil's Share, Season 3 Episode 10)

Even though I issued a spoiler alert at the beginning of this post, I still won't disclose certain facts about Person of Interest in this text, just to make it absolutely certain that I don't accidentally ruin key events of this magnificent show to anyone. Let's just say that in the midst of the show's third season, there's a notorious trilogy of back-to-back episodes, where a certain long-term storyline explodes into an action-packed, game-changing chain of events. One of these episodes ends in a thoroughly shocking manner - and the next one opens with a bleak montage, colored by the use of Johnny Cash's Hurt cover.

The song is played in its entirety across the episode's cold open, and the tone it sets for that specific scene and for the rest of the episode is haunting, gripping and sentimental all at once. The whole thing reads like a music video, and an exceptionally good one at that.

10. Prophets by A.C. Newman in How I Met Your Mother (The Leap, Season 4 Episode 24)

This one is so masterfully executed. The season 4 finale The Leap is one of HIMYM's finest episodes, and it is forever linked to this A.C. Newman song in my mind. Parts of the song's instrumental section are already heard in the opening moments, and in a few other key scenes throughout the episode, to create an atmosphere that feels determined and important - and when the episode's unforgettable climax arrives, we hear the full version and it fits in a thoroughly satisfying manner.

The monologue by the older Narrator Ted, right before he makes the titular leap, is one of the show's best moments, and the song choice is a massive part of why it works so well.

9. Chicago by Sufjan Stevens in The Bear (Review, Season 1 Episode 7)

Review, one of the most acclaimed episodes in The Bear, is best remembered for its zany cinematography gimmick, with basically the whole episode consisting of one impressively coordinated camera take. But people forget that before that begins, the episode's very opening is a montage of the city of Chicago, with Sufjan Stevens' song Chicago setting the mood.

I can only imagine what this opening sequence fels like for people who have lived in the Windy City - I haven't even visited, with my only experience so far being an airport layover, but watching this scene makes me feel inexplicable levels of sentimentality for the city. It's just a such an exceptionally well-built montage, and the song choice takes it to profound levels.

8. Future Starts Slow by The Kills in Person of Interest (Relevance, Season 2 Episode 16)

One of the many remarkable song choices from Person of Interest's soundtrack department, this one takes place at the end of Relevance - the episode where we first meet Sameen Shaw, who would go on to become one of the show's best and most important characters. The episode follows Shaw from its beginning, with the show's main cast at the time only making minor appearances - so as a first-time viewer, you wonder if this is a one-off conceptual adventure or the start of something new.

In a strange way, it's the song choice that answers this question, at least on a subliminal level. This song by The Kills is so good, with its main riff and badass atmosphere fitting the tone of the episode and the character of Shaw so well, that when it starts to play at the beginning of the final scene, the viewer really gets the sensation that this person is going to be important, and some big stuff is brewing. The vibe in those last minutes is exhilarating, largely thanks to the song choice and how it elevates everything we had learned about this new character in her brilliant introduction episode.

7. Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones in Person of Interest (Shadow Box, Season 2 Episode 10)

Next week's post will focus on the greatest soundtrack moments from movies, and Gimme Shelter will appear more than once, as its mileage in movie and TV soundtracks is quite legendary. One of its best uses has been in none other than today's mainstay Person of Interest, where the song's signature atmosphere of cool excitement and an oncoming storm is used to the point of perfection.

The midseason finale of season 2 seems like just a regular, crime-of-the-week episode - until those final moments arrive, and certain things start to go wrong. It's been over 10 years since I watched this for the first time, but I can still remember the exact feeling I had when the intro to Gimme Shelter started to play over that moment - you immediately get goosebumps, as you start to realize what's about to happen, and how it is a nerve-wracking cliffhanger on one hand, but an extremely cool and badass turn of events on the other. And out of all the songs in the world, this is the one that manages to convey both sensations simultaneously.

6. The Funeral by Band of Horses in How I Met Your Mother (Farhampton, Season 8 Episode 1)

Out of the many great soundtrack choices from How I Met Your Mother, there are none that hold a candle to this one. The season 8 premiere Farhampton is a big favorite of mine, and everything that the episode does well seems to tie into those final moments and the ultimate chills-down-your-spine effect of this song choice.

Choosing the right song for a scene is a delicate skill in itself, but finding the right exact timing of the song's best parts matching the scene's key parts takes some next-level artistry. And here we have one of the finer examples of that: the first half of The Funeral, with its fragile ballad sound, plays as we see a montage of emotional moments tying together the episode's key storylines, as Ted hears some wisdom about how he'll eventually meet the love of his life but no one can know the where and when of it beforehand. Then, the camera pans slightly as future Ted narrates: "Unfortunately, the when of it was still a little ways down the road...but the where of it?"

And then, in the most satisfying timing imaginable - right as the song explodes into its blistering, rock-anthem second half, we jump ahead in time to a flash-forward of the same location, on a rainy night a little ways down the road, as the imagery of the iconic yellow umbrella confirms for the first time where the fateful encounter that the whole series has been leading up to will happen. The scene might have felt clever in a light, gimmick-y fashion if they had gone with a lesser song choice, but with this one, it feels powerful and borderline epic.

5. If You Want Blood (You've Got It) by AC/DC in The Bear (Omelette, Season 2 Episode 9)

Going into this list, it felt impossible to choose which of The Bear's magnificent soundtrack choices is the show's best - but I eventually landed on this one. And not just because I'm an AC/DC fan - there's no way to know for sure, but I'm guessing that if I had never heard the band when going into this episode, I still would've ranked it this high. It's just such next-level perfection.

The best soundtrack moments are ones where the song choice, together with the scene it accompanies, conveys a very specific emotion. In this case, it's that larger-than-life sense of anticipation of a longtime project finally coming to the moment it has built up towards. Anyone who has done ambitious passion projects in their life will know that special feeling - I associate it with the final minutes before the musical that I wrote and directed last year had its premiere. That feeling is unlike any other, and a hard one to describe with words - but The Bear manages to convey that sensation through its artistic audiovisual combination.

The moment in which this AC/DC banger starts to play, in the final scene of season 2's penultimate episode, as the opening night of the restaurant they've been working on has arrived and they're just seconds away from opening to customers, is just unreal. You can feel exactly what the characters are feeling, and how important this is for them. The hype goes through the roof, and the moment couldn't be any better.

4. Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd in Person of Interest (YHWH, Season 4 Episode 22)

Person of Interest appears more times on today's list than any other series, and as its crowning achievement we have Pink Floyd's underrated masterpiece setting a unique tone for the final minutes of season 4. For everything that is happening in those moments - and in a larger sense, everything that has happened in the entire series leading up to these climactic and game-changing moments - it's pretty insane that a song as fitting as Welcome to the Machine exists.

The song and the storytelling work together to create what seems like a whole new emotion - there's nothing that makes me feel quite that same rush of emotions as that sequence. It's deeply emotional, but in such a sci-fi way, feeling computerized and dystopian yet sentimentally humane all at the same time. Bravo.

3. Fix You by Coldplay from The Newsroom (I'll Try to Fix You, Season 1 Episode 4)

Usually, even the best soundtrack choices are ones where the scene has been written and more or less planned when the song is chosen, and it's the editing department where the scene might be slightly modified to fit the music better (or the other way around). It's a rare thing that a screenwriter imagines a scene with a specific song in mind, and the entire scene is built around the music, to make sure that it fits with perfection - but based on the two times that Aaron Sorkin has tried this in his TV shows, I want to see more of this.

The second of these instances comes from The Newsroom, with a sequence that solidifies the episode (which is even named after the song) as the show's finest hour. The Coldplay song plays in its entirety across the final scenes, and the atmosphere that it creates is profoundly harrowing. The events taking place from the moment that the atmospheric intro starts to play are appropriately dramatic, and the song lifts their emotional power to astronomical levels. Tears, man.

2. Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits in The West Wing (Two Cathedrals, Season 2 Episode 22)

Yeah, the OG instance of Aaron Sorkin writing an entire scene with a specific song in mind is even greater than the Newsroom follow-up. The season 2 finale of The West Wing is probably the greatest television episode ever made, and among the reasons for it is this goosebumps-worthy final sequence. I remember my emotional journey when first watching this - with the rainstorm banging the windows of the Oval Office and the lead-in motifs in the instrumental score, the transition to the atmospheric Brothers in Arms intro is so smooth that it took me a solid while to realize what song was playing - Mark Knopfler's iconic guitar licks enter your consciousness in a profound manner at just the right time.

Throughout the final sequence, the song works wonders to elevate the dramatic stakes, and it makes all the sense in the world that the song was playing in Sorkin's mind throughout the entire process. The imagery of Bartlet and company walking out of the White House, taking the motorcade to the press conference and entering the room, mixed together with the inherently powerful mood of Brothers in Arms - there's nothing quite like it.

And as we get to those final seconds - The West Wing fans will know how iconic it all is, from Leo's "watch this" and Bartlet calling on a random reporter despite CJ's instructions all the way to the journalist's series-defining question and Bartlet's hands-in-pockets determined look - everything we see is TV history, and all of it is infinitely better thanks to the use of Brothers in Arms.

1. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) by Kate Bush in Stranger Things (Dear Billy, Season 4 Episode 4)

No words. There are no words to do this one justice. I had to think long and hard about which way I'd rank the obvious top two, as they're both a part of my three-way tie for my favorite TV scene of all time (the third one, the climactic scene from Doctor Who's The Day of the Doctor, has an instrumental score). In the end, I had to go with this one, where the song choice plays an arguably even greater role.

Max running from Vecna in Stranger Things' best episode is a series-defining moment if I ever saw one, and just thinking about it makes my eyes water. What makes it the possibly greatest television scene of all time is a combination of many elements - the dramatic stakes of what's happening on a sci-fi level coupled with the themes of depression and one's will to live on a metaphorical level, the blockbuster visuals making the imagery of Max running while Vecna hurls apocalyptic obstacles in her way so amazing, and of course, Sadie Sink's sledgehammer acting performance where her facial expressions encapsulate the experience of a young girl who has given up, then changed her mind, and is quite literally running for her life after realizing she doesn't want to let go.

And the crown jewel to this gargantuan combination is Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill, a needle drop that works on every possible level - its existence as a plot device and Max's favorite song makes it hopeful and comforting, yet the song's dramatic chords and melodies make the scene incredibly desperate and drastic (which makes the payoff of Max's getaway hit all the harder), and its otherworldly sound fits so well with the apocalyptic imagery. I've re-watched the scene tens of times and analyzed it to death, and every time, nothing prepares me for the unique rush of emotions that spawns from Max running to Running Up That Hill. There's nothing better.

And finally, here's a fun statistic!

The shows with the most appearances on today's list: Person of Interest (7), The Bear (6), How I Met Your Mother (4), Grey's Anatomy (3), The West Wing (3), Community (2), Futurama (2), Modern Family (2), The Newsroom (2), The Sopranos (2).

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week as I continue these themes with a list of the greatest soundtrack moments from movies.