Remember film soundtracks? In the 1980s and 1990s, they were all the rage. You didn’t have a complete CD collection in the 90s if you didn’t have the soundtracks to movies like Pulp Fiction and Forest Gump. But today, it’s just not the same. Thanks to streaming and other technologies, film soundtracks just don’t carry the oomph that they once did.
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However, that doesn’t mean we can’t look back and celebrate the past! Here, we wanted to explore three incredible classic rock songs from history that may never have found a wide audience had it not been for their inclusion in movies. Indeed, these are three classic rock songs that were made famous by blockbuster films.
“Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor from ‘Rocky III’ (1982)
This song, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, has become everyone’s favorite workout song. It’s the type of track to get your blood pumping and your heart racing. That’s both because of its general verve and its inclusion in the popular boxing film, Rocky III. In the movie, the titular character exercises and builds himself up in a montage while this track plays. Ever since, it’s become the quintessential track to put on when you want to get buff! It’s the ultimate hype track. But we may never have known it had it not been for the Rocky series.
“Stuck In The Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel from ‘Stealers Wheel’ (1972)
While this tune, which hit No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, was originally released in 1972, it found an even bigger audience 20 years later when it was included in a signature, though gruesome scene in the popular 1992 indie movie, Reservoir Dogs, from director Quentin Tarantino. As a criminal dances around a warehouse with a knife in his hand, abusing a police officer, this jaunty track comes in. It’s a juxtaposition that has since stuck in movie fans’ memory banks. And it also helped make this 70s song famous to a new younger generation in the 90s.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen from ‘A Night At The Opera’ (1975)
Released in 1975, this song, which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, was introduced to a new, younger, rock-loving audience in the 1990s when it was included in a signature scene in the 1992 movie, Wayne’s World. While Queen was certainly a famous band with many well-known songs, this track may not have been its most famous. Today, though, it most certainly is. The epic track was given a prime scene in the 1992 film, and that moment has only grown its popularity amongst fans. Today, Queen can’t escape the raucous tune—not that they’d want to!
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