A partner to Traxan's thread about songs destroyed by TV or movie association.

When I hear Knockin' on Heaven's Door by Bob Dylan, I think of the death scene from Peckinpah's Pat Garrett Billy the Kid. The song didn't resonate with me before I saw the movie, but it has ever since.

First two that spring to my mind :

I know I've mentioned this before, but in the days of carrying around boom boxes and cassettes, when my friends would see my copy of The Cars' first album they always made me play Moving in Stereo. This baffled me, as I find it to be one of the weaker songs on the album (still do).

Then I finally saw Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and it all made sense...

Knockin' On Heaven's Door was written for and first appeared in the movie. That's like saying Top Gun improved upon Danger Zone.

The Eagles - Journey of the Sorcerer (HItchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Farewell Ride by Beck. On Guero it was just a random track near the end of the album. But The Shield used it for its final season promos and it elevated it for me with how it all went together. Check it out:

Anytime I hear My Life by Billy Joel I automatically think of Bosom Buddies (though the show version was not sang by Joel). I don't know if that is good or bad, but I still have generally positive memories of the show that I haven't seen in 35 years.

That’s not even the Billy Joel version. I hate how they change the final notes in the “Leave me alone” line at the end. Sounds totally wrong.

I mentioned the show version wasn't sung by Joel, but 8 year old me liked the song My Life. Then I found the 52nd Street album in my mom's record collection, and I listened to that record over and over,

Never cared for this REM song until I discovered it was the perfect opening ditty for a sitcom.

"The Entertainer" in the movie "The Sting". For those unfortunate to take piano lessons, will remember this classic but everyone else is probably familiar with it because of the movie. This was created in 1902!

Another ER selection :

The full soundtrack to Dazed and Confused

Jessie's Girl even moreso. When I hear it I sing along like a cracked-out Alfred Molina. "Rick Springfield, he's a buddy of mine!"

In the Air Tonight was already a great song, but it's use in this scene from Miami Vice took it to a whole other level.

It was already there.

"Stayin Alive" and "You Should Be Dancing" in Saturday Night Fever.

Those were both original songs from that movie. They didn't exist before their scenes in Saturday Night Fever.

Singles.

I suspect if Singles was never made, the previously then-unreleased Perl Jam, Soundgarden, etc ... songs from the movie, probably would have remained as obscure forgotten "B-sides" or bonus tracks on future cd releases.

Not sure if it's the same, but Doctor Who had a 2005 episode that featured Toxic by Britney Spears where it was referred to as "classical" music. Since then, a lot of Youtubers will take action scenes from different movies and set them to Toxic and they're almost always better than the original music used.

In terms of stuff which was already released, there was one Alice in Chains songs in Singles: It Ain't Like That. At the time, I didn't know what the name of the song was.

When I first watched Singles, I didn't have the first Alice In Chains cd. When I finally purchased Facelift, I played through it without thinking much of it until it reached "It Ain't Like That" which I recognized immediately from the movie.

After that whenever I played that Facelift cd on auto-replay, I would start at "It Ain't Like That". Otherwise I thought most of Facelift was rather forgetable. (I usually listened to Dirt).

In the Air Tonight is a dull, uninspired dirge that is not improved even with a Rebecca DeMornay sex scene. About the only thing that ever made it slightly interesting was Stewie Griffin's rendition

Along those same lines: