Comments on: What Is That Song They Always Use...?

Question: What Is That Song They Always Use...?

jfrancis — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:23:09 -0800

What Is That Song They Always Use...?

You know the one. I can't think of its name. It's the one they always use

When the vikings are killing everyone in slow motion
O Fortuna From Carmina Burana by Carl Orff

When it's a beautiful sunrise on the farm
?

When everybody runs around on the Benny Hill Show
Yakety Sax

When the other vikings are killing everyone in slow motion
Wagner - Die Walküre: "The Ride of the Valkyries" (Boulez)

When Howard Stern wants to stereotype Italians
Tarantella Napolitana

When a beautiful woman enters the scene and it's the 1980's
Yello - Oh Yeah (1985)

When Howard Stern wants to stereotype Chinese people
?? (I still want to know the name of the song)

So what are the songs I missed? And what are some other songs? You know the ones. They're the ones they always play...

By: milarepa

milarepa — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:26:58 -0800

When it's a beautiful sunrise on the farm:
Peer Gynt - Morning Mood

By: ludwig_van

ludwig_van — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:28:44 -0800

When it's a beautiful sunrise on the farm

Edvard Grieg - Peer Gynt - Morning Mood

Beaten to the punch :(

By: jeb

jeb — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:29:54 -0800

When the underdog wins the championship in slow motion
Theme from Chariots of Fire

When its a beautiful sunrise on the farm is Morning Mood from Peer Gynt

I think the chinese thing is a mystery see here

By: sageleaf

sageleaf — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:31:10 -0800

Here's a site you might find interesting: Kickass Classical features Classical Music's Top 100 Greatest Hits based on their exposure in today's pop culture.

By: jeb

jeb — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:32:12 -0800

When there's crazy shit going on (e.g. cleaning the house from the party before the parents get home, mouse chasing a cat through a tabasco factory): Sabre Dance or Flight of the Bumblebee

By: kurumi

kurumi — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:35:51 -0800

Sunrise - opening of William Tell Overture

More from TV Tropes (warning: huge time sink) ... Bad to the Bone and other cliches

By: Jaltcoh

Jaltcoh — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:39:54 -0800

Classical:

people in love:
Overture from Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet

gloomy/morbid:
Dies Irae

carefree/springtime:
Mendelssohn's Spring Song

fateful:
first theme from Beethoven's 5th Symphony

refined/upper-class:
minuet from Boccherini's String Quintet

Rock:

emotional hard times:
REM - Everybody Hurts

getting ready to rock:
Queen - We Will Rock You

bad-boy swagger:
George Thorogood - Bad to the Bone

school being out:
Alice Cooper - School's Out

By: steveminutillo

steveminutillo — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:40:11 -0800

For the circus: Entry of the Gladiators.

By: jeb

jeb — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:42:20 -0800

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor is used whenever they walk into a possibly haunted old house or hotel.

Also Sprach Zarathustra is always used for the unveiling of the Mighty Object, but those may all be over 2001 references.

the Habanera from Carmen is sometimes used as generic Spanish-y or southern European. So is the Toreador song. But its also in a lot of commercials. Like I think Beyonce sings it in a Pepsi commercial with diff lyrics, and there's an old pasta sauce commercial with it.

By: ktrey

ktrey — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:54:45 -0800

Another beautiful sunrise on the farm song: Claude Debussy - Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun.

By: Miko

Miko — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:56:21 -0800

w/r/t Stern: The Oriental Riff?

By: Miko

Miko — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 11:57:11 -0800

On commercials aimed at affluent Gen-Xers?

By: carmicha

carmicha — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:02:19 -0800

Team entering arena: Gary Glitter, Rock and Roll Part II

By: kimota

kimota — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:10:38 -0800

When they want high energy music in a movie trailer (usually a comedy): the "HEY! HEY! HEY!" then horns part of the Commitments' cover of Roy Head's "Treat her Right." Took me forever to find that out.

By: joshrholloway

joshrholloway — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:29:06 -0800

When you make a movie trailer and you need a really epic song but the soundtrack hasn't been finished yet:

Lux Aeterna / Requiem for a Tower

That counts, right? I can't believe it hadn't been mentioned yet.

By: juv3nal

juv3nal — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:31:49 -0800

Beat to the punch by joshrholloway.

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:44:19 -0800

The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony

Hard to nail it down though...I've heard it used for all kinds of scenes.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:53:39 -0800

Craig Armstrong has a ton of these (and you've never heard of him). Used when someone wants uplifting/dramatic choral music. In particular Escape and Business from the Plunkett & Macleane score.

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:58:16 -0800

When someone is pleasantly surprised: Hallelujah Chorus from "The Messiah", by Handel.

(It's hard to believe nobody has mentioned this one yet.)

By: SpiffyRob

SpiffyRob — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:06:00 -0800

Another oft-used Spring tune is Vivaldi's The Four Seasons - Spring

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:07:32 -0800

When you make a movie trailer and you really need to convey danger getting closer-closer-CLOSER but the soundtrack hasn't been finished yet:

James Horner's music from the end of Aliens with Bishop piloting away from the planet just before the reactor blows up.

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:08:21 -0800

Also...

feeling good: James Brown, "I Feel Good"

By: holgate

holgate — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:17:08 -0800

Wistful nostalgia, ideally with horses and carts: Dvorak, "From The New World", largo.

By every British producer, it seems, for the "big emotion" moment: Hoppípolla, Sigur Rós.

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:27:24 -0800

Duel / Shootout / Western Movie: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly Theme

The Bagpipe Song That Isn't Amazing Grace - Scotland the Brave

By: auntbunny

auntbunny — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:28:37 -0800

What's the bagpipe battle song?

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:29:10 -0800

The Song That Has The Sax Solo - Baker Street

By: auntbunny

auntbunny — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:30:07 -0800

heh. thanks AlongDecember... any more? Like the more frantic battle version?

By: dfan

dfan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:30:20 -0800

The standard "classy yet intimate" music for commercials is the first movement of Bach's Cello Suite No. 1.

By: AnimalKing

AnimalKing — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:34:20 -0800

During montages that include fighting, training, and/or random displays of badassery: Survivor's Eye of the Tiger (from Rocky III)

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:37:02 -0800

Guy in an apartment plays cheesy smooth jazz - Kenny G - Song Bird

By: nooneyouknow

nooneyouknow — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:42:32 -0800

The Standard Snippets page from tvtropes.org is a huge list of songs they always use when.

By: ricochet biscuit

ricochet biscuit — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:43:25 -0800

For the last decade, 54% of all movie/tv scenes meant to convey deep and profound emotion have relied on Jeff Buckley's cover of Hallelujah.

By: porn in the woods

porn in the woods — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:44:55 -0800

Lame formula comedies get Smash Mouth's "All Star"

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:48:37 -0800

Sorry, I really love this topic. This should be on the Ask Question page.

Used a lot, mainly in Beef, It's What's For Dinner ads - Aaron Copland, Rodeo

Quiet Triumph or Honor, or used over a montage of America - Fanfare for the Common Man

Either You're the Harlem Globetrotters or You're Playing Basketball Badly So It's Ironic - Sweet Georgia Brown, usually whistled

The Really Sweet Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Israel Kamakawiwo'Ole (Iz)

By: nooneyouknow

nooneyouknow — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:51:53 -0800

And here's a website about the history of the Asian Riff: The Musical Cliché Figure Signifying The Far East: Whence, Wherefore, Whither?

By: Wrinkled Stumpskin

Wrinkled Stumpskin — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:56:05 -0800

Festivities and celebrations, particularly old-timey ones

Trepak by Tchaikovsky

By: candyland

candyland — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:59:53 -0800

Another stereotypical Italian song - Funiculi Funicula

By: adipocere

adipocere — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:01:45 -0800

I have this theory that any movie can increase its box office take by 10%, simply by including House of Pain's "Jump Around" during any friendly bonding scene where one might expect the ambient sound to be noisy. Evolution, I'm looking at you and your three beady little eyes.

By: vytae

vytae — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:10:49 -0800

When the gears of industry are turning:
Powerhouse by Raymond Scott

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:35:45 -0800

More Sigur Rós for the "reveal" scene in just about any sort of makeover program: Svefn-g-englar

And we have already talked about Cohen's Hallelujah whenever we need some kind of sad contemplation.

By: Miko

Miko — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:46:56 -0800

When the protagonists of the retro romance movie finally get together and there's a montage of slow dancing, looking at the moon, walking on the beach: Santo & Johnny's Sleepwalk.

By: chairface

chairface — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:48:54 -0800

Did someone post Bolero already? I've always loved you from afar, askmefi.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:06:18 -0800

For underwater scenes we need The Aquarium from (the widely raided) "Carnival of the Animals" - not to be confused with the closely related Harry Potter theme for a magical journey.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:10:30 -0800

...and when somebody spooky is creeping up on you from behind - seen only by the audience - you need "Mysterioso Pizzicato"

By: losvedir

losvedir — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 17:55:10 -0800

Slow motion battlefield with everyone dying: Barber's Adagio for Strings op. 11.

By: ctmf

ctmf — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:04:00 -0800

Heavy thunderstorm - William Tell Overture.

By: gladly

gladly — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:13:35 -0800

Swelling, sentimental triumph (I just looked this one up myself because it's now on a commercial)--"To the Stars" theme from Dragonheart by Randy Edelman

By: AV

AV — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:31:57 -0800

When two lovers are running towards each other in a field chanting each other's names they play the overture from Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet (skip ahead to about 7:43)

When someone's going to Italy (or Little Italy) or eating Italian food (or advertising Italian food): Mambo Italiano (the Rosemary Clooney version)

When you're doing a Vietnam war montage: Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth

When someone is running (especially in slow motion): the Chariots of Fire theme

When there's a montage of the bright lights of Vegas they play Viva Las Vegas (by Elvis, of course).

When someone goes to Rio (or anywhere glamorous really) they play that one song... you know... it goes "ooooh ahh-ee-ahh oo-ooh" ...sorry, couldn't find that one.

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:43:01 -0800

Wedding music that isn't the wedding march - Canon in D

The all purpose Spanish Flea. I associate it with waiting for something and The Dating Game.

AV: Do you mean Mas Que Nada? It was in a Vegas sequence of the original Austin Powers.

By: AV

AV — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:12:27 -0800

Ohh, more:

When someone is frantically creating or plotting something: the overture from the Barber of Seville (skip ahead to 2:10)

When you have zany fat people or actual elephants: Baby Elephant Walk

When you're making a 1950s-style infomercial and/or predicting suburban life in the future from the atomic age: Happy Go Lively by Laurie Johnson

When you're having a swingin' good time: Sing Sing Sing by Benny Goodman Orchestra

When you're panning over a spaceship or a sunrise (or anything monumental): Also Sprach Zarathustra (as popularized by 2001: A Space Odyssey)

By: AV

AV — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:13:57 -0800

ALongDecember: OMG YES. That has been driving me CRAZY. Thank you!

By: pised

pised — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:51:46 -0800

Blue Danube Waltz to connote gracefulness. I just saw it on Futurama with Bender floating in space; and Homer Simpson moves to this when he's an astronaut. So the song maybe also connotes animated characters in space?

By: smackfu

smackfu — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:06:48 -0800

A space odyssey, more likely.

By: hydrophonic

hydrophonic — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:51:44 -0800

Ironic intermission: Theme From a Summer Place (also in a current Subways ad)

French seduction: Un homme et une femme

Please enjoy your ride in our elevator: The Girl from Ipanema

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:32:16 -0800

Romanticized medieval Britain: Greensleeves
Musical punctuation, "secret" knock: Shave and a Haircut

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:26:34 -0800

A jolly adventure in the English countryside with Edward White's Puffin Billy.

Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter" for showing typists - or the drudgery of office work.

Coronation Scot - for steam trains and British nostalgia.

The Happy Wanderer for hikers - particularly if blond and German.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:40:55 -0800

What's the bagpipe battle song?

In Braveheart it is "The Battle for Stirling" - played on the Uilleann pipes. When you have a loan piper somewhere they will be playing Amazing Grace probably.

By: jeffmik

jeffmik — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:06:44 -0800

If it was still 2007...

When something really dramatic happened at the end of that popular tv show episode?

Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap.

By: Madamina

Madamina — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:12:13 -0800

Actually, i always thought that Morning On A Farm was the middle part of the William Tell Overture -- the part right before the Lone Ranger bit.

By: bingo

bingo — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:14:12 -0800

Adding an ironic tint to a montage of tragic events: What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong.

I first noticed it in Good Morning, Vietnam, but have seen it used in many other situations for the same effect.

By: jca

jca — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:17:12 -0800

It's funny how little or few times a song needs to be used to take hold as a cliche.

For example: Jeffmik, "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap is only a cliche because of the SNL Digital Short "Dear Sister" (aka "The Shooting") used it to parody it's original use in an episode of the TV show The O.C. -- so being used only twice makes it a cliche now. ;)

By: boost ventilator

boost ventilator — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:21:32 -0800

Character exhibits change: Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill"

By: Miko

Miko — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:26:28 -0800

Establishing shot of ships at quaside, or background to a Popeye cartoon: Sailor's Hornpipe

By: jeffmik

jeffmik — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:37:52 -0800

jca - I know it was a short lived cliche but it appeared on 3 tv show within a few weeks of each other (CSI, Smith and The OC) and commercials for Heroes (I had to check wikipedia to make sure I was remembering that). The SNL clip summed them all up pretty perfectly :)

By: greekphilosophy

greekphilosophy — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 10:49:28 -0800

The "Oh hay! It's the 20s and we're all flappers!" Song is: In the Mood. (Also useful if you're going to war and need to show excited troops shipping out!)

By: wfitzgerald

wfitzgerald — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:52:34 -0800

Pretty much everything in the Charlie's Angels soundtrack? Sexy powerful female boss? (Heart's Baracuda). Pop Japanese culture? (Turning Japanese). Ironic rap? (Baby Got Back) Ironic love song? (Brandy).

And of course it introduced a new song cliche: Independent Women.

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:24:36 -0800

Does anyone know what the quintessential "Guy from the civil war writing a letter home to be read outloud to his dearest Martha" song is? It's usually some slow guitar plucking but I know there must be a song in the Appalachian style that starts out that way.

By: greekphilosophy

greekphilosophy — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:45:53 -0800

Well, Copland's Appalachian Spring is a pretty strong contender for a "This is America! We have green rolling hills where people farm stuff!" song.

But I think Ken Burns pretty much ensured that Ashokan Farewell is the "This is America where we had a war of brother against brother and it made us emo" song.

Also, to propose marriage when all shadowy and stuff, you must cue Palladio Allegretto by Karl Jenkins.

By: Night_owl

Night_owl — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:51:45 -0800

Damn it, greekphilosophy! I JUST remembered "Ashokan Farewell" and was coming here to post it for Matt.

By: Night_owl

Night_owl — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:52:26 -0800

(It's really pretty when played on the viola, by the way.)

By: darksasami

darksasami — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:28:56 -0800

As someone obsessed with this concept, to the point that I created the aforementioned TV Tropes Standard Snippet page, I can't add anything here because everything I had is over there -- but I will be adding things there that you guys have brought up here. Thanks!

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:47:07 -0800

These are all awesome. So many of them I knew, and yet forgot about, and wouldn't even have known how to ask about - like the circus one, 'Entry of the Gladiators.' just to name one of many

:D

By: darksasami

darksasami — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:50:45 -0800

Oh, but I will bring this over here: does anyone know what the music they use is when a fifties housewife is shopping, dusting, or cooking in a bright, bustling, and efficient way, generally in a smart pinched-waist dress and heels? It's at 14:40 in this video.

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:58:27 -0800

sleepwalk: they unveiled the miata to that song :D

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:04:46 -0800

How to cut to the good part:

3. Cut the chase and link to the interesting part

Linking to a video where the real action starts at 3 minutes 22 seconds, wondered if you could make it start at 03:22? You are in luck. All you have to do is add #t=03m22s (#t=XXmYYs for XX mins and YY seconds) to the end of the URL.

via

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:08:22 -0800

I just heard some really great exotica 'elevator music' - probably saw on boingboing

Can't think of it now

Wasn't Percy Faith / A Summer Place

more loungey/exotic if I recall...

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:10:25 -0800

For Star Trek fans, there is Ruth's theme.

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:16:27 -0800

Found it..

Walter Wanderley - Summer Samba

your call is important to us....

By: mathowie

mathowie — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:42:36 -0800

Holy crap, that song "Ashokan Farewell" is totally what I think of when I think of Ken Burns Civil War type documentaries.

By: ALongDecember

ALongDecember — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:56:40 -0800

Mentioned earlier darksasami was Happy Go Lively, the 50s look-how-modern-this-thing-is-song.

By: darksasami

darksasami — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:04:27 -0800

Ha, I saw all the ones around it but missed the one I wanted. Thanks for pointing it out.

By: Miko

Miko — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:40:34 -0800

When the successful black lawyer/doctor/businessman goes back home to take care of his dying aunt/mother/brother/ex, this is the music you hear when he gets off the plane and drives through the cotton fields.

There's another bottleneck slide trope, meant to indicate a sleepy, scary Southern town where fat old bigots spit from porches and dogs lie in the shade, but it's too hard to identify a single tune - a lot of slow bottleneck slide, like this, will do.

By: marsha56

marsha56 — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:27:21 -0800

What a great question.

Love sageleaf's link to list of 100 of these.

Another "morning" one is #42 on their list, Grieg's Morning.

One of my all time favorites for creepy, eerie, mysterious is #72, Aquarium from Saint-Saens' Carnival of the Animals.

One that I didn't see on the list is O Mio Babbino Caro. It's used to express romance and also the beauty and luxuriously slow pace of life in the Italian countryside.

By: unsupervised

unsupervised — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:52:43 -0800

That song in cartoons whenever we're seeing a belly dancer/snake charmer or in a desert/Egypt/Arabia sometimes goes by The Hoochy Coochy Dance but is really called The Streets of Cairo or The Poor Little Country Maid.

It's allegedly an American invention, born of necessity at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago when the band showman Sol Bloom hired to accompany his imported troupe of North African bellydancers didn't have a tune suitably exotic enough. Bloom composed it on the spot on piano and the tune has been associated with belly dancing ever since.

By: Joe Beese

Joe Beese — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:30:29 -0800

Gradually supplanting "Bad To The Bone" as the generic anthem of badass-edness, I believe, is "Welcome To The Jungle" by Guns N' Roses.

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:05:03 -0800

Wow :D also Grieg...

In the Hall of the Mountain King

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:11:26 -0800

Yes, great list

:D

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:56:24 -0800

Oh, but I will bring this over here: does anyone know what the music they use is when a fifties housewife is shopping, dusting, or cooking in a bright, bustling, and efficient way, generally in a smart pinched-waist dress and heels?

You mean Happy Go Lively by Laurie Johnson.

By: NekulturnY

NekulturnY — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:56:53 -0800

Glad to see no one posted 'Song Nr. 2' by Blur yet. It is used in a variety of settings, but mostly to convey:

"we are young, sporty people and adrenaline rushes through our body as we take our skateboard/parachute/football/350hp motorcycle and dive/jump/soar/roar into the fray"

By: mediamelt

mediamelt — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:30:55 -0800

That techno/trance song they play on the Stern show when JD Harmeyer walks in...

Karma - Everytime You Leave (Age Pee Short mix)

Clip starts at 1:43 in.

By: greekphilosophy

greekphilosophy — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:46:27 -0800

Also, there's a concept that ties in nicely here - for anyone curious about this sort of thing - called "gebrauchsmusik" and it was championed by a number of composers, mostly German. It is, literally, "utility music" or music that is both accessible and written specifically for one purpose. This started out with very simple things like, say, music to play at someone's funeral or music to dance to. But it was essentially ceremonial music (not a new concept, just a more approachable version of an older one).

But eventually it has evolved and has been colonized by the movie industry. In my opinion, most of today's film score composers are in the same lineage as the 20th Century composers who championed gebrauchsmusik. They produce music to evoke one specific feeling. But most importantly, they produce music which is to be used in one or more specific ways.

By: dbarefoot

dbarefoot — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:40:30 -0800

I've heard Debussy's "Clare de Lune" more than once, most notably at the end of "Ocean's 11".

By: Guy Smiley

Guy Smiley — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 10:53:00 -0800

"Anthem" from Philip Glass's "Powaqqatsi" gets a lot of use out of its stirring, swelling strings - see the trailer for Philadelphia, or The Truman Show.

By: greekphilosophy

greekphilosophy — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:11:37 -0800

Also, "Mars (The Bringer of War)" from Holst's suite "The Planets" gets a lot of use as a Sauron-esque anthem used most appropriately when taking over the world.

By: poq

poq — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:20:22 -0800

When a main character's girlfriend/boyfriend/best friend gets shot, the sound fades and Imogen Heap - Hide and Seek begins to play...

By: poq

poq — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:23:27 -0800

On preview, I'm extremely slow.

By: elphTeq

elphTeq — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:31:58 -0800

Forbidden love or climactic sexual encounter: Enigma - Sadness Pt. 1

By: joelf

joelf — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:38:25 -0800

What is this CREEPY CIRCUS song?

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:23:34 -0800

French seduction: Un homme et une femme

hydrophonic

----

I had an office mate that sometimes used to sing that as, 'A man a woman and a duck, woman and a duck, woman and a duck...'

By: sacrifix

sacrifix — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:06:36 -0800

When they need a song for the opening credits, or for panning over a city:

Massive Attack's "Angel"

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:55:27 -0800

...and when somebody spooky is creeping up on you from behind - seen only by the audience - you need "Mysterioso Pizzicato"
posted by rongorongo

-----

They used that for the Weebles Haunted House commercial

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 06:25:29 -0800

Money is normally indicated by Pink Floyd's Money or Abba's Money Money Money. "We're in the money" from 42nd Street and "Hey Big Spender" can also be expected.

The riff from MGMT's Time to Pretend seems to be doing heavy duty in the background to "young people and the credit crunch" footage.

Thomas Newman's score from "American Beauty" is still popping up as standard moody music. For example "Any other name" will do for contemplation of dead dogs, lovers, mothers, etc.

By: greekphilosophy

greekphilosophy — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 09:41:51 -0800

Also, Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre" (That's a nifty vintage recording of the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski - who you might remember from Fantasia... it also, apparently, happens to be the first electronic orchestral recording made. Go figure.) gets a lot of play when you have a creepy masked ball where everyone may or may not be vampires and it's lively and fun, but you're slowly beginning to realize that you might be the only living guest invited to this ball...

By: webmutant

webmutant — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:02:29 -0800

Side point here -- something I truly loved about The Truman Show:

It largely used original music for all the "scripted" moments of Truman's life. But whenever Truman did something the show's "producers" didn't expect, that's when they'd bust out with "Fanfare for the Common Man" or "Anthem" or some other piece of stock music -- because they didn't have anything else prepared.

It's a nice touch, and it makes the conceit of the film that much more believable.

By: mkn

mkn — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:35:40 -0800

refined/upper-class:
minuet from Boccherini's String Quintet

Also possible: Mozart's "Serenade No. 13" (aka. Eine kleine Nachtmusik). This is often used to represent stuffy, old people garden/cocktail parties very often in films. I think Batman (Keaton/Nicholson), if I remember correctly, used this for the gallery party that the Joker crashed. (a quick search confirms that.)

By: flatluigi

flatluigi — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:05:40 -0800

Whenever people are in an elevator and not talking they always play a cover of this.

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 17:17:03 -0800

There is a special case for film appearances of places that have a song indelibly associated with them; places where- if you visit- you can actually hear people humming the song in question as they pass by. For example: Penny Lane, The Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond, on the Ferry across the Mersey, Oklahoma, on the train to Chatanooga or onwards to Georgia by midnight, Warwick Avenue tube station, Mull of Kintyre, the 59th St Bridge, Broadway, Bethlehem...

By: lunasol

lunasol — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 18:48:20 -0800

Listening to Fanfare for the Common Man made me think about all the TV/movie songs that are thinly disguised "homages" to these songs, using our associations with the original music to inspire certain feelings or moods.

For instance, The West Wing theme is awesome, but it lifts pretty heavily from Fanfare.

By: decagon

decagon — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:33:59 -0800

When one or more people sit contemplatively and reflect on recent social interactions of great personal importance, it's time for Gymnopédie No. 1 by Erik Satie.

By: jfrancis

jfrancis — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:29:28 -0800

Chopin Piano sonata Funeral March, Op.35, no.2

By: greekphilosophy

greekphilosophy — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 16:36:11 -0800

Also, strangely, decagon, Satie's Gymnopedie is often used for underwater scenes.

By: britain

britain — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 19:29:23 -0800

When people post to this thread without reading the previous posts, it's always Imogen Heap or Girl from Ipanema.

By: archagon

archagon — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 01:20:23 -0800

Previously.

By: chuckdarwin

chuckdarwin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:10:44 -0800

Recently, the amazing and underrated Charlie Brooker, of Dead Set, Screenwipe and Newswipe fame tweeted all the music he uses on his shows.

Spotify Playlist

The Thing

Lux Aeterna

Ghosts of a Future Lost

The Gonk

Sounds Orchestral - Soul Coaxing

Sounds Orchestral - Superstition

By: andeles

andeles — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 10:54:05 -0800

joelf: Creepy Circus Song is from one of Shostakovich's Jazz Suites: Waltz No. 2, Jazz Suite No. 2

By: greekphilosophy

greekphilosophy — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 13:28:48 -0800

Holy god in the heaven I don't actually believe in: THANK YOU ANDELES! I sat at the computer for about an hour clicking through my music library to find that piece and never managed to figure out what it was! I even dragged my formally trained musician roommate into the hunt to no avail. The closest I got was "Russian. Clearly Russian." But I got sidetracked thinking it might be part of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" which was, like Communism, a total red herring. Anyway, thank you for scratching that itch.

By: aclevername

aclevername — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:34:01 -0800

Wow.

Thanks to this thread, the piece of music that I had heard so many times in movie trailers was not "Love Theme From Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" but "To The Stars" from Dragonheart. Both by Randy Edelman.

You can see why Usenet in 1998 made the mistake.

But if I'm not mistaken, the Love Theme from Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story has been used many times as well.

All this time I thought I had the right piece. I remember I posted the question and referred to (of all things) the Patch Adams trailer. And some usenet poster told me it was the theme from Dragon. It sounded so similar, and there was no way to confirm it at the time. I thought for sure I had my answer.

Looking to contribute what I (thought I) knew to the thread, I looked up the Patch Adams Trailer on youtube and on soundtrack.net trying to find where the pieces matched, only to discover that they didn't. And that the correct song had already been posted here.

A mystery 11 years in the making and corrected thanks to this question.

By: po

po — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:21:18 -0800

Wondrous and magical things:

The Ice Dance, from the Edward Scissorhands score by Danny Elfman.

By: dephlogisticated

dephlogisticated — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:41:54 -0800

Take Us Out by Jerry Goldsmith

Used in the trailer of every inspirational sports movie since 1993.

By: premiumpolar

premiumpolar — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:05:34 -0800

I always wanted my dead body to crowd surf to Yackety Sax at my funeral.

By: The Whelk

The Whelk — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:44:22 -0800

Maybe a future Song They Always Use but the Donnie Darko Soundtrack (This track in particular) is being used for creepy-haunting-but-not-shocking stuff a lot. NPR, in particular, can't get enough of the score.

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:52:28 -0800

WAY late to the party here (bookmarked it, forgot it, podcast reminded me of it), but I've got one more to add I don't think anyone's mentioned yet -- the Official Sneaking Theme. You know, the one where the protagonist is creeping lightly on tiptoes, raptor-handed -- the classic sneaking pose -- and with each furtive step comes the ominous piano music:

_{_bum...bum...}bum... ^bum... BUM! ^da-da-_{da-_da} _{_bum...bum...}bum... ^bum... BUM! ^da-da-_{da-_da} (etc.)

Anyway, I was trying to deduce the origin of this tune a few months ago, and found that its history is surprisingly muddled. This blog post first speculates that it's from Louis Armstrong's classic (and creepy) "Zat You, Santa Clause?" (available for listening here), but further investigation (including an old AskMe thread) suggested the piece is much older, from the silent era. Candidates include J.S. Zamecnik's 1913 composition "Mysterioso - Burglar Music 1" and the (apparently undated and anonymous) "Villain's Theme", which can be previewed on track 8 of this anthology of silent music.

It seems odd that such a ubiquitous theme would be of unknown authorship, but as a commenter in this thread points out:

Before my grandfather went to work for the Warner brothers as their accountant (and later Exec. VP Treasurer), he played nickelodeon piano for silent films in New York. He played only for a short period of time but really well, and he couldn't read a note of music. Most of the silent movie piano players in the city would share and swap themes, learn from each other, steal from each other, etc.

That's why I'm guessing it was passed around during those early formative days, just like a folk song was passed around. A note was changed here, a melody line there, and eventually it crept into the public conscience as a "known ditty." Yet, nobody knows exactly where it came from or who wrote it.

Interesting stuff.

On a different tack, I've been trying to identify another piece of iconic music. In an old episode of Family Guy, Peter wishes for a genie to grant him his own theme music. Wherever he goes, he's accompanied by appropriate background ditties, most of which seem to have been created especially for the show. At one point, however, he gets on a bus and is accompanied by a distinctive and fast-paced brass number which he identifies as "classic traveling music" to an irritated bystander (you can listen to that part of the scene in this video). I've tried in vain to track down the name of this music, but unfortunately the only place it's been speculated on is Yahoo Answers, where precisely one person (fails) to answer in useless asshole fashion. Anybody else recognize the tune?

By: Rhaomi

Rhaomi — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:49:57 -0800

...and I'm just now noticing that the "sneaking music" has been identified by rongorongo as "Mysterioso Pizzicato", a piece I'd never come across in my search. But the link given for it has a lot of interesting information (especially the more benign minuet it possibly originated from) and definitely fits -- thanks for that!

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:10:39 -0800

Extended bedroom scenes (but classy-like) - Gato Barbieri playing this or this.

By: borkencode

borkencode — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:35:21 -0800

Cartoon showing scenes from a factory or a complicated contraption Powerhouse also commonly used Pee Wee's Breakfast Machine.

By: indiebass

indiebass — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:03:17 -0800

I would just like to add to the pile: Green Onions by Booker T and the MGs. Sometimes used when planning a heist, or getting away with one. Or just being cool.

(note: the version I've heard is often slower than the youtube linked one. That makes it even cooler)

By: rongorongo

rongorongo — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:41:37 -0800

Shooting down German WW2 planes over the English Channel against long odds? You need William Walton's "'Crown Imperial' Coronation March"