The 1990s were a great decade for music and that is reflected in this list of some of the best music moments from films of the era. Not all the music is “’90s music” but all of the moments are unforgettable. Here is our list of some of those amazing moments from some of the best movies of the decade.
“Flower Duet” – True Romance
Composer Léo Delibes’ “Flower Duet” sets the backdrop for the amazing, and intense, scene between Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper in Tony Scott’s True Romance. Not only is it a fantastic use of music in film, it’s one of the best scenes of any movie from the ’90s. Maybe one of the best of all time.
“O-o-h Child” – Boyz ‘N The Hood
The melancholy music and lyrics of “O-o-h Child” by the Five Stairsteps set the perfect tone for the scene in Boyz In The Hood where we see a young Dough Boy getting arrested for the first time as Tre and his father Furious look on after a nice afternoon fishing. The scene says so much about how each kid would grow up stuck in an unsustainable system.
“Layla” – GoodFellas
Martin Scorcese has always been great with his use of music in movies. Goodfellas is filled with classic songs and the most dramatic of all of them has to be the coda of the Derek and the Dominos’ song “Layla.” The piano, along with Eric Clapton and Duane Allman’s soaring, dueling guitar solo, sets the perfect tone as bodies from the crew turn up everywhere as Jimmy (Robert DeNiro) cleans up the heist.
“Bittersweet Symphony” – Cruel Intentions
One of the best songs of the ’90s, and indeed of all time, is “Bittersweet Symphony” by the Verve. The use of it at the end of Cruel Intentions as Kathryn (Sarah Michelle Gellar) gets busted and embarrassed in front of the whole school is, in one word, epic.
“Sweet Emotion” – Dazed And Confused
The opening moments of Dazed and Confused, accompanied by Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” make it immediately clear just how cool the movie is going to be. When the beat kicks in and we see Pickford (Shawn Andrews) and Michelle (Milla Jovovich) cruising the parking lot in his car, it draws the audience in immediately.
“Son Of Preacher Man” – Pulp Fiction
There are a lot of songs you can choose from in Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece Pulp Fiction. The dancing scene with Chuck Berry certainly stands out, but we just have to go with “Son of a Preacher Man” by Dusty Springfield when Vincent (John Travolta) first arrives to pick up Mia (Uma Thurman). If nothing else, it’s really cool, and the scene is now a legendary meme.
“Supermodel” – Clueless
“Cher’s main thrill in life is a makeover,” is one of the defining lines of Clueless, and the montage that follows accompanied by “Supermodel” by Jill Sobule, is one of the most iconic scenes from one of the most iconic movies of the ’90s.
“Jungle Fever” – Jungle Fever
You can’t have a list like this and not include the music from Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever. The songs, all written and performed by the great Stevie Wonder, fit the movie perfectly. It would be a very different movie without them and while it’s hard to pick just one, we went with the title track to the movie, played over the opening credits, to represent them all.
“Still” – Office Space
Sure, the most famous song featured in Office Space is “Feels Good To Be A Gangsta” but it’s another song by The Geto Boys, “Still,” that gets the nod here. There isn’t a harder song director Mike Judge could have gone with to play along with the most famous scene in the movie when the office crew finally put their misery to an end and killed the janky printer.
“Hotel California” – The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski has some amazing quotes and is filled with unforgettable moments and lines. None more so than the moment cast member John Turturro’s character, Jesus, is introduced while The Gypsy Kings’ version of The Eagles’ “Hotel California” plays.
“My Heart Will Go On” – Titanic
While Celine Dion’s song “My Heart Will Go On” is not part of one particular scene in Titanic, the theme, written by James Horner (in the composer’s most famous work), is played so much that it’s as much a part of everyone’s fond memories of the movie as the wonderful sets and incredible special effects arfe.
“Unchained Melody” – Ghost
“Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers may have been a quarter of a century old when it was used in Ghost but there are generations of movie fans that only associate with that famous scene of Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze throwing some pottery together.
“Bohemian Rhapsody” – Wayne’s World
It’s incredible to think that Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was almost cut from Wayne’s World. Not only did end up being the most iconic scene in the movie, it introduced a whole new audience to Queen’s music. The movie world would be very different with it.
“Bring The Pain” – The Great White Hype
1996’s The Great White Hype is one of the great underrated movies of the decade. Not only does it have a stacked cast with Damon Wayons, Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Berg, Jamie Foxx, and others, but it also has one amazing moment when Wayons’ character, heavyweight champion James “The Grim Reaper” Roper enters the ring with Method Man rapping “Bring The Pain.”
“Goodbye Horses” – Silence Of The Lambs
There are very few songs in the history of film that can creep you out quite like “Goodbye Horses” by Q Lazzarus. The song, used in one of the most traumatic scenes in Silence Of The Lambs will immediately put you back in that moment whenever and wherever you hear it.
“Lust For Life” – Trainspotting
Director Danny Boyle is a master of using music in his movies and the best example of this is probably Trainspotting. From the opening moments of the movie with “Lust For Life” by Iggy Pop playing to the end of the movie with the epic “Born Slippy” by Underworld, the music is just amazing.
“The Stroke” – Billy Madison
Billy Madison launched Adam Sandler’s movie career. The Sand Man plays a idiot 20-something who is forced to redo all 12 grades to earn his father’s company. As a guy who clearly grew up in the 1980s, turning up to his first day of “high school” in a Trans Am while “The Stroke” by Billy Squire plays is, well, radical and perfect.
“I Will Always Love You” – The Bodyguard
We simply couldn’t have put together this list without including one of the most popular songs of all time. Whitney Houston’s version of the Dolly Parton-penned “I Will Always Love You” was a cultural atom bomb in the ’90s. The song was everywhere and while the movie, which also stars Houston has mostly been forgotten, the song and the soundtrack live on forever.
“Everybody Knows” – Pump Up The Volume
Pump Up The Volume is an excellent example of a great movie from the 1990s that no one talks about anymore. The Christian Slater-led movie about a disaffected high school kid who broadcasts his own pirate radio station did, at the time, do as much to define Gen X culture as any movie from the era. The fact that it predates Grunge makes it all the more defining. All of the music is great, but his theme song, “Everybody Knows” by Leonard Cohen is just so… cool.
“My Sharona” – Reality Bites
No movie oozes “Gen X” quite like Reality Bites. Not only does it star actors like Ethan Hawke, Winona Ryder, Janeane Garofalo, and Steve Zahn, but the soundtrack is very ’90s. With one exception – “My Sharona” by The Knack. The ’80s song fits perfectly though, as the stars all take a moment to turn it up and dance in a convenience store.
“Sister Christian” – Boogie Nights
The scene with “Sister Christian” in Boogie Nights is INTENSE. It’s a scene that is, honestly, hard to watch because it makes your skin crawl. That’s also what makes the scene, and the movie, such a masterpiece.
“99 Luftballoons” – Grosse Pointe Blank
Grosse Pointe Blank has a truly great soundtrack made up of some of the coolest songs of the 1980s. This is unsurprising given the cast and crew of the movie, including star John Cusack. One of the more ridiculous scenes in this underrated dark romantic comedy is Cusack’s character getting help from Jeremy Piven’s character to haul a dead body out of a high school reunion with Nena’s “99 Luftballoons” playing in the background.
“Stuck In The Middle With You” – Reservoir Dogs
Quentin Tarantino burst onto the scene with his first movie Reservoir Dogs and he immediately set the kind of tone he would carry into most of his movies with the ultra-violent scene of Mr. Blonde (Michael Madson) cutting the ear off a cop. The fact that the sweet love song “Stuck In The Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel plays over it makes it all the more jarring.
“Only You” – Can’t Hardly Wait
Can’t Hardly Wait is a very ’90s with a very ’80s aesthetic in a lot of ways, especially the music. The movie’s title comes from an ’80s song of the same name by The Replacements and the last song of the movie, “Only You” by Yazoo is an ’80s New Wave classic. It all fits perfectly though.
“Something I Can Never Have” – Natural Born Killers
Nine Inch Nails have the well-earned reputation of being one of the darkest bands of the 1990s and so when their song “Something I Can Never Have” was included in one of the darkest movies of the decade, it was a marriage made in Heaven, or Hell, depending on how you look at it.
“Mary Jane” – Friday
We all know what Friday is about. The Ice Cube/Chris Tucker comedy classic is one of the funniest movies of the ’90s and while “Mary Jane” by Rick James dates back to the ’70s, there isn’t a more perfect song for the movie.
“Fortunate Son” – Forrest Gump
It’s become a comedic trope that Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” is in every Vietnam War movie, but the facts actually show it’s not used all that much. One movie it is used perfectly in is Forrest Gump, as the first song we hear when Forrest (Tom Hanks) gets to Vietnam.
“I Got You Babe” – Groundhog Day
There is no more perfect song than “I Got You Babe” to be played over and over and over and over as it is in Groundhog’s Day. It does an amazing job just sucking the audience into Bill Murray’s character’s frustration again and again…and again.
“That Thing You Do” – That Thing You Do!
That Thing You Do! is a really fun movie about a fictional band, so it just had to be included here. None of the songs are all that great, except the star of the show, the song with the same name as the movie, written by the late Adam Schlesinger. It’s just so darn catchy!
“State of Love and Trust and Breathe” – Singles
In 1992 the music scene was completely overrun with Grunge. Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Alice In Chains, were just a few of the Seattle bands dominating the charts. Another one of those Seattle bands was, of course, Pearl Jam. Not only did Eddie Veddar and company write and perform the best song on the soundtrack, “State of Love and Trust” but Veddar even showed up in the movie.
“Secret Garden” – Jerry Maguire
Bruce Springsteen had some great contributions to ’90s movies, like the theme to Philadelphia, called “”Streets of Philadelphia” for which he won an Oscar, and “Dead Man Walkin'” from Dead Man Walking. We went with another Springsteen choice, “Secret Garden” which is played over the scene in Jerry Maguire when Renee Zelleweger’s character is forced to break up with Jerry (Tom Cruise).
“Love Stinks” – The Wedding Singer
Some could argue that The Wedding Singer was the last great movie from Adam Sandler’s early career. It’s a funny movie, with an even funnier premise and that premise, of Sandler as a washed up singer playing weddings is highlighted perfectly when a depressed singer chooses to sing “Love Stinks” by the J. Geils Band at a wedding. A very Sandler choice.
