21 Movies Whose Original Songs Completely Outshined the Movie

‘Iris’ by the Goo Goo Dolls is definitely more well-known than ‘City of Angels’

As much as film is a visual medium, the song playing during a scene can be just as vital as what’s happening on screen. Who can imagine Titanic without “My Heart Will Go On”? Or The Graduate without “Mrs. Robinson”? Or Billy Madison without that song about having anymore gum? On the flip side, can you imagine “My Heart Will Go On” without Titanic? That’s not the case for a lot of songs that have become comically divorced from their launching pad.

“One that comes to mind is “Scotty Doesn’t Know,” the Lustra song used for the movie Eurotrip,” Redditor David1258 told r/Movies. “Lustra’s song has an iconic guitar riff and is fairly well known worldwide, but not many people remember that movie.” 

They then asked, “What’s a song made for a movie that ended up surpassing the film itself in popularity?” This is what their fellow Redditors had to say on the matter…

Despicable Me 2

Batman Forever

Against All Odds

One Night in Heaven

Vision Quest

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

Children of Troubled Times

Reality Bites

Maximum Overdrive

Cocktail

The Lemon Drop Kid

Meet Me in St. Louis

Unchained

Mystery Men

What’s New Pussycat?

City of Angels

Dangerous Minds

Mannequin

She’s Having a Baby

Trolls

Chariots of Fire

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