Band/Movie Soundtrack Pairings We Want More Than AC/DC and Iron Man 2

Jon Favreau must really like AC/DC. Or, more likely, the band's blistering guitar rock, violent lyrics and electrically inspired name simply make them perfect candidates to provide the entire soundtrack to Iron Man 2. Rockers providing soundtracks is nothing new, but rather than featuring all-new songs, like Queen did for Highlander and Daft Punk is doing for Tron, the AC/DC soundtrack will be a "greatest hits" collection, including some of their best-known anthems from as far back as 1976. (The promo video is set to 1980's "Shoot to Thrill.") With this in mind, we looked at other tentpole films slated for this year and picked the bands (and solo artists) with suitable back catalogs to provide all of the music for each movie.

Sex in the City 2 -- J. Lo
Why Her? Because when you think about a sophisticated woman going out to have fun on the streets of New York, you think of Jennifer Lopez. Her music can be found playing in most of the clubs the girls of SATC like to frequent, and if anyone needs to prove she's still "Jenny from the Block" and that "Love Don't Cost a Thing," it's the newly married "Mrs. Big," main character Carrie Bradshaw. Also, J. Lo's latest single is "Louboutins," which is all about designer shoes, a major obsession for Carrie.

The Wolfman -- Duran Duran
Why Them? The songs "Hungry like the Wolf" and "Wild Boys" alone would have given Double D the job of narrating Benicio del Toro's transformation into a vicious were-beast. Plus, there's got to be a prison scene where it would be appropriate to play their song "Chains," right?

Alice in Wonderland -- Lady Gaga
Why Her? Falling into a deep, dark hole and encountering bizarrely dressed creatures who are playing out a nightmarish farce is what happens every time we watch a Lady Gaga video. "Shake Your Kitty" can play as the Cheshire Cat torments our heroine, and "Poker Face" should definitely kick in when she first meets the playing-card-themed Red Queen.

Clash of the Titans -- Metallica
Why Them? Don't heavy metal fans love stories of the gods inflicting their wrath on mankind? And don't they all have tattoos of Medusa and giant scorpions and stuff? With hard-rockin' Metallica songs like "Some Kind of Monster" and "Slither," Perseus will have beautiful music to slay mythical beasts by.

A Nightmare on Elm Street -- Alice Cooper
Why Them? Because "Welcome to my Nightmare" should be Freddy Krueger's entrance music. And Cooper has enough songs about death and dying (and teenagers and zombies and babies) to populate six or seven installments in the rebooted horror franchise -- "I Know Where You Live" and "Can't Sleep, Clowns Will Eat Me" may not be well-known, but you can certainly see how they'd be appropriate. Personally, we can't wait for Freddy to declare "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and really go to town on some people.

Robin Hood -- Bryan Adams
Why Him? The better question might be, "Why didn't the last Robin Hood movie use an all-Bryan Adams soundtrack?" After all, the one Adams song in the 1991 Costner flick, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," sold 4 million copies, so imagine what this soundtrack will do with the power of that song, plus "Run to You," "Cuts Like a Knife," Straight From the Heart" and "Have You Really Ever Loved a Woman?" We might have trouble using "Summer of '69" in a period action-romance, but maybe Robin can buy his first real six-string bow over at the Five-n-Ninepence?

The A-Team -- Thin Lizzy
Why Them? For the revived 1980s property, we'd go with a 1970s band, one with a bevy of rock songs that fit into the A-Team's storyline. "Jailbreak" for one, could play over the group's escape from their maximum security penitentiary, and "The Boys Are Back in Town" would herald their arrival on the scene as they prepare to enforce their own brand of justice.

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse -- Evanescence
Why Them? With gothic imagery and vampires hot all over again, why hasn't Evanescence made a huge comeback yet? Their songs about eternal longing ("My Immortal") and drowning in sorrow ("Going Under") and re-animating the dead ("Bring Me to Life") are perfect for the angsty teen vampire franchise, and we can't believe they were ever squandered on a movie like Daredevil.

Eat, Pray, Love -- Carly Simon
Why Her? Because the sappy story of a woman divorcing her awful husband and going to eat a lot in Italy, then pray a lot in India, then love a lot in Bali is the kind of tale that only the music of Carly Simon can chronicle. From "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" to "All I Want is You," the chanteuse's alternately bitter and romantic songs will come together to turn this Julia Roberts movie into a sexy hurricane.

The Social Network -- Rush
Why Them? When talking about the men who founded Facebook, the Rush song "Tom Sawyer" says it best: "What you say about his company, is what you say about society." Rush's synthesizer-heavy prog-rock and technological themes ("The Spirit of Radio," "Manhattan Project," "Digital Man") would help us immerse ourselves in the technological world of the computer programmer.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 -- Oasis
Why Them? The final two films in the Potter series find Harry ditching school to take the fight to He Who Shall Not Be Named, and who better to capture the angst and anger of a British teenager than the troubled Gallagher brothers? Is it Harry or Neville Longbottom who's really Voledemort's "Wonderwall"? We'll find out soon enough, and the brothers will sing "Don't Look Back in Anger" as Harry reflects on the long, dark road that brought him to this place.

Kick-Ass -- Andrew W.K.
Why Him? The frenzied, chaotic assaults of Kick-Ass look like they need to be accompanied by a frenzied, chaotic assault on the ears. Andrew W.K.'s songs are mostly about partying, but partying of the most violent nature possible, and songs like "Ready to Die" and "The End of Our Lives" can cycle in as the stakes in the movie continue to rise.

What do you think of the AC/DC news! What bands would you like to see do full soundtracks to movies? Sing out below.

21 Comments

January 28, 2010 4:15 PM
Celebrity
Reply

Please don't ever mention Alice in Wonderland and Lady Gaga in the same article again. It's like blasphemy or something

January 30, 2010 12:40 PM
Chris
Reply

Evanescence is wayy to good for Twilight stuff. No Thanks!

January 30, 2010 11:39 PM
AmyListener
Reply

I agree Twilight is a little light for Evanescence. They would have been better with Daybreakers.

January 31, 2010 6:11 PM
chumash99
Reply

Love the Kick-Ass/Andrew W.K. combo. "We Want Fun" would be perfect.

February 9, 2010 12:20 PM
Andrew
Reply

Nah, Evanescence is perfect for Twilight :P

As for Alice in Wonderland, I'd probably substitute Bjork and just have Lady Gaga in a small role.

February 10, 2010 3:15 PM
Tony Artiga
Reply

I love that AC/DC will be doing the Iron Man 2 soundtrack! As for the other suggestions I actually liek the idea of Gaga doing music for Alice. I've always liked Evanescence but I really just want Twilight to go away. My favorite tho is Andrew W.K. and Kick-Ass!

February 10, 2010 9:46 PM
Libra
Reply

You mentioned Metallica, but you listed some of their worst songs. Try forgetting their light, hard rock version of the 90's, and go back into some Master of Puppets, The Thing that Should Not Be, Creeping Death, the Call of Ktulu, and Seek and Destroy.

February 12, 2010 9:29 AM
robbi3
Reply

Come on, the only reason they said Duran Duran for Wolfman is because they have a song with a "wolf" in the title.

In reality, those songs would be too campy and gimmicky for a movie like that, especially because they're going for a more dark, serious tone for the movie.

February 12, 2010 6:21 PM
Ironman95
Reply

How about Warren Zevon RIP(Werewolves of London) for Wolfman, not the syrupy Duran Duran. Also Rush is NOT a synthesizer-laden band, you don't know music very well. Rush is a power trio, with Geddy Lee play Bass and Vocals and a little bit of synth and floor pedals, while Alex Lifeson supplies all the sounds on guitar that you apparently think is a synthesizer. Watch their live concert on Palladia, and you won't see much synthesizer action at all. Lady Gaga? You've got to be kidding.

February 12, 2010 6:33 PM
jocelynm8
Reply

you know what i'd like to see? A movie with some Deftones or Tool as the soundtrack. I love those guys. Great rock bands ( although im not sure if they could be considered to have some goth in them, especially Deftones). . . oh well! :]

February 13, 2010 9:47 AM
chris
Reply

Lady Gaga is a better fit for Alice in Wonderland than Avril Levigne who sings the movies theme song

February 13, 2010 11:14 PM
dwarvenpanzer9
Reply

I still say Blind Guardian should have been able to do a soundtrack CD to coincide with the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I know, they went the film score direction, but they could have put out another CD with BG cooking up original material. Fans of the band would have picked it up in a heartbeat, and fans of the movie would have been turned on to a band they might not have heard otherwise...

February 14, 2010 3:45 AM
Cody.
Reply

For Twilight I think your pick is wrong partly because the movies need a more indy vibe, like Cold War Kids, or even some Metric. I like Something Is Not Right With Me, and The Twist, good songs from each I could see fitting.

And why hasn't anyone thought of Kylie Minogue's X album for Alice in Wonderland? Kylie has some good picks, like Speakerphone, and 2 Hearts.

Jennifer Lopez for Sex and The City? Yuck, Try something more like Lily Allen, and September. Both had club success. And maybe some remixed Madonna would be nice, keep it nice and poppy and danceable.

February 15, 2010 6:40 AM
tsans
Reply

"Five-and-ninepence?" As in, five and nine? It's supposed to be five and DIME, so I guess Robin Hood would shop at the five-and-whatever-ten-is.

February 15, 2010 11:13 AM
Patrick zartman
Reply

I think this article proves that the writer has horrible taste in both movies and music.

February 15, 2010 11:29 AM
Mia
Reply

Nooooo!!! T^T Please - never, ever compare Evanescence with Twilight. Do you SEE what has become of the Twilight franchise? Do you REALLY want that to happen to an amazing band like Evanescence? Their music and lyrics are beautiful and haunting, and Twilight is just......made of fail. I'll cry if something that terrible were to happen ;_;

But anyway, I think the other choices are pretty good for the most part...yep! ^___^ Lol Lady Gaga would be good for that movie...they're both awesomely bizarre

February 15, 2010 11:41 AM
Jeannie
Reply

Another day, another stupid list ... especially if J. Lo's on it; she jumped the shark long before that stupid catsuit last NYE. As much as I like Gaga, she doesn't have to be EVERYWHERE. And Duran Duran for the Wolfman movie - GOOD GRIEF!!!!

February 15, 2010 5:50 PM
amy
Reply

evanescence = WAY too good for twilight. bye.

February 23, 2010 12:42 AM
Francis Sumlin
Reply

I loved the first Ironman movie. I am excited for Ironman Part 2! This movie and the soundtrack with AC/DCare going to be amazing! I can't wait!

May 14, 2010 4:43 PM
Erotikshop
Reply

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November 13, 2011 3:59 AM
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