Best in Show Tunes

Music is an important creative component in the cinematic experience. Music can drive the narrative and dialogue of the film if it is a full blown musical or if it's a concert movie it can showcase the performance of musical artists forever on the big screen. Even a traditional non-musical movie can benefit from the creative placement of music and songs integrated throughout the film to enhance the pop cultural landscape of the movie. The ten show tunes in this list include examples of how music and song can enhance the movie viewing and listening experience in varied ways.

Pinball Wizard - Tommy

Long before Xbox, Play Station, Wii, and God forbid even Atari, and Pong, gamers existed. This song by The Who and performed in the movie Tommy by Elton John glorified the gamer before the gamer subculture even existed, at least as far as your average non-gamer knew.

Bye Bye Life - All That Jazz

The semi-autobiographical film All That Jazz about Bob Fosse and his hectic work habits and destructive lifestyle ends with this surreal musical expression, which reworks the Everyly Brothers Bye Bye Love to give a musical spin on the proverbial life flashing before your eyes experience when you die. If dying, has an uplifting groove like this, maybe it's not so bad.

Dark End of the Street - The Commitments

This song about an adulterer singing to his lover originally performed by James Carr, is among the many soul song covers sprinkled throughout the 1991 film The Commitments about a group of out of work Dubliners who are trying to form the world's greatest soul band out of nothing. Like all of the songs throughout the film, this song performed by this band of unknowns, fronted by Andrew Strong, breathes new life and energy into the many lost or forgotten soul songs included on this soundtrack.

Thank You for Sending Me an Angel - Stop Making Sense

This song is one of the many highly energetic performances in a concert movie praised by movie critics as one of the best of its genre. The Talking Heads demonstrate with this song their ability to create a hyperactive explosion of energy and life with the barest of instrumental essentials.

Skid Row - Little Shop of Horrors

This song, from one of the better movie musicals of the '80s, captures the despair of the lower class stuck at the bottom of the social economic hierarchy, but it doesn't get mired in depression. There's a spark of hope in this musical number that reminds us that you are only limited by your own dreams and ambition.

Don't Dream It Be It - Rocky Horror Picture Show

This song may not have gotten as much attention as The Time Warp and become a cult dance sensation, but it does provide an excellent motto to live by if you interpret it in a metaphorical sense and not within the context of the Rocky Horror Picture Show's campy narrative. Don't waste your years dreaming about what you would like to do. Go out and do it. At least one well known athletic shoe company capitalized on this sentiment.

Soul Sacrifice - Woodstock

There was a time when the main focus of musicians was the music and the performance. Fortunately, Santana's phenomenal performance of this song was captured on film in Woodstock for future generations to enjoy. A 20 year old Michael Shrieve steals the show with his awesome drum solo and a young Carlos Santana impresses with his excellent guitar playing. Santana later admitted to tripping on LSD during the performance and confessed that he thought his guitar neck was a snake he had to hold on to so he wouldn't get bitten. To paraphrase the words of the late comedian Bill Hicks, you never see a positive LSD story on the news. It's always the story about the guy who thought he could fly and jumped off a building and died. Well here it is - Musician thinks his guitar is a snake and gives the performance of a lifetime.

Stay Cool - West Side Story

It never occurred to me when I watched West Side Story as a child growing up that the gangs in this film were engaging in ballet and dance numbers when they rumbled. I just thought, cool these guys are just really athletic and can jump and kick really high. This song sweats coolness, at least coolness as it was perceived back in the '60s. The youth of today may have a different interpretation. Can you imagine how less threatening and intimidating gangs would be today if you saw them skipping, lunging, and snapping their fingers down the street like they do in this movie? I think we are onto a successful crime prevention program here.

Minnie the Moocher - The Blues Brothers

Cab Calloway performs this jazz number, which he originally recorded in 1931 for a whole new generation in a bigger than life production of the song for the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. This song is one of several classic tunes performed in the film bymany legends in the music business who also appear in the movie as fictional characters. This particular song utilizes the ultimate crowd pleaser - audience participation which can only add to its appeal.

Singing in the Rain - Singing in the Rain

This classic movie song is one of those tunes you can't help but whistle or hum along to when you hear it. Gene Kelly gives an outstanding and uplifting performance with this number. Kelly had a cold and a temperature of 103 degrees during the filming of this scene which was filmed over two days. You wouldn't know this by watching his great performance, but knowing this, it adds legitimacy to the songs message that despite the pouring rain you can focus on the positives to help weather the storm.

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Sources:

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6467

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3254

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1527

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Commitments_(film)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_End_of_the_Street

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101605/fullcredits

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Making_Sense

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul_Sacrifice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Shrieve

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnie_The_Moocher