Music Supervision

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Thank you for watching! :)

[Levi-rckh]

How are you gonna talk about big budget musical supervision, and not talk about "I Need A Hero" from the ending sequence of Shrek 2?!

One of the absolute best examples of a pop song being naturally integrated into an animated movie, to the point where the song itself probably became as popular as it did due to that film!

[Doppity]

Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, and John Hughes movies have some of the most memorable music supervision I've witnessed.

[untitledjunk]

Let’s be real honest here, one of the greatest uses of licensed music in movies is John Powell’s rendition of Get Up Offa That Thing by James Brown in Blue Sky’s *Robots!*

[BatAmerica]

Given copyright issues, it is impressive when a music supervisior can balance studio demands with a strong atmosphere.

[RegularRobin]

I wish you pointed out Suicide Squad. So many rights to so many great songs, and barely any of them were used in a "right" way.

[wyattrose]

James Gunn is a very VERY good example with great music supervision. The Awesome Mixes are some of the best movie soundtracks, and the fact they sync so clearly with the story, especially ‘The Chain’ in Vol. 2 is awesome. It got me so seek out older music on my own, and the intro to the first movie is still iconic to this day

[PotatoPatatoVonSpudsworth]

This occurred to me when I was watching the recent Lackadaisy pilot. It's about prohibition era booze-running with a violinist as the protagonist, so the soundtrack primarily utilizes era-appropriate violin-lead swing music. And then in a moment of when an action scene unexpectedly ramps up from tense to bombastic, the soundtrack momentarily breaks out of its era, _and goes full swing-dubstep fusion._

It lasts only a handful of seconds before returning to a more traditional tune, and yet the result is stunning. The tonal shift slams into the audience at the exact right moment, hangs in the ears just long enough to be comprehended, then dissipates into a violin solo before its presence can threaten the viewer's immersion.

Had it been directed with any less finesse, a sudden intrusion of DUBSTEP into 1920s era fiction would have been downright disastrous. It's also the sort of experimental flourish that a major studio would never sign off on.

[theawemazingcrew]

Guardians of the Galaxy had the most iconic music supervision, so much so that it plays a main part in the story. It even plays a part in the titles of the movies (Volume 2 and volume 3). James Gunn is so good with music supervision. Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad also have great music supervision. Just something I wanted to say

[FragglevisionReturns]

The Marie Antoinette movie from 2006 had some great use of anachronistic music to establish Marie as a rebellious figure who was ahead of her time.

[davidhowell]

Glad you mentioned Aftersun. The needle drops in that film are some of the most striking and purposeful I've ever seen.

[giuliogmonti]

Breaking Bad has the best Music Supervision of all time, from all the cooking scenes to Walter rolling the barrel with Take My True Love By The Hand to ofc Baby Blue and El Paso in Felina. Absolutely the goat

[Jacob-wdfm]

I think The Last of Us: Part II uses 'Take on Me' beautifully in comparison, a perfect example of how popular music can be handled in media.

[andreevichjosephmarshall]

My friend recently got me the soundtrack of clockwork orange for on vinyl, and it really reminds me how music within a piece can really set the tone and do storytelling shortcuts that other tools can’t. You get the same effect in Mean Girls, which is really the only reason I think it’s more enduring than Clueless.

[ivyinabottle]

The most recent example of music supervision and needle drops I absolutely loved was in BEEF. They stuck to a style (mainly 90s alt and grunge more specifically) and it worked so well. The songs fit the tone of the show perfectly imo and it’s a great example of good music supervision. “Mayonaise” by The Smashing Pumpkins playing in the end credits of the finale was what sealed it for me.

[liefnielson]

Aftersun’s use of Under Pressure was such a gutsy move but it paid off 100 fold. I’ll never hear that song again without getting slightly choked up

[cheyennec]

Not sure if it means anything but my friend and I came to the conclusion that the reason 80s songs were chosen in the Mario movie, especially the “Take on me” during the donkeyKart scene, was to appeal to the nostalgia of Boomers when they played Mario in the 80s when it was most popular. Kind of like how the storyline appeals to babies and all the references & Easter eggs appeal to fans in between.

[nerolemon]

Thomas Golubić is a fantastic music supervisor, some of the things he did for better call saul contributed so much to the memorability of the show

[KnotPhound]

Atlanta has some of the best music supervision I've ever seen in a TV series.

[bagusss]

bro aftersun's music supervision might be one of the best i've ever seen. tender, losing my religion, and under pressure, all in one place but never once felt overwhelming, because all of it fits right into the scenes wells intended. she DESERVES to get that 3 iconic music. show out to lucy bright the music supervisor, as for her hardwork we got one of the best scenes of 2022

[JordanNMovies]

Some other TV shows/films have great music supervision. Atlanta on FX, HBO’s Insecure, and Spike Lee’s films. They’re all pretty great imo.


One part in Atlanta in particular is when Darius and Alfred are in Amsterdam on a drug trip, and they listen to Stereolab. Even though I heard the song years ago, felt like I heard it for the first time.