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'Minions: The Rise of Gru' (2022) - The 2022 movie 'Minions: The Rise of Gru' has a surprisingly impressive soundtrack. Diana Ross has teamed up with Tame Impala on a track called 'Turn Up The Sunshine,' and the rest of the soundtrack features a host of other covers of '70s classics: St. Vincent covers Lipps Inc.’s 'Funkytown,' Phoebe Bridgers takes on the Carpenters’ 'Goodbye to Love,' Caroline Polachek does Nancy Sinatra’s 'Bang Bang,' Brittany Howard covers Earth, Wind & Fire’s 'Shining Star' (with original band member Verdine White), and Kali Uchis takes on the bossa nova standard 'Desafinado,'. It also features artists Weyes Blood, Thundercat, Tierra Whack, Brockhampton, RZA, Bleachers, and H.E.R., and we all have Jack Antonoff to thank for producing the soundtrack.

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'The Lion King' (1994) - The original 'Lion King' soundtrack was an instant classic. 'I Just Can't Wait...' and 'Hakuna Matata' had us up on our feet, while 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight' was a chart-topping heartwarmer.

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'The Lion King' (2019) - The big-budget remake features exciting covers of the original songs, performed by Beyoncé, Donald Glover, and Seth Rogen. Companion album 'The Gift' features new songs from Jay-Z, Pharrell, and even Blue Ivy Carter.

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'Straight Outta Compton' - The 2015 film portrays the origin story of the hip-hop group N.W.A from its earliest recordings. The soundtrack includes the group's most influential recordings of the 1980s and 1990s, along with music from some of the funk and R&B legends who inspired Dr. Dre.

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'Maximum Overdrive' - Stephen King's 1986 killer truck film used new and old songs exclusively from AC/DC for the soundtrack. The album was called 'Who Made Who.'

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'Romeo + Juliet' - The 1996 Shakespeare adaptation by Baz Luhrmann uses a score that mixes old school Hollywood with the current day's Top 40 hits in a way that romanticizes the love story even more.

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'Marie Antoinette' - Sofia Coppola's 2006 film aims to compare the past and present of royalty and celebrity life. In the same way, she uses modern music to bridge the gap between the 18th century and the 21st century.

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'Eden' - French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve depicts a film based on her brother and co-writer, Sven's (played by Félix de Givry, pictured), experiences of how he, a DJ, was overshadowed in a highly-talented EDM landscape during the 1990s. The soundtrack is almost twice as long as the film itself.

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'The Mambo Kings' - Although the 1992 movie adaptation 'The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love' was not a hit, the soundtrack was. The memorable track in question was the Oscar-nominated song 'Beautiful Maria of My Soul'—performed in English by Los Lobos and in Spanish by Antonio Banderas.

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'Judgment Night' -

The 1993 crime thriller, starring Cuba Gooding Jr, Emilio Estevez, and Denis Leary, boasts an experimental soundtrack full of rap-rock, truly putting the genre on the map.

Some unlikely pairings on the score included De La Soul with Teenage Fanclub, Sir Mix-A-Lot with Mudhoney, and Cypress Hill with both Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam.

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'River’s Edge' - When the 1980s was full of synth-pop and college rock, this 1986 teenage thriller made it onto the top 40 best film soundtracks due to its heavy soundtrack, including the likes of Slayer, Hallows Eve, and Fates Warning.

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'Rock ’n’ Roll High School' - For a wacky 1979 comedy about teens who desperately want to meet their music idols, this soundtrack mixes late 1970s New Wave and alt-rock, including an 11-minute live medley by the Ramones.

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'Dazed and Confused' - Set in the 1970s, the rebellious and radical decades before them paved the way for these American teens to sit back and blast their stereos with Foghat, Alice Cooper, and ZZ Top.

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'Boogie Nights' -

This 1997 Paul Thomas Anderson drama turns a feelgood film into one focused on guilty pleasures.

And what better way to score this film than by filling the soundtrack with guilty pleasures like Walter Egan's 'Magnet and Steel,' and Night Ranger's 'Sister Christian.'

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'Empire Records' - The 1995 cult classic boasts a score of post-Nirvana alternative rock, including Gin Blossoms, Better Than Ezra, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Cracker, and the Cranberries.

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'Singles' -

Capturing grunge in its peak, Cameron Crowe portrayed the growing movement through young singles mingling in the Seattle underground music scene.

He incorporated inspirations like 1980s Paul Westerberg, 1970s Nancy Wilson, and Jimi Hendrix, to show the development of Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees of the era.

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'Once' - Based on the life of a busker, the 2007 indie drama follows a street musician moved by a woman to create a demo. Leading to radio hits like originals 'Falling Slowly' and 'When Your Mind's Made Up,' and later even a Broadway production, this film proves that big budgets aren't always necessary for a killer soundtrack.

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'Guardians of the Galaxy' -

In 2014, 'Guardians of the Galaxy' graced us with the mixtape of the decade—the 1970s to be exact.

With a likable mix of Top 40 hits from the era, the soundtrack lends heavily to the main character's own music choices, the mixtape being his last connection to his late mother.

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'A Star Is Born' -

Coming out in 2018, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper aimed to recreate the whole experience of 'A Star Is Born.'

Through the two characters' differing styles, rootsy alt-rock and pop, the biopic remake depicts the constant struggle between personal expression and providing entertainment, between being genuine and wanting fame.

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'Shutter Island' - Martin Scorsese's 2010 psychological thriller, starring Leonardo Dicaprio, weaved together soundscapes and audiovisual experiences with the help of Thelma Schoonmaker and Robbie Robertson. It even included avant-garde classical composers.

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'Midnight Cowboy' -

The Oscar-winning, 1960's film favorite depicts a grimy New York City, leaning towards harder sex and drugs than the hippie attitude of an earlier time.

The soundtrack lays bare the trials and tribulations, as well as the bliss and mind-bending ecstasy that comes with the precarious lifestyle.

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'Magical Mystery Tour' -

Out of all the Beatles' films this is by far the worst to watch, however, the soundtrack is back-to-back classics.

Their other films include 'A Hard Day's Night,' 'Help,' and 'Yellow Submarine.'

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'The Graduate' -

One for all audiences, this 1967 A-list film aimed to please both the youths of the day and the older generations, and they definitely succeeded with the songs in their soundtrack. 

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'Easy Rider' - Starting with a temporary score full of popular acid-rock songs, Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda decided to keep the soundtrack as is, and dedicated a lot of the budget to licensing.

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'The Big Chill' -

Starting the cliche 1980s and 1990s scene of jolly middle-aged folks bopping around the house to a pop classic.

This film portrays the transformations from hippie to yuppie, and alongside that the score bears the culture of something genuine and important being lost.

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'Dirty Dancing' -

The 1987 dance classic based in the early 1960s had a story, and a soundtrack, that was incredibly popular for its time and has stuck with us for decades.

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'The Bodyguard' -

Yes, the biggest-selling soundtrack of all time made it to number 16. Whitney Houston's rendition of Dolly Parton's 'I will Always Love You' even spent 14 consecutive weeks as Billboard's number one song on the Hot 100 Singles chart.

The score was full of 1990s contemporary pop, light jazz, and soft soul, as well as Houston's soaring numbers.

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'Trainspotting' -

This 1996 UK film based on Scottish heroin addicts, has a score full of party tunes and genres including druggy glam, post-punk disco, and 1990s rave faves.

The soundtrack is mostly pretty and mostly danceable, but is underlaid throughout with a sense of worldly danger."

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'Repo Man' - This soundtrack to the movie (starring Emilio Estevez, pictured) was the primer to the 1980s punk scenes, and is littered with titans of the early West Coast hardcore scene including Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, and Fear.

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'Belly' -

Hype Williams is known for his music videos, and it seems that the translation to the big screen was a bit of a flop. However, the soundtrack that accompanies it is one to be remembered.

With Jay-Z, Nas, DMX, D’Angelo, and several members of the Wu-Tang Clan contributing to the soundtrack, the score depicts East Coast rap's move in a different direction.

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'Footloose' - This mammoth film and soundtrack, including six 'Footloose' singles that made it atop the Top 40 hits, defined 1984.

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'Kill Bill' -

Quentin Tarantino has always had a formula for his films, but with 'Kill Bill' the soundtrack truly shined.

Similar to his filmmaking style, the score is scattered with pop culture and ambiguity, this time including Nancy Sinatra, composers like Ennio Morricone and Luis Bacalov, as well as the title theme from the Japanese crime picture 'New Battles Without Honor and Humanity.'

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'Rushmore' -

Wes Anderson's brilliance, like Tarantino's, comes with a style and formula.

In 'Rushmore,' he used a score of 1960s British Invasion tunes, creating a dramatic flair while also displacing the picture from its own time.

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'Pretty in Pink' -

For his film named after the Psychedelic Furs song, John Hughes used a score of angsty British pop to emulate the teen drama and romance of the 1980s film.

The soundtrack included the likes of The Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, New Order, etc.

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'Saturday Night Fever' -

Turning a niche music style into a club craze was Robert Stigwood's 1977 classic.

Bringing disco into the limelight and changing the way people danced was the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack, including Walter Murphy, The Trammps, and the Bee Gees.

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'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' - The Coen Brother's 2000 film had an octuple-platinum soundtrack, produced by T Bone Burnett to recreate Depression-era folk and country. It was built up of gloomy murder-ballads and half-ironic anthems of hope.

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'Purple Rain' -

Prince was an undeniable genius, and this film is a fictionalization of his own rise to fame.

The soundtrack is full of songs that turned Prince from a pop oddball to a culture-pervading superstar.

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'Shaft' -

R&B innovator Isaac Hayes brought to light the low-budget action genre, that came to be known as "blaxploitation," by covering hits by white artists.

The score also won an Oscar for its theme song by Hayes, as well as for the album itself.

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'Superfly' - Known more for its cinematic soundtrack than its picture, the 1972 action film creates an action-packed soundscape full of funky lush strings and polyrhythmic percussion.

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'American Graffiti' -

George Lucas, before 'Star Wars,' had mediocre promise with little expectation for his breakthrough film at the time.

However, in 1973, 'American Graffiti' saw instant success, not just for his impressionistic portrait of restless teens, but for the authentic musical backdrop that was the soundtrack.

It included authentic songs by Fats Domino, the Platters, Chuck Berry, and the like, at hefty licensing fees, but ended up rounding out the film to its success.

Also go back in time to revisit these hit songs that were originally written for movies.

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