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Best Opening Songs: 25 First Tracks in Film That Left Us Wanting More

The right opening song can make or break a movie and forever change the way you think about a piece of pop music. Because there are so many classic examples, we compiled our list of favorites with a few ground rules. First, no musicals -- sorry, 'Sound of Music.' Second, songs only -- hence the absence of the 'Jaws' and 'Star Wars' themes. Finally, directors can only appear once, lest Scorsese and Tarantino completely dominate the countdown. With these guidelines in mind, take a look and tell us which of your favorites we missed.
25. 'Love Missile F1-11 (Extended Version),' Sigue Sigue Sputnik
'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'
"How could I possibly be expected to handle school on a day like this?" Ferris Bueller asks as his ninth sick day of the semester kicks off with blue skies, a sense of boundless possibility, and the sample-heavy sounds of Sigue Sigue Sputnik. Almost a quarter-century later, the song's first 30 seconds still make us want to call in sick.
Read 'Love Missile F1-11' Lyrics
24. 'We're Going to Be Friends,' the White Stripes
'Napoleon Dynamite'
This sweet and charming White Stripes tune about being pals and going to school is the ideal soundtrack for this film's first scene -- a Technicolor tour of semi -- appetizing adolescent lunches, library books, and of course, tinfoil throwing stars. Like Napoleon himself, it's a little childish but utterly loveable.
Read ''We're Going to Be Friends' Lyrics
23. 'Sweet Emotion,' Aerosmith
'Dazed and Confused'
The first notes of 'Sweet Emotion' kick in just as a beautiful Orbit Orange 1970 Pontiac GTO glides into a school parking lot in slow motion, and just like that, a stoner classic is born. Steven Tyler and company's smooth grooves set the stage for 100 minutes of toking, ass paddling and hanging out. The 'Dazed and Confused' opener is enough to make just about anyone nostalgic for 1976.
Read 'Sweet Emotion' Lyrics
22. 'Closer,' Nine Inch Nails
'Se7en'
The trend-setting credit sequence for David Fincher's bleak serial-killer tale 'Se7en' features a disturbing remix of Trent Reznor's equally bleak 'Closer,' a song whose lyrics celebrate at least a couple deadly sins. Fincher's director credit pops up just as Reznor intones, "I want to f--- you like an animal," which is your cue to curl up in a ball and cry.
Read 'Closer' Lyrics
21. 'Best of My Love,' the Emotions
'Boogie Nights'
In Paul Thomas Anderson's sweeping portrait of the adult-film industry 'Boogie Nights', this bouncy disco hit captures the relative optimism of the 1970s, the "golden age" of porno. The industry's "dark age," which involved VCRs and rampant cocaine addiction, is later symbolized by Night Ranger's 'Sister Christian,' but that's another song for another list.
Read 'Best of My Love' Lyrics
20. 'Bad to the Bone,' George Thorogood & The Destroyers
'Christine'
It doesn't get much badder than a cherry-red 1958 Plymouth Fury-unless the car in question is also homicidal and indestructible. So it's fitting that Christine, the very pissed-off car at the center of John Carpenter's 1982 film-adapted from Stephen King's book-rolls off the assembly line and gets her first taste of blood to George Thorogood's enduring tough-guy anthem.
Watch the Opening | Read 'Bad to the Bone' Lyrics
19. 'Cosmic Dancer,' T-Rex
'Billy Elliot'
Before it was a hit musical, 'Billy Elliot' was just a really good indie flick about a kid in northern England who likes to dance. As the film opens, Billy puts on his brother's T-Rex record and jumps on the bed (in slow motion of course) while listening to 'Cosmic Dancer,' which starts with the oh-so-appropriate line, "I was dancing when I was 12."
Watch the Opening | Read 'Cosmic Dancer' Lyrics
18. '16 Tons,' Eric Burdon
'Joe Versus the Volcano'
A total flop when it was released, 'Joe Versus the Volcano,' starring Tom Hanks as a miserable office drone who gets a second chance at happiness, has itself found new life as a cult favorite. Hanks' meaningless existence is summed up in the film's opening moments, as zombified workers trudge into a factory to the tune of '16 Tons,' the ultimate "work sucks" song.
Read '16 Tons' Lyrics
17. 'Theme from 'Shaft,'' Isaac Hayes
'Shaft'
Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks? If you answered "Shaft," you're damn right. As Isaac Hayes's velvety Academy Award-winning funk track plays in the background, the camera pans through a seedy early-'70s Times Square, landing on the man himself. Within 10 seconds, we learn all we need to know about John Shaft: he has a fly leather trench coat; he's too bad to use the crosswalk like other fools; and he is the man.
Read 'Theme From Shaft' Lyrics
16. 'Don't Be Shy,' Cat Stevens
'Harold & Maude'
With its hippy-dippy, aspirational message, Cat Stevens' 'Don't Be Shy' would be ideal for a montage of happy people running through a field of flowers, feeling groovy. Luckily, director Hal Ashby turns it on its head by making it the soundtrack to Harold's fastidious preparations for his own (apparent) suicide by hanging. The song ends just as the noose tightens, and this cult classic truly comes to life.
Read 'Don't Be Shy' Lyrics
15. 'The Killing Moon,' Echo & The Bunnymen
'Donnie Darko'
Echo & the Bunnymen's haunting 'The Killing Moon' set the perfect mood of foreboding for 'Donnie Darko,' Richard Kelly's twisty tale of alternate realities and angst-ridden teens. And yet for some reason, when the director's cut was released, the song had been replaced by INXS's 'Never Tear Us Apart.' It was still pretty awesome, but come on, Richard. If it ain't broke...
Read'The Killing Moon' Lyrics
14. 'Jockey Full of Bourbon,' Tom Waits
'Down by Law'
Jim Jarmusch has always been adventurous about picking musicians to soundtrack and act in his films, and in 'Down by Law,' costars Tom Waits and John Lurie provided songs and score, respectively. The film opens with a series of drive-by shots of New Orleans neighborhoods, set to Waits' 'Jockey Full of Bourbon.' Whoever did the opening credits for 'The Sopranos' owes these guys a shout-out.
Read 'Jockey Full of Bourbon' Lyrics
13. 'The Times They Are a-Changin,'' Bob Dylan
'Watchmen'
From his 'Dawn of the Dead' remake to this year's 'Sucker Punch,' Zack Snyder's films always start off like the world's most amazing music videos. The opening of his 'Watchmen' adaptation is the best of the lot, perfectly distilling 20 years of superhero history through Dylan's era-defining classic. Too bad the rest of the movie had fanboys around the world calling for Snyder's head.
Watch the Opening | Read 'The Times They Are a-Changin' Lyrics
12. 'Be My Baby,' the Ronettes
'Mean Streets'
Martin Scorsese is rightly considered the reigning master of using rock music in film, and his 1973 breakthrough 'Mean Streets' set the standard. The trademark Phil Spector drumbeat of 'Be My Baby' kicks in just as a film projector fills the screen with light, and a home-movie-style credit sequence starts. Thanks in part to this dramatic entrance, 'Be My Baby' has become a cinematic staple.
Watch the Opening | Read 'Be My Baby' Lyrics
11. 'The Stranger Song,' Leonard Cohen
'McCabe and Mrs. Miller'
The mesmerizing opening minutes of Robert Altman's great revisionist Western 'McCabe and Mrs. Miller' throw every cowboy genre cliché right out the window: it's cold and overcast, the lonely "hero" is muttering to himself like a psycho and a melancholy Leonard Cohen song plays despite the turn-of-the-century setting. Other directors have since tried putting contemporary music in period pieces, but in 1971, it was truly a maverick move.
Read 'The Stranger Song' Lyrics
10. 'Goldfinger,' Shirley Bassey
'Goldfinger'
The James Bond franchise has a proud tradition of original opening songs and eye-catching credit sequences. Many deserve a place on this list, but including them all wouldn't leave room for much else. And let's face it, with all due respect to Paul McCartney, Tom Jones and Duran Duran-others who've hit the bull's-eye with their Bond themes-nobody did 007 better than Shirley Bassey in 'Goldfinger.'
9. 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine,' Marvin Gaye
'The Big Chill'
For the opening sequence of 'The Big Chill,' director Lawrence Kasdan injected some funeral-black humor into Marvin Gaye's Motown classic. The song plays as the main characters call one another and spread the word about the suicide of an old college friend. Meanwhile, his body -- an uncredited Kevin Costner -- is being prepped for the funeral. Terrible news has never sounded so good.
Read 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' Lyrics
8. 'I'm All Right,' Kenny Logins
'Caddyshack'
Kenny Loggins is responsible for several memorable movie themes, but 'Footloose' and 'Danger Zone' can only make humans dance. 'I'm All Right' transcended the species barrier, inspiring a gopher to pop out of the ground and get his furry little groove on.
Watch the Opening
7. 'Hello Vietnam,' Johnny Wright
'Full Metal Jacket'
No one loves an ironic song choice more than Stanley Kubrick, who famously used 'Singin' in the Rain' as a centerpiece of his ultra-violent 'A Clockwork Orange.' The juxtaposition of Johnny Wright's pro-Vietnam War country tune with the sight of young recruits getting shorn like sheep in 'Full Metal Jacket' gives a perfect taste of the director's ink-black sense of humor.
Read 'Hello Vietnam' Lyrics
6. 'The End,' the Doors
'Apocalypse Now'
Francis Ford Coppola must not have been paying attention to the title when he picked the Doors' epic Oedipal meltdown 'The End' to open his nightmarish Vietnam War opus 'Apocalypse Now.' Still, if you're trying to capture a mood of war-is-hell despair, you can't beat the image of a jungle erupting into a napalm inferno just as Jim Morrison proclaims, "This is the end."
Read 'The End' Lyrics
5. 'The Rainbow Connection,' Kermit the Frog
'The Muppet Movie'
Want to make a Gen-Xer cry? Show them a frog puppet sitting on a lily pad, strumming a banjo. Given the main Muppet's central role in most 30-somethings' childhoods and creator Jim Henson's untimely death in 1990, Kermit's rendition of 'The Rainbow Connection' has become a reliable tearjerker for an entire generation.
4. 'Little Green Bag,' George Baker Selection
'Reservoir Dogs'
Tarantino is another master of movie music, and he established his trademark opening style-a lengthy dialogue scene followed by a killer song-credits combo-with his low-budget 1992 debut 'Reservoir Dogs.' In the film's wake, the badass slow-motion group shot has become a cinematic cliché, and 'Little Green Bag' has gone from obscure 1969 semi-hit to bong-friendly dorm-room standard.
Read 'Little Green Bag' Lyrics
3. 'Lust for Life,' Iggy Pop
'Trainspotting'
Before it was a totally inappropriate choice for a cruise line commercial, Iggy Pop's tongue-in-cheek ditty about heroin addiction, co-written with David Bowie, was a highly appropriate choice to kick off 'Trainspotting,' Danny Boyle's hyperkinetic tale of working-class Scots living (and dying) at the end of a needle.
Watch the Opening | Read 'Lust for Life' Lyrics
2. 'Stayin' Alive,' the Bee Gees
'Saturday Night Fever'
With a disco assist from the Gibb brothers and a very shiny pair of leather shoes, John Travolta reached the apex of 1970s macho by strutting down the streets of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, carrying a can of semi-gloss paint in one hand and eating two slices of pizza with the other. The pizza thing would catch up with Travolta later in his career, but the 'Saturday Night Fever' track 'Staying Alive' remains as slim and sexy as ever.
Read 'Stayin' Alive' Lyrics
1. 'Fight the Power,' Public Enemy
'Do the Right Thing'
One of the most powerful film-music combos ever, the one-two punch of Spike Lee and Chuck D exploded on the screen like a Molotov cocktail. For the music-video-inspired opening credits of Lee's groundbreaking film 'Do the Right Thing,' Rosie Perez busts out her best dance moves-including an absolutely sick Roger Rabbit-and dons a pair of boxing gloves, getting all literal on Public Enemy's anti-establishment anthem.
Read 'Fight the Power' Lyrics

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Mathew Hopkins

I just paid $ 24,31 for an iPad2-64GB and my girlfriend loves her Panasonic GF 1 Camera that we got for $ 34,26 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 42 inch L.E.D TV to my boss for $ 678 which only cost me $68,18 to buy. Here is the website we use to get it all from, CentSpace.com

August 04 2011 at 9:01 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Joseph Lopes

What about Street Life by the Crusaders opening up Sharky's Machine? An extended opening scene with Burt Reynolds in his prime walking across a bridge and through the streets to the great - and appropriate - song with Randy Crawford's vocals and Joe Sample leading the band! My all-time favorite opening!

July 27 2011 at 8:55 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Milen Siljic

WONDERFUL

July 14 2011 at 2:08 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
alanart

I gave you guys a chance, but you proved yourself historically challenged idiots. One of the best film opening themes, which influenced many many artists was in the movie "Blackboard Jungle" playing Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock around the Clock". If you don't believe me, believe what Frank Zappa said "That changed everything..."

July 12 2011 at 1:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
bpramsey1

What an appalling list - apart from 2 or 3 - most of that was really obscure shite.

Not even a mention of The Sopranos or Alabama 3.

July 02 2011 at 9:19 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
mark

wot a pile of ****

July 02 2011 at 8:30 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
tatbennett

HELLO?! What about Iron Man 2 with AC/DC Shoot To Thrill!? This is the worst list ever!

July 02 2011 at 8:29 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
martynemh

This has got to be one of the worst ever lists published by AoL. Absolute rubbish. Who in AoL is responsible for airing this crap?
Ask your long-suffering readers to nominate 'the best'. They'll give you a list that would at least be debatable.

July 02 2011 at 6:32 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
hotanspicey

on days like these.say no more

July 02 2011 at 6:31 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
ffrobinson8

Where's the opening (and everything else!) to West Side Story? It's not only brilliant in itself, but integral to the film, not a tacked-on piece somebody else wrote for another purpose.

July 02 2011 at 6:10 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply