22 Iconic Movie And TV Scenes Paired With Music That Had Everyone Listening To The Song On Repeat After

Once again, the lyrics match the scene (and episode title), but it’s the tone I like even more. The horror of Five jumping too far into the future and seeing his world destroyed is captured so well in this frantic and intense beat. 

I don’t even like Luther and Allison as a couple, but I LOVE this cover, and it makes even me think this moment is sweet. The music (and the lighting and editing and everything) help emphasize that this is truly a dream world for Luther and Allison and that they’re essentially not meant to be but for this one half-imaginary moment in time.

This haunting rendition of the song is perfect for what feels like one of the darkest Marvel moments. The opening credits follow Yelena and Natasha being separated and then trafficked and turned into spies, and the editing of the scene along with this song just gives it even more weight than it already has.

You really gotta watch the scene to get the full effect. Like 10 secrets come out at once while everyone’s sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner, and it’s really just everything that made GG good in one scene. The fun pop song about making mistakes and the truth coming out worked so well here. 

It’s already SUCH a badass moment when Hela asks “what were you the god of again?” and Thor summons his lightning powers, and it just gets that much better when the music starts. I love a good “song paired with fight scene” moment, and I cannot think of a better one than this.

This was really one of the wildest season finales. SO MUCH was going on, and yet it all worked and each thing blended together because of this song. The buildup of the scene worked perfectly with the buildup of the song until it hit its crescendo, when the limo actually fell in the water. One Tree Hill always had amazing music, but using a Led Zeppelin song in this high-stakes season finale was the absolute best music moment.

They took a fun ABBA song and made it the most anxiety-inducing song of all time. A lot of the comments on YouTube mention that it feels like a panic attack, and they’re right — the lights, quick upbeat music, dialogue, and action all perfectly blend into this pile of stressful chaos (and I mean that in the best way) as Sophie realizes she has three men who think they’re her father.

You already know how I feel about this one. The cover is incredible, and it’s set perfectly to what is honestly a very good action sequence. The Shrek franchise has a ton of memorable music moments, but this one is just beyond anything in an animated film, tbh.

First of all, the song comes right after the announcer says “are we holding out for a hero?” Second of all, the scene takes place in the ’80s, so the song fits really well. Third of all, it’s a banger of a song. And finally, I love the expectation reversal of a killer slaughtering a ton of people for a song about heroes and “good men” (ESPECIALLY if this was Sylvie. Someone please lmk in the comments because I cannot remember).

The song matched the noir, gothic, underground tone of the film amazingly, and honestly, it was one of the most memorable parts of the film to me. Right away, we could tell this wasn’t going to be like The Dark Knight or even any other superhero film.

The Six Feet Under series finale is often brought up as an example of one of the best finales ever, with many pointing out its final sequence, which flashes to many of the characters’ deaths. That scene just would not be the same without one of the classic soft emo (is that a genre?) songs of the 2000s that perfectly captures the tone of the last few minutes of this award-winning show.

Big Little Lies is another show with amazing music, and this finale in particular was flawless. But the best moment was seeing the women watching their children happily on the beach intercut with waves crashing and the women defending Celeste while a peaceful instrumental played — which eventually transitioned into “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” It was haunting yet also kind of…empowering? It just perfectly wrapped up everything.

This scene really and truly broke me. I love all the trippy stuff they do with Rue when she’s high, and while it’s usually emotionally impactful, it’s not always quite as heart-wrenching as this scene. I truly thought Rue had died. Her seeing her father was such a devastating yet sweet moment, and this song was perfect for it.

I always love when a show uses a song by one of the actors, and this one is really cool because it helps give the scene a sense of un-reality, especially with Rue mouthing the words. It’s super trippy and choreographed SO WELL to the music. I only screenshot the very end because there’s just SO MUCH going on in this scene and a lot of it is movement-based, so please watch the clip below if you forget the scene!

This was already a perfect song to introduce both Eleanor and the film — but covering the classic Motown song in Mandarin?!?! Absolutely inspired. It’s fun yet old-fashioned, and it sets the tone for the movie so, so well. I literally could not think of a better song to choose.

THIS IS SUCH A GOOD COVER. It makes the song so much more creepy while also being sexy and devious. Cassie walked into that house knowing she might not come back out, and that’s reflected in this song and her attitude walking in. She’s chosen this toxic revenge mission even though she knows it might kill her, and she’s fully committed and even almost satisfied with that. SO DAMN GOOD.

Say what you will about Glee, but watching Quinn give birth while Jesse St. James and his team performed “Bohemian Rhapsody” flawlessly was peak TV. The performance and choreography were so good, and the music was so well timed to Quinn giving birth. Having Quinn scream things like “Let me go!” at the times the words are sung in the song was particularly genius.

I’m a sucker for a good “Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend”/Marilyn scene (like on Gossip Girl, and Moulin Rouge!), so that’s part of why I love this, but I also love that it’s updated/remixed in a really interesting way. It mixes the larger-than-life, overly romanticized, indulgent way Harley sees the world and herself with the harsh realities of what’s actually happening to her and the world she actually lives in. It’s also perfect because Margot Robbie/the character of Harley Quinn are very much sexualized by society in the way Marilyn Monroe was.

The melody and lyrics are super haunting, but there’s still something strangely hopeful about them. The part where Katniss sings is nice, but it’s the part with the dam breaking that really solidifies this moment’s spot on this list. The rebels fight without regard for their own lives to break down infrastructure that has been used to exploit them, and it’s just so powerful.

Sherlock rarely uses actual sung music, making this montage particularly special. The jaunty yet old-fashioned tune created such a fun buildup in this scene and fit Moriarty so well — it made everything feel even more like a game.

I thought this song was okay the first time it played — and then it played again…and again….and again. Each time, the upbeat tune got more and more frustrating, and finally more and more ominous as the people at the party began to disappear each time Nadia was rebooted back to the bathroom. Using the song once? Cool. Using it every episode??? Legendary. And of course, it made a small comeback in Season 2, which was just great.

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