The 10 best fictional songs of all time
It can take a small miracle to get a song off the ground. For years, artists have tried experimenting with different textures within their own voices to develop a way to show the world an authentic version of themselves. However, it’s a different scenario when writing for movies like La La Land and A Star is Born.
In each of these TV and film projects, the main focus centred around a musician and, therefore, needed a soundtrack to go with it. While the writers could have easily gotten away with writing the plotline they wanted down and setting it to music, each of these songs was taken care of by professional songwriters and refined to become something bigger than a storyline.
When looking at the songs below objectively, it’s essential to focus on the mechanics of songwriting, not how it factors into the movie it accompanies. Though it might go over like gangbusters in the context of the film, a testament to the staying power of these tunes is how well they work without knowing the story of the film.
Outside of film or television, every one of these songs has held up as a nice slice of music that can be thrown on at a party and still go over well. These might take place in the world of fiction, but in an alternate dimension, there’s probably a world where these songs were bonafide hits on the charts.
The 10 best fictional songs of all time:
‘Scotty Doesn’t Know’ – Eurotrip (Jeff Schaffer, 2004)
Most of Matt Damon’s career has fluctuated between two genres; the stone-cold classics and the movies that dads the world over will one day catch on television. Although movies like Saving Private Ryan may have etched him in the top tier of his contemporaries, Damon wasn’t afraid to indulge in some teenage efforts as well. While he may have played a horrible person in Eurotrip, no one can argue that his character has some chops with his band.
Despite the punk aesthetic of his get-up, there’s a dash of power-pop in ‘Scotty Doesn’t Know’, falling somewhere between the sounds of Cheap Trick and Fountains of Wayne, with a fair bit of crunch on the guitar. Although it’s clear that Damon is being overdubbed, the singer captures that snottiness that was popular around the time, almost being this movie’s equivalent of an artist like Billie Joe Armstrong.
Considering this is supposed to be suburbia’s look at punk music, there are definitely more than a few pop-punk bands that should take note of what this song is going for. As much as a band like Simple Plan might try to have a few decent soundtrack songs under their belt, there’s a good chance this song could have passed for a hit without anyone batting an eye.
‘I Must Be In Love – All You Need is Cash (Eric Idle and Gary Weiss, 1978)
In the early ‘70s, the Monty Python crew were uniquely positioned. After becoming friends with The Beatles, the initial idea was to put together a spoof version of the Fab Four as The Rutles, operating out of a humble suburb in England and quickly becoming the biggest band in the world. Though the film is credited as one of the first musical mockumentaries, ‘I Must Be In Love’ is worthy of being on the same level as the early work of their subject.
Written by Neil Innis, this is equal parts ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Want To Hold You Hand’, having the same adolescent attitude towards love. Innis had understood the mechanics of John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s songwriting skills to a tee, and the rest of the band followed suit with their fake wigs and unbridled joy when playing the tune in the film.
While the songs (and film) were supposed to be all in good fun, The Beatles loved the finished product, with Lennon refusing to give back the draft of the film he was shown and George Harrison even making a token cameo in the film as a reporter. Wait…songs that draw heavily from The Beatles and making a career out of copying them? No wonder Noel Gallagher of Oasis eventually got sued by Innis.
‘Let Me Down Easy’ – Daisy Jones & the Six (Nick Jennings, 2023)
The entire world of Daisy Jones & The Six wouldn’t exist had it not been for Fleetwood Mac. Amid the tale of a rough-and-tumble band trying to work their way through the decade, the romantic tension between the titular Daisy and Billy Dunn made for the same tension that fueled Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks’s best writing. When all of the homages are peeled back, they can pull off the retro aesthetic like no one else.
With Riley Keough and Sam Claflin’s voices blending, ‘Let Me Down Easy’ is the kind of song expected out of the Rumours era of Fleetwood Mac, as each of them sings to each other about their tension and uses the music to break free from it. As much as some of the references might be on the nose, the music behind them is a lot punchier than expected, down to the sound of vintage amplifiers and the same vinyl-esque crackle to please the purists watching.
Keough also perfectly inhabits Nicks’s mystique on this song, reaching to the top of her register towards the end of the song, that’s more than a little reminiscent of her performance on ‘Gold Dust Woman’. It’s easy to get caught up in all of the trends that the producers crib from in this series, but since the real Fleetwood Mac might be gone for good, this is about as close as fans can get to a new album.
‘On the Dark Side’ – Eddie and The Cruisers (Martin Davidson, 1983)
The rock biopic always tends to cause some friction in the music community. Although acts like Queen and Elton John have had their turns in the biopic genre as of late, there will always be fans wanting to nitpick was or wasn’t factual in the final product. When the director works with a fictional band, though, they have free reign to do whatever they want.
Throughout most of Eddie and the Cruisers, the titular Eddie is making an honest living by day and rocking the clubs by night, with ‘On the Dark Side’ becoming his signature tune. Though the band feel like any typical bar band trying their hand at rock stardom, the music is ripped straight out of Bruce Springsteen’s playbook.
Outside of the barebones structure of the tune, Springsteen’s fingerprints are all over it, from the grizzly vocal delivery in the chorus to whipping out a saxophone break halfway through to add a greater sense of drama. ‘The Boss’ could have easily sued and would have probably won, but some of his mainline songs weren’t even as catchy as this.
‘Threshold’ – Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright, 2010)
About 90% of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is the fantasy of a 15-year-old male. The charm of the graphic novel was translated brilliantly to the screen, with Michael Cera playing the mild-mannered Pilgrim as he works his way through the evil exes of his wannabe girlfriend. When he’s not kicking ass and taking names, Pilgrim also had a pretty kickass alt-rock band on the side.
While Sex Bob-omb might be a fairly adolescent name for a band, a certain smarminess is captured in ‘Threshold’, with everything being played as muddy as possible. Although Pilgrim is on the distorted bass, every other instrument seems to be in its own world, from the folksy sounds of the acoustic guitar to the punk rock attitude behind the drumming.
There are a million reasons why a song like this shouldn’t work, but the fact that the arrangement is bonkers is part of its appeal. Scott was always a student of Gen X, and this is the kind of genre-mashing that artists like Beck were always great at. It might not be the smoothest ride from start to finish, but Sex Bob-omb certainly earn that dragon defeat through the power of rock at the end of the film.
‘5000 Candles in the Wind’ – Parks and Recreation (Dean Holland, 2011)
When pitching Parks and Recreation, Mouse Rat was supposed to be a cheap joke for lovable goofball Andy Dwyer to have on the side. Although Dwyer is clearly an idiot and is convinced he’s destined for stardom, their rootsy rock and roll blend often felt like a second-rate Dave Matthews Band, with no hooks to choose from. Though grief can always fuel the greatest acts, Dwyer reached deep into his heart when the town’s prized horse Lil Sebastian passed away.
After being commissioned by Leslie Knope to write a song better than Elton John’s ‘Candle In the Wind’, ‘5000 Candles in the Wind’ suited Pawnee’s tribute to Lil Sebastian perfectly. Outside of Chris Pratt’s grizzled Eddie Vedder-style vocals, the chorus is actually impressively well constructed, having the right amount of rising tension as he bids farewell to the horse that no one is sure did anything,
Although Parks and Recreation did eventually use copyrighted material from the likes of Tom Petty, there’s a reason why the show wanted to keep recycling this song, using it intermittently during the series for a season finale or a pivotal moment in the show. And with the chef’s kiss touch of Duke Silver on the saxophone, Mouse Rat earned themselves a certified television classic.
‘Audition’ – La La Land (Damien Chazelle, 2016)
The entire public perception of La La Land has always been strange. Since the Oscars incorrectly awarded it ‘Best Picture’, people have tended to forget about Damien Chazelle’s first ode to old Hollywood before he made Babylon. For all of the glitz and glamour behind ‘The City of Angels’, the best song in the film comes from its most humble moment.
When Emma Stone’s Mia gets one final audition, she figures that the best way forward is to be herself. As she recalls some of the slice-of-life moments from her childhood, the orchestral accompaniment follows her every word, from something as simple as her aunt getting sick during her travels to the teachings she was given about staying true to herself no matter what the cost.
For all of the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into Mia’s career, it’s at this most vulnerable moment that the audience feels like they’re seeing the real version of her, which earns her some of the biggest acting roles of her career. The road to that success might have been a mess, but as the song states, that beautiful mess helps tell the story.
‘That Thing You Do’ – That Thing You Do (Tom Hanks, 1996)
The world of pop music has always been fascinated with the idea of the one-hit-wonder. Even though these acts may have captured something magical for one song, they would spend their entire career never again seeing that kind of success. There’s no accurate way of depicting that disappointment across the board, but ‘That Thing You Do’ at least had a killer soundtrack to go along with it.
Compared to other music-themed movies, the tragic history of The Wonders is a lot closer to reality, from bad fallouts to slowly losing heart to continue playing music. For a brief moment, though, Adam Schlesinger from Fountains of Wayne penned this song for them, capturing that power-pop energy reserved for early rock and roll, falling between The Beatles’ early sound and something The Byrds might have written.
Like the band’s tenure, the only problem with the song is that it lasts far too short, not even breaking the three-minute mark before closing up shop and leaving the listener smiling. The Wonders’ fallout may have been the stuff of rock legend, but no one can take this little golden song away from them.
‘Big Bottom’ – This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
When This Is Spinal Tap was first released, more than a few musicians who saw the movie were absolutely mortified. Even though the titular hard rock outfit is supposed to be a parody of what rock and roll excess was supposed to be, the stupid moments in the film aren’t that far away from what happens in real life. In addition to capturing the lifestyle of rock and roll to a tee, Christopher Guest also had the sounds of rock covered on ‘Big Bottom’.
Compared to most hard rock acts, there are some doing it professionally that can’t compete with ‘Big Bottom’. While the lyrics are clearly over the top with its casual references to sex, this parody song turned out to be an omen of things to come, with the hair metal giants coming off of the Sunset Strip making songs that weren’t all that dissimilar to what Guest wrote here.
Even though this tune is the best-written song in the film, it’s not even the greatest by Spinal Tap standards, especially since it’s in the key of C major and not D minor, which Nigel Tufnel explains is the saddest of all keys. Despite being played purely for laughs, this song deserves to be a part of any hard rockers’ playlist, being played solely at 11.
‘Shallow’ – A Star is Born (Bradley Cooper, 2018)
Hollywood will most likely rehash the A Star is Born narrative until the sun burns out of the sky. After being retired for the past few decades, Bradley Cooper’s hand at making the ultimate Hollywood fall from grace was an odd turn for the man known for dramas like American Sniper. Though Cooper gave one of his best performances in the film, he knew exactly what he was doing by getting Lady Gaga to play Ally.
For most Gaga aficionados, it’s an interesting turn seeing her as the shy, introverted songwriter, never feeling quite at home on a big stage. As her relationship with Cooper’s Jack becomes more pronounced, her debut performance of ‘Shallow’ was good enough to grace the pop charts in 2018, with Gaga showing her chops at a blend between perfect pop and folksy Americana.
Though Ally eventually transforms into the more recognisable version of Gaga throughout the film, this natural performance has all the drama the movie thrives on. Gaga might already have been a superstar for a decade, but watching this tune play out in real-time sounds like a musician discovering their talents and finally letting them fly.
