10 Pop Songs That Have Become Unofficial Movie Theme Songs

When a theme song sticks, it sticks. Plenty of famous movie characters and even entire film franchises have their own memorable music—where would Hollywood’s composers be without Jaws or James Bond’s title tracks? Most of the time, these theme tunes have been composed specifically with these characters or stories in mind, meant to be used again and again for however long their legacy lasts. But sometimes a song pops up in a movie and unintentionally becomes a famous character’s anthem, whether it was originally intended or not.

Movies often have pop songs playing over their opening or end credits, and sometimes these songs were composed specifically to be used in the movie. (Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” for Armageddon is a good example of this.) But today at ScreenCrush we’re talking pop songs that were simply included in the movie either on a whim or because the filmmakers just liked how they fit. Somehow, whether through repetition or because they happened to be included in an iconic scene, these songs become irrevocably tied to a specific character to such a degree that we can’t even listen to them without a certain fictional person instantly popping into our heads.

A lot of the time, these songs don’t even have much to do with the character or the scene or the movie at all—and yet, like Pavlov’s dogs, we just can’t help but associate them together forever. The power of movies and the power of music combine to give us something that is — quite literally — unforgettable.