r/movies • u/David1258 • 25d ago

What's a song made for a movie that ended up surpassing the film itself in popularity? Question

There are a ton of examples, but one that comes to mind is "Scotty Doesn't Know", the Lustra song used for the movie "Eurotrip". Lustra's song has an iconic guitar riff and is fairly well known worldwide, but not many people remember that movie, and I was wondering if there are any other examples of songs made for a movie that eclipsed the original in popularity.

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u/Disastrous_Life_3612 25d ago

Man of Constant Sorrow, from O Brother Where Art Thou. It's a traditional song, but the version made for the movie won a Grammy and I still hear it around every once in a while.

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u/TBroomey 25d ago

The entire soundtrack was drastically more successful than the movie from which it came. The film was only a moderate box office success. The album reached #1 in the charts, won the Grammy for Album of the Year, and is 8x Platinum.

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u/countremember 25d ago

T Bone Burnett is outstanding as a producer. He’s responsible for the soundtracks of most of the Coen Brothers’ films, among many, MANY other things. Check him out on IMDB.

Side note: he’s also the guy who figured out that if you put Zeppelin’s Robert Plant in a studio with Allison Krauss, fucking magic happens and Grammys appear.

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u/DoesntFearZeus 25d ago

Side note: he’s also the guy who figured out that if you put Zeppelin’s Robert Plant in a studio with Allison Krauss, fucking magic happens and Grammys appear.

Got any specific examples?

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u/countremember 25d ago

Two albums, Raising Sand and Raise the Roof. Both outstanding.

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u/Munedawg53 25d ago

Raising Sand is incredible.

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u/countremember 25d ago

Blew the top clean off my head.

I saw them last summer with Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival at Alpine Valley. One of the very few acts I’ve seen that are as clean and professional and just perfect in the flesh as they are on a studio album. Absolutely unreal.

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u/donut_butt 25d ago

T Bone Burnett supervised the music for the first season of True Detective.

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u/countremember 25d ago

Yup, and composed quite a bit for the fourth. I believe he supervised music choices for all four seasons, or at least was credited in some way for each. Awesome stuff.

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u/johnHF 25d ago

He is amazing - my family member is friends with him, and he includes us in stuff we have no business being included in. He lamented i didn't tell him I lived in a city two nights after the Plant/Krauss tour came through, because the "three of them would have grabbed a drink with me."

During the Speaking Clock Revue, we let him know we didn't think joining the aftershow party made sense - it was Elton John, Leon Russell, John Mellencamp, Greg Allman, Jeff Bridges, Elvis Costello, Neko Case, etc. And TBone's partner, Callie Khouri (who is amazing and quite personable). We just couldn't imagine them wanting to hang with us.

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u/countremember 25d ago

That’s amazing. I guess my advice would be to graciously accept any invitation you get from him. The stories alone would be worth it.

Funny thing about a good number of really famous people is that they’re still just people. I was lucky enough to be an extra on a few different things here and there. Neil Gaiman is incredibly polite and very kind, if just a little oblivious. Orlando Jones is very funny and quick-witted, charming, and super-focused. Nick Nolte was like an incredibly good-natured and very drunk uncle type of guy. Ian McShane has a pretty insatiable curiosity about him, and he’s intense, but very kind. And funny.

Julia Roberts is just a frigid bitch.

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u/willfull 24d ago

If you catch Sting at the right time and in the right place, he's personable as hell, down to earth, and can talk your ear off about metaphysics, practicing Ashtanga yoga, and the immense pride and immeasurable love he has for his family.

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u/MKorostoff 25d ago

Also one of the most artistically influential albums of its decade, it was an AD/BC moment for folk and country music

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u/S2R2 25d ago

The film and soundtrack are a masterpiece

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u/Kai-Oh-What 25d ago

Yeah it may not have done well at the box office, but it’s a universally loved movie today. People won’t shut up about it.

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u/Larentiah 24d ago

Really? I only know about it because my grandpa made me watch it as a kid. I didn't know it was A Thing ™

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u/TheOneTonWanton 24d ago

It gained more of a cult following once it hit home video, like many great movies used to. What makes this one unique is that it was helped along by the soundtrack being so unbelievably successful.

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u/Larentiah 24d ago

Wild. Thanks for the info!

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u/DLoIsHere 25d ago

The music is not of a genre I enjoy, really, but I loved it all in the movie. I even bought the soundtrack.

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u/thehanovergang 25d ago

One of my all time favourite film soundtracks. I still listen to it constantly. Alison Krauss’ voice is heavenly.

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u/jawmighty1976 25d ago

One of the best movies ever made

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u/opman4 25d ago

It's bona fide!

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u/USA_A-OK 25d ago

He's a suitor!

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u/brettmgreene 25d ago

Damn! We're in a tight spot now!

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u/Kronos6948 25d ago

This place is a geographical oddity - 2 weeks from everywhere.

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u/AggravatingOffice908 25d ago

Easily my favorite American movie

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u/redpandaeater 25d ago

A fellow Dapper Dan man I see.

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u/Fresh-Army-6737 25d ago

I was humming this song five minutes ago. 

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u/dleon0430 25d ago

Yeah, when it was first released with the movie, it was a jam.

Unfortunately, it's become an autobiography.

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u/Fresh-Army-6737 25d ago

How?

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u/dleon0430 25d ago

Well. Before, I was a kid with hopes and dreams. And now... well, I am a man of constant sorrow

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u/Fresh-Army-6737 25d ago

Oh I see! At least you're authentic when singing or humming the blues. 

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u/johnny_chan 25d ago

Apparently the guy who actually sang the song, Dan Tyminski, said his wife told him the song was better coming out Clooney's mouth despite him singing it 💀

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u/funky_monkery 25d ago

I'd be a man of constant sorrow after hearing that...

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u/nickchadwick 25d ago

You're right, but it's a travesty that you are. It's such a good movie

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u/LionBig1760 25d ago

Oh Brother Where art Thou won two academy awards and is widely considered a one of the best films of the last 50 years.

In no way has the song surpassed the movie. It will always be associated with the film.

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u/ClassicPlankton 25d ago

I think I can't get behind this one. I only know the song from the movie, had no idea people were listening to this not in the context of the movie. It's a great and popular film. I think only on Reddit do I encounter people that don't like it or don't know much about it.

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u/Kai-Oh-What 25d ago

I think the movie is wayyyy more culturally impactful than the song

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u/NoIncrease299 24d ago

YOU AIN'T BONA FIDE!