How Hollywood Lost Out On These Hit Songs

Hollywood loves its music. To be fair, the industry also holds the ability to be the necessary boost in popularity for musicians, as evidenced by the many banger songs made famous by TV series. An appearance on a show or movie soundtrack could be all that's necessary to revive an old hit or turn everyone on to the latest big thing. However, even though there's money attached to this opportunity — certainly more than the sometimes pitiful payouts of Spotify and other streaming services — not every musician jumps at the offer. Guns N' Roses and Grace Jones refused to allow their music to appear in the 2026 "Melania" documentary, for example, demonstrating how artists remain cognizant of what they attach themselves to.

There are various examples of musicians who said no to Hollywood's use of their famous songs. Sometimes, they reveal the specific reasons for declining; other times, they don't — and it's likely more to do with there not being enough zeros at the end of the check. So, let's take a walk down memory lane to see some of the most notable instances in which artists said ixnay to being on a major soundtrack.

Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky" franchise might have been the ultimate underdog story, but it turned into a box office sensation. By the time "Rocky III" rolled out in 1982, everybody wanted to be a part of the franchise — especially since the film featured Sly's Rocky Balboa slugging it out with Mr. T's Clubber Lang. Well, everybody except Queen.

As Stallone worked on a cut of the film, he included Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" — off the 1980 album "The Game" –  in the famous montage scene. It makes sense why the "Italian Stallion" chose this track, having become an iconic song with lyrics that fit the theme of boxing all too well. However, it wasn't "Another One Bites the Dust" that ended up in the final cut of "Rocky III"; instead, it was Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger."

Speaking to Guitar World, Survivor guitarist Jim Peterik explained how Stallone reached out to the band about recording an original song for the montage scene. "The temp music they used to accompany the montage was 'Another One Bites the Dust' by Queen," he said. "I remember asking Stallone why he just didn't use that song for the movie and he said it was because they couldn't get the publishing rights for it. At that point I just said, 'Thank you, Queen!'" All's well that ends well, since Survivor delivered a generation-defining '80s rock song that we'll be blasting on repeat.

Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" remains one of the greatest gangster movies of all time. The last scene ends with a bang — in both senses of the word — as "My Way" plays over the credits. However, this isn't ol' blue eyes, Frank Sinatra, singing the song; it's the version featuring Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols fame.

It's a baffling filmmaking decision, since Sinatra is synonymous with the song, and his iteration would have fit "Goodfellas" like a glove. As it turns out, Sinatra said no to Scorsese using his song. The film's editor Thelma Schoonmaker told Empire (via Express) the reason for this. "Sinatra would never let Marty use his music, which is too bad because Marty may do the ultimate biopic of him," she said. "Why didn't he let us? Because he didn't want to be associated with the Mafia. Which, of course, he was!"

Sinatra was one of a few old Hollywood celebs with mob ties, and was even under investigation by the FBI. Sinatra denied these claims, but he probably didn't want to attract further heat by having his song appear in a gangster movie like "Goodfellas."

While 1990's "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" isn't as fondly remembered as the original movie, it offers up more chaos and cute Gizmo scenes. One of the best moments in the film arrives when Gizmo dances to Fats Domino's "I'm Ready." If anything, it proves that the Mogwai have happy feet. The song works for the scene, but director Joe Dante had another tune in mind: "Dancing with Myself," which Billy Idol originally recorded with his band Gen X before releasing it as a solo artist in the '80s. "We couldn't get the rights to the song he was dancing to, Billy Idol's 'Dancing with Myself,' so we ended up finding this Fats Domino song at the last minute that happened to have exactly the same beat," Dante told Entertainment Weekly.

It's a fortunate twist of fate that "I'm Ready" had the same beat as "Dancing with Myself," because Dante bemoaned how the scene was "the most difficult stunt of all" and "the last shot of the movie," so imagine how much of a drag it would have been to go back and refilm everything because of one song.

Cameron Crowe's "Almost Famous" serves as a love letter to music, especially music journalism. It also won a Grammy for its sensational rock 'n' roll soundtrack, which features everyone from David Bowie to Led Zeppelin. And even though Zeppelin was already included, Crowe wanted to use the band's arguably most famous song, "Stairway to Heaven," which he managed to sneak into the release of his director's cut but not the theatrical version. However, Led Zeppelin had politely declined the request when the topic was broached about the track. 

"'Stairway to Heaven' was off the table because the band just didn't want to touch it," Crowe told Vanity Fair. "That song, they felt, had ascended to some other place ... it lived in its own world. But Jimmy Page did say to us, 'Use one more song of ours ... and we'll give it to you for free.'" All in all, that doesn't sound like a bad deal. Also, Crowe can't complain too much, especially considering the caliber of musicians who allowed their music to be used for the "Almost Famous" soundtrack.

The TV series "Glee" features various renditions of popular songs, as the glee club of William McKinley High School puts its own spin on legendary tracks across six seasons. Some of the notable songs covered on the show include Heart's "Alone" and Queen's "Somebody to Love." Despite the show's success at helping to drive a younger generation of fans to discover older songs, there were artists who had absolutely no interest in having their music on the show. Famously, Kings of Leon rejected "Glee," leading to a public spat with the show's co-creator Ryan Murphy that spilled out into an all-out mudslinging match, dragging the Foo Fighters and Guns N' Roses' Slash into the mix as well. Gorillaz decided to get ahead of everyone else by taking itself out of any potential running. 

Speaking to the Associated Press (via Billboard), Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn expressed no interest in hearing his band's music on the show. "We wouldn't let that happen," he said. "And not that they've asked us because they haven't, and now they definitely won't." The question is, would Ryan Murphy have wanted a Gorillaz tune like "Clint Eastwood" for "Glee" in the first place? That will never be known.