5 Times Rock Songs Made Movie Scenes Drop-Dead Electrifying

Cinema is not just a visual medium. Some of its most powerful moments come through the strategic use of music, and rather than an original score, directors often reach toward rock classics to set the perfect tone during pivotal scenes. And just as we've come to associate certain songs with special moments in our own lives, many timeless rock tracks have come to forever be associated with famous scenes in classic movies.

When thoughtfully chosen, rock tracks can have an electrifying effect on a movie. There are countless examples throughout the history of cinema, and chances are you have your own favorite movie scenes that you associate particularly with the music used in them. But let us jog your memory. Here are five times that rock tracks made movie scenes truly iconic. In each instance, the director in question has made an inspired selection, to the point where it is now impossible to imagine the scene in question with any other soundtrack in mind.

Queen's 1975 epic "Bohemian Rhapsody" is considered one of the greatest songs of all time, combining Freddie Mercury's dual love of rock music and opera. But while the track has always been popular, it was further buoyed in the minds of many younger rock fans thanks to an unforgettable scene in the classic Mike Myers' comedy "Wayne's World."

The 1992 movie tells the story of rock fans Wayne Campbell (Myers) and Garth Algar (played by Dana Carvey), who run a goofy public access show from the former's basement. In one scene, the pair are driving a car full of their friends to a rock show, and they decide to listen to a cassette tape of "Bohemian Rhapsody" on the way.

The most famous scene in the movie sees Campbell and friends joyously singing along to the song's bombastic, operatic passages before indulging in some full-blown head-banging, with the interior of the car suddenly alive with flying hair. When people go crazy for "Bohemian Rhapsody," they are often, consciously or not, referencing this scene, and channeling the sense of camaraderie it represents.

Quentin Tarantino is famous for his love of music and effective use of popular songs throughout his filmography. But while there are multiple scenes in "Pulp Fiction," "Jackie Brown," and "Inglourious Basterds" that could easily make this list, we are going back to Tarantino's debut film "Reservoir Dogs" for one especially classic moment.

The 1993 movie tells the tale of a group of professional criminals brought together to undertake a heist, which duly goes wrong, resulting in a paranoid, bloodied arrival at their safe house amid accusations that one of the group is a police informant. In one famous scene, Michael Madsen's Mr. Blonde finds himself alone with a bound and gagged cop who had been kidnapped during the robbery.

It then becomes clear to the audience that Blonde is a sadistic psychopath — without going into graphic detail, he begins to torture the abductee, but before he does so he turns on the radio and begins dancing to Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle With You." The upbeat song contrasts disturbingly with the violence that follows, while the lyrics subtly mirror the helpless state of Blonde's victim.

A Jimi Hendrix song will always elevate a movie soundtrack, with the legendary guitarist's atmospheric style providing effortlessly cool vibes as well as a vivid link to the counterculture of the 1960s. It is no surprise, then, that writer-director Bruce Robinson turned to The Jimi Hendrix Experience for his cult classic comedy "Withnail and I." It's the story of two out-of-work, alcohol and drug-fueled actors navigating their shared paranoia in 1969, who decide to escape London and head to the Lake District in the north of England to "rejuvenate."

The movie contains two driving scenes, there and back, both featuring Hendrix tracks. On the way to the Lake District, with Paul McGann's "I" driving, we hear Hendrix's famous cover version of Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower," with the opening line "There must be some way to get out of here" suggesting the characters' intention to escape their lives in the big city. On the return journey, "I" decides he needs to pull over and get some sleep. He awakens to the car moving, with a drunken Withnail driving them erratically down the highway toward London. "I'm making time," he says. 

As the situation becomes clear, Hendrix's "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" kicks in, the opening muted lick replaced by the huge swooping riff as Withnail swerves through traffic. It is one of the movie's most unhinged moments, and the soundtrack suits Withnail's subversive, dangerous behavior perfectly, elevating the sense of chaos.

Auteur director Martin Scorsese has long been famed for his incredibly effective use of popular music, going all the way back to the unforgettable use of The Ronettes' soul classic "Be My Baby" to open his breakout 1973 movie "Mean Streets." But Scorsese also has a penchant for rock music, as one memorable scene in his 1990 gangster film "Goodfellas" demonstrates.

The scene in question features Cream's 1967 track "Sunshine of Your Love," a psychedelic classic that drips with decadence, and sees Robert De Niro's character James Conway smoking a cigarette at a bar while observing a fellow heist gang member Morrie Kessler as he walks by singing to himself. On paper, it doesn't sound especially riveting, but in Scorsese's hands, combined with De Niro's expressiveness, the impact of the song is chilling.

As academics Arnold S. Wolfe, Chuck Miller, and Heather O'Donnell write in their 1999 Popular Music article "On the Enduring Popularity of Cream's 'Sunshine of Your Love': Sonic Synecdoche of the 'Psychedelic 60s'": "Scorsese has [D]e Niro do nothing but smoke a 'square' and look — icily — off screen while the riff sounds its ten-note pattern. And you know what the combination of De Niro's look, those sounds and that smoke mean: somebody is going to get 'whacked'" (via JSTOR). 

Elton John's classic "Tiny Dancer" wasn't the major hit we might think it was when it was first released as a single in 1972. But over the years, the charming love song has grown into one of John's best-loved tracks, thanks in large part to its use in a memorable scene in Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical rock movie "Almost Famous."

The 2000 film tells the story of William Miller, a teenage rock fan and budding music journalist who finds himself traveling the country with the rock band, Stillwater. As well as witnessing the rock and roll dream firsthand, Miller sees internal strife within the band members as egos clash and the pressures of touring set in, leading to guitarist Russell Hammond walking out on the band.

Hammond eventually returns shamefaced after a hedonistic night of partying, and the tour bus is tense and silent. But as the opening to "Tiny Dancer" begins on the radio, the band and its followers begin to sing along in unison, reminding them that after everything it is their love of rock music that matters. It's a scene that still sends a shiver down the spine of any rock fan, and it helped transform the song's status from flop to a 1970s tune the younger generation could appreciate.