The Greatest Music Performances in Movies

Ten times a character picked up an instrument and the plot just waited.

Entries
10
Category
Film
Updated
  1. An upright bar piano with two beers and a pair of aviator sunglasses on top, framed photos of fighter jets on the wall.

    10. Top Gun: Great Balls of Fire

    Tony Scott · 1986

    Goose pounds out Great Balls of Fire on a bar piano with Maverick, his wife and his kid singing along, which is the movie making sure you are attached to Goose. Shot at a San Diego barbecue joint whose piano survived a 2008 fire. You were attached.

  2. A fraternity house living room after a party, white bedsheets draped over furniture and a lone bandstand microphone.

    09. Animal House: Shout

    John Landis · 1978

    Otis Day and the Knights play the toga party and the Deltas end up on the floor for Shout. DeWayne Jessie, who played Otis, later bought the name and toured as the real Otis Day and the Knights. A $3 million movie that grossed $141 million. Toga sales unrecorded.

  3. A drum kit on a concert stage under a single hot spotlight, a cymbal still trembling and drops of sweat and blood on the snare.

    08. Whiplash: Caravan

    Damien Chazelle · 2014

    Sabotaged on stage at a jazz festival, Andrew walks back to the kit, cues the band into Caravan himself and plays until his teacher has to concede. Shot in 19 days for $3.3 million, it won three Oscars. A rare performance where the drummer was the calm one.

  4. A parade float covered in German flags and flowers on a Chicago street, a microphone lying on its edge, confetti in the air.

    07. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Twist and Shout

    John Hughes · 1986

    Ferris hijacks a float in Chicago's real Von Steuben Day Parade, lip-syncs Danke Schoen, then the Beatles' Twist and Shout. Hughes had them drop the choreography, and a radio call for extras brought out about 10,000 people. Meanwhile, the parking attendants have the Ferrari.

  5. A tiny stone monument prop, about knee high, on a vast smoke-filled arena stage with towering amplifiers.

    06. This Is Spinal Tap: Stonehenge

    Rob Reiner · 1984

    Nigel's sketch said 18 inches when he meant 18 feet, so the band performs its Druid epic beneath a trilithon you could trip over. The manager takes the blame and quits. Every band that has ever ordered a stage prop has checked the units since.

  6. A sparkling drum kit on a small-town talent show stage with a cardboard first-prize sign and a single spotlight.

    05. That Thing You Do!: The Talent Show

    Tom Hanks · 1996

    The drummer speeds up a wistful ballad on the spot, and the Wonders become a band. Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne wrote it, it reached No. 41 for real and got an Oscar nod. A movie about a one-hit wonder made by a two-time Oscar winner.

  7. Two pairs of black sunglasses and two black fedoras on the stage of a smoky country bar, empty beer bottles at the foot of the stage.

    04. The Blues Brothers: Rawhide

    John Landis · 1980

    Booked into a Kokomo honky-tonk under another band's name, Jake and Elwood win over a hostile country crowd with the Rawhide theme, then run up a bar tab bigger than their fee. The Good Ole Boys, the band they impersonated, chase them for the rest of the movie.

  8. A crowded nightclub bandstand with a piano, sheet music and a small French tricolor flag in a glass, cigarette smoke curling under ceiling fans.

    03. Casablanca: La Marseillaise

    Michael Curtiz · 1942

    German officers start singing at Rick's, Victor Laszlo orders the band to play La Marseillaise, Rick nods, and the room drowns them out. Many of the extras were real refugees from the Nazis, and people on set were crying. The greatest single nod in movie history.

  9. A red electric guitar leaning against an amp on a 1950s school-gym stage decorated with paper fish and a sea-themed backdrop.

    02. Back to the Future: Johnny B. Goode

    Robert Zemeckis · 1985

    Marty sits in at his parents' school dance, works in a Townshend windmill, a Hendrix behind-the-back and a Chuck Berry duckwalk, then over-shreds into stunned silence. Meanwhile, Marvin Berry phones his cousin Chuck to hear the new sound. Time travel is a closed loop.

  10. A drum kit and a microphone stand on a sunlit outdoor stage overlooking a harbor, wine glasses and a helicopter on the lawn below.

    01. Step Brothers: The Catalina Wine Mixer

    Adam McKay · 2008

    The Billy Joel cover band walks off, so Brennan takes the mic for Por Ti Volaré while Dale plays drums, and a family reconciles mid-song. A real Catalina Wine Mixer started in 2015 because of this. Marion Cotillard has said the finale always made her cry. Correct response.

Honorable mentions

  • A banjo and an acoustic guitar leaning against the porch railing of an old rural gas station, rusted pump and dense green woods behind.

    Deliverance: Dueling Banjos

    John Boorman · 1972

    A guitar and a banjo trade licks on a gas station porch. The actor with the banjo could not play, so a local musician hid behind him with an arm in his sleeve. The recording hit No. 2 and its real composer sued and won credit. Best duet in film, partly performed by a hidden man.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A white Greek island terrace at sunset with a single microphone on a stand, a tuxedo bow tie draped over it.

    Mamma Mia!: SOS

    Phyllida Lloyd · 2008

    Pierce Brosnan sings SOS with total commitment and won the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actor. Critics compared him to a water buffalo and a wounded raccoon. The film grossed $708 million and he came back for the sequel, which is bravery of a kind 007 never needed.

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