One thing that I have always found interesting about movie trailers is the choice of song that goes with them. Most of the time a trailer will include some old hit song that uniquely relates to the movie’s plot, or just a current catchy tune to throw in the background.

There is an art to matching the perfect song to a movie trailer, and it is a rare case when a movie actually nails the perfect song. But when it happens, it will send chills up your spine and give you goosebumps.

Here is a list of top 10 songs that made its movie trailer awesome. Some from 2008, and others from the early 2000’s.
(You might ask why are all the great trailers from back in the 1990’s not on the list. Two words, Don Lafontaine. Narrative destroys songs in movie trailers.)

Honorable Mention: The Beach
Song: Moby’s Porcelain

The beach almost makes it onto the list, but unfortunately it loses out to the bad editing job. Moby’s Porcelain was a perfect match for the movie trailer, but they didn’t show enough of the beach to go along with the music. I blame bad 90’s editing. Too much narrative.

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10. Max Payne
Song: Marilyn Manson’s “If I Was Your Vampire”

Ok, so the movie wasn’t that great, but the trailer captures the movie’s tone perfectly! The first sounds from the guitar lets you know Max Payne is on a dark path.

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9. American Gangster
Song: Jay-Z’s “Heart of the City”

Unique story here. Jay-Z was actually considered to write song tracks for the movie, but director Ridley Scott declined and decided to include songs from the movie’s time period. Yet they used Jay-Z’s song “Heart of the City” for the trailer.

“Heart of the City” was a great match for American Gangster. Defining Frank Lucas with the powerful opening of the song and giving a soul to the trailer. It fits well with the movie’s setting and time period.

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8. The Spirit
Song: The Untouchables (movie) Theme Song

Although this is really just a teaser, it’s 1000 times better than the rest of the trailers for The Spirit. The music is borrowed from the The Untouchables. The 1950’s sounding theme works surprisingly well as The Spirit jumps from rooftop to rooftop, giving a sense of mystery and adventure that peaks the movie watcher’s interest.

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7. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003
Song: Mortal Coil’s “Song to the Siren”

When it comes to horror movies, music trailers are usually high-pitched eardrum-breaking sounds and lots of screaming. No need to get creative.

The 2003 remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre broke ground (trailer wise) by adding a chilling clip of Mortal Coil’s “Song to the Siren”. The song gives a hopeless tone and plays off the movie clips like a tragic memory. Looking into the lives of a bunch of teens who will soon meet their end. Classic.

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6. Pineapple Express
Song: M.I.A’s “Paper Planes”

If it wasn’t for the Pineapple Express trailer, you might not be hearing M.I.A’s heating up the charts with “Paper Planes.” Halfway through the trailer “Paper Planes” starts up with its gangster beats and that’s when you know you’re in for a ridiculous adventure. BEST COMEDY TRAILER EVER!

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5. Watchmen
Song: The Smashing Pumpkins’s “The Beginning Is the End Is the Beginning” (alternate version of “The End Is the Beginning Is the End”)

The music starts at the very beginning of the trailer,  and you know immediately something bad is about to happen. The song has a very dark and depressing tone that works so well with the trailer, it’s almost like the two were made for each other. The end shot where the camera zooms out on the giant glass fortress and the music starts really high then dies down is perfect.

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4. 300
Song: Nine Inch Nails’s “Just Like You Imagined”

The trailer starts out with music from the official movie soundtrack, but about 1 min and 20 seconds in NIN starts up with “Just Like You Imagined” just as King Leonidas falcon kicks the messenger into the pit.

The song feels like a musical interpretation of  the Spartan’s unbreakable will to fight to the end. The fact that the song is all techno-y like and yet it still rocks with the trailer makes it all the more awesome.

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3. Sin City
Song: The Servant’s “Cells”

It actually took me a bit of google searching to find who did the song that was played in the trailer for Sin City.  The music starts working right when Jessica Alba starts to do her little show. If you were a guy in the movie theater seeing this trailer for the first time, most likely at that point you started drooling. It’s ok, just blame it on the music being perfectly synced with the swaying hips of Jessica Alba.  Just tell your girl the trailer hit your sexual reflex arc, and hope she doesn’t get mad.

Then at exactly 1 min in, the awesome guitar repeat starts as a car flips over into the frozen lake. Once again, the sound is perfectly synced with the video. I could watch this trailer over and over again.

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2. The Dark Knight
Song: Hans Zimmer’s “Molossus”

Music choice in a trailer can help sell the movie to the audience, and never in all of my life has music in a movie trailer sold me more than TDK. Parts of “Molossus” by Hans Zimmer are mixed into this trailer and make for an epic invitation to a choatic world where 2 forces collide in the battle for good and evil. I can almost see the Joker conducting this song in front of an orchestra . Jerkingly moving his conducting stick, eyes closed, while facing the sky with a brilliant smile.

The ending of the trailer where the Dark Knight logo fades in gave me goosebumps!

The song in the trailer for TDK was also used in Batman Begins as well.

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1. Harry Potter
Song: Harry Potter OST’s “Prologue”

You: “What?! HARRY POTTER?! WTF?!”
Me: “I know, I know…but just listen mmmmmm k?”

Back in early 2001, a trailer came out for Harry Potter. Now, I had no clue what / who Harry Potter was, but from the minute I heard the music in the trailer I knew the movie was going to be a “magical adventure” that would reflect on later in life as an instant classic from my youthful years.

The music WAS created just for the movie, so if anything, it is THE perfect song for the movie trailer. I could not think of a more perfect song to go along with the movie trailer. Without it, the trailer would have been nothing. The soul of Hogwarts lies within that song. Absolutely perfect.

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Did you like this list? Then check out our official Imeem playlist from this article.