50 Worst Movie Soundtracks

Men In Black 3 (2012)

The Soundtrack: Danny Elfman returns to score this third intergalactic outing for the boys in black, and he’s on OK form, basically repeating the franchise’s already-established refrains.

Worst Song: The entire thing’s dragged down by Pitbull’s ‘Back In Time’, though. A shouty cover of ‘Love Is Strange’ by Mickey & Sylvia that’s more than a little headache-inducing.

The Crying Game (1992)

The Soundtrack: Produced by The Pet Shop Boys, this one has good stuff going for it, not least classics like Lyle Lovett’s ‘Stand By Your Man’. Nod, wink.

Worst Song: It all comes a bit unstuck with Boy George’s ‘The Crying Game’, an odd hybrid of soaring synths, twitchy electronica and all-over-the-shop vocals. The video’s worse, George seemingly doing an impression of Liza Minnelli…

The Road To El Dorado (2000)

The Soundtrack: Part soundtrack, part studio album, as Elton John uses the release of El Dorado (the movie) to unleash a new album on the world. Eleven of the 14 tracks presented feature Elton’s caterwauling.

Worst Song: Title track 'El Dorado', a repetitive, techno ditty that’s instantly forgettable. Not a patch on the singer’s stellar work on The Lion King.

Spider-Man (2002)

The Soundtrack: Middle-of-the-road American soft-rock courtesy of Sum 41 (remember them?), Oleander, and a little bit of smoker’s rasp from Macy Gray.

Worst Song: Nickelback’s ‘Hero’ fails to capture the heady excitement of Spidey’s sudden mutant powers, instead opting for overtly dreamy fluff (“I am so high, I can hear heaven”) that feels completely out of place.

Titanic (1997)

The Soundtrack: Mostly just music composed by James Horner for his namesake’s romantic epic, though the clincher comes in the form of track 14.

Worst Song: What’s track 14? Like you even need to ask. Obviously it’s Celine Dion’s record-smashing ‘My Heart Will Go On’, which nobody wanted to hear after 1997, such was the extent of its over-playing.

Batman Forever (1995)

The Soundtrack: About as mainstream as it gets, with U2, Seal, P.J. Harvey and Massive Attack all contributing tracks. Shame the Spice Girls weren’t around until a year later.

Worst Song: Seal’s ‘Kiss From A Rose’, an odd choice for the film.

Rocky IV (1985)

The Soundtrack: Features the awesome likes of ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ as well as the less awesome ‘The Chipmunk Song'.

Worst Song: Trust John Cafferty to bring an entire album down, here with ‘Hearts On Fire’, which doesn’t work out of the context of the film. Cafferty’s raspy vocals paired with heavy-handed guitar string pluckage do not an inspiring combination make.

The Addams Family (1991)

The Soundtrack: Has a whole lot of M.C. Hammer going on, as well as pinched classics like ‘Getting To Know You’ and the original ‘Addams Family Theme’.

Worst Song: M.C. Hammer’s ill-advised ‘Addams Groove’, which gives us two whole minutes of unbearable rapping before Hammer decides to just repeat the chorus over and over and over. Wednesday would have his guts for garters.

Ghostbusters 2 (1989)

The Soundtrack: Ray Parker Jr.’s ‘Ghostbusters’ is present and correct, as expected, while Bobby Brown and Jackie Wilson provide some smashing soul vocals.

Worst Song: The entire thing falls apart with Run-D.M.C.’s painful ‘Ghostbusters Rap’, which sounds like a rehash of their own ‘It’s Tricky’, only with added ghost lyrics. “Chill down your spine / Your heart fills with fright / Not filled by the things / That go bump in the night.”

A Knights Tale (2001)

The Soundtrack: Mostly rocking thanks to Queen’s ‘We Will Rock You’ and Thin Lizzy’s ‘The Boys Are Back In Town’.

Worst Song: There’s no excusing Robbie Williams’ Queen dirge, though, as the former Take Thatter covers ‘We Are The Champions’ and ruins the entire soundtrack.

Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.  

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