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30 Seconds to Mars, Arcade Fire, Bolt, Cars, Goo Goo Dolls, How to Train Your Dragon, John Travolta, Jónsi, Ken Andrews, Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga'hoole, Meet the Robinsons, Miley Cyrus, Peter Gabriel, Rascal Flatts, Rob Thomas, rufus wainwright, Surf's Up, Treasure Planet, Wall-E, Where the Wild Things Are
Animated Movie Playlist
I should think of a better title.
If you’re a movie-lover like me, I’m pretty sure that we all have times when we feel like listening to movie soundtracks. Animated movie soundtracks in particular. I’m sure you also have times when you would load the whole Disney soundtrack discography into your player and sing along with the character songs and relive the movie through the music.
I think I’m having one such moment right now. Sort of.
While listening to my music the other day, I realized how a couple of my favorite tracks of the moment were written for or used for animated movies. My most played song of the moment, for example—by “most played song”, I mean the “song I listen to several times a day, for hours at a time”—it’s from a 3D animated movie I watched recently—and by “watched”, I actually mean, “watched three times and keep replaying it in my head”.
So. At times like this, it’s only right that I make a playlist of these songs swimming in my head. I made a pretty long one, but here are 10 of my favorites at the moment.
Note: This is by no means a “music from the best animated movies” list. This isn’t even a “best music from animated movies”. This is just a list of great songs from animated movies, all of which somehow fitting in the indie rock, alternative (and some bordering on country) genre. None of the musical numbers by the characters, too, for now.
Sticks and Stones by Jónsi
from How to Train Your Dragon
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I shall begin this playlist with a song from the movie that swooped into my Favorite Movies of All Time list. I loved it so much that even while Sticks and Stones was playing as the movie credits rolled, I was still smiling a goofy grin. And now, every time I hear this track, I can’t help but sigh. Not surprising, since Sigur Rós, Jónsi’s band, does that to me, too.
(And, yes, this is the song I was talking about in this post’s introduction.)
Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars
from Legend of the Guardians: Owls of Ga’hoole
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Yes, yes, I know that this movie isn’t even out yet. But, come on, the trailer looked AWESOME! And, this track? EPIC.
Little Wonders by Rob Thomas
from Meet the Robinsons
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To be honest, my favorite songs in the Meet the Robinsons soundtrack are the ones by Rufus Wainwright. But for this playlist, I think Little Wonders will do nicely. I don’t think I’m the only one with a smile and a satisfied sigh during the montage at the end of this movie. Such a heart-warming one!
(Let it be known, though, that there is a scarce supply of Frannylius fics. There’s a whole world of possibilities for that!)
Just Say Yes by Ken Andrews
from Surf’s Up
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I had to put something from Surf’s Up in this playlist. I absolutely love how the songs were selected for this movie, it seemed unjust not to get at least one song from it. And since almost all the other songs were reggae and wouldn’t exactly fit in this playlist, here we have Just Say Yes to tone things down some.
Down to Earth by Peter Gabriel
from Wall-E
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Peter Gabriel always did make heart-tugging music. Add the illustrated credits at the end of Wall-E? This track is GOLD.
And let me just say this: Wall-E is amazing for affecting us so much even though half of the movie is just whirrs and clunks and robot sounds. (And “Wall-E”s and “Evaaa~”s.)
I Thought I Lost You by Miley Cyrus and John Travolta
from Bolt
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I might not be a Miley fan, but this movie gave me warm-fuzzy feelings. Especially since Bolt is an awesome dog, and he has an awesome voice actor (Yey John Travolta!), and I really do love dogs.
I loved Mittens, too, by the way… Just in case cat people are wondering. Haha!
The Motion Waltz (Emotional Commontion) by Rufus Wainwright
Meet the Robinsons
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Okay, okay, so I said that I chose Little Wonders to represent Meet the Robinsons. But this track is just too beautiful to pass up. Sorry. Haha!
I also absolutely LOVE Another Believer by Rufus Wainwright. Also from Meet the Robinsons. And the only reason it isn’t included in this playlist is I didn’t want three full tracks in a ten-track playlist to be from one movie.
Life is a Highway by Rascal Flatts
from Cars
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I can say with conviction that this song only needs to play its first three seconds to make me smile. And if you’re not nodding your head to the beat by the time you get to the chorus, I’d be very puzzled.
And, hey, who doesn’t love Lightning McQueen?
I’m Still Here by The Goo Goo Dolls
from Treasure Planet
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Confession: this version of Treasure Planet entertained me, but it didn’t rank high in my list of loved movies. It was okay. But this song? I LOVE IT. SO. MUCH. ArrrrrrghCan The Goo Goo Dolls ever go wrong?
This was originally a 3D Animated Movie playlist, but, like I said, I love, love, love this song.
Wake Up by Arcade Fire
from Where the Wild Things Are
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Since we started with epic music used in movies based on children’s books, it’s only fitting to end this playlist with another epic track. Okay, so Where the Wild Things Are isn’t an animated movie, and this isn’t even part of the soundtrack, but it was used in the trailer. Ahahaha any excuse to include Arcade Fire in this playlist. Yey!
On a side note, though: the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack was written by Karen O, the vocalist of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Which makes it awesome.
