Five Needle Drops That Need to Go

If there’s one thing Hollywood loves more than a sexually suggestive popcorn bucket, it’s a lazy creative choice. That’s not just true in movies. It’s true of the music that goes into them, too. 

We can do better than “Kung-Fu Fighting” in another dojo scene. And in that spirit, we’ve listed five of the most overplayed, most groan-inducing needle drops to put out to soundtrack pasture. 

“Fortunate Son” by Creedence Clearwater Revival 

1994’s Forrest Gump isn’t just responsible for a chain of shrimp-based restaurants. It’s also to blame for CCR’s “Fortunate Son.” Ever since Hanks appeared in that chopper, the song has been synonymous with the Vietnam War movie. With more than 50 uses in film and television, it’s overused to the point of parody. 

“Fortunate Son” gets wildly misused, too. Unlike Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth,” another candidate for most annoying ‘Nam song, “Fortunate Son” is cursed with an anthemic sort of catchiness. It’s that quality that sees it deployed with a wink and a smirk in movies like Suicide Squad and Die Hard 4. And in 2026, no one’s laughing about the get-out-of-war-free privileges of the wealthy. 

“No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn” by The Beastie Boys

Once upon a time, long before James Murphy gave “Oh Baby” to a Space X ad, the idea of “selling out” was anathema to artists. The late Adam Yauch (MCA) was a product of this era. Famously, his will prohibited The Beastie Boys’ music from ever being used in advertising. In the years since his death, the surviving Beasties have honored his request, even taking brands like Chili’s and Monster Energy to court. It’s an irony, then, that their music has been licensed for some of the most commercial films of all time.

“No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn” has become Hollywood’s go-to, family-friendly action sequence needle drop. If you’re a parent, you’ve been subjected to it in everything from The Secret Life of Pets to The Super Mario Bros. Movie to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Once is a chuckle. But when a song starts to feel like the inevitable soundtrack to cartoon dogs in peril? It’s a bummer. You have to wonder if MCA would fight for his right to wrestle it away from the studios. 

“Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum

Before AI, there was “Spirit in the Sky,” a song with lyrics written in 15 minutes and references to Jesus tossed in to make it more marketable. It’s fitting that it’s been a commercial hit for decades and catnip to music supervisors for almost as long (116 credits in film and TV don’t lie). But for something that’s ostensibly about the soul, it’s strangely soulless. That hollowness makes it useful for subversion, and understandable when it appears in a show like Righteous Gemstones. But at this point, it’s safe to say that “Spirit in the Sky” carries all the emotional resonance of shopping for Swiffer attachments. 

“Dirty Work” by Steely Dan

Not all needle drops need to be retired because they’re bad. Some need to be retired because they’re simply too good. 

That’s the case with “Dirty Work.” In One Battle After Another, it’s more than a needle drop. It’s a load-bearing needle drop. Placed smack in the center of the film, it manages to shift time forward, introduce an entire character, and grapple with the biggest emotional questions of the story. It’s the kind of inspired moment that only PTA could craft. And without a doubt, music supervisors will be tempted to replicate that success. For us, though, this is the last and final word on soundtracking with The Dan. Hang it from the rafters. 

“Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen 

We’re not against “Hallelujah” because of Shrek. We’re not even mad at it being overplayed in everything from children’s media to documentaries to the wine bar down the street. It’s on this list for one reason and one reason only: The Watchmen. The “Hallelujah”-tracked sex scene in this film is, to put it nicely, a crime against good taste. And on those grounds, it doesn’t just deserve to be vaulted — it deserves its own class action lawsuit.

Check out our latest episode with composer Tom Schraeder here. He scored the recent Paramount Plus film, Vicious. He worked with Clive Deamer (Portishead, Radiohead), and Stan Harrison (Springsteen, Bowie, Radiohead) on the project. Schraeder worked with Nels Cline (Wilco, The Geraldine Fibbers) and Mars Williams (The Psychadelic Furs) on his last score, The Dark and the Wicked.