Movie Hits Essentials

In film, music often plays a key role: A song can intensify the drama, shape the mood and sometimes express more than any character or dialogue. Throughout the history of the silver screen, certain tracks have come to define iconic scenes and unforgettable dance sequences, while others have served as evocative bookends to a movie, either as an Oscar-winning theme song or an end-credits anthem turned worldwide hit song. The Academy Award for Best Original Song category was introduced back in 1934, but by the ‘80s, the job of music supervisor became its own thriving industry. Soundtracks became just as big (if not bigger) than the films themselves and musicians began blurring the line between artist and actor, with films starring Prince, Whitney Houston and Lady Gaga inextricably linked to the classic songs the artists produced.