Anna Daniels
Groovy tunes and the galaxy-guarding heroes of the MCU go together like peanut butter and jelly. The first Guardians film featured a rockin’ soundtrack — Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling,” Redbone’s “Come and Get Your Love,” and Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit in the Sky” are just a few standouts — and the sequel movie did as well. Gunn tweeted during the Guardians Vol. 2 watch party on Thursday, April 23 that “all songs are chosen by me and written into the script” — meaning every single track fans hear throughout the movies are hand-picked James Gunn selections.
That approach also applies to tunes that don’t make it into the movies. After a fan asked whether “Fox on the Run” by Sweet, heard in the first trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 but not in the actual film, was “ever meant to be in the movie,” Gunn confirmed that he “chose it solely for the trailer.”
Two songs heard in Guardians Vol. 2 that hold especially significant meaning are “Lake Shore Drive” by Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah and “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” by Looking Glass — the first because it means a lot to Gunn himself and the second because it mirrors the emotion of part of the film.
“Lakeshore Drive was a huge song in St Louis and Chicago when I was a kid but not well known outside that small section of the mid west. So happy I could turn the rest of the world onto it,” Gunn tweeted. He later shared, “I love Brandy but I’ve always found it such a dark, sad song. I wanted to have Ego manipulate Quill’s ego through his love for pop culture.”
In case anyone somehow missed it the first time around, the “Guardians Inferno” song that plays during the movie’s credits was indeed written by Gunn (alongside Tyler Bates), and performed by David Hasselhoff. Gunn confirmed that he “sang backup” on the track.
Written by: Looper
