Weekend Listomania: Special "The Sound of Mucous" Audio/Visual Edition

[I initially wrote/posted the following in 2012(!), back when I was not yet eligible for Medicare. Obviously, nobody currently reading this reissue will have any memory of the original version, but because of the stuff we did earlier this week about that obscure punk song in that forthcoming teen comedy, it seemed newly relevant. Consequently, and because I love you all more than food, I have done some re-writing and added two new entries. Please enjoy if possible. -- S.S.]

Okay, kids, it's Friday, and you know what that means. But before we get to business, indulge me one more cheap joke at the expense of a certain contemporary pop icon's new media event doubling as an album.

Hey, I gotta give it to Beyoncé!

It took 15(!) people to compose her new country hit.

That makes it the first masterpiece written by committee since the King James Bible!!!

Thank you, I'm here all week. Please tip your binary wait-staff and try the vegan.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's move on to today's thematic puzzler. Specifically --

Best or Worst Use of a Pop/Rock/Soul/Country Song in Either a Credit Sequence or otherwise Non-Musical Scene in a Film/TV Drama or Comedy!!!

No arbitrary rules, except -- of course -- no concert films, documentaries, or features starring The Beatles need apply.

And my totally top of my head Top Seven is...

7. The Lovin' Spoonful -- "Pow" (as heard in What's Up, Tiger Lily)

The song itself was a b-side, if memory serves, and it's deliberately silly, but it catches the '60s-absurdist feel of Woody Allen's debut cinematic jape pretty much perfectly.

6. Karen O with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross -- "The Immigrant Song" (as heard in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)

I didn't care for the opening credits visual montage that it accompanies, but Mr. Nine Inch Nails' remake of the Led Zep song, which sets up the tone of the subsequent film perfectly, is just one of many reasons that David Fincher's Hollywood adaptation of TGWTDT is light years better than the Swedish, hippo-root sucking, original.

5. Van Morrison -- "Into the Mystic" (as heard in Panic in Needle Park)

I dunno if Van was thinking heroin when he wrote it, but the scene with Al Pacino and Kitty Winn (whatever the hell happened to her, BTW?) shooting up to to its slightly melancholy strains is one of the most indelible images in American films of the 70s. IMHO.

4. Herman's Hermits -- "I'm Into Something Good" (as heard in The Naked Gun)

Okay, it's a remake, but it is Peter Noone singing. I should add that the scene from the montage where Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley come out of a theater showing Platoon while laughing hysterically never fails to make me feel better about life.

3. Gary Glitter -- "Rock and Roll" (as heard in Moolight Mile)

I was gonna nominate the film's Rolling Stones title tune, which is beautifully used, but it dawned on me that the Glitter track, from earlier in the same scene, is actually surprisingly effective despite being about as massively over-familiar as anything can be. Fun fact: After Robert Plant saw the film, he called up Mick Jagger to tell him how much he had liked "Moonlight Mile" (the song) and asked him what album it was on and when it had originally been released. I am not making this up.

2. Alica Keys and Jack White -- "Another Way to Die" (as heard in Quantum of Solace)

I have no problem with either Keys or White, but I think we can all agree that this one is pretty unmemorable. Or maybe it just seems that way knowing that it was supposed to be sung by Amy Winehouse, who -- we can also all agree -- was genetically bred to sing a Bond movie theme song.

And the numero uno shtup between music and the visual arts on a medium currently available for streaming unquestionably is...

1. Marcus Mumford and Ted Howe -- "Believe" (as heard in Ted Lasso)

Okay, okay, it's not the most memorable musical credit sequence I've ever seen, but it works beautifully if you've watched the show, and I just love the song. (PS: It reminds me of some rock standard, but I can't put my finger on it. Anybody have an idea?)

Here's the complete version, to help you out.

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!