My Favorite (Non-Villain/Non-MLP:FIM) Musical Songs

Now for my favorite (non-villain/non-MLP:FIM) songs in movie and TV.  I decided to only include songs actually sung by characters in musical form (which, unfortunately disqualified most Team America songs) 

33. "I'm Super"

Big Gay Al (Trey Parker)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

The first of many songs from this movie on this list.

32. "The Wedding Song"
The Dead People
Corpse Bride
I mostly put this here because I think it's funny that the spiders have such lovely singing voices.

31. “It’s Easy, MMMKay”

Mr. Mackey (Trey Parker)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Honestly, SP: BLU is my favorite musical, hands down.  Well, there are Disney movies I like more, but this movie I like the best as a musical.  Seriously, it has the greatest number worthwhile songs that are not only funny, but actually sound good.

30. “Mountain Town”

Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman (Trey Parker)/Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick (Matt Stone)/Sharon Marsh, Sheila Broflovski (Mary Kay Bergman)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

A great intro to the movie, and bookends it with a great reprise.

29. “When I See an Elephant Fly”

Jim Crow (Cliff Edwards)

Dumbo

Although, I know this is often seen as a racist scene, I actually think these characters are pretty cool guys.  Besides, it was The Forties, and this was probably one of the better depictions of black people then.

28. “Bella Notte”

Tony (George Givot)

Lady and the Tramp

Actually, a really romantic song with a great Italian feel to it.  I'll just look for a link on YouTube, and...hey, what's this?  What, no....no.  Fuck you, Ryan Murphy!  FUCK.  YOU.

27. “Oh Sing, Sweet Nightingale”

Drizella (Verna Felton), Cinderella ( Ilene Woods)

Cinderella

A beautiful song that has nostalgic value for me.

26. “What is a Baby/Lu Lu Loo”

Lady (Barbara Luddy), Darling (Peggy Lee)

Lady and the Tramp

This almost isn’t a song, but I love how it conveys the mystery and confusion felt by Lady before it segways into the lullaby.

25. "One Jump Ahead"
Aladdin (Brad Kane)
Aladdin
A fun song with well-timed rhyming.


24. "Everyone Has AIDS"
Gary Johnston (Trey Parker)
Team America: World Police
I struggled a little over to include this on the list because he's singing in a situation that makes sense outside a musical setting, but I realized it's a gray area that some of the other songs on the list are in.  The movie has other great songs, too.

23. “Pink Elephants on Parade”

The Workmen

Dumbo

A memorable acid sequence with an ominous song.

22. North Korean Medley
North Koreans
Team America: World Police
The clearly fake gibberish is funny, and the song sounds pretty good, too.

21. "According to Plan"
The Van Dorts (Tracy Ullman, Paul Whitehouse), The Everglots (Albert Finney, Joanna Lumley)
Corpse Bride
A pretty good song.

20. “Worthless”

The Cars

The Brave Little Toaster

A good melody, and it gets on here due to its sheer morbidity.  The message is clear: no matter who you are, YOU WILL DIE, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it.

19. “Augustus Gloop”

The Oompa Loompas (Deep Roy)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The only Oompa Loompa song from the remake I remember being worthwhile.

18. "Uncle F---er"

Terrence Stoot (Matt Stone) and Phillip Argyle (Trey Parker)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Great self-parody of absurdly overdone cursing set to song.

17. “What Would Brian Boitano Do”

Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman (Trey Parker) and Kyle Broflovski (Matt Stone)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Hilariously absurd song in which the boys draw inspiration from a figure skater and his many feats.  The DVDA cover is fun, too.

16. “Part of Your World”

Ariel (Jodi Benson)

The Little Mermaid

The quintessential “I want” song, but it’s beautiful and so is Benson’s singing voice.

15. “The Oompa Loompa Song”

The Oompa Loompas (George Claydon, Frank Delfino, Rusty Goffe…)

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

A true classic.

14. "Remains of the Day"
Bonejangles (Danny Elfman)
Corpse Bride
I love Elfman's energy in this song.

13. “Kyle’s Mom is a Bitch”

Eric Cartman (Trey Parker)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

A funny song, I love how it escalates into a chorus featuring all the kids of the world singing about how Kyle’s mom is a bitch.

12. The Stonecutter’s Anthem

The Stonecutters

The Simpsons

It’s supposed to be funny, but I just like the way it sounds.

11. “Friend like Me”

The Genie (Robin Williams)

Aladdin

Robin Williams can get annoying, but this is one great song.

10. “Arabian Nights”

The Peddler (Bruce Adler)

Aladdin

A more serious song with a local feel.  I like the mysterious tone of it.

9. “Song of the Roustabouts”

Circus Workers (The King’s Men)

Dumbo

A great, underrated work song that gets overlooked.

8. “Prince Ali”

The Genie (Robin Williams)

Aladdin

Aladdin was quite a good movie for songs, and this was the most epic of them.

7. “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”

Captain Li Shang (Donny Osmond)

Mulan

I already mentioned this as one of my favorite training montage songs.

6. “The Bells of Notre Dame”

Clopin Trouillefou (Paul Kandel), The Archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

A great melody made imposing by the church bells.  

5. "This is Halloween"
The Citizens of Halloweentown
The Nightmare Before Christmas
I just love this song.

4. "Moonlight Howl"
Wolves
Alpha and Omega
Actually, it's a pretty clever way to show something that the wolves do from their point of view.

3. “He’s a Tramp”

Peg (Peggy Lee)

Lady and the Tramp

Peggy Lee singing as canine version of herself.  ‘Nuff said.

2. “La Resistance” Medley

Gregory (Howard McGillin) and the cast

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Not only is the song itself rousing, it goes into an effective medley that raises the tension while going into the third act of the movie.

1. “It’s a B-Movie”

Peter Lorre Lamp (Phil Hartman) and Co.

The Brave Little Toaster

You know I love villain songs when my #1 non-villain song sounds like one.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go eat Ryan Murphy for raping my childhood, among other things.

1995 Movies Ranked

<< 1994   1996 >>

Actually, a really good year for films.

24. Clueless

D: Amy Heckerling

**********

An annoying, unwatchable and overpraised hour and a half of annoying characters constantly spewing irritating Valspeak.  I’ve never liked “satires” that simply forcefeed you the thing they’re supposedly satirizing.  On the plus side, Cher's lack of malice makes her status as "popular girl" more believable than in most high school dreck, in which the girls are popular even though they treat everyone like trash.

23. Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers: The Movie

D: Bryan Spicer

**********

An absurd movie based on a mediocre show.  Bad villain and really bad CGI.  The music is fun, though, and this song is a guilty pleasure.

22. Mortal Kombat

D: Paul W.S. Anderson

**********

Video game movies were always bad, but at least they had a campy sense of humor until this movie came out.  They also had cheap but charming practical effects which this movie replaced with bad CGI.  Not only did it have pretenses of earnestness, it was the mainstream debut of Paul W.S. Anderson.  At least the theme song is cool. 

21. Johnny Mnemonic

D: Robert Longo

**********

A classically bad 90’s cyberpunk movie, but the monomolecular whip is pretty cool.

20. Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead

D: Gary Fleeter

**********

A blatant Pulp Fiction wannabe I only watched a while back because I liked Andy Garcia.

19. Mallrats

D: Kevin Smith

**********

A disappointing sequel to Clerks with only a few small laughs.

18. One Tough Bastard

D: Kurt Wimmer

**********

This was the directorial debut of Kurt Wimmer, who directed one of my favorite movies and one of my favorite bad movies.  He was fired halfway through, but you can see some suggestions of his style.  Still, it’s a bland, formulaic revenge movie with an anticlimactic subplot concerning experimental assault rifles.  The only memorable part of it is a cheesy but amusing villain played by Bruce Payne.

17. Judge Dredd

D: Danny Cannon

**********

It has some decent scenery and may be amusingly cheesy at times, but it’s pretty stupid.

16. Pocahontas

D: Mike Gabriel, Eric Goldberg

**********

A shallow, patronizing and overly simplistic environmentalist/noble savage movie with one good song.

15. Batman Forever

D: Joel Schumacher

**********

It has some good story elements, and Val Kilmer is surprisingly good as this interpretation of Batman.  The visuals are need, but there’s a lot of dated CGI.  The villains are annoying.  This might have been a great interpretation of the campy Batman if it was as funny as the 60’s movie.  Elliot Goldenthal’s score may not be as iconic as others, but it has some good tracks in it.

14. The Usual Suspects

D: Bryan Singer

**********

A good neo-noir thriller.

13. Desperado

D: Robert Rodriguez

**********

Actually, pretty dull except for Antonio Banderas’ flamboyance, Steve Buscemi’s cameo, and the excellent gunfight in the bar.

12. A Goofy Movie

D: Kevin Lima

**********

Actually, a pretty decent movie with some funny moments.  The Powerline concert, however, is really corny and dated.

11. Balto

D: Simon Wells

**********

A very solid, thrilling animated movie.

10. Se7en

D: David Fincher

**********

This grungy thriller is pretty much the movie Saw wanted to be.  Very brutal and has a very depressing ending.

9. The City of Lost Children

D: Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Marc Caro

**********

An atmospheric and creative fantasy from Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

8. Braveheart

D: Mel Gibson

**********

Although the bias against the British is very blatant, this is still a very well-executed movie.  Mel Gibson may be crazy, but he is an undeniably talented director.  Though I general find James Horner’s scores frustratingly repetitive, this movie is his best work.

7. The Quick and the Dead

D: Sam Raimi

**********

I don’t know why this doesn’t have more of a following.  It’s not without its flaws (two bland protagonists and it would’ve worked better as a comedy), but it’s a WESTERN directed by SAM RAIMI.  I repeat: WESTERN.  SAM RAIMI.  His visual style and over-the-top camp violence works perfectly for the genre.  The movie also has a charismatic villain and a colorful side cast.   

6. 12 Monkeys

D: Terry Gilliam

**********

A great, dark sci-fi movie with Gilliams excellent style.

5. Die Hard with a Vengeance

D: John McTiernan

**********

This was not as well received as the mediocre Die Hard 2, and I cannot figure out why.  It’s a worthy follow-up to the first with a great villain.  Samuel L. Jackson has great chemistry with McClane. 

4. Tommy Boy
D: Peter Segal
**********
The quintessential 90's road comedy.

3. GoldenEye

D: Martin Campbell

**********

This is the first Bond movie I’ve ever seen, but even without the nostalgic value, I’d still say it’s one of the best.  You may say classic Bonds are the old ones, but this one trounces all the previous Bond movies in character development and the quality of the action scenes.  Sean Bean’s Trevelyan is my favorite Bond villain by far, as he is the perfect nemesis for Bond.  This was the best in the series until Casino Royale came out.  It has my favorite Bond intro, too.  Oh yeah, and Goldeneye 64 is awesome, too.

2. Toy Story
D: John Lasseter
**********
Not only is a very good movie, but it literally revolutionized the film industry by adding a new medium to it.  A reflection of our disregard for animation is that most years don't feature a competitive movie for Best Picture, this is one of those that unfortunately shared a year with a truly exceptional live action film...

1. Heat

D: Michael Mann

**********

Like the tagline says, it’s an epic saga in a modern age.  Great characterizations and gunfights.

<< 1994   1996 >> 

1996 Movies Ranked

<< 1995   1997 >>

1996 was a nostalgic year for me.  I had a lot of fun times with my extended family that summer.  The 1996 Olympics in Atlanta captured my imagination like no Olympics have since (although this probably had more to do with my age and the proximity to it than anything else).  It was like the climax of my youth; after that it was just a downward slope toward cynical adulthood.  Still, Clinton got reelected and GM discontinued the B-Bodies so it could make more SUVS, so it may not have been a good year after all. 

20. Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace

D: Farhad Mann

**********

Lawnmower Man according to the guys who gave us Max Headroom.    It’s the king of the bad 90’s cyberpunk movies, and it is just awful from to beginning to end.  I’ve never seen a sequel that so blatantly ignored the ending of the first movie.  Jeff Fahey is replaced by Matt Frewer, who’s like a store brand Jim Carrey…not as expensive, but arguably just as good.  Also, the movie insists on reminding us over and over again that the secondary corporate villain is a Republican.  We get it, movie.

19. Escape from L.A.

D: John Carpenter

**********

Lacks the subtlety and consistently good visuals of the original.  Remember the ingenuity of the practically simulated computer graphic in New York?  This movie actually has real CGI…real bad CGI.  So bad it almost makes the plane crash from Air Force One look good.  The movie starts off with establishing a ham-fisted satire of the Religious Right with a fundamentalist president who’s supposed to be a straw man even though he correctly predicted a natural disaster.  In the end our hero knowingly activates an EMP device that puts the world back into the Stone Age.  Most of the movie is fun camp, so it’s too bad that it’s sandwiched with crap.

18. Space Jam

D: Korey Coleman

**********

I didn’t watch this until recently, but it even as a kid I thought it looked stupid.  I thought it would be more painful, though.  It was bland, but mercifully short.

17. Romeo + Juliet

D: Baz Luhrmann

**********

I don’t how many times I was made to sit through this tacky adaptation at my high school just because of its slavish faithfulness to the text.  That doesn’t even make sense because we already read the play in class, so why not just show a more competent adaptation with a few cut lines?  At least John Leguizamo has fun playing Tybalt.

 

16. Broken Arrow

D: John Woo

**********

An utterly cheesy and underwhelming movie that set the tone for action legend John Woo’s unimpressive career in Hollywood.

15. Bottle Rocket

D: Wes Anderson

**********

I like Anderson for his visual style and dry wit, but this comedy has none of his distinctive visuals and it’s so dry that apparently he forgot to put jokes in it.  It’s an utterly generic “art” movie that critics go apes—t over.  Luke Wilson’s character gets into a sex-based “relationship” with a girl even though they can’t understand each other’s languages, and I’m supposed to be invested in that?  That’s insulting.  Also, the bumbling thieves trope has been a million times better a million times before.  I guess I shouldn’t begrudge this movie’s success because I like Anderson’s filmography.  Part of me thinks he hacked this out just to get into the position to make the movies he actually wanted to make.

14. 101 Dalmatians

D: Stephen Herek

**********

Hey, here’s a great idea!  Let’s remake this Disney classic in live action!  The dogs won’t be anthropomorphic, so that way they’ll no longer be actual characters that the audience can identify with!  I remember seeing commercials for this as a kid, and thinking that the only appealing thing about it would be watching Cruella’s magnificent car wrecking get recreated in live action (Spoiler: it doesn’t happen).  I didn’t watch it until earlier this year and it was quite an underwhelming film.  The low point was how the efficient first meeting of the couples was turned into an interminable  and overwrought slapstick sequence in a live-action adaptation.  The only good part was the well-cast Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil and the art style of her office.  There was also a refreshing lack of CGI manipulation of the dogs’ faces until a brief moment at the end.

13. Jack

D: Francis Ford Coppola

**********

Contrary to popular criticism, the movie does acknowledge the tragedy of the situation.  Francis Ford Coppola’s sappy attempt at a family movie has its moments, but suffers due to cloying 90’s whimsy.  Some people turn up their noses at sentimentality, but it seems that some masters of cinema can’t pull it off (see also: Stanley Kubrick’s A.I.).  Also, why the hell does Miss Jennifer Lopez insist on making her class write an essay on what they want to do when they grow up when she knows that one of the students has a terminal condition?!!!!!!!  

12. The Island of Dr. Moreau

D: John Frankenheimer

**********

A plodding film with disappointing creature design.

11. Star Trek: First Contact

D: Jonathon Frakes

**********

I really don’t care for the TNG movies, and this is the only one I find presentable.

10. Scream

D: Wes Craven

**********

A clever deconstruction of the Slasher film with a good twist, but I’m not really a fan of slashers anyway.

9. Down Periscope

D: David S. Ward

**********

It’s a little funnier if you have experience with the Navy.  Kelsey Grammer’s performance helps, too.

8. Independence Day

D: Roland Emmerich

**********

Ah, remember back in summer of 1996, this was the movie to see.  It gets a lot of flak, but it’s still an effective action movie.  The practical effects are amazing and make me wonder why we use nothing but CGI nowadays.  One of the many reasons I did not find Bayformers very impressive.  Because the few things that movie did right Independence Day did better 11 years prior.

7. The Rock

D: Michael Bay

**********

The only decent movie Michael Bay has ever made.  Has a good score, too.

6. Muppet Treasure Island
D: Brian Henson
**********
A fun and visually pleasing take on Treasure Island.  Has a pretty good intro song, too.

5. Bound
D: The Wachowskis
**********
Atmospheric and thrilling.  The cinematography is excellent, and it looks more like The Matrix than the the Matrix sequels do.  They seemed to have let clever camerawork give way to CGI.  Still, I don't think the romance is well-developed enough and there's too much gunfire inside an apartment for no one to get caught. 

4. The Cable Guy

D: Ben Stiller

**********

A very underrated comedy.  Like The Simpsons totally had a right to talk in its 10^th Season, anyway.

3. Mission: Impossible

D: Brian De Palma

**********

A great, complex spy movie with tons of twists and thrills.  Had to watch it a few times to figure out what the hell was going on, though.

2. The Nutty Professor

D: Tom Shadyac

**********

A rare comedy that has as much heart as it does humor.

1. The Hunchback of Notre Dame

D: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise

**********

I missed out on this movie when it came out.  At the time it was dismissed as unfaithful to the source material.  Even though it is Disnified, it still had a lot of dark themes (like sexual tension and religious scrupulosity) that most Disney movies don’t have.  Has one of the best musical soundtracks of any Disney film.  Those gargoyles where annoying, though.

 

<< 1995  1997 >> 

My Favorite Villain Songs

Everybody knows the best songs in musical are usually sung by the villain.  So here are my favorites.

24. “Blame Canada”

Sheila Broflovski (Mary Kay Bergman)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Sheila  Broflovski isn’t really a true villain, but plays an antagonistic role in the movie, and the song is about doing something pretty bad.  I like it for its satirical treatment of the modern political trend of blaming your misfortunes on a scapegoat.

 23. "The Siamese Cat Song"

Si and Am (Peggy Lee)
Lady and the Tramp
Not really all that villainous, but still memorable. 

22. "I Wanna Be Like You"
King Louie (Louis Prima)
The Jungle Book
A great jazzy tune.

21. “Playing with the Big Boys”

Hotep (Steve Martin) and Huy (Martin Short)

The Prince of Egypt

The buildup is pretty ominous, but the meat of the song is actually pretty monotone.  Still, it’s a clever way to depict a famous moment from The Bible with a lot of opulence.

20. “Gaston”

Lefou (Jesse Corti) and Gaston (Richard White)

Beauty and the Beast

One thing that annoys me about the CD versions of Disney songs is that they always edit out the sound effects even though they’re integrated with the songs.  This song really suffers as a result.

19. “The Mob Song”

Gaston (Richard White)

Beauty and the Beast

18. “The Court of Miracles”

Clopin (Paul Kandel)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Clopin isn’t really a villain in the movie, but he is singing about executing the good guys.  I like how the song itself is the show trial.

17. "Dr. Strangeglove"
Dr. Strangeglove
Moshi Monsters
I'm not into this Moshi Monsters thing, but I love this song.

16. “Up There”

Satan (Trey Parker)

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

An interesting twist: an “I Want” song sung by relatively sypmathetic villain.  Also sounds very good.

15. “Savages”

Governor Ratcliffe (David Ogden Stiers) and Chief Powhatan (Jim Cummings)

Pocahontas

Pocahontas’ lines in the song are cheesy and distracting, and the message is a little heavyhanded ("They're different from us, which means they must be evil"), but it’s  a very good song.

14. "Intelligence"
Joe (Alan Rickman)
Help! I'm a Fish
Alan Rickman always sounds great, and this is a great sinister-sounding song from him.

13. "My Lullaby"
Zira (Suzanne Pleshette)
Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Probably the only worthwhile part of this mediocre direct-to-video sequel.  Pretty twisted on the villain's part.

12. “The Queen of Mean”

Gnorga (Cloris Leachman)

A Troll in Central Park

I know, this movie is AWFUL.  The song is a bit formulaic, but I love listening to it.  The Polish and German versions are an improvement.

11. "Oogie Boogie's Song"

Oogie Boogie (Ken Page)
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The bad guy is singing about torturing Santa Clause.
"And now with your permission, I'm going to do my stuff."
"Well...what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to do the best I can."

10. “Friends on the Other Side”

Dr. Facilier (Keith David)

The Princess and the Frog

I love Keith David’s voice and Bruce W. Smith’s animation for this character.  The psychedelic visuals make the end of this song.

9. “This Day Aria”

Queen Chrysalis and Princess Cadance (Britt McKillip) and Chrysalis in her True Form (Katleen Barr)

My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic

Though some of the motifs from this song sound similar to others on this list, it’s an excellent villain song, and the first good one in this cartoon.  These versions are cool, too.

8. “Poor Unfortunate Souls”

Ursula (Pat Carroll)

The Little Mermaid

7. “Out There”

Judge Claude Frollo (Tony Jay) and Quasimodo (Tom Hulce)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

This song is actually a very effective Kick the Dog moment.  You see Frollo beating down Quasimodo psychologically, and Quasimodo buying into it.  It’s actually pretty sad to watch.

6. "Release the Lawyers"
The Cat Sisters (Elizabeth Daily)
EEK! the Cat
Great song that's way too short.

5. “Toxic Love”

Hexxus (Tim Curry)

Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest

You know what made Avatar so boring?  It didn’t have Tim Curry singing about sexualized pollution.  Still, the egg chow mein line was just desperation for a rhyme.

4. “When You’re Evil”

Voltaire

It may not be from any movie or TV show that I of, but it’s a true villain song nonetheless.  I like how it escalates from the protagonist representing minor annoyances to true villainy and terror.

3. “In the Dark of the Night”

Rasputin (Jim Cummings)

Anastasia

An epically villainous song where Rasputin sings about revenge, the occult, and…his own B.O.  Yeah, the cologne line was pretty stupid.  The voice switch from Christopher Lloyd to Jim Cummings a little jarring.

2. “Hellfire”

Judge Claude Frollo (Tony Jay)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

This movie is credited with exploring themes that most Disney movies shy away from.  This song not only sounds great, but it shows how tormented and perversely twisted a villain Frollo is by having him pray to the mother of God to kill a person unless he can have her for himself.

1. “Be Prepared”

Scar (Jeremy Irons/Jim Cummings)

The Lion King

It may not be as complex as “Hellfire,” but it sounds the best.  The deleted reprise is good, too.  The shift from Jermey Irons to Jim Cummings is hardly noticeable.  One thing though…”wet as a warhog’s backside?”  Did Scar seriously just sing about warthog diarrhea?  It's the best Disney song, and they put a poo joke in it!  Oh well, it’s still awesome…and it's even better IN GERMAN.

Now, if only Hades from Hercules had a song.