50 Worst Movie Soundtracks
Our ears! Our ears!
Howard The Duck (1986)
The Soundtrack: Yet another ‘80s, er, masterpiece.
Worst Song: “Hey look out world, a duck is on the loose!” screech Dolby’s Cube in title track ‘Howard The Duck’, which pinches the beat from 'Footloose' and then repeats the title ad nauseum. Mind-numbing.
Deep Blue Sea (1999)
The Soundtrack: LL Cool J fancies himself as a bit of a Will Smith, having somehow managed to wrestle a producer into letting him provide Deep Blue Sea 's title track, as well as another titled ‘Say What’.
Worst Song: ‘Deepest Bluest (Shark's Fin)’ by Cool J, which comes with one of the stupidest choruses we’ve ever heard… “Deepest, bluest, my hat is like a shark's fin...”
Space Jam (1996)
The Soundtrack: Peaked on the Billboard 200 at #2, though God knows why, especially with a theme tune guffed by R. Kelly.
Worst Song: ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ by R. Kelly, a tortured pop ballad that clogged up the radiowaves for far too long after the film’s release. It also birthed a string of hideous parodies, with lyrics like “I believe I can fly / Got shot by the FBI / All I wanted was some chicken wings”…
Wild Wild West (1999)
The Soundtrack: “Write the theme tune, sing the theme tune…” There’s more than a touch of Dennis Waterman in Will Smith’s presence on the WWW soundtrack.
Worst Song: Will Smith’s ‘Wild Wild West’. The actor attempted to replicate the success he had with Men In Black , which he both starred in and rapped the theme tune for. Like WWW the movie, this offering pales in comparison. It won a Golden Raspberry for Worst Original Song.
Grease 2 (1982)
The Soundtrack: A collection of tracks composed by Louis St. Louis, with lyrics by Howard Greenfield, who would go on to write songs for the likes of The Cable Guy , Picture Perfect and The Princess Diaries .
Worst Song: “Let’s bowl, let’s bowl, let’s rock and roll!” Yeah, you kids are crazy! The entire cast get naughty with ‘ Score Tonight ’. Where’s Olivia Newton-John in a catsuit when you need her?
Armageddon (1998)
The Soundtrack: As subtle as Michael Bay’s meteor action flick, with the screeching rock likes of Jon Bon Jovi, Aerosmith and Journey.
Worst Song: “I just wanna be with you / Right here with you / Just like this” wails Steve Tyler on Aerosmith’s ‘I Don't Want To Miss A Thing’, a maudlin mosher that’s as sentimental as they come.
A Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)
The Soundtrack: Features the likes of Billy Idol and Blondie, cos this was back when the Nightmare franchise was trying to make as much money as possible – not least in the soundtrack stakes.
Worst Song: Robert Englund sinks to new lows as he gets rapping on The Fat Boys’ ‘Are You Ready for Freddy?’ Poor Fred.
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Crossroads (2002)
The Soundtrack: An excuse for Britney Spears to sell more albums as she warbles her way through the entire soundtrack, even having the gall to cover ‘I Love Rock N Roll’.
Worst Song: ‘I’m A Girl, Not Yet A Woman’ by Spears herself, in which the fledgling popstar bemoans her ‘inbetween’ status while we all reach for the earplugs.
Beaches (1988)
The Soundtrack: Headed up by Bette Midler’s ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’, which swept up two armfuls of awards, including a Grammy. We don’t know why.
Worst Song: “Did I ever tell you you’re my hero?” screeches Midler during one of the most sugary theme tunes ever, and one that sounds like a bag of drowning cats. We love you Bette, but no. Just no. That said, the Krusty the Klown version isn’t half bad.
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
The Soundtrack: A bombastic mix of Aerosmith, Steve Stevens and Cannibal Corpse…
Worst Song: For pure lyrical wrongness, look no further than Tone Loc’s ‘Ace Is In The House’. “Checkin' all of his bitches at home / But I'm the dog with the biggest bone.”
Josh Winning has worn a lot of hats over the years. Contributing Editor at Total Film, writer for SFX, and senior film writer at the Radio Times. Josh has also penned a novel about mysteries and monsters, is the co-host of a movie podcast, and has a library of pretty phenomenal stories from visiting some of the biggest TV and film sets in the world. He would also like you to know that he "lives for cat videos..." Don't we all, Josh. Don't we all.