Second Hand Songs and Movies and TV Shows

[polymath]

So you're watching a TV show or a movie and then a song starts playing in the soundtrack, it works really well with the scene, perfect thematically, tonally, what have you. But the problem is that song was already used somewhere else. Not just that but the song was used in a pivotal moment of some other show or movie, such that that song and that other scene are so interconnected to you that not only does it take you out of the moment of what you're watching, but it taints your opinion of the new scene and makes you give out to them for taking that song. The song might as well belong to this other show or movie as far as your concerned, and is off-limits forever.

For example, "Stuck in the Middle with You" and Reservoir Dogs are pretty much inseparable in pop culture, and I don't think that many people who've seen Reservoir Dogs would find it hard to not think of Reservoir Dogs if that song came on in a movie or show.

So I guess I'm asking do you think that a TV show or a movie can effectively own a song, making it so that any attempts to use the song in any context other than a direct reference to the other scene is a bad idea and should be avoided, or do you think that it doesn't matter and that fans shouldn't complain when something "steals" the song?

And if you can think of songs that you think shouldn't be used again maybe name one or two and the moment that made them.

 

[NBSRDan]

When music creates extreme emotional resonance in a movie, it's because the musical selection is so appropriate for that scene that it would be more accurate to say the scene needs that song. When a song clicks into a scene so well that no other would seem appropriate, that's what creates that connection in the audience's mind.
It is highly unlikely that a completely different scene inside of a work of a different genre would have such a strong need for the same music. A weaker choice of music thus gets overpowered by the former, stronger choice.

 

[Gatx]

I don't really have too many examples other than:
The top comment early on was "GANDAAAAALF!"

It kind of fits the trailer but, man...

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm personally sick of hearing this song everywhere.


It will always be the "Requiem for a Dream song". I don't care how many times it crops up in trailers to heighten drama.