Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Director John Carney is used to letting the music lead the way in his film’s. In 2007’s Once, he cast Glen Hansard as an Irish busker who falls in love with a pixie piano player (Marketa Irglova), and their “Falling Slowly” soared into our hearts and propelled them all the way to an Academy Award.
Two years ago, Carney’s Begin Again thrived on the charming singer-songwriter played by Keira Knightley, whose songs managed to work on- and off-screen, no matter how much Carney later insisted that Knightley’s star presence was all wrong for the film.
After two movies lionizing the proud singer-songwriter, then, it was refreshing to see Carney take on a movie like Sing Street, with its focus on a kid in Dublin who latches onto New Wave music and starts a band, experimenting with this like imagery and music video and generally doing everything he can to impress a girl. It’s an exuberant, stylish, and tuneful movie that easily ranks among the most likeable films of the year. And it’s streaming on Netflix right now, so you have no excuse not to watch it.
Sing Street also headlines what’s been a really fun year for ’80s music in film and television. Retro trends tend to cluster, and for whatever reason, 2016 was packed to the gills with some great ’80s flackback music cuts. Sing Street is the rare movie that holds a reverence for the oft-maligned era of Duran Duran, which is a pretty decent indicator that the culture is beginning to finally come around on the music of that time period.
If you’re looking for a quick playlist, we’ve gathered together some of the best ’80s music moments from 2016 for your enjoyment and nostalgic pleasure. Enjoy them as they were always meant to be enjoyed: 80% genuinely and 20% ironically.
"Rio" ('Sing Street')
Everything that’s great about Sing Street is put right up front when Conor’s older brother Brendan (Jack Reynor) introduces the family to Duran Duran via the music video for “Rio.” While their dad (Aidan Gillen) scoffs, Brendan makes an impassioned case for New Wave, the medium of music video, and John Taylor’s bass guitar virtuosity. “What kind of tyranny could stand up to that?” he asks with the kind of earnestness that only a John Carney movie could sell.
"Hazy Shade of Winter" ('Stranger Things')
Stranger Things was the breakout hit of the summer, and Barb was the breakout hit of Stranger Things. But when Barb met the monster lurking in the shadows at the end of episode 2, the music cue that came creeping up on the soundtrack set the mood in the most nerve-shattering way. The opening jangle to The Bangles’ cover of “Hazy Shade of Winter” was as foreboding as any orchestral composition, and when the guitar riff kicks in, it’s impossible not to get swept up in the atmosphere. The Bangles originally recorded this song for the soundtrack to Less Than Zero, and its mood-setting abilities definitely translate across time periods.
"Heaven Is a Place on Earth" ('Black Mirror: San Junipero')
Black Mirror‘s “San Junipero” episode is an unquestioned highlight of that series’ entire catalogue, telling a disarmingly emotional story about two women (played by Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) who keep meeting in the town of San Junipero, where time seems to sweep at a strange pace. The pop cultural ephemera that is used to orient the viewer as to what year we’re supposed to be experiencing from scene to scene is important, and it also allows for one song in particular to stand out as a kind of emotional anthem for our two characters. Belinda Carlisle’s “Heaven Is a Place on Earth” is possessed of a cinematic uplift that has been dormant for too long, and Black Mirror was finally able to unleash it in the most chills-inducing manner possible.
"Emotional Rescue" ('A Bigger Splash')
The Rolling Stones take up a lot of space among the bohemians in A Bigger Splash. While the sexual chemistry is practically dripping down the walls among Tilda Swinton, Ralph Fiennes, Dakota Johnson, and Matthias Schoenaerts, the music-industry show-offiness of Swinton and Fiennes’ characters keeps making itself known, and of particular notice is the Stones’ 1980 hit “Emotional Rescue,” which gets a a gaudy spotlight as Fiennes lip-synchs it for his gathered guests.
"Take Me Home" ('Mr. Robot')
Just so everybody is prepared: Phil Collins is on the precipice of a major pop-culture comeback (and now just because his daughter Lily keeps getting cast in mvoies like Rules Don’t Apply). After having been left for dead by the side of the cultural road after South Park savaged him for beating them to the 1999 Best Original Song Oscar, Collins is getting his retro due. If you watched any U.S. Open tennis on ESPN this summer, you know his songs were the bumper music for two straight weeks. And then there was Mr. Robot, which used “Take Me Home” to such creepy effect, in the scene where they forced Brian Stokes Mitchell’s character to burn the sack of money in the middle of a public park.
"Angel of the Morning" ('Deadpool')
Deadpool (the movie or the character) wasn’t good for much, despite its massive box-office haul this past winter. But if that movie was good for anything, it managed to resurrect Juice Newton’s cover of “Angel of the Morning” and put it to ironic effect as it scored a slow-motion orgy of highway violence. A fun and promising intro to a movie that didn’t have any ability to follow through on it.
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" ('X-Men: Apocalypse')
X-Men: Apocalypse didn’t make much of a cultural impression, beyond Big Blue Oscar Isaac, and the scene where Olivia Munn wore a bathing suit to Auschwitz, but at least they had Quicksilver back again to do his slow-motion thing that was such a hit in Days of Future Past. That film was set in the ’70s, so the music choice was Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle.” This time around, the ’80s were the look of the day, so his big rescue job at Xavier’s school (a rescue job that didn’t do sweet Havok much good, R.I.P.) was scored to the Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” As a setpiece, it pales in comparison to the Days of Future Past original (a lack of novelty will do that), but there’s no denying the perfection of that song.
"Rhythm of the Night" ('Ghostbusters')
Kate McKinnon is having quite the year. She was given an Emmy Award in September, her Hillary Clinton impersonation became the soul and conscience of Saturday Night Love during the election, and whatever you felt about the Ghostbusters remake, her unhinged showboating as Holtzman was a clear highlight. What better way to celebrate Holtzman’s breakout status than with a dance break to the greatest DeBarge song to ever be written by Diane Warren?
