Whining, Wine-ing & Winning

I remember when getting the soundtrack was almost as important as seeing the movie.

You’d leave the theater, hear one song you loved during the credits, and you were begging your mom to take you to the music store. No Spotify. No playlists. No asking your phone what song was playing. You either bought the CD or spent the next six months wondering what that song was.

A good soundtrack can make a movie better. A great soundtrack becomes part of the movie. The second you hear a song, you know exactly where you were, what scene was playing, and how old you were when you first watched it.

Here are a few of my favorites.

Forrest Gump

This one isn’t even close for me. The soundtrack is packed with classic songs and manages to cover decades of American history without feeling forced. Every song fits perfectly. Plus, Forrest Gump is responsible for about half the random quotes I use in everyday life.

Life is like a box of chocolates. Mama always said you can tell a lot about a person by their shoes. Stupid is as stupid does.bIt’s less of a movie and more of a life lesson with a really good soundtrack.

Dirty Dancing

Nobody puts this soundtrack in a corner. The second I hear I’ve Had the Time of My Life, I think I can run into someone’s arms and pull off an epic life lift. Reality says otherwise. At best, one of us is throwing out a back, tearing an ACL, or ending up in urgent care. Still worth the risk.

Top Gun Maverick

The movie had no business being that good. The soundtrack somehow managed to feel nostalgic and modern at the same time. Lady Gaga’s Hold My Hand can still make me stare dramatically out a window like I’m waiting for my cue in a movie.

Footloose

This soundtrack should probably count as cardio. It’s impossible to hear the title song and not start moving at least a little.

Purple Rain

Prince. That’s it. That’s the explanation.

Frozen

As a mom, I would be committing a crime if I left this one off the list. There was a period of my life where I could have performed the entire movie from memory against my will. Every song. Every line. Every dramatic Elsa cape flip.

The soundtrack starts out cute. Then your kid watches it again. And again. And again.

Eventually you’re singing Let It Go while unloading the dishwasher and wondering if this is just who you are now.

The worst part? After hearing it 4,000 times, you somehow start liking it.

And if you’re a parent and claim you’ve never belted out Let It Go while cleaning your house, you’re a liar.

Now and Then

If you grew up in the ‘90s, this soundtrack was everything. Back when Christina Ricci, Thora Birch, Rosie O’Donnell, and Demi Moore were teaching us about friendship, growing up, and why being a girl was complicated.

Every song instantly takes me back. The bikes. The treehouse. The sleepovers. The drama. The feeling that your friends would be your friends forever.

I also may or may not have had Devon Sawa taped to my bedroom wall courtesy of Tiger Beat magazine. Not a poster. An entire shrine.

If my memory serves me correctly, there were probably some Jonathan Taylor Thomas pictures mixed in there too.

My teenage bedroom looked less like a place to sleep and more like a restraining order waiting to happen.

Also, if you didn’t want a treehouse after watching this movie, were you even paying attention?

Honorable Mentions

• Grease
• The Bodyguard
• Almost Famous
• O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Titanic
• The Lion King

My daughter will never know the struggle of spending money on a CD because you loved one song, only to discover the other eleven songs were terrible. Character building. We had hardships.

You kids today have Spotify. We had commitment issues and $17.99 CDs. Excuse me while I go listen to the Forrest Gump soundtrack and remind myself that life really is like a box of chocolates.