Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” accompanied the actors as they hear about their friend’s passing. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones is played as an ironic commentary on the friend's death. As the friends discuss relationships, The Young Rascals “Good Lovin’” is performed. Finally, “Bad Moon Rising’” by Credence Clearwater Revival is played immediately after a former lover proposes that she and her old flame reunite for an evening.

The best subconscious music placement occurs in a supermarket between the two former lovers who contemplate rekindling their relationship. Although their desire for each other is palpable, both hold back, only conversing about the shopping task at hand as the store’s Muzak system plays Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers In The Night.”

Forest Gump tells the story of a dimwitted man who experiences a series of life adventures over several decades. Because the film’s extended time frame, the music serves to establish the time and place.

Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” sets up Gump’s Vietnam tour. To state that Forest’s girlfriend has moved to California, California Dreaming” by the Mamas and Papas is used. “San Francisco” by Scott Mackenzie frames Forest’s 1960s visit to San Francisco. When Forest returns home to Alabama, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” is played. These music placements help the films listeners comprehend the different locations and eras represented in the film.

American Graffiti, The Big Chill, and Forest Gump were all highly successful films, and their pop song application played a huge part in creating that success. All three films appealed to people at a deeply personal level.

Pop Songs in Learning In Training With A Beat, I discussed at length the application of pop songs in the learning environment. In part, I said:

“Concert halls, ballrooms, parties, and yes, the class room, can be uncomfortable environments. When people hear a song they’ve listened to in the privacy of their home, they relax. Comfortable music emotionally warms the training room, placing learners in a receptive frame of mind for learning. Songs with lyrics, especially popular hits of the last 50 years, are extremely useful for this reason. They are old, well worn, welcome friends.”

Songs with lyrics also engage learner brains in multiple ways. The words and rhythm of a song are largely processed in the brain’s left hemisphere, where the melody is largely processed by the right hemisphere. By using songs with lyrics, you help your learners engage both hemispheres. In the process, they gain a deeper meaning than is possible with one hemisphere alone.

Song lyrics can, as was the case in The Big Chill, speak directly to the learning topic. The many applications are too numerous to state in this one article, but a few examples should prove the point: