Throughout their decades-long career, Pink Floyd has sold over 250 million records worldwide and been inducted into both the U.S. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (in 1996) and the UK Music Hall of Fame (in 2005). Most significantly, Floyd were pioneers of the progressive rock movement and are now revered as one of the cornerstones of the psychedelic subgenre.
As with any legendary rock band, the music of Pink Floyd has been snapped up by a handful of filmmakers who wanted to pair their distinctly surreal sound with a particular scene in one of their movies. These are the best examples.
“Wish You Were Here” In War Dogs
Todd Phillips emulated Martin Scorsese’s voiceover narration and sprawling nonlinear storytelling in his gunrunner biopic War Dogs, so it’s hardly surprising that he also borrowed the director’s penchant for including pop hits on his soundtracks.
During the montage that starts with Efrain firing an AK-47 in Albania, Phillips utilized Pink Floyd’s somber classic “Wish You Were Here.”
“Echoes” In Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Tom Stoppard adapted his own play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead for the big screen with Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in the title roles. The movie features the Pink Floyd classic “Echoes” from the album Meddle on its soundtrack.
“Seamus,” also by Floyd, appears on the soundtrack, too, but “Echoes” is both a more famous Floyd track and more memorably utilized by the movie.
“Hey You” In Due Date
In addition to using Floyd in War Dogs, Todd Phillips used the band’s music in Due Date. The movie sees Peter (Robert Downey Jr.) reluctantly hitting the road with a stoner and wannabe actor named Ethan (Zach Galifianakis) in order to make it home in time for the birth of his first child.
In one scene, while Peter is asleep, Ethan takes a few bong hits while driving. When Peter wakes up, he realizes that both he and Ethan’s dog are high, set to Pink Floyd’s “Hey You.”
“Interstellar Overdrive” In Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange and Pink Floyd have a long, interesting history together, as the two influenced each other’s psychedelic styles throughout the 1960s. So, it was appropriate when Scott Derrickson included a Floyd song on the soundtrack of his initial Doctor Strange movie.
The Syd Barrett track “Interstellar Overdrive” plays right before Strange’s life-changing car accident. Obviously, the 10-minute instrumental doesn’t appear in its entirety, but its brief orchestrations are unmistakable.
“Is There Anybody Out There?” In Love
Gaspar Noé’s Love charts a complicated romantic triangle that involves a sexually charged, adventurous young couple inviting a third person to share their bed.
“Is There Anybody Out There?” by Pink Floyd plays in two scenes: when Murphy asks Electra for her ultimate fantasy, and when Murphy, Electra, and Omi are at a nightclub.
“Fearless” In Everybody Wants Some!!
Named after the Van Halen song of the same name, Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some!! is a spiritual sequel to his earlier classic, Dazed and Confused. Where the first movie was about high schoolers in the '70s, the second one is about college kids in the '80s. Like Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!! has a soundtrack to die for.
Pink Floyd’s “Fearless” appears on the soundtrack when Willoughby, a stoner played by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier standout Wyatt Russell, takes bong hits with Jake, Dale, and Plummer while sharing with them his philosophy about music.
“Hey You” In The Squid And The Whale
Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale chronicles a divorce from the perspective of the couple’s kids. Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline play the couple’s two sons — Walt and Frank, respectively — and the divorce hits them both differently.
Walt plagiarizes schoolwork and Frank takes out masturbatory revenge on the world. When the boys’ teachers give their parents this double whammy of bad behavior, Pink Floyd’s “Hey You” kicks in on the soundtrack.
“Comfortably Numb” In The Departed
Although the original Pink Floyd recording of “Comfortably Numb” from The Wall doesn’t appear on the soundtrack of Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, the Roger Waters version does.
It plays in the scene in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s undercover cop Billy and Vera Farmiga’s police therapist Madolyn begin a romantic relationship.
“Wish You Were Here” In Boyhood
Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is a one-of-a-kind movie. It’s a coming-of-age epic charting a boy’s entire childhood from the age of six to the age of 18, and Linklater shot it in real time across 12 years as his lead actor Ellar Coltrane aged naturally.
Early in the movie, the boy’s mother (Patricia Arquette) moves the family so she can go back to college. She ends up getting her degree and becoming a professor. In one scene, Mason watches one of his mom’s students with a guitar playing “Wish You Were Here.”
The Soundtrack Of The Wall
With its distinctly otherworldly sound and loose-fitting story, The Wall is one of Pink Floyd’s most acclaimed albums. Three years after the album hit shelves, Alan Parker adapted it for the big screen.
Roger Waters wrote the screenplay, which revolves around a disillusioned rock star named Pink, played by Bob Geldof. The movie’s plot weaves in a bunch of classic tracks from the album and Parker brings the music to life with stunning visuals (and delightfully surreal animation by Gerald Scarfe).