Ranking All The Songs from The Hot Tub Time Machine Soundtrack
A film about four men who travel back in time in a hot tub was never going to win an Oscar, but if you like silly, if you like funny and if you like Chevy Chase, Hot Tub Time Machine is going to be your kind of film. Put simply, it’s a screwball farce that doesn’t try to be anything else. Its soundtrack, on the other hand, has enough classic moments from the likes of David Bowie, Public Enemy and New Order to be taken seriously. Here’s how we rank all the songs on the Hot Tub Time Machine soundtrack.
15. Let’s Get It Started – Craig Robinson
Craig Robinson makes several appearances on the Hot Tub Time Machine soundtrack, this time with a cover of the Black Eyed Peas’ Let’s Get It Started. Back in 2004, the original won the Peas a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, along with nominations for Record of the Year and Best Rap Song. Since its release, it’s been certified 3 x platinum by the RIAA after selling over 3 million copies in the US.
14. Jessie’s Girl – Craig Robinson
Rick Springfield’s original version of Jessie’s Girl has the distinction of being one of the slowest climbing songs to reach number one in history, taking a whopping 19 weeks to reach the top. It’s been used in various films since, including Boogie Nights, 13 Going on 30, and Suicide Squad. In Hot Tub Time Machine, the original is eschewed for a cover by Craig Robinson, who stars in the film as Nick Webber-Agnew.
13. Home Sweet Home – Mötley Crüe
1980s power ballads don’t get much bigger than Home Sweet Home, which became the last ever Mötley Crüe song to chart on the US Billboard Top 40 in 1992. As well as checking out the original on the soundtrack, listen out for the version by Rob Corddry during the closing credits of the film.
12. What You Need – INXS
What You Need gave INXS their first top ten hit in the US in 1986, reaching number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
11. Save It for Later – The Engl]ish Beat
Described by Spin Alternative Record Guide as a “romantic, piano-driven pop gem,” Save It for Later is one of the undisputed highlights of British ska band The English Beat’s third studio album, Special Beat Service.
10. Perfect Way – Scritti Politti
British band Scritti Politti scored the biggest US hit of their career with Perfect Way, which reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 6 on the Hot Dance/Disco chart in 1985.
9. Hero – Enrique Iglesias
Back in the early 2000s, pop stars didn’t get much bigger than Enrique Iglesias and pop songs didn’t get much bigger than Hero, which spent 15 weeks at the top of the US Billboard adult contemporary chart, topped the charts in various other countries (including the UK), and has since sold over 8 million copies to become one of the best selling singles of all time.
8. Bring On the Dancing Horses – Echo & the Bunnymen
Dreamy, hazy, and just the right kind of psychedelic, Bring On the Dancing Horses gave Echo & the Bunnymen a top 40 hit in 1985, reaching number 21 on the UK Singles Chart.
7. True – Spandau Ballet
Despite their massive success in the UK and Europe in the 1980s, Spandau Ballet only ever managed to get one song into the US top ten – True. Released in April 1983, it’s since racked up over 4 million airplays in the US, suffered countless karaoke massacres, and become one of the best-loved songs of the ’80s.
6. I Will Dare – The Replacements
Described by All Music as “perhaps the band’s most beloved song and a touchstone for their mid-’80s heyday,” the bouncy energy, jangly guitars and infectious melody of The Replacements’ I Will Dare is impossible to resist.
5. Modern Love – David Bowie
The 1983 album Let’s Dance turned David Bowie into an international megastar. Listening to standout tracks like Modern Love, it’s not hard to work out why.
4. Push It – Salt-n-Pepa
Ranked as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone, the Grammy Award-nominated Push It took Salt-n-Pepa to the top 20 in the US and top 5 in the UK in 1987.
3. Louder Than a Bomb – Public Enemy
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential albums of all time. It was the album where Chuck D got political, where the sound got aggressive, and where Public Enemy basically revolutionized music as we know it. Louder Than a Bomb is as urgent and incendiary as everything else on it.
2. Once in a Lifetime – Talking Heads
Talking Heads changed the musical soundscape forever in the 1980s, and they did it because of songs like Once in a Lifetime, a sonic gamechanger with the resonance of a sermon and a sound like nothing else in pop history. Factor in one of the funniest and freshest music videos ever made, and it’s easy to see why The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has named it one of the “500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll”.
1. Bizarre Love Triangle – New Order
Described by Billboard as a “synth-pop masterpiece” and “an incandescent jewel of mid-’80s computer love,” by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and by pretty much everyone who’s ever heard it as one of the most perfect pop songs ever made, what else could top our ranking than New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle?
