Soul In Stereo’s 30 Greatest Movie Soundtracks of All Time

A few weeks ago, Kendrick Lamar’s Black Panther: The Album reminded us just how awesome soundtracks can be. Movie soundtracks have long had a lasting legacy in modern music, especially in the early to mid-90s, when soundtracks seemed to be even better than the movies that they promoted.

Read: The best 90s Soundtracks for the Worst 90s Movies

In the grand legacy of stellar soundtracks, look back at the 30 soundtracks that have endured over time – those unforgettable musical moments that stuck with us long after the credits rolled.

Just missing the cut: Belly, The Nutty Professor 2, New Jersey Drive

30. Girl 6: Music from the Motion Picture (1996)

Classic film line:
Jimmy: You should get back with your ex, and let him rob you a bank.

For your playlist:

29. Men In Black: The Album (1997)

Classic film line:
Jay: [holds up his badge] See that? NYPD, means I will Knock Your Punka** Down!

For your playlist:

28. Sunset Park: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1996)

Classic film lines:
[Shorty sees his girlfriend, Cheryl, talking to another man]
Shorty: Cheryl!… Cheryl!… CHERYL! . . .
Cheryl: Don’t be callin’ my name out all loud like that!

For your playlist:

27. Juice – Original Soundtrack (1991)

Classic film line:
Kid: Yo, you got the juice now, man.

For your playlist:

26. High School High – The Soundtrack (1996)

Classic film line:
Richard Clark: [to Ms Doyle] I’m higher than hell and you’re STILL ugly!

For your playlist:

25. Money Talks: The Album (1997)

Classic film lines:
Franklin Hatchett: You’re phat.
Grace Cipriani: Excuse me?
Franklin Hatchett: You’re phat. P-H-A-T. Pretty Hot And Tempting.

For your playlist:

24. Menace II Society (The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1993)

Classic film line:
Caine: Now O-Dog was the craziest n**** alive. America’s nightmare. Young, black, and didn’t give a f***.

For your playlist:

23. The Show: The Soundtrack (1995)

For your playlist:

22. The Nutty Professor: Soundtrack (1996)

Classic film line:
Mama Klump: Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!

For your playlist:

21. Love & Basketball: Music from the Original Motion Picture (2000)

Classic film lines:
Monica: I’ll play you.
Quincy: For what?
Monica: Your heart.

For your playlist:

20. Soul Food Soundtrack (1997)

Classic film lines:
Mama Joe: You see, in life we all make some bad choices. My husband was a gambler. Almost cost us this house. But I worked, on my hands and knees, cleaning up after white folks. Taking in laundry. You do what you have to do to stay strong.

For your playlist:

19. Space Jam: Music From and Inspired By The Original Motion Picture (1996)

Classic film lines:
Bill Murray: It’s ’cause I’m white, isn’t it?
Michael Jordan: No. Larry’s white, so what?
Bill Murray: Larry’s not white. Larry’s clear.

For your playlist:

18. Car Wash: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1976)

Classic film lines:
Duane: If you are watching this in the future, know that time has had its way with us, and that we knew it would. And it will with you. There is no escaping this. In a strange way, it’s what makes life so beautiful and strange, that nothing alive stays the same.

For your playlist:

17. Music From the Motion Picture New Jack City (1991)

Classic film lines:
Nino Brown: I’m not guilty. *You’re* the one that’s guilty. The lawmakers, the politicians, the Columbian drug lords, all you who lobby against making drugs legal. Just like you did with alcohol during the prohibition. You’re the one who’s guilty. I mean, c’mon, let’s kick the ballistics here: Ain’t no Uzi’s made in Harlem. Not one of us in here owns a poppy field. This thing is bigger than Nino Brown. This is big business. This is the American way.

For your playlist:

16. The Best Man – Music from the Motion Picture (1999)

Classic film line:
Quentin: N****, I am a pimp, so my future looks mighty bright, thank you very much.

For your playlist:

15. House Party: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1990)

Classic film lines:
Pop: Ah, I shoulda known you was at this party, and ya know, with all that Jheri Curl juice you got in your hair, you better not ever do a crime! The police won’t have any problem finding you! “Follow the drip, follow the drip!”

For your playlist:

14. Love Jones: The Music (1997)

Classic film lines:
Darius: Romance is about the possibility of the thing. You see, it’s about the time between when you first meet the woman, and when you first make love to her; When you first ask a woman to marry you, and when she says I do. When people who been together a long time say that the romance is gone, what they’re really saying is they’ve exhausted the possibility.

For your playlist:

13. Parade (Under the Cherry Moon Soundtrack) (1986)

Classic film lines:
Christopher Tracy: If you wanted to buy a Sam Cook album, where would you go?
Mary: The wrecka stow.

For your playlist:

12. Krush Groove – Music from the Original Motion Picture (1985)

Classic film lines:
Rick: That guy was a sucker, man. Carmen, file this.
[He hands her the “accounting book” — a trashed out spiral notebook.]
Carmen: [rolls eyes and files the book by tossing it aside on a nearby table.]
Rick: Damn. Take all my money out of that bank.
Carmen: We don’t have an account.

For your playlist:

11. Above the Rim: The Soundtrack (1994)

Classic film line:
Bugaloo: Man, you look like Daffy Duck with his beak shot off.

For your playlist:

10. Batman (1989)

Classic film lines:
The Joker: Tell me something, my friend. You ever dance with the devil in the pale moonlight?
Bruce Wayne: What?
The Joker: I always ask that of all my prey. I just… like the sound of it.
[shoots him]

For your playlist:

9. Super Fly (1972)

Classic film lines:
Youngblood Priest: I’m gettin’ out, Eddie.
Eddie: Gettin’ outta what?
Youngblood Priest: The cocaine business.
Eddie: Oh, sweet. S***. Say, those junkies must have knocked a hole in your head. You’re gonna give all this up? 8-Track Stereo, color TV. in every room, and can snort a half a piece of dope everyday? That’s the American Dream, n****! Well, ain’t it? Ain’t it?

For your playlist:

8.Boomerang: Original Soundtrack Album (1992)

Classic film lines:
Angela: What do you know about love? What could you possibly know about love You know, I’m sick and tired of men using love as if it’s some disease you just catch. Love should have brought your a** home last night.

For your playlist:

7. The Preacher’s Wife: Original Soundtrack Album (1996)

Classic film line:
Jeremiah Biggs: Just because you can’t see the air doesn’t keep you from breathing. And just because you can’t see God doesn’t keep you from believing.

For your playlist:

6. The Mack – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1973)

Classic film lines:
Slim: That’s $35,000 cash money
Goldie: No, that’s 35,000 plus one right?
Slim: The one I gave you?
Goldie: No, you gave me six though right?
I had one and it was 35,000 plus one plus six makes seven
$35,000 and seven right?
Mothaf***er can you buy that?

For your playlist:

5. The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album (1992)

Classic film line:
Rachel: And you’re ready to die for me?
Frank: It’s the job.
Rachel: And you’d do it? Why?
Frank: I can’t sing.

For your  playlist:

4. 8 Mile: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture (2002)

Classic film line:
Rabbit:
Don’t ever try to judge me dude
You don’t know what the f*** I’ve been through
But I know something about you
You went to Cranbrook – that’s a private school
What’s the matter, dog?
You’re embarrassed?
This guy’s a gangsta?
His real name is Clarence
Now Clarence lives at home with both parents
And Clarence parents have a real good marriage

For your playlist:

3.Shaft (1971)

Classic film line:
Sergeant Tom Hannon: Hey, where the hell are you going, Shaft?
John Shaft: To get laid, where the hell are you going?

For your playlist:

2. Waiting to Exhale: Original Soundtrack Album (1995)

Classic film lines:
Bernadine Harris: I give you 11 f***ing years of my life and you’re telling me you’re leaving me for a white woman?
John Harris, Sr.: Would it help if she was black?
Bernadine Harris: No. It would help if you were black.

For your playlist:

1. Purple Rain (1984)

Classic film lines:
Apollonia: Will you help me?
The Kid: No.
Apollonia: Pardon me?
The Kid: Nope… Wanna know why?
Apollonia: Nope.
The Kid: Because you wouldn’t pass the initiation.
Apollonia: What initiation?
The Kid: Well, for starters, you have to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka.
Apollonia: What?
The Kid: You have to purify yourself in Lake Minnetonka.
[She strips down, and runs towards the lake]
The Kid: Hey! Wait a minute! That’s…
[She jumps in. She gets out shivering]
The Kid: Uh, hold it…
Apollonia: What?
The Kid: That ain’t Lake Minnetonka.

For your playlist:

It’s your turn – which soundtracks should have made the list? Let us know below.