Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn Releases 2021 Awesome Mix

Russ Burlingame

12/21/2021 02:15 pm EST

As he has done regularly since the release of Guardians of the Galaxy, filmmaker James Gunn took to social media this weekend with a playlist of his most-listened-to tunes of the year. The smash success of the original Guardians soundtrack made Gunn something of a pop music expert for fans. Peter's "Awesome Mix," a mix tape of '70s and '80s staples gifted to him by his mother before she passed away, was a key part of the beloved first Guardians  film, and its follow-up was not quite the same level of mega-hit, but still a bona fide fan favorite.

Each of those playlists are the result of hours of work and whittling down hundreds of potential tunes, Gunn has said. The 2020 list is likely a bit less intense, but it's hard to imagine these 30 tracks are easy to narrow down.

You can see the post below, or find the link here.

Here's the playlist, if you can't get it to load:

  1. "Back in Love City" – The Vaccines
  2. "Modern Job" – Sprints
  3. "How to Feel" – Zuli Jr.
  4. "Paprika" – Japanese Breakfast
  5. "Bad Days Ain't Ova" – Dem Atlas
  6. "rain (from The Suicide Squad)" – grandson, Jesse Reyez
  7. "On Top" – Dan Croll
  8. "Pull the Plug" – Du Blonde
  9. "Tombstone Grey" – JAWNY
  10. "Anthony Kiedis" – Remi Wolf
  11. "Walk Away" – Mina Okabe
  12. "青い" – Polka Dot Stingray
  13. "SKrAm!" – Jeff Rosenstock
  14. "Three Way Ride" – Wildstreet
  15. "Bad Dream Baby" – Hippo Campus
  16. "Blame Game" – Beach Bunny
  17. "Everything You Got" – Ten Tonnes
  18. "The Beachland Ballroom" – IDLES
  19. "When the Fires Come" – Kero Kero Bonito
  20. "Old Friends" – Scott Helman
  21. "You Can Get It" – Arkells, K. Flay
  22. "Day 7.5093" – Nilufer Yanya
  23. "Borrowed Time" – Rick and Morty, Tennis
  24. "Rainforest – Noname
  25. "Play That Too" – Jack Page
  26. "Dare to Dream" – Dylan Cartlidge
  27. "Dept. of Finance" – Jeff Rosenstock, Laura Stevenson
  28. "I Broke My Own Rule" – They Might Be Giants
  29. "On My Way" – Alex Lahey
  30. "Skin" – Joy Crookes

There will be plenty more music coming this year, we're sure. After all, Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 will be in production, and the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special is set to arrive on Disney+ in about a year. 

Back in September, Karen Gillan (Nebula) shared that the third installment of the Guardians trilogy is "so emotional" that when she read the script along with Pom Klementieff (Mantis), they were both in "floods of tears." After that quote went viral, Gunn took to Twitter with a hilarious reaction. "Or maybe they just got paper cuts," Gunn joked. "I hope it's not because they thought they had too few lines because honestly their roles are both pretty huge and it seems greedy."

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is due to hit theaters on May 5, 2023.

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