James Gunn assembles a new squad — and a new soundtrack — for The Suicide Squad. The first DC Comics adaptation from the "horribly beautiful mind" of the Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker features music by classic artists, including Johnny Cash and Kansas, and pop hit "Rain," the original song created for the movie by grandson and Jessie Reyez. Before watching The Suicide Squad, playing in theaters and streaming on HBO Max tonight, read on for a spoiler-free playlist of music you'll hear in the new movie and on the original motion picture soundtrack album releasing Friday.
"I write all of the songs into the screenplay, and then those songs we play on set as we do the scenes. So when you see them walk through the rain to Pixies' 'Hey,' we have Pixies' 'Hey' blasting on set," Gunn recently told NME about his hand-picked tracks for The Suicide Squad. "Not only do I have the songs that I wrote into the screenplay playing, but John Murphy, who is a composer of this film… we write those musical cues for important sections long before we shoot the movie. So that we shoot the movie to the scores that we're playing."
Gunn added: "So when you see the Suicide Squad walking down the walkway to their theme blasting in the background in triumph, we're blasting that on set."
(Photo: WaterTower Music)
The filmmaker previously revealed to Empire his "James Gunn's Not-In-The-Suicide-Squad" playlist, featuring considered but ultimately rejected songs like "Draw the Line" by Aerosmith and "What a Way to Die" by The Pleasure Seekers. Continue below for a list of songs heard in The Suicide Squad:
FOLSOM PRISON BLUES by Johnny Cash
PEOPLE WHO DIED by The Jim Carroll Band
SUCKER’S PRAYER by The Decemberists
SAMBA NA SOLA by Céu
ADAGIO (CONCIERTO DE ARANJUEZ FOR GUITAR AND ORCHESTRA) by Pepe Romero, Sir Neville Marriner, Academy of St Martin in the Fields
WHISTLE FOR THE CHOIR by The Fratellis
POINT OF KNOW RETURN by Kansas
SOLA by Jessie Reyez
CAN’T SLEEP by K.Flay
QUEM TEM JOGA by Dirk Barbosa ft. Gloria Groove e Karol Conka