It might be one of the most iconic musical openings to a movie of all time, where we are introduced to characters who we will grow to love, hate, sympathise with and become frustrated by, dashing through the streets with the “Choose life” dialogue playing. It all looks and sounds perfect, and the thing that ties the whole scene together is Iggy Pop’s classic ‘Lust For Life’.

There has possibly never been a scene and a song that sync up so perfectly. The chaotic energy of both the opening scene and Iggy’s grating vocals work wonderfully, and they set the stage for one of the most harrowing films ever plastered across the silver screen. You want a good opening song? Choose this one.

We can sit here and argue about what the best Rolling Stones song is all day long. The band had a plethora of classics that we listen today as gleefully as audiences did when the songs were first released. However, one of their most timeless hits out of all these classics has to be the funky, soulful and hard-hitting ‘Gimme Shelter’.

The song has social unrest at the heart of it, as racism, war and riots created a mess of tension that The Rolling Stones referred to as a “Storm”, hence the title ‘Gimme Shelter’. The track slots in perfectly with the impending chaos set to take place during The Departed’s runtime, and as such, it makes the perfect song to set up the thriller-gangster epic.

Every now and then, you watch a segment from a film and dream of being transported there. The lights, the outfits, the atmosphere, everything about the opening few minutes of Boogie Nights screams transportative, and then, to top it all off, you have the great track ‘Best of My Love’ adding a bow on the machinery.

There is something about that soul and funk sound which is inherently infectious. Everything from the shimmering guitars, sweet sounding vocals and danceable drums make for some of the most exciting music out there, and by pairing that with the imagery of Boogie Nights, you really make for a great opening.

This feels like cheating a little bit, given Rocketman was a music biopic, but I promise this is the only one that I’ll include, and there are two reasons why I think it’s perfect. The first is purely because of how it looks and sounds; it sets the tone of the film perfectly, and what song can get you more in the mood for a couple hours of Elton John better than ‘The Bitch Is Back’? No notes.

More importantly, though, it feels as though the perfect song for a film which is as vulnerable and self-deprecating as a biopic. Elton John isn’t always painted in a good light during this film’s runtime, which sees him embracing his highs as well as his lows, so what better song to introduce the drama than a track which was created thanks to Bernie Taupin’s wife calling him a bitch? It seems oddly fitting.

Hip-hop is one of the fastest-growing genres of all time, and its speedy evolution and different subsections of rap music mean it can be tricky working out the best songs that champion it; however, one of the frontrunners has to be Public Enemy’s ‘Fight The Power’.

This song is one of the most triumphant examples representing the movement out there, as it’s rebellious, energetic and contains some of the greatest lyrics to ever make their way onto wax. It’s hard to hear that song and not feel energised, which is why when Do the Right Thing begins and that exciting example of rap bleeds through the speakers, it’s worthy of a standing ovation.

I assume a lot of people were surprised when they turned on the Iron Man film and weren’t met with the Black Sabbath song ‘Iron Man’. It all makes sense, and maybe it was an opportunity missed, but you can’t deny that when that film starts and the recognisable riff to ‘Back in Black’ begins, you know you’re in for a good time. The fact that all of this is the backdrop to a military convoy and fans seeing Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark for the first time makes for a perfect opening.

Angus Young has always known how great that opening riff is, and the way it elevates the first scene in Iron Man is proof. “I love playing ‘Back in Black‘, it’s like my wife said to me once about songs, you know,” said Young, “Instantly if you hear The Stones, you hear ‘Satisfaction’, and I said, ‘Well, we got one better, we got one’. [Laughs] And you know exactly who it is.”

One of the cruellest things in this world is the fact that No Vacancy isn’t a real band. The two songs that they play in School of Rock, ‘Fight’ and ‘Heal Me’, are some of the best tracks throughout the film, and songs that rock fans would flock to see where they performed in real life. The opening number, ‘Fight’, is upbeat, energetic and takes place in what looks like one of the dingiest and most loveable dive bars of all time.

Why, in a world full of great cinema and great opening songs, is one of the best of all time offered to us through a fictional musical outfit? The band should be real for this song is the stuff of rock legend, making the opening to School of Rock perfect.

David Lynch once said that the only reason he started making films was because he wanted to make people listen to his favourite music, and it’s this mindset that means a lot of people who may never have heard the song ‘Blue Velvet’ finally heard it in the film Blue Velvet.

The world of cinema was rocked recently when Lynch passed away, and it’s these peaceful yet surreal combinations of music and visuals that led to moviegoers loving him so much. How can you watch these first few minutes of this beautiful film sequence and be anything other than moved?

What was more chaotic than a movie like Apocalypse Now was the making of it, which has led it down in history as being one of the most turbulent of all time, as emotions ran high and the out of control nature of the film led to many quitting.

You could say the production on this picture was well and truly apocalyptic, and so to soundtrack the opening, which consists of monumental explosions, with something so melancholy and sad as ‘The End’ by The Doors, feels like a genius decision. All hope is lost within seconds as the trees turn to ash, people die, and all you are left with is staring the end of time in the face, making for a sequence that is as haunting as it is perfect.

I’ll level with you, a lot of the time when we make these lists, we accept suggestions from other members of the Far Out team. I put a message in our group asking if anyone had any contributions, worried that maybe I might have missed something, and there were plenty of high-brow, thought-provoking answers, which I all dismissed, for this is the greatest opening to a movie of all time, and my mind won’t change on this.

Comedies rely on the unexpected, as the only reason we laugh at a joke is because we weren’t expecting the punchline, and this is why humour changes; it has to in order to continue working. Hence, old comedies should seem outdated and not funny or be considered timeless, or that’s the theory anyway, but then you have vehicles like Austin Powers, which continue to rally against logic and prove it wrong.

This opening is laugh-out-loud funny and it all happens without Austin Powers saying a single word. The dance, the choreography, the facial expressions, the hysteria and of course, the upbeat, jaunty jingle put together by Quincy Jones, all act as the perfect window into a perfect comedy. Theories about the reliance on unpredictability in comedy are thrown out the window when presented with such a classic.