Inside Nokia Music

This week Neilsen SoundScan data reveals that Low by Flo Rida (featuring T-Pain) was the most downloaded song of the decade in the US. Wow! Of the decade! That’s really quite an achievement for a song that was the first single off the rapper’s debut album, Mail On Sunday.

I don’t know why our American friends went so nuts about this song, the only real reason I like it is because it reminds me of Tom Cruise as the brilliant Les Grossman, dancing to it during Tropic Thunder. Check it out:

Could its success all be down to that silly little scene? I strongly doubt it, but I’ll need to ask an American in the know for sure. I’m guessing instead it’s just down to the fact that they just like this mainstream hip-hop stuff. A lot.

But it’s given me food for thought on how a song featured in a movie with a silly dance can always stick in your mind. My personal favourites are:

1. Jon Heder in Napolean Dynamite: track Canned Heat by Jamiroquai. This dance routine at the end of the movie is so good I have actually tried to learn it, sober, in my living room, on more than five occasions. You’d think I might be embarrassed to admit that but sadly, I’m not. And now everytime I hear this song, which I previously didn’t think much of at all, all I wanna do is grab some snow boots and act like a complete geeky mong on the dancefloor.

2. John Travolta and Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction: track You Never Can Tell by Chuck Berry. Ooo lets go out on a fake date, ooo lets have a groovy dance and look all cool in front of everyone, ooo lets snort some heroin and OD like a skank. Not looking so cool now, are we Uma?

Actually, she really does look cool:

3. Tom Cruise (again! I know!) in Risky Business: track Old Time Rock & Roll by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. Here he is looking all cute, and being all normal dancing around in his socks and shirt. There’s no science to this scene, even L Ron would have to accept that it is truly magical. Simply can not hear this song without picturing this scene. Check it out here.

Bloggy bonus

Now, while trawling the net to make my sure my tiny little brain hadn’t forgot to include anything AMAZING I stumbled upon this extraordinary dance scene from the 80s classic movie Mac & Me. The song isn’t memorable (in fact there’s a prize up for grabs for whoever can name it), but I simply had to share this with you dear reader as it is pure, unadulterated, cheesy, 80s goodness. In my view, any scene where some American football jocks dance in time for no apparent reason is worth a watch. Enjoy.