Love and Other Drugs

The soundtrack to the movie Love and Other Drugs, about a Viagra salesman (Jake Gyllenhaal) who begins a relationship with a woman with Parkinson's disease (Anne Hathaway), is not so much an album specifically written for, or even inspired by the film, as it is a collection of hit songs that will have people who graduated from high school in the late 80's-early 90's thanking the producers for the trip down memory lane. The movie begins to the tune of 1993's 'Two Princes' by Spin Doctors, which was both number 21 on Blender magazine's list of the '50 Worst Songs Ever', and number 41 on 'VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s.

The 93's alternative rock fest continues with The Breeders' 'Cannonball', written by Kim Deal who was also with legendary band The Pixies. From there, things get classical with 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' by Richard Strauss, and Macarena, by Los Del Rio, which are played at the beginning and during a Pfizer conference, respectively. When things start getting hot and heavy for the two lead characters, the movie cranks out 'Standing In the Doorway' by Bob Dylan, and The Kinks' 'A Well Respected Man'. When Jamie (Gyllenhaal) finally starts trying to get people to buy Viagra from him, we hear the chords of 'Heaven is a Place on Earth', by The Go-Go's former vocalist Belinda Carlisle.

The rest of the songs that play during the movie and over the end credits are 'Way Over Yonder In the Minor Key' (Billy Bragg and Wilco), 'Show-Biz Blues' (Fleetwood Mac), 'Sleep Together' (Porcupine Tree), 'Engine Song' (Mirah), 'Jack-Ass' (Beck), 'Fidelity' (Regina Specktor), 'Rude Boy’s Outta Jail' (The Specials), and 'Supernova' (Liz Phair). Certainly a mishmash of genres and performers, with the only probable thing in common being that all the songs are hits.