Trainspotting Is Film's Best Soundtrack

There have been many great films with even greater soundtracks. From the inclusion of bands like Echo, The Bunnymen, and Joy Division in Donnie Darko, to Alex Turner’s contribution in the movie Submarine, a lot of good music has been added to films to supplement them. There is one film, however, with a soundtrack that does more than just sound good to the audience. Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting does not only include great music, but the soundtrack actually helps in developing the narrative.  While there have been many great soundtracks in film, Trainspotting is film’s best soundtrack due to the fact that it helps complete the narrative, has been included in multiple best soundtrack lists, and combines both diegetic and non-diegetic music in a way that has never been done before.


The Trainspotting soundtrack really helps in developing the narrative for the audience. In the opening scene of the movie, Renton is running away while Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life” plays in the background. The song is fast-paced and fits well in this scene as Renton is running, which helps to create a feeling of excitement for the audience. According Madeleine Brand of NPR, “Lust For Life” is an ode to drug culture, which helps to foreshadow what is to come in the movie, since Trainspotting is about heroin use. The next song in the film is “Carmem - Habanera” by Georges Bizet, which plays as Renton explains how he is going to quit heroin after one final hit. According to Justin Gerber of Consequence of Sound, this song is included as a “comedown” for the “high” that “Lust For Life” provides the audience. The next song that plays is Brian Eno’s “Deep Blue Day”. This song plays after Renton climbs into a toilet to retrieve the drugs he let drop into the toilet. Once inside the toilet, the audience can infer that Renton has found the drugs since the calming sounds of “Deep Blue Day” begin playing.

Renton then goes to a nightclub where Heaven 17’s cover of “Temptation” is playing. As the title of the song suggests, there are obviously quite a few temptations, like drugs, to be found in a nightclub. The lyrics of the song, “I’ve never met anyone quite like you before,” foreshadow what happens next. Once “Temptation” finishes playing, Sleeper’s cover of the Blondie song “Atomic” begins playing. Renton then sees Dianne and falls in love. Lyrics in the song like “make me tonight” and “your hair is beautiful” help to create this feeling of desire that Renton feels for Dianne. The song also plays while a bunch of the characters from the movies are having sex with girls in their homes, which again goes with this feeling of desire. The next song in the movie is the original version of “Temptation” by New Order. This song plays the morning after Renton has sex with Dianne and is eating breakfast with her parents. He then finds out that Dianne is still in school. Just as the audience now gets a new look at the same song that was played earlier in the movie, Renton gets a new look at the girl he had sex with the night before. Gerber comments, “Choosing this new wave song to play while Diane’s middle-aged parents eat breakfast in silence is bizarre. It makes an uncomfortable situation that much stranger, as things stop making sense for Renton.” The next song in the film is Iggy Pop’s “Nightclubbing”. The song plays as Renton is seen stealing to make money so that he can buy heroin, and continues playing as he injects himself with the drug and talks with his friend, Tommy, about his break-up with his girlfriend. Tommy then tells Renton he wants to try the drug. Gerber believes “Nightclubbing” is included in this part of the film due to its random lyrics and the repetition of the drum machine, which is representative “rinse and repeat troubles” of the characters.

The next song that plays in the movie is Blur’s “Sing”. The song contains the lyrics “I can’t feel cause I’m numb,” which likely refers to the heroin Renton and the other characters in the movie are using after the death of one of the character’s baby. The song also includes the lyrics “If the child in your head, if the child is dead,” which foreshadows the hallucination of the dead baby Renton sees when his parents lock him in his room in an attempt to get him to quit heroin cold turkey. The song that plays next is “Perfect Day” by Lou Reed. It plays as Renton overdoses and has to go to the hospital. Since the song is about heroin addiction, it makes perfect sense that this would be the song playing as Renton overdoses. Gerber also notes that the final words of the song “You’re going to reap just what you sow” is a good transition into “Renton’s cold turkey experience.”

The next song that is played in the movie is Underworld’s “Dark and Long”. The song plays as Renton begins hallucinating as a result of his withdrawal from heroin as he is unable to leave his bedroom that his parents have locked him inside of. As the title suggests, the song does in fact have a very dark feel to it. The song also contains dark lyrics, like “I want to smash it up, I want to break it down, I want a wall of tears to wash away.” The lyrics certainly show how Renton must have been feeling, unable to escape his room and take any drugs. After Renton is finally allowed to leave his room, he leaves town. The song that plays during this part of the movie is “Think About the Way” by Ice Mc. Although never explicitly said by Renton in the movie, the audience can infer from the music that Renton has done a lot of thinking about his life, as the lyrics say, “think about the way that we live today”.

Not long after Renton moves away, gets a job, and finds a place to live, Begbie finds him and decides to live with him. When Begbie places a bet on a horse and it wins, Pulp’s “Mile End” plays. As Jarvis Cocker sings lyrics like “We didn’t have no place to live, we didn’t have no place to go,” it describes the living situation that Renton and Begbie are in. As Cocker sings “The lift is always full of piss, the fifth floor landing smells of fish,” the audience knows that the place that Renton and Begbie are living in is not a nice place to live in. Begbie and Renton then celebrate the horse winning at a club. At the club, “For What You Dream Of” by Bedrock is playing. Renton and Begbie appear to be happy as lyrics like “Life’s not just a way of marking time, express the feeling some time” are playing in the background.

The next song in the movie is “2:1” by Elastica. This song is playing as Sick Boy comes to live with Renton and Begbie, Sick Boy sells Renton’s TV and tries to convince him to sell his passport, and Renton finds Begbie and Sick Boy a different place to live. As Renton tries to keep his cool while dealing with Sick Boy and Begbie, lyrics like “keeping a brave face in circumstances” fit perfectly into the film. The next song in the movie is actually sung by the character Spud. The song, titled “Two Little Boys” follows the funeral of Tommy. Spud sings sad lyrics like “When we grow up we’ll both be soldiers, and our horses will not be toys, and I wonder if we’ll remember, when we were two little boys.” After this song, “A Final Hit” by Leftfield plays. As the song plays, Renton, Begbie, Sick Boy, and Spud take a bus to London, and Renton takes what he says is his final hit of heroin. This makes it appropriate for a song titled “A Final Hit” to play in the background. The next song in the film is Sleeper’s “Statuesque”, which helps to show the excitement of Renton, Begbie, Sick Boy, and Spud after the success of their drug deal.

The second to last song in the film is “Born Slippy (NUXX)” by Underworld. The song plays as Renton takes the money from the drug deal and leaves Begbie and Sick Boy with nothing. He does leave Spud some money in a locker, however. As the title of the song suggests, Renton was not to be trusted or relied on. The song also includes, lyrics like “Let your feelings slip boy,” which fits in nicely with this part of the film. The final song in the film, Damon Albarn’s “Closet Romantic” is played during the ending credits. This is the only song in the film that does not seem to contribute to the story, but since it is in the ending credits, the audience wouldn’t really expect it to.

Not only is the soundtrack of this movie great because all of its songs contribute to the story, but it is also great because of its use of both diegetic and non-diegetic music. Diegetic music is music that is actually occurring within the story. In Trainspotting, this mainly consisted of music that was being played in the clubs. Examples of these occurrences include Heaven 17’s cover of “Temptation” and Sleeper’s cover of “Atomic”. On the other hand, non-diegetic music is music that were added in and are not actually a part of the world in which the story takes place. Examples non-diegetic music in this film includes songs such as “Lust For Life” by Iggy Pop and “Mile End” by Pulp.

Another piece of evidence backing up that the Trainspotting soundtrack is the best in film is that it has been included on many best soundtrack lists. The soundtrack was included in NME’s “61 Of The Greatest Film SoundtracksEver” in February of 2015. Rolling Stone also included the soundtrack its list “The 25 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time” in August of 2013. Finally, Time included the soundtrack in its list “Top 25 Movie Soundtracks” in February of 2011.

One more reason that the Trainspotting soundtrack is the best in film is that after the first volume of the soundtrack was released, a second volume of the soundtrack was released. According to Time, the original soundtrack was so popular that the filmmakers decided to release a second volume. The second volume of the soundtrack included songs from artists on from the first volume, such as Iggy Pop, and also included artists that were not included in the first volume such as Joy Division. According to Gerber, the Trainspotting soundtrack “gave an opportunity for younger audiences to become familiar with many different bands. This was an age before iTunes and before the widespread use of the internet. Trainspotting gave us Iggy Pop, New Order, Blur, Lou Reed, Underworld, and other bands not found in heavy rotation on FM radio or MTV at the time.”

There have been many great soundtracks throughout the history of film. However, no other film manages to accomplish the things the the Trainspotting soundtrack is able to accomplish. The Trainspotting soundtrack does not just include a lot of great songs, but uses them in a way that helps the audience understand the narrative of the film. While the film uses mainly non-diegetic music, it uses a combination of both diegetic music and non-diegetic music in order to complete the film. The soundtrack has been included in multiple lists of best soundtracks, was so popular a second volume of the soundtrack was released, and gave young people a chance to experience a wide array of bands, making the Trainspotting soundtrack the best in the history of film.