Way Back 2026

June 30, 2026 - Metallica Breaks "Delilah" Ban, Françoise, Ella and Astrud Sing for Supergirl

Metallica has disregarded the rules at Principality Stadium in Cardiff by performing Welshman Tom Jones' 1968 hit "Delilah" during a concert. The song was banned from the stadium a few years ago due to its violent lyrics ('I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more...') but those wild rockers, who do what the want when they wanna, played it anyway, then donated $26,000 to the Cardiff Foodbank. The show broke an attendance record and hopefully James Hetfield and company's "artistic license" won't become a big issue. Tom 's gotta be feeling proud right about now!

The Supergirl movie is in theaters and features three songs from six decades gone on its soundtrack: Françoise Hardy's 1962 Vogue recording of "Le temps de l'amour," Ella Fitzgerald's classic take on Irving Berlin's "Cheek to Cheek" and the 1964 hit and Grammy winner for Record of the Year, "The Girl From Ipanema" by Getz/Gilberto with Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jackass: Best and Last includes "My Way" by Frank Sinatra, which begs the question: is it Johnny Knoxville's signature song now? And a promo for Minions & Monsters takes liberties with an all-time singalong song as the Minions perform an unintelligible version of the Regents/Beach Boys classic "Barbara-Ann."


April 27, 2026 - Songs a-Plenty from Motown, J5, G. Kelly, J.L. Hooker and the Impressions

Box office leader Michael, the biopic starring Michael Jackson's nephew Jaafar Jackson, works in a few pre-Jackson Five/MJ songs, nearly all from Motown: early Berry Gordy production "Money (That's What I Want)" by Barrett Strong, Gladys Knight and the Pips' '67 jam "I Heard it Through the Grapevine," "Oh How Happy" by Edwin Starr and Blinky (penned by Starr) and the one without any Detroit origins, "Singin' in the Rain," first heard in Broadway's Hollywood Music Box Revue of 1929, then famously in the classic 1952 big screen musical Singin' in the Rain, sung by Gene Kelly (...in the rain!), and now in the Michael movie. This in addition, of course, to the late-'69 Jackson Five breakthrough "I Want You Back" and many other J5 hits that activated Michael's wildly successful career.

Also in cinemas, Bob Odenkirk's latest action thriller Normal has one blues classic on its soundtrack: "Boom Boom" by John Lee Hooker (who spent a fair amount of time in Detroit but never in Normal, Minnesota...which would be impossible). Then there's patio, balcony and rooftop company Trex, placing "It's All Right" by The Impressions in its latest TV commercial.


April 4, 2026 - Hail Mary!, The Drama Join Mario and Luigi...and the Music is Our Gain

Project Hail Mary, the top theatrical hit of 2026 so far, brings a few vintage songs back into the fray including Ella Fitzgerald's 1957 version of late '30s Gershwin tune "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," South African star Miriam Makeba's '67 hit "Pata Pata" and Beatles breakup-era album cut "Two of Us." Zendaya and Robert Pattinson star in The Drama, a romantic comedy in spite of its title, highlighted by two very different mid-1950s recordings, "The Wind" by R&B vocal group The Diablos featuring Nolan Strong and "Tangerine," the 1942 Victor Schertzinger-Johnny Mercer song given a lush arrangement on Jackie Gleason's 1954 album Music to Remember Her.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (the follow-up to 2023's Super Mario Bros. Movie) is getting set for a hot box office run and Dean Martin's 1953 hit "That's Amore" factors into the fun. Another of Dino's "Rat Pack" pals, Sammy Davis Jr., croons "I've Gotta Be Me" (from the 1968 Broadway musical Golden Rainbow) on a current commercial for Coinbase.



The Girl from Ipanema Money (That's What I Want) I Heard it Through the Grapevine Pata Pata

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