Inappropriate Soundtracks

About

Inappropriate Soundtracks are remix videos created by pairing a movie clip with unfitting background music--often happy and upbeat--to juxtapose the serious tone of the original scene. Following this simple AV-editing formula, YouTube users have recreated dozens of well-known movie scenes featuring popular songs from outside sources.

(see also: WHILE I PLAY UNFITTING MUSIC in Youtube Poop)

The Exorcist w/ Inappropriate Soundtrack

Origin

The majority of “Inappropriate Soundtrack” videos point to Something Awful (SA) forums as the origin of the fad, as quoted by the most active contributors on YouTube:

Boonehams: Inappropriate Soundtracks is inspired by the SA forums. Thanks, goons!

RiperSnifler: Inappropriate soundtracks from SA goons

The earliest thread discussing “inappropriate soundtracks” was created in Something Awful forums on May 5th, 2002, titled Ruin movies with inappropriate soundtracks.. again!. This is the earliest example that can be found on SA but in the thread itself there is talk that there was a previous one posted earlier that must have been deleted.

The first “Inappropriate Soundtrack” YouTube video was uploaded by user WhoDares, featuring the “body dumping” scene from GoodFellas and “Dirty Little Secrets” by All-American Rejects:

Spread

While its origin dates back to early 2000s in SA forums, Inappropriate Soundtracks gained much of its popularity recently through SA-related contributions on YouTube and other major video-sharing
platforms.

Derivatives

Batman Begins (2005) feat. Batman theme song:

Kill Bill Vol.1 (2003) feat. various songs:

Pulp Fiction (1994) feat. various songs:

Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back (1980) feat. Jingle Bell:

The Shining (1980) feat. He Needs Me by Shelley Duvall:

Punisher (2004) feat. Raffi’s Bananaphone:

2012 (2009) feat. Raising Arizona soundtrack:

The Matrix (1999) feat. Top of the World by the Carpenters:

Saving Private Ryan (1998) feat. GI Joe Theme Song:

Shawshank Redemption (1994) feat. Mortal Kombat theme:

Braveheart (1995) feat. NFL theme song:

Philadelphia (1993) feat. Weird Science by Oingo Boingo:

Kill Bill feat. Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen:

Star Wars: A New Hope (1977) feat:

Perfect Storm (2000) feat. High Hopes by Sammy Cahn:

Blog Coverage

There are also several blogs posting about the meme within the last year or so. Examples include:
Living Read Girl , Filmsight , Kottke and The Inquisitr.