The CW’s Supernatural has been around since flip phones. For the sake of nostalgia, and in honor of the show’s final season, Comingsoon.net is taking a look at some of its best uses of classic rock music. Check out our picks in the gallery below!
One of the things Supernatural has been known for over the course of its nearly 15-year run is its soundtrack. The genre of classic rock has outlined the journey of two monster-hunting brothers, Sam, and Dean Winchester. Guitar-driven rock has been used for everything from opening montages and poignant moments to episode titles and aliases; In a way, Supernatural’s music has made the show what it is and contributed to its staggeringly gargantuan fan base.
Supernatural’s pilot aired in 2005. The episode began with a woman going upstairs to check on her baby in the middle of the night; the next thing we knew, she was burning alive on the ceiling. The scene might as well have been plucked out of a horror movie; the show had a dark and ominous feel unlike anything else on television. Around that episode’s midway point, Sam ridicules Dean’s taste in music:
Sam: I swear, man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection.
Dean: Why?
Sam: Well, for one, they’re cassette tapes. And two: Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Metallica?! It’s the greatest hits of mullet rock.
Dean: House rules, Sammy. Driver picks the music; shotgun shuts his cakehole.
And from then on out, Dean had the wheel; every episode put the viewer in the backside of his 67 Chevy Impala on their way to a hunt. The dichotomy between horror and rock ‘n’ roll has contributed to a plethora of iconic moments throughout the show’s history. Let’s take a look back at some of the best songs it’s used before.
Best Classic Rock Moments in Supernatural History
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Laugh I Nearly Died (The Rolling Stones)
At the end of the pilot episode, Sam's girlfriend, Jessica, is killed by the same thing that killed Sam and Dean's mom (in the same way). This tragedy brings Sam back into the family business (monster hunting). At the end of the first season's fifth episode ("Bloody Mary"), Sam imagines seeing Jessica on the side of the road all while the Stones play.
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(Don't Fear) The Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult)
In the first season's twelfth episode ("Faith"), Sam and Dean encounter a preacher who performs miracles. The truth turns out to be much more sinister; these "miracles" are all thanks to a reaper that is trading one life for another. In a revelatory sequence, said reaper chases a woman down to the sweet sound of Blue Oyster Cult.
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Hey Man, Nice Shot (Filter)
The sixteenth episode of the first season ("Skin") begins with this ominous jam; police officers raid a house and find a woman tied to a chair as Dean Winchester holds a knife (or so we think).
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Road to Nowhere (Ozzy Osbourne)
After Sam and Dean kill a monster that had once troubled them as children, the eighteenth episode of Supernatural's first seasons ends with the two discussing what Sam's childhood could have been like. Ozzy Osbourne's "Road to Nowhere" hits all the right notes in this moment.
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Carry on My Wayward Son (Kansas)
Supernatural's finale episode of every season begins with a recap. This recap is always set to Kansas' "Carry on My Wayward Son," except in its initial season. The first season introduced us to Kansas in its penultimate episode ("Salvation")—we've carried on ever since.
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Bad Moon Rising (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
The season finale of Supernatural's first season ("Devil's Trap) ends with Sam, Dean, and papa John Winchester getting rammed off the road by a truck driver. As "Bad Moon Rising" plays on his radio, it is revealed that he is possessed by a demon.
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Stranglehold (Ted Nugent)
Season two began with a no holds barred recap in front of "In My Time of Dying." It begins with Bobby Singer who says "Storm is coming, and you boys and your Daddy, you are smack in the middle of it." What follows is a handful of epic chords that amp the viewer up for what's to come.
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Renegade (Styx)
There's something undeniably cool about being wanted by the law. The twelfth episode of the second season traps the Winchesters in a bank with a shapeshifter (the law naturally assume the brothers are robbing the bank). At the episodes end, Sam and Dean escape capture while "Renegade" plays.
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Rooster (Alice in Chains)
In order to depose of a ghost that is killing inmates, Sam and Dean get themselves thrown into the pen. Once again escaping, the second season's nineteenth episode ends with the two burning the ghost's corpse in a graveyard while Alice in Chains plays.
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Heat of the Moment (Asia)
The eleventh season of Supernatural's third season is very Groundhog Day-esque. Sam relives the same day over and over again, a day that always begins with Asia playing on the radio and ends with Dean's death.
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Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi)
"Bon Jovi rocks, on occasion." Supernatural's third season's finale contains a Jovi jam session courtesy of Sam and Dean.
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Thunderstruck (AC/DC)
Season four ends with Lucifer's escaping from hell and Season five picks up right where the former left off; However, before we get to that we are offered another incredible "The Road so Far" recap thanks to Brian Johnson and company.
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Simple Man (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
The third episode of season five ("Free to Be You and Me") begins with a montage showing Sam and Dean's newly separate lives; Dean still living a hunter's life and Sam living a simpler one.
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Rock of Ages (Def Leppard)
Season five's finale, appropriately entitled "Swan Song," was intended (by original show runner Eric Kripke) to be the show's final episode; however, Supernatural has continued on for ten years. "Swan Song" still has an element of finality to it—a biblical showdown and an awesome entrance by Dean and the Impala (Def Leppard with the assist).
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Night Moves (Bob Seger)
If this slideshow is any indication, Supernatural used up its best classic rock moments in its earlier seasons. Just when everyone thought it couldn't get any better, season eleven gave us the Impala-centric episode entitled "Baby." The highlight of the episode occurs after an indisposed incident between Sam and a waitress, an incident that Dean uses as an opportunity to play a little Bob Seger and bond with his brother.
