Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is coming out this year, and with the initial film being such a success the Nerd Bible team are starting to take a reflective look at what made the original installment such a success. In particular we’ve been focusing on the soundtrack, which is arguably the best compilation of music to ever take the screen alongside our favorite heroes.

The soundtrack is an essential part of a film’s success, it can make a bad film good, and a good film average, and we’ve already had some brilliant soundtracks in the past. Danny Elfman did a great job on Spiderman (the Maguire years), and the Deadpool team used iconic tracks from Juice Newton and DMX.

So, what did the Guardians gang do to get it so right?

Well the straight forward answer is they picked a playlist of absolute classic tracks from the 60’s and 70’s and put them in a film where the public wouldn’t already know the characters. It helped us identify their natures and understand their motives, which is something we hadn’t needed before. We already knew Spiderman, we already knew Iron Man, and as a result we didn’t need the music to help us fall in love with them.

From the outset of Guardians 1 we start to get a sense of the nature of the film, its light-hearted, it’s funny, and this is most obvious from the use of the music. The use of Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede in the trailer demonstrates this perfectly, and this song has arguably become the most iconic track from the whole playlist.

So, with the success of the music from the first film, and with the discovery of Awesome Mix Vol.2 at the end of it, people are now looking at what we can expect from the second film, both in terms of story line and in terms of the music.

As a result, team Nerd Bible have been putting their heads together and working towards our very own Awesome Mix Vol. 2.

To create a good Guardians soundtrack, you need three key elements. You need the slow songs for those moments when Groot and Rocket are about to make you cry real tears of emotion, you need those fast-paced action tracks for when Drax is doing his destroying, you need the upbeat tracks that signify the nature of the gang.

We’ve tried to keep this all-in mind as we put together the following list, the first to choices of which were easy, as we already knew that they were on the soundtrack. We heard our first song at the end of Guardians 1 when Quinn finds the second Awesome Mix volume, and the second is from the latest trailer release.

So here we have it, the Nerd Bible’s own suggestions for the Guardians of the Galaxy’s Awesome Mix Vol.2:

Aint No Mountain High Enough – Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrel

The Chain – Fleetwood Mac

(Don’t Fear) The Reaper – Blue Oyster Cult

Funkytown – Lipps inc.

Low Rider – War

When You’re in Love with A Beautiful Women – Dr Hook

Midnight Train to Georgia – Gladys Knight & The Pips

More Than a Feeling – Boston

I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bun) – Four Tops

Voodoo Child – Jimi Hendrix

Riders on The Storm – The Doors

Stayin’ Alive – The Bee Gee’s

Walk on The Wild side – Lou Reed

Get Up Offa That Thing – James Brown

I Wanna Be Your Lover – Prince

Frankie Valli – December, 1963 (Oh What A Night)

We also felt it was important to mention other tracks that absolutely would have made the cut if not for certain reasons. We would have loved to include Should I Stay or Should I Go by The Clash, however its prominence in Netflix’s latest series Stranger Things kept it off the list as we felt it already had a place on a renowned soundtrack. We also would have liked to include Play That Funky Music by Wild Cherry; however, this track is in so many films we felt that it has already had its day.

So, what do you think? What have we missed? What would you include? Let us know, and if you like our choices you can head over to Spotify and give it a listen at – https://play.spotify.com/user/nerdbible/playlist/0yEoyC4lG4YYBJKmnvWfM2