"Kick-Ass" Soundtrack Lyrics

"Kick-Ass: Music from the Motion Picture & The Score" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

Can a foul-mouthed superhero comedy run on both chart singles and a four-composer action score? Kick-Ass (2010) does exactly that. The various-artists album delivers punchy anthems (Mika & RedOne, The Prodigy, Ellie Goulding, Sparks), while the companion score leans on Henry Jackman, John Murphy, Ilan Eshkeri, and Marius de Vries—plus a cameo cue by Danny Elfman. The two releases landed in spring 2010 and split the workload neatly: pop and punk for teen satire; propulsive score for bone-crunching set-pieces.

The film’s sound design is famously intertextual: Murphy’s “In the House – In a Heartbeat” DNA and “Adagio in D Minor” (as new arrangements) reappear during the warehouse massacre and the strobe-lit rescue, while needle-drops like Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” and The Dickies’ “Banana Splits” turn violence into swagger. According to the official album pages and cue databases, several on-screen songs don’t appear on the VA disc (e.g., Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”), and trailer music leaned on The Prodigy’s “Stand Up.”

Questions & Answers

Are there two official releases?

Yes: the VA compilation Kick-Ass: Music from the Motion Picture and the separate Kick-Ass: The Score.

Who composed the score?

Henry Jackman, John Murphy, Ilan Eshkeri, and Marius de Vries; Danny Elfman contributes “Walk to Rasul’s.”

What’s the headline single?

“Kick Ass (We Are Young)” by Mika vs. RedOne—issued as a standalone single with a video cut.

Which big on-screen song is missing from the VA album?

“Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley (used in the Mistmobile cruise).

Runtime for timing context?

≈118 minutes (theatrical); cue times below follow the common home release.

Trailer ID used for figures?

2rpXHqnGDXo.

Notes & Trivia

• The VA album released 29–30 March 2010 (UK/US digital); the score followed in May 2010.
• Trailer music leaned on The Prodigy’s “Stand Up”; “Omen” also appears in-film.
• Murphy’s “In the House – In a Heartbeat” and “Adagio in D Minor” motifs are reworked here as “Big Daddy Kills” and “Strobe (Adagio in D Minor).”
• “Bad Reputation” plays for Hit-Girl’s hallway blitz; the album substitutes a cover credited as “The Hit Girls.”
• Elvis’s “An American Trilogy” scores the jet-pack/gatling guns entrance near the finale.

Genres & Themes

Punk & glam → Irreverence as armor: Joan Jett and Sparks telegraph attitude; violence plays like a sneer.

Club-edge electronica → Hype & motion: The Prodigy powers trailer beats and early action rhythms.

Cinematic hybrid score → Consequence: low-brass hits, string ostinati, and Murphy’s cathartic adagios mark turning points—warehouse inferno, strobe rescue, rooftop farewells.

Tracks & Scenes

Timestamps are approximate to the ~118-minute cut; where available, minute marks are aligned with published cue lists. “Diegetic” = heard by characters.

“Stand Up” — The Prodigy
Where it plays: Early promotional cuts and teaser/red-band trailers; fragments underscore hype beats (~00:02–00:05, trailer context). Non-diegetic.
Why it matters: Establishes the film’s “amateur hero” swagger right out of the gate.

“Kick Ass (We Are Young)” — Mika vs. RedOne
Where it plays: Marketing single; appears over promotional sequences and album play (~00:06). Non-diegetic.
Why it matters: Formally the banner song—youthful bravado as thesis.

“Walk to Rasul’s” — Danny Elfman
Where it plays: Dave walks into the dealer’s apartment (~00:37). Non-diegetic score cue.
Why it matters: A sly, noir-tinted setup before the film’s first outrageous save.

“(Banana Splits) Tra La La Song” — The Dickies
Where it plays: Hit-Girl’s surprise debut in Rasul’s apartment (~00:39). Non-diegetic.
Why it matters: Bubblegum punk against arterial spray—perfectly perverse.

“Starry Eyed” — Ellie Goulding
Where it plays: Self-tan intimacy beat with Katie (~00:47). Diegetic (room stereo).
Why it matters: Soft-focus normality before the mask comes back on.

“Crazy” — Gnarls Barkley
Where it plays: Mistmobile cruise; Red Mist and Kick-Ass bond while touring the city (~01:02). Diegetic (car).
Why it matters: Two posers living their dream—music makes the irony warm.

“Big Daddy Kills” — John Murphy & Henry Jackman
Where it plays: Warehouse massacre (flamethrower + AR chaos) (~01:06). Non-diegetic score, derived from “In the House – In a Heartbeat.”
Why it matters: The film’s most ruthless cue; clinical momentum becomes spectacle.

“Strobe (Adagio in D Minor)” — John Murphy
Where it plays: Strobe-lit rescue of Big Daddy and Kick-Ass (~01:18). Non-diegetic score, evolved from Sunshine’s theme.
Why it matters: Operatic pathos for a father-daughter crucible.

“Bad Reputation” — Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
Where it plays: Hit-Girl’s hallway/gun-rack carnage through D’Amico HQ (~01:39). Non-diegetic.
Why it matters: The definitive Kick-Ass needle-drop—pure attitude as propulsion.

“An American Trilogy” — Elvis Presley
Where it plays: Jet-pack entrance with gatling guns (~01:43). Non-diegetic; film-version with dialogue exists on streaming.
Why it matters: Maximalist, ironic grandeur for a comic-book deus ex machina.

“Make Me Wanna Die” — The Pretty Reckless
Where it plays: First end-credits slot (~01:54+). Non-diegetic.
Why it matters: Dark-gloss sing-off after the dust settles.

Music–Story Links

• Innocence vs. savagery: Children’s-TV punk (“Banana Splits”) against a slaughter establishes Vaughn’s tone—laugh, then wince.
• Brotherhood cosplay: “Crazy” makes the Red Mist–Dave bromance feel real enough that the later betrayal stings.
• Operatic consequence: Murphy’s adagios turn pratfalls into tragedy; you feel the cost when the jokes stop.

How It Was Made

Matthew Vaughn pairs a radio-savvy compilation with a multi-composer score. The VA album (Polydor/Interscope) hit late March 2010; the score album followed mid-May. Composer credits are split across Jackman, Murphy, Eshkeri, and de Vries, with Elfman’s “Walk to Rasul’s” as a one-off—an Easter egg nod to the comic’s dialogue.

Reception & Quotes

Contemporary coverage flagged the audacity of recycling Murphy’s cult cues and the cheek of those punk drops.

“Lumbered with soundtrack snippets from 28 Days Later and Sunshine—but the result works.” The Guardian, blog

“Warehouse carnage rides that famous heartbeat; the hallway blitz belongs to Joan Jett.” fan/critic roundups

Availability: Both albums stream widely; regional labeling varies. The VA disc differs slightly from on-screen usage (e.g., “Crazy” omitted), a quirk noted by databases.

Additional Info

• UK VA album: Polydor; U.S. digital via Interscope/iTunes.
• The film premiered at SXSW (March 12, 2010) before its April release.
• Trailer cuts also used The Prodigy’s “Omen.”
• Score album lists ~39 cues; several are short connective pieces for narration/comic-panel transitions.
• There are “film versions” on streaming for the Elvis cue and select score edits.

Technical Info

• Title: Kick-Ass: Music from the Motion Picture / Kick-Ass: The Score
• Year: 2010
• Type: Various-artists compilation + original score
• Composers (score): Henry Jackman; John Murphy; Ilan Eshkeri; Marius de Vries (with Danny Elfman cue)
• Selected placements: “Stand Up” (The Prodigy); “Kick Ass (We Are Young)” (Mika vs. RedOne); “(Banana Splits) Tra La La Song” (The Dickies); “Starry Eyed” (Ellie Goulding); “Crazy” (Gnarls Barkley); “Bad Reputation” (Joan Jett & the Blackhearts); “An American Trilogy” (Elvis Presley); “Make Me Wanna Die” (The Pretty Reckless); score cues “Big Daddy Kills,” “Strobe (Adagio in D Minor).”
• Labels: Polydor (UK); Interscope (US digital for VA album)
• Runtime (film): ~118 minutes
• Trailer Video ID: 2rpXHqnGDXo

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: Wikipedia (album basics; trailer notes; song omissions); Discogs/Apple Music/Spotify (album/score credits & availability); IMDb soundtrack list; soundtrack databases with minute-marks (warehouse, corridor, jet-pack); press/trailer coverage.

November, 12th 2025