9 Perfectly Innocent Pop Songs Forever Ruined By Movie Violence

By Dan Wakefield /

8. American Psycho (2000)

The song: 'Hip to Be Square' by Huey Lewis and the News ''You like Huey Lewis and the News? Their early work was a little too New Wave for my taste, but when 'Sports' came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically.'' It's unlikely, I know, but if ever you're over at your colleague's apartment and he offers the above critique, you should probably change the conversation. And if you catch sight of him fastening a raincoat, you should make your excuses and leave. Lest the same fate befall you as it did Paul Allen (Jared Leto), a man too wasted to realise that his workmate - and titular nutjob- Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale) has swung an axe into his skull. His host then presses 'play' on his stereo and dances across the floor. Poor Paul only gets to enjoy the opening seconds of the song, what with Bateman's commentary drowning it out. Oh, and the axe. What makes the scene so awkwardly funny is Bateman's infomercial-esque voice, 'selling' the album with a perfectly straight face. And the fact that Allen assumes the reason the entire apartment is covered in white protective sheets and ''copies of the style section all over the place'' is because his colleague has a dog. He doesn't. The song itself is about a former hippie who has come to embrace the lifestyle of an 80's yuppie; an irony very much not lost on the impossibly sharp- suited and silver- tongued Bateman. And now it will always remind you of Jared Leto's face being squished into the floor. Again.