History Main / LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn

* In ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks'', DarkChick Ravess is often accompanied by minions who play her {{leitmotif}} on violins.

* Movie 6 of ''LightNovel/TheGardenOfSinners'' has Azaka Kokutou put her earphones on and play some orchestral music as she is [[MundaneMadeAwesome walking towards an old, abandoned building.]] Justified because the person preventing her from going to the building has a CompellingVoice. The music continues playing until Azaka faces the person behind the events of the movie.

** It shows up in the original ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'': When Shrek's rescued Fiona and the group is journeying back to Lord Farquaad's castle, they get waylaid by Myth/RobinHood. Cue fight scene. A lively accordion piece quickly starts up -- and even holds a note during the Matrix-style OrbitalShot (where [[TimeStandsStill everything stops in place]] -- and Fiona takes the opportunity to fix her hair), and stops again as Fiona knocks out Friar Tuck, who was playing the instrument.

* In ''WebAnimation/PokemonRedFanmade'' Blue's arrival is often announced by the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFZAcOcE2No Rival Encounter OST]] from the games... And it's then revealed he's playing it on something: during the second meeting at Oak's lab he's playing it on his walkman, at the first encounter on Route 22 he's whistling it, on Nugget Bridge he's blasting it from a boombox (and doesn't turn it off until after he's defeated, and on the SS Anne he ''blasts it from the ship's speakers'' (thankfully the captain turns it off before [[spoiler:Red's Nidoking accidentally kills Blue's Raticate]]).

* After you reach a certain point in the final area of ''VideoGame/Splatoon2: Octo Expansion'', the previously ominous BackgroundMusic is [[ThemeMusicPowerUp replaced with Off the Hook's "Nasty Majesty"]]. Later on in the stage, Pearl comments on being able to hear their own music, which they realize is coming from Agent 8's CQ-80, meaning they're approaching the surface.

* ''Film/HotRod'' has a {{montage}} of the events right before Rod's big jump, set to John Farnham's "You're The Voice." It culminates with Rod and the members of his crew coming together for a slo-mo PowerWalk, only to be joined by a crowd of people who all start singing. The song grinds to a halt when a guy takes advantage of the distraction to rob a store, starting a riot. As people flee in chaos, a bagpipe version of "You're the Voice" starts playing, and eventually a group of men playing the bagpipes is shown.

* In the pilot episode of {{Webcomic/Lackadaisy}}, there's a RunningGag where an appropriate trombone sting will play, only to have everyone shout at J. J., the lounge's trombonist, to stop it.

** The equally impromptu song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBfJ5UNMxxs "Ice Cold Rita"]] by Roddy whilst being dragged behind the Jammy Dodger on a rubber duckie with a guitar as a paddle.

* TheMovie ''Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren'' parodied the tendency of the victory tune to play when a battle is won in a ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' game: the sting plays after Tifa fights against Loz. She looks around confused, only to discover that the music is the ring tone of Loz's cell phone.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}'':

** The ChristmasSpecial ''Shrek the Halls'' does with a sound effect: the "squealing kettle" noise that accompanies Shrek losing his temper is revealed to be an ''actual'' squealing kettle.

* In ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'', just before the last[[labelnote:*]]or [[BonusBoss penultimate]], in the [[UpdatedRerelease DS Version]][[/labelnote]] fight with Dalton, he is seen standing atop a recently-modified Epoch, monologuing, then strikes a dramatic pose... which activates the game's main musical score (''Chrono Trigger''), presumably coming from speakers on the Epoch itself. He is visibly and vocally annoyed at this, and complains until the BGM becomes something more fitting (''A Shot of Crisis'').

* ''Plan 7 of 9 from Outer Space''. Gneelix tells his wife to stop playing the {{theremin}} while he's delivering dramatic exposition.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. Nebula and Rhodey time travel back to when we first see Quill at the start of ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy''. "Come and Get Your Love" plays over the scene while Quill sings and dances for his EstablishingCharacterMoment. After a few moments of this, the film cuts to Nebula and Rhodey watching him — the music is actually just on Quill's Walkman and the scene was from his point of view, but all Nebula and Rhodey see is Quill dancing and singing off-key to a song they can't hear. Neither of them are impressed.

* In both ''{{Film/Guardians of|the Galaxy}} [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 the Galaxy]]'' movies, a great deal of the BackgroundMusic comes from Peter's walkman. [[ZigZaggedTrope It's not always set up]], but in scenes such as the opening credits for both movies and [[spoiler:Yondu massacring the other Ravagers]], the use of BackgroundMusic is set-up by the characters. Peter does try to [[DefiedTrope defy this]] at the start of the second film, since preparing to fight a giant monster is more important than listening to music while fighting.

* Film/{{Micmacs}} has an interesting variation: dramatic BackgroundMusic is playing, and the camera moves to a point where a full string orchestra are in view (playing said music), before it turns out that it's actually a bullet-in-the-brain induced hallucination.

** In ''Film/TheMuppets'', Kermit's big entrance involves him being brightly back-lit while a CherubicChoir is heard singing... and both lights and music turn out to be from a passing bus full of choir singers.

* In ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', Arthur Dent's first steps on an alien world are accompanied by haunting, ethereal BackgroundMusic... which turns out to be the RobotBuddy, Marvin, humming. Later in the same episode, a self-consciously inspirational speech from Zaphod Beeblebrox is nearly drowned out by a swelling, triumphal fanfare: Marvin again. (The fanfare was ''Thus Spake Zarathustra'', best known from ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''. The earlier ethereal bit was a Pink Floyd instrumental -- which caused copyright issues, and the joke was cut from the home audio release and most of the later versions of the series.)

* In ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'', an ominous theme (aptly named ''There Comes Trouble...'') [[MusicalSpoiler always starts playing when the duo is about to face a boss]]. Eventually, Kazooie points this out by declaring: "Here, the music changed. Every time that happens we always end in a BossBattle" before, obviously, fighting the BigBad's [[TheDragon Dragon]] for the third time.

* In ''Videogame/ChronoTrigger'', just before the last[[labelnote:*]]or [[BonusBoss penultimate]], in the [[UpdatedRerelease DS Version]][[/labelnote]] fight with Dalton, he is seen standing atop a recently-modified Epoch, monologuing, then strikes a dramatic pose... which activates the game's main musical score (''Chrono Trigger''), presumably coming from speakers on the Epoch itself. He is visibly and vocally annoyed at this, and complains until the BGM becomes something more fitting (''A Shot of Crisis'').

* In ''Videogame/FinalFantasyVI'', during the famous opera scene, Locke has just discovered that [[RecurringBoss mutual annoyance Ultros]] is planning to sabotage the opera. Once he tells the impresario, the BackgroundMusic makes a dramatic chord... and we pan back to the stage, as the scene has shifted from a celebration to a battle.

* ''Videogame/HardspaceShipbreaker:'' The SpaceWestern music playing during the game is playing directly in your helmet, piped in by LYNX mandate after psyche profiling to keep productivity up. If you take particular damage (mostly getting zapped, blown up or getting slammed into/by something too fast) it'll cause a radio malfunction that'll play something entirely different until things have calmed down and the shipbreaker [[PercussiveMaintenance gives it a few smacks]].

** In Max Payne 3, a RunningGag has Max attempt to play the main theme of the series whenever he finds a piano ([[EpicFail he fails miserably]] [[spoiler:until the final attempt]]).

* Miror B. from ''Pokemon Colosseum'' and ''Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness'' appears to be aware of and in control of his own theme, as it stops whenever he says "Stop the music!" and resumes whenever he says "Let the music play!".

* ''Videogame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' featured OminousPipeOrgan music in one scene, along with the BigBad playing an organ. Made more confusing by the fact that he stops playing the organ in the middle of the scene, and the music keeps going.

* ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick''

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' has one in the episode where Mad Modd traps them in an elaborate school. When they chased him to the music, Robin upturns a statue head (of Mad Mod) and turns a switch to stop the music after a ScoobyDoobyDoors Sequence.

*** Also in ''TP'', the Skull Kid in the Sacred Woods plays Saria's Song on his horn.

* In ''WebVideo/PokemonRedFanmade'' Blue's arrival is often announced by the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFZAcOcE2No Rival Encounter OST]] from the games... And it's then revealed he's playing it on something: during the second meeting at Oak's lab he's playing it on his walkman, at the first encounter on Route 22 he's whistling it, on Nugget Bridge he's blasting it from a boombox (and doesn't turn it off until after he's defeated, and on the SS Anne he ''blasts it from the ship's speakers'' (thankfully the captain turns it off before [[spoiler:Red's Nidoking accidentally kills Blue's Raticate]]).

* ''Videogame/{{Submachine}}: Future Loop Foundation'' opens in silence. The first puzzle you have to solve involves switching on a tape player...

** In "Ugh," the show's prehistoric episode, there's a series of cuts between Spongebob, a stick, and some fire, all accompanied by the dramatic sound of a barbershop quartet. At one point, the camera cuts to the live-action footage of the quartet itself (complete with a woman wearing a mustache) for [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment no discernible reason]]. (This whole sequence was a ShoutOut to ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey''.)

** In "Ugh," the show's prehistoric episode, there's a series of cuts between Spongebob, a stick, and some fire, all accompanied by the dramatic sound of a barbershop quartet. At one point, the camera cuts to the live-action footage of the quartet itself (complete with a woman wearing a mustache) for [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment no discernible reason]].

* In Emir Kusturica's ''Underground'' a brass band follows the main characters for part of the movie, providing the BGM. During a fight scene, one of the main characters requests a suitably fast pace song to be played.

* One of the {{Anti Villain}}s in ''Anime/EurekaSeven'' jams the airwaves with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T9Yygju9IY techno music]] -- her and her deceased-thanks-to-the-heroes husband's favorite song, which is how the heroes realize who is after them. The BGM only stops playing when her CoolPlane explodes.
* ''[[Anime/FLCLProgressiveAndAlternative FLCL Progressive]]'' begins with a DreamSequence set to Music/ThePillows' "Thank You, My Twilight", which begins and ends with chiptune-style beeps and blips. By the time the DreamSequence ends and the track's outro kicks in, the main character wakes up, and the song playing in the background is revealed to have been her cell phone alarm.

** Taken to extremes in ''Anime/{{Macross 7}}''. Aside from the intro, pre-episode bumper, outro, and next episode preview, just about every bit of music has an in-universe justification. If it's not from Fire Bomber performing music, the music is coming out of a radio or implied to be broadcast over the airwaves. Or it's just Veffidas' habitual drumming.

* In lesbian film noir ''Film/{{Bound 1996}}'', dramatic music builds steadily with the onscreen approach of the antagonist until the old b/w detective movie on the television is switched off, taking the music with it.

--> '''Cat:''' I thought the moment needed something.

* Creator/FritzLang's 1936 film ''[[Film/{{Fury1936}} Fury]]'' uses this twice. In a scene where Joe's fiancée Katherine is writing him a letter, a sappy '30s-style romantic soundtrack plays... until Katherine turns off the radio, apparently sick of it herself. Later, as the guilt-ridden Joe wanders the streets, he goes into an apparently busy bar only to discover that only the bartender is there; all the music and crowd noise was, again, coming from a radio that's promptly turned off.

* In both ''{{Film/Guardians of|the Galaxy}} [[Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2 the Galaxy]]'' movies, a great deal of the BackgroundMusic comes from Peter's walkman. [[ZigZaggedTrope It's not always set up]], but in scenes such as the opening credits for both movies and [[spoiler: Yondu massacring the other Ravagers]], the use of BackgroundMusic is set-up by the characters. Peter does try to [[DefiedTrope defy this]] at the start of the second film, since preparing to fight a giant monster is more important than listening to music while fighting.

-->'''Benny''': Damn it, what a shitty music is that?

* {{Film/Micmacs}} has an interesting variation: dramatic BackgroundMusic is playing, and the camera moves to a point where a full string orchestra are in view (playing said music), before it turns out that it's actually a bullet-in-the-brain induced hallucination.

-->''[[{{Podcast/Rifftrax}} Kevin Murphy]]'': And what sexy music? Can he hear the soundtrack? Is he ''God?!''

-->'''Cogman''': [[LampshadeHanging I was trying to make the moment more epic.]]

-> From "The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler":
--> Bloodnok: We must eat it or die.
--> Seagoon: Never!
-> Original line:
--> Bloodnok: We must!
-> Adlibbed line:
--> I'll stop playing this violin then! *Music Stops*

* ''VideoGame/{{Battlefield 4}}'': During the prologue mission "Baku", one of the soldiers tries to turn off the radio (playing ''Total Eclipse of the Heart'' by Bonnie Tyler) as your car is sinking, saying he doesn't want to die to the tune of this song.

* All three ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' games have record players and radios, many of them being the source of music in certain rooms; smashing or simply interacting with them can shut the music off. Special mention goes to Sander Cohen's apartment in the first game, where a record player is on while two splicers dance to a piano tune (which Cohen wrote, "Cohenscherzo") that's coming from it. Cohen orders you not to disturb the splicers, [[SchmuckBait but that clip of shotgun shells jammed under the player is very tempting...]]

-->'''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiXl44MLh5o A Wolf in VR]]''': Wait, really? That's where the evil music was coming from? I thought it was just ambiance! ''(turns it back on)'' I don't like it.

* Explicitly employed in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}''. The opening theme, "Burn My Dread," is actually the piece that the Main Character is constantly listening to in his "Atlus Audio" [=MP3=] player, as evidenced during his arrival at Tatsumi Port Island and during the FinalBattle.
** Before that, in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 1}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'', the iconic Aria of the Soul were played by a pianist named Nameless and sung by a singer named Belladonna. They are interacted with in said games while they are [[TheGhost completely unseen but are still around post-Persona 2]].

* Happens during [[spoiler: the glitchy second loop]] in ''VisualNovel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub''. [[spoiler: On a couple of occasions, the player will walk out into the hallway outside the clubroom, and the BackgroundMusic becomes muffled and distant as if it's coming from the clubroom itself.]]

* A running gag in one episode of ''{{WesternAnimation/Archer}}'' had a dramatic sting whenever Cheryl caught her brother interviewing her friends about her mental stability. Cheryl seems to be the only one who noticed it, implying that it's all in her head. She tries to ignore it, because "It's non-diagetic."

* ''Film/HighAnxiety'', opens with the protagonist nervously navigating an airport to increasingly tense music. The theme reaches a crescendo and ends just as he exits, prompting the punchline: "What a dramatic airport!" Later, the hero is chauffeured to his new workplace to dramatic chords. These turn out to come from ''the entire Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, traveling in the coach next lane''.

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', the radio on the Warthog is always set to a polka station, so if [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exo4xI31DOU you hear it getting louder]], it means that it's gonna [[CarFu run you down]].

* While pretty much every ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' Freak has a leitmotif, Machinima/ChristianBrutalSniper is notable in that he has to pull out a radio and switch it to "Millionaire's Holiday" for his to start. He often pulls this radio out of whoever he's just killed.

* ''Film/{{Focus}}'' has what seemed to have been just the BackgroundMusic revealed to have been playing in-universe ''as part of the exposition after the song has ended'', as part of an extremely insane XanatosGambit to swindle a high-roller from Macau. After repeatedly allowing the mark to win increasingly high-stakes wagers that seem to be even chances, the mastermind convinces the mark into a bet where the "odds" overwhelmingly favor said mark -- pick out any one player on the field, then give, not the con artist himself, but his ''girlfriend'', heretofore not involved in the action, one guess as to which player he selected. In fact, the con man has replaced #55 with one of his own henchmen -- something his date recognizes and knows to pick -- and primed the mark to have picked #55 by a series of events involving repeated exposure to the face of said henchman, various instances of the number 5 or 55 appearing, and -- the kicker -- the fact that Music/TheRollingStones' "Sympathy for the Devil", with its repeated "woo-woo!" background shouts, had not only been playing over the scene but ''in'' the scene -- "wu" being "five" in the mark's native language.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'': During the BarBrawl scene, there's a whole group of bagpipers who start playing as soon as the fight breaks out. They stop when it stops and start again when it starts again.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Returnal}}'', one of the bosses, Hyperion, can be found at the top of a eerie looking tower; the climb to the top of the tower is accompanied by sinster organ and synth music, which the PlayerCharacter, Selene, complains about, feeling tormented by the music. When Hyperion is encountered at the top of his tower, he is actually found hunched over an organ which he proceeds to keep playing for his entire boss fight. It is first when Hyperion finally goes down that the music, to Selene's outspoken relief, stops.