In the 15 years thatSupernaturalaired weekly on television, it quickly understood the type of show it was and used it to an advantage. It was a blend of ridiculous camp and gory horror that perfectly encapsulated the tone of the show and the lives the Winchester brothers led. It had interesting, complex characters and likable villains that would often become allies to the boys. No matter who the character was, you usually found yourself rooting for them if they helped Sam (Jared Padalecki) and Dean (Jensen Ackles) just once. Characters that weren’t on the show for very long or who only showed up once in a while were still adored because they were written to be that way.
The show had a great sense of self-aware humor, and even as the seasons wore on, and it strayed a bit from the early seasons' horror aspect, it still kept that element in its back pocket and pulled it out when necessary. It was funny, gut-wrenching, emotional, terrifying at times, and it was meaningful. There’s a reason so many people still love the show despite it being off the air for three years. It meant something to fans because the characters, humor, and storylines left a lasting impression.
Supernaturaltried a lot of things and was constantly changing. Some things that tried worked and others did not. One thing the show always got right, however, was its utilization of music. Dean’s fondness of rock music inevitably filled the show’s 15-season-long soundtrack with the sounds of the best classic rock from the ’70s and ’80s. It also had a surprising amount of pop music moments, such as Dean bopping along to “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift, that made for hilarious exchanges between characters.
Whether it was because the song matched the tone or the mood of a scene or because the lyrics perfectly described what the characters were going through,Supernaturalalways picked the best music to accompany a scene or character. Whether you already knew these songs or not, it is almost guaranteed that certain guitar riffs or drum beats automatically make you think of a scene in the show. Without further ado, here are 20 of the best uses of music inSupernatural:
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Sam usually poked fun at Deanfor his deep admiration for rock, but this scene in “No Rest for the Wicked”, the season finale of season three, was one of the few instances where the brothers bonded over a song. Time was running out for Dean and the Hellhounds that were going to drag him into the Pit were closing in on him. In a funny yet bittersweet moment between the boys, Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive” came on the radio as they were driving down a dark road in the Impala.
Sam was surprised that Dean wanted to keep the song on as “Bon Jovi rocks, on occasion”, according to Dean. The boys belt out the chorus together completely off-key in what Dean believed to be one of his final moments with his younger brother.
19"Silent Lucidity" by Queensryche - S2, EP 17
In the season two episode “Heart”, Sam and Dean investigate a series of murders they believed to be connected to a werewolf. They were right, but they didn’t realize right away that the werewolf was Madison (Emmanuelle Vaugier), a woman they were protecting and someone Sam formed a bond with. Once Madison realizes that she’s the one who has been hurting people, she begs Sam to be the one who pulls the trigger to end her killings. Dean offers to do it for Sam after seeing how much it was hurting him to think about killing Madison, but Sam insists.
Queensryche’s power ballad “Silent Lucidity” plays in the background as Sam prepares himself to do what he knows he has to do as he cries his way through the upsetting task, and Dean sheds a tear for his brother right before the gun goes off and the song abruptly ends.
18"Don’t Fear the Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult - S1, EP 12
Blue Oyster Cult’s hit song “Don’t Fear the Reaper"has been used in many movies and TV shows over the years, especially in the horror genre. In the 12th episode ofSupernatural’s first season, it was aptly used to introduce a creature that was featured numerous times throughout the rest of the show’s 15 seasons. After Dean was injured on a case, Sam thought he found a cure in a preacher who supposedly performed miracles. Of course, those miracles were not as holy as they appeared to be, and the Winchester brothers had to race to stop the “miracles” before another innocent life was claimed.
The song played when Sam and Dean were introduced to Reapers, the beings that claim souls once a person has died. Both the title and the frantic rhythm combined with the calm melody perfectly fit the scene and created a sense of weariness about the creatures the boys and fans had not yet become familiar with.
17"Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple - S6, EP 2
The beginning of season six picks up a year after Sam got trapped in the cage with Lucifer (Mark Pellegrino) and Michael and showed fans what Dean was up to in his life without his brother. He had settled into a domesticated life without hunting and was living with Lisa (Cindy Sampson) and Ben (Nicholas Elia). Right away, it was clear that as much as Dean cared for Lisa and her son, the “good” life was not meant for Dean.
In the second episode of the season, Sam has returned without a soul, although he had actually been back on Earth for about as long as Dean had been living in the suburbs. Dean had the Impala tucked away in the garage during the time he spent with Lisa, so when he finally rips the tarp off and sees his Baby again, it’s just as much a reunion for him as seeing Sam again was. Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water” plays as Dean dusts off his classic car and prepares to jump back into the hunter life that he clearly couldn’t live without. It’s fitting that the song chosen to reunite Dean with his Baby is a ’70s rock classic.
16"The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers - S6, EP 4
Bobby (Jim Beaver) was both the adoptive father of the Winchester boys and the glue that held the American hunter network together. Whether he was on the front lines or at home digging through lore books, Bobby was there for every hunter when they needed him, especially Sam and Dean. The fourth episode of season six titled “Weekend at Bobby’s” takes the time to show the ins and outs of all the hard work Bobby puts into assisting the Winchesters and every hunter who crosses his path.
“The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers plays over a montage of Bobby rifling through lore books in a library, which is only interrupted by his frequent exclamation of “Balls!” whenever he gets frustrated. The song basically became his unofficial theme, as it played once again in season ten when he is shown in Heaven sitting in his living room listening to this song.
15"Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp - S8, EP 17
By season eight, the relationship between Castiel (Misha Collins) and the Winchesters had become quite rocky. Cass had to regain the boys' trust after everything that happened with the Leviathans in season seven and what went down when Dean, Benny, and himself were stuck in Purgatory. Toward the end of the episode, Cass is seen leaving on a bus without the boys as Supertramp’s “Goodbye Stranger” plays over it.
The title of the song doubles as the title of the episode and depicts how Cass has become like a stranger to the Winchesters. The song is a farewell to a person you once knew but couldn’t come to an agreement with and had to move on from, which is exactly what happens between the three men in this season. Cass still cared deeply for Sam and Dean but knew that they needed a break from each other after everything that had gone down in the episode and the season as a whole.
14"Carry on Wayward Son" Rendition - S10, EP 5
For the 200th episode ofSupernatural, the showrunners and writers decided tomake an episode dedicated to the fans. Sam and Dean head to an all-girls preparatory high school where some people had gone missing, only to discover that the theatre department was putting on a fan-written musical based on Carver Edlund’s (Robert Benedict) book series titled “Supernatural.” They walk into an auditorium full of teenagers dressed as themselves and their friends, shouting things like “Idjits!” or “Hey, assbutt!” over and over again.
The musical episode featured some clever original songs, such as “The Road So Far” or “I’ll Just Wait Here Then” that referenced moments in the show, but perhaps the best song to come out of that episode was the girls' rendition of Kansas' “Carry On Wayward Son.” They turned the classic rock song into a moving ballad that left even Dean and Sam teary-eyed by the end. It summed up everything the boys had been through and the emotions they felt about all they had endured to get to where they were, including their desperate but failed attempts to remove the Mark of Cain from Dean.
13"Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves - S7, EP 20
Charlie Bradbury (Felicia Day) became a fan-favorite character from the moment she appeared on screen blasting “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves through her headphones. Charlie waltzed into her tech job at Richard Roman Enterprises listening to the upbeat tune while sporting until she gets to her desk adorned with merchandise from various movie or TV show franchises. The song was played again in a later episode called “Pac-Man Fever” as she trades in her novelty t-shirts for an FBI suit to help Dean out on a case. Charlie was a quirky, nearly perpetually happy character, so to have an uplifting song be her unofficial theme made perfect sense.
12"Fare Thee Well" by Rob Benedict - S11, EP 20
The season finale of season 11 titled “Don’t Call Me Shurley”, it is finally revealed that Carver Edlund (Rob Benedict), a.k.a Chuck Shurley, was really God. Not only was he God, but he had been writing a manuscript that included everything that had happened in the show until that point. He spends the episode talking with Metatron (Curtis Armstrong) about being a writer and has him read through the manuscript to give him editor’s notes. Metratron helps Chuck write a more cohesive story that isn’t just about him, of course, the Winchesters at that point still did not know that Chuck had been controlling everything.
Chuck eventually picks up a guitar in the bar he had conjured up and sing an acoustic version of the folk song “Fare Thee Well,” which was originallyrecorded in 1909 and has been re-recorded many times since. It’s a beautiful cover of the song and shows a more genuine side of Chuck before he turned the tables on the Winchesters and gang later in the show.
11"I Am the Fire" by Halestorm - S13, EP 10
The season 13 episode “Wayward Sisters” was supposed to serve as the introduction to the would-beSupernaturalspin-off Wayward Sisters. The spin-off would have centered around Sheriff Jody Mills (Kim Rhodes) as she trained Claire Novak (Kathryn Newton), Alex (Kathrine Ramdeen), and Patience (Clark Backo) to be hunters with the help of Sheriff Donna Hanscum (Brianna Buckmaster). However, the show was unfortunately never picked up, so we never got to see how the girl group would have fought monsters together on a weekly basis.
For the ending of the episode, Lzzy Hale of Halestorm used her powerful vocals to record a rocking theme for the five women called “I Am the Fire”. The modern, feminine approach to hard rock went along well withSupernatural’ssoundtrack, and would have been an excellent theme for theWayward Sisters, and it’s a shame that the show never came to be.
