As you'd expect from James Gunn, The Suicide Squad's soundtrack contains an assortment of bangers — none of which are on this playlist. Assembled exclusively for Empire, these are the songs that didn't quite make the final cut, and Gunn's reasons why.
1. ‘RUSTY CAGE’ – JOHNNY CASH
“When we were almost done with the movie we heard that Guy Ritchie’s Wrath Of Man, which was coming out a couple of months before us, was using ‘Folsom Prison Blues’. So we almost used this — then I decided I just like ‘FPB’ better for the scene; I’ll let the chips fall where they may.”
2. ‘WHAT A WAY TO DIE’ – THE PLEASURE SEEKERS
“I love this old garage-rock tune, which was briefly considered for the opening credits instead of ‘People Who Died’ by The Jim Carroll Band.”
3. ‘DRAW THE LINE’ – AEROSMITH
“This played over the Osprey flying over the ocean and dropping the squad members into the water for a long time. It worked great, but, after our co-producer Simon Hatt suggested we could use a bit more tension in the scene, I thought John Murphy’s score might fulfil our needs better. And it does! But I still miss this, probably my favourite Aerosmith track (and I love a lot of them).”
4. ‘SOMOS SUR’ – ANA TIJOUX FEAT. SHADIA MANSOUR
“Ana Tijoux is a Chilean-French singer I adore, and I almost used this song when the gang pulls up outside the Corto Maltesian brothel. But the scene was shortened enough in editing that we just used the K Flay song we used inside, ‘Can’t Sleep’ — but starting it outside.”
5. ‘THE HUMAN PARADOX’ – DYNAZTY
6. ‘RESISTIRÉ’ — RESISTIRÉ MÉXICO
“These were both great songs we had in early cuts before my friend Grandson wrote his original classic ‘Rain’ for the same scene. That said, I’m using the Dynazty song — one of my favourite metal tunes — in a future project.”
7. ‘DEATH ON TWO LEGS’ – QUEEN
“This was briefly considered for the big Harley Quinn action sequence back in the script stage (yes, I write all of the songs into the script), before I came up with the final choice for the scene.”
8. ‘A PERFECT MIRACLE’ – SPIRITUALIZED
“Part of the finale was originally this wonderful song by this incredible band — sadly, it just didn’t work that well. Another song I’d like to use on screen someday... There are too many to count!”
9. ‘SOMETIMES’ – KERO KERO BONITO
10. ‘EL PUEBLO UNIDO JAMAS SERA VENCIDO’– INTI-ILLIMANI
“These were both considered for the end credits.”