WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Peacemaker Season 1, now streaming on HBO Max.
It's not a James Gunn project if there isn't a stellar soundtrack, and he brings his talent of combining stylish music with the art of cinema once again with Peacemaker. The titular character has his emotional and physical ups and downs throughout the series, and Gunn brilliantly mirrors that in his choice of music.
Peacemaker's soundtrack brings metal to the mainstream with hard rock takes on pop songs of the 2010s, along with obscure bands that have found their place in the weird eclectic essence of Peacemaker's world. Let's look at some of the best and most memorable bangers used in the series' first season.
"Do Ya Wanna Taste It?" by Wig Wam
Compared to the other breathtaking and minimalistic opening credits on HBO's shows, Peacemaker's stands out for its odd choice of the cast's awkward fully-choreographed dance to Wig Wam's "Do Ya Wanna Taste It?" But its awkwardness aids in the hilarious atmosphere of the show and makes it another un-skippable beat. What makes it so endearing is seeing such stern characters such as Emilia Harcourt and Auggie Smith break it down while managing to keep a straight face to stick to their strict personalities, proving that almost anybody can get a groove out of "Do Ya Wanna Taste It?"
"Come On Come on" by Nashville Pussy
It shouldn't be too surprising for a band named Nashville Pussy to make a musical appearance on a show inept on joking about sex and crudeness. In the first episode, "Come On Come On" plays on the car radio as Peacemaker drives around the city with his pet eagle, Eagly. This scene comes after a meeting at a restaurant with the rest of the Project Butterfly squad who disapprove of working with the vigilante, but are forced to as punishment for disobeying Amanda Waller's command in The Suicide Squad. Waller's daughter, Leota Adebayo, is the only one who tries to see the best in Peacemaker, despite his rudeness. He attempts to end the night on a high note through "Come On Come On" while bonding with his pet/best friend.
"Drag Me Down" by Santa Cruz
This one is for those who had an obsessive One Direction phase in middle school. If this hard rock thriller sounds familiar, that's because it's been an established radio hit since 2015. A One Direction pop single turned around by Santa Cruz, "Drag Me Down" is hardly recognizable as the boy-band hit in Episode 2 of Peacemaker. The song is featured in a riveting montage of Peacemaker and Vigilante going out to the woods to blow off steam, which results in shooting appliances as the expert gunman they are. It's a perfect hype song for someone like Peacemaker, who definitely needs it.
"Pumped Up Kicks" by John Murphy feat. Ralph Saenz
Another alternative cover of a radio hit, "Pumped Up Kicks" serves as both a scary reminder and a funny joke. The song is first mentioned in an argument between Amber and Evan, an unhappy married couple that Peacemaker holds hostage. Amber criticizes Evan's music taste, arguing that Foster the People literally wrote a song about shooting children. At the end of Episode 2, the cover plays over the white supremacists worshipping Auggie as the "White Dragon" in prison. Peacemaker manages to remind the audience both of the song's true meaning and the intentions behind Auggie as the White Dragon.
"Six Feet Under" by Kissin' Dynamite
In Episode 3, "Six Feet Under" plays as the Butterfly disguised as a senator, Royland Goff, prepares to torture Peacemaker and Vigilante in his creepy basement. Meanwhile, the rest of the Project Butterfly group have trouble finding the hidden passage to the basement to rescue Peacemaker and Vigilante. The song fades out as Vigilante is unmasked, revealing his true identity as Adrian Chase, and Leota finds the entrance to the basement. The choice of song is quite ironic, considering the two men were stuck underground, while also on their way to being six feet under the ground if they wouldn't give Goff the information he wanted.
"Jawbreaker" by The Cruel Intentions
In Episode 4, Leota embraces her mother to manipulate Vigilante into landing himself in jail, which leads to "Jawbreaker" being used as a cool backdrop to Vigilante's slow-motion walk as he prepares to assassinate Auggie, or better known by his followers, the White Dragon. This episode definitely highlights Adrian Chase rather than Vigilante, and shows that even without the suit, he's as confident as ever walking down a hallway of taunting inmates to the modern glam rock song. Meanwhile, the song also plays as Peacemaker returns home to reveal he didn't actually kill the Butterfly that came out of Goff's human body, and instead kept it in a jar.
"House of Pain" by Faster Pussycat
Poor Peacemaker. He just can't seem to go a day without having a breakdown. After discovering that the team knows about his traumatic childhood, he heads home to sulk with Eagly and Goff the Butterfly by his side in Episode 4. "House of Pain" is almost too on the nose, but that's what Peacemaker is feeling in the moment. There's a brief flashback of Rick Flag's death that has been haunting Peacemaker this entire series, and more extensively are flashbacks of him and his brother as kids, along with their menacing father. They don't explicitly show how Peacemaker was blamed for the death of his brother, but it shows the two having a heartfelt, brotherly relationship that seems to be the root of his love for music.
"11th Street Kids" by Hanoi Rocks
Sang by what Peacemaker claims to be the greatest band of all time, "11th Street Kids" becomes a major bonding moment for the team. The Finnish rock band's song plays in the van before and after the Butterfly mission in Episode 5, "Monkey Dory," and is even tattooed on John Economos' arm, which Peacemaker finds to be cool, considering he always thought of Economos as a nerd with no backbone. After the mission, the team rocks out to the song, with Harcourt even jamming along on the side. In fact, she finds the moment so endearing that she takes a candid picture of the session, and sends it in a group chat named after the song.
"Fallen Star" by Hanoi Rocks
It's ironic how "11th Street Kids" was played in a moment where the team was brought closer together, and another Hanoi Rocks' song, "Fallen Star" is the soundtrack used during their biggest downfall. Towards the end of Episode 5, Leota carries out her mother's orders to plant a forged diary of Peacemaker's into his trailer, where surely the unauthorized search warrant Detective Song is retrieving will expose the contents of it. Peacemaker and Leota's relationship has been the better of any relationships since the team's creation, but Leota's final decision to side with her mother may have destroyed the bond that was just made. It's quite literally a "Fallen Star" moment -- the group was at its highest and unbeatable, but this revelation can ensue a lack of trust that can't be mended.
"Monster" by Reckless Love
The true monster lives within Detective Song, and not even metaphorically after alien Goff takes over her body in Episode 6. "Monster" plays as Song calls on her Butterfly followers in their alien form to infiltrate the Evergreen police station and jail. The Butterflies kill and take over every body available to create an army that can take on Peacemaker and the 11th Street Kids squad. Meanwhile, Auggie has been released from prison and is building an army of his own, but it resembles the more racist, white-hood wearing group that his alter-ego White Dragon has been associated with in both the comics and show.
"Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue
He's a trained killer and a pianist -- Peacemaker has a range of talent. In Episode 6, Peacemaker finally has a heart to heart with Harcourt about his desire to not kill humans anymore, but of course the bug aliens are excluded from this. Harcourt gives him a gun engraved with a dove of peace as possibly an act of friendship, and reveals her first name to him: Emilia. While the team prepares for what may be their final battle against the Butterflies, Peacemaker sits down at the piano and plays an instrumental cover of "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue. The beautiful melody reflects on the peace he has finally found being accepted by the team, and moving past the troubling relationship with his father.
"In My Dreams" by Wig Wam
Wig Wam's jams returns in Episode 7, "Stop Dragon My Heart Around," with a brief needle drop in the designated 11th Street Kids van. After seeing the Butterfly-infested Evergreen PD announcing Peacemaker as the culprit behind the Butterfly massacre, Peacemaker drags Vigilante and Economos to kill the cow once and for all to reduce the Butterflies' food supply which will eventually make them extinct on Earth. Despite Peacemaker's current status as a wanted man, he jams out to Wig Wam's "In My Dreams" with Vigilante, and seeing Economos' disapproving face, Peacemaker asks, "Are you insinuating that there is a right time and a wrong time to rock?"
"Set the Night On Fire" by Pretty Boy Floyd
"Set the Night On Fire" actually plays as an end credits track for Episode 7, but it's the events that lead up to this fitting title that makes it a memorable tune. The Butterflies are fully aware of Peacemaker and the team's plan to kill the feeding cow, and go to its site to protect it. And it was... not what was expected. When the team kept saying it was a cow, an actual black and white spotted cow is what comes to mind, but it's actually a ginormous, ugly creature with multiple eyes that seems it doesn't need much protecting. As the image of the cow haunts the eyes of viewers, the screen cuts to black, leaving fans to rock out to "Set the Night on Fire."
"Apologize" by The Last Vegas
No, it's not the OneRepublic song asking if it's too late to apologize, but the sentiment is all the same. In the Season 1 finale, Adebayo makes one last effort to make amends with Peacemaker, who forgives her and proclaims her as his number two BFF, even above Vigilante. "Apologize" plays over a montage showing where Season 1 leaves Peacemaker's characters: Adebayo exposes her mother to the press, Economos goes back to work, Vigilant escapes from the hospital and Peacemaker visits a recovering Harcourt in her hospital room. It's fitting as a last hurrah for the team, but since Season 2 is confirmed, there's definitely a crisis to bring Task Force X back together.
"Do Ya Wanna Taste It?" by Wig Wam (Again)
"Do Ya Wanna Taste It" has made Peacemaker's opening credits so addictive that audiences won't be able to skip, and James Gunn brings it back in the Season 1 finale during the climactic battle scene against the Butterflies. Peacemaker, Vigilante and Harcourt make it out onto the field, guns in hand, ready to defeat every last Butterfly that stands in their way. It's a perfect scenario to bring the song into the show, apart from the opening credits, but ends in a scarily traumatic way. While Peacemaker treks into the barn to kill the cow, Vigilante gets shot and is presumably dead, and Harcourt is shot multiple times. When she falls, the song distorts as it were being played on a turntable adjusted too slowly.
To find more tunes to jam out to, stream Peacemaker Season 1 on HBO Max.