History Main / PublicDomainSoundtrack

* Frequently used in ''TheRenAndStimpyShow''. "Night on Bald Mountain" pops up when Ren introduces [[BigRedButton the History Eraser Button]] in "Space Madness".

* Whereas film lovers will identify "Also sprach Zarathustra" with ''2001'', in the mind of the wrestling fan, the song is synonymous with Ric Flair.
* Jerry "The King" Lawler has long used Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition" (Great Gate of Kiev movement) as his entrance theme.
* {{WWE}} wrestler The Undertaker's most common and well-known theme is a variation of Chopin's funeral march.

* For a brief period at the height of his "American blueblood" gimmick, the {{WWF}}'s Hunter Hearst Helmsley (better known today as Triple H) made his entrance to [[{{LudwigVanBeethoven}} Beethoven's]] "Ode to Joy".
* Don't forget Randy Savage coming out to Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" (otherwise known as "the graduation song").

* Much in the same line of Ric Flair, Daniel Bryan is now the definitive example of Ride of the Valkyries in the wrestling community.

* And of course you're an [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5YvU5XYsYQ uncultured barbarian]] if you fail to recognise {{Runman}}'s soundtrack.

->"American movie makers have always held a deep reverence for composers whose works lie in the public domain."
-->-'''Cecil Adams'''

* ''TegamiBachi'' Episode 10 features Johann Sebastian Bach's Air in D Major from Orchestral Suite No. 3.

* ''TegamiBachi'' Episode 10 features Johann Sebastian Bach's Air in D Major from Orchestral Suite No. 2.

* ''[[TheAdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog]]'' incorporates both "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and "Flight of the Bumblebee" in the opening theme.

* Not quite background music, but the use of Mozart's Eine kleine Nachtmusik in the third {{Ranma 1/2}} opening.

* The [=PlayStation=] game ''Wild 9'' using "Amazing Grace" on its Game Over screen. Of course, the somber mood is soon broken up by the laughter of the little green aliens you spend most of the game fighting...

* Grieg's ''In the Hall of the Mountain King'' shows up quite often as well, including ''Manic Miner'' for ZX Spectrum, ''Hunt the Wumpus'' for [[{{TI99}} TI-99/4A]], ''The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'', and... you guessed it... ''{{Parodius}}''.

*** ''[[MissionPackSequel Oh No! More Lemmings'' had an entirely original soundtrack in its Amiga/PC release. Its Acorn Archimedes port, however, had an entirely rewritten soundtrack with an absolute ''crapload'' of public domain songs, even more than in the original game: "The Trumpet Hornpipe" (better known as the ''CaptainPugwash'' theme), "K-K-K-Katy", "Camptown Races", "Three Blind Mice", the Finale from the William Tell overture, "Greensleeves", "Old [=McDonald=]", "Waltzing Matilda", "The British Grenadiers", "On Ilka Moor Baht 'at", "Trepak", "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor", "Don't Dilly-Dally on the Way" (also used in the MasterSystem and GameGear ports), "Rule, Britannia!", "Sobre las Olas" (also used in ''Lemmings 2''), "Yakety Sax", "Country Gardens", and finally "Portsmouth".

** Though at the same time, paying an orchestra to perform nearly every symphony from the Baroque to Romantic periods for you to record isn't cheap. In fact, it's one of the reasons it isn't licensed outside of Japan - no one wants to pay said orchestra for their work again.

** Bemani loves this one. Consider: just about any "Classic" song in Pop'n Music (all medleys), any "Classic Party" song in Guitar Freaks/Drummania (ditto), "End of the Century (Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"), and last but not least, "Kakumei" (Chopin's ''Revolutionary Etude'', and a damn good translation pun - "kakumei" means "revolution(ary)").

* ''KemekoDeluxe'' Uses Beethovens Ode to Joy [[hottip: *: or "Friedrich Schillers ''Ode to Joy'' sang to the the final movement of Beethovens Ninth Symphony", for you classical music buffons]] as a background music for [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome a girl losing her bikini top]].