One Song Was Left Out Of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Because Of A Legal Battle

"Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn is a music connoisseur and personally selects the film's soundtracks. These needle drops blur the line of diegesis; Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) owns a Walkman (and later a Zune) and the songs in the first two movies are all from mixtapes gifted to him by his mother. "Guardians of the Galaxy" introduced us to the adult Quill by having him dance around the barren planet Morag, listening to "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone — perfectly capturing both Star-Lord's space cowboy persona and the film's retro musical taste.

Speaking to Absolute Radio, Gunn said he picks songs not because they're his personal favorites but because they fit the movie. "Vol. 2" features "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac, and the song's refrain of "keep us together" reflects the struggles of the Guardians to stay together despite their own flaws pushing them apart. 

Thanks to Peter's new Zune, "Vol. 3" includes some 21st-century hits: the film opens with "Creep" by Radiohead and ends with a dance party to "The Dog Days Are Over" by Florence + Machine. Gunn recently assembled a Spotify playlist called "Guardians of the Galaxy: The Official Mixtape," including all of the licensed songs from each movie, plus Tyler Bates and John Murphy's scores.

However, there are songs missing from the playlist. Gunn assembled hundreds of potential songs for each movie before narrowing them down. Nick Lowe's "Cruel to be Kind" was on the shortlist for all three movies, but he never found a place for it. But there was only one song that he was outright blocked from including: Gunn recently revealed on Twitter that he wrote "Russian Roulette" by Lords of the New Church into the script for "Vol. 3," but due to "legal battles," he couldn't use it.

The Lords of the New Church were a punk rock group active during the 1980s and briefly during the 2000s. Each of the four founding members came from previous bands. Stiv Bators (the Dead Boys) and Dave Tregunna (Sham 69) were briefly part of a band called The Wanderers together. When that act fell apart after recording one album, they rejoined as Lords of the New Church alongside Brian James (the Damned), and Nick Turner (the Barracudas). "Russian Roulette" was part of their 1982 debut album, which shared the same name as the band itself. The song was inspired by "Apocalypse Now" — the opening lyrics refer to a Vietnam soldier riding a helicopter, but the song soon reveals he's just an actor.

The band's self-titled debut album, "The Lords of the New Church," was originally released by the defunct labels Illegal and I.R.S Records — this might explain the legal limbo that prevented Gunn from using it. It's unclear where "Russian Roulette" was meant to appear in "Vol. 3." It's melodic but with anger boiling beneath the surface, so it could fit both an action scene or a quiet moment.

According to Gunn, "Russian Roulette" was the first time that he couldn't get the rights to a song he wrote into a "Guardians" script. That's not to say he didn't have prior challenges though. In the aforementioned Absolute Radio interview, Gunn said that getting "Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra into "Vol. 2" was a challenge: "It was letters, and calling, and begging." However, he also revealed that some other hard-to-please artists — Fleetwood Mac, the Beastie Boys, and the George Harrison estate — are "Guardians fans." 

"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is now playing in theaters.