A segue back....

Since we've been on the topic of movies for a few posts, let me suggest an easy way to segue back into music (because, ultimately, I really need to start talking about Led Zeppelin) by throwing out another challenge:

Name the best musical performance in non-musical, non-concert film

This can be canned or lip-synced (as it very often is) or it can be a real live recording, but it can't be a movie about that artist or anything that is chiefly musical, and it can't be a documentary. It must be a movie where the characters wind up in a bar or a concert or whatever and see some artist perform. This is, by default, going to involve a lot of bar scenes.

This could be a real band, like the Circle Jerks playing in Repo Man, or it could be a movie-only band, like Otis Day and the Knights in Animal House. I'm going to have to rule out The Blues Brothers since that's a movie primarily about a band, just as I would pretty much rule out any Muppet movie, despite the spectacular songwriting contributions of Paul Williams and others to those brilliant soundtracks.

The key factor is really that the performance has to be a part of the story, whether primary or just incidental. It can be offhand or it can be absolutely key to the plot, but it must be a piece of the narrative. I think we should probably also rule out movies that are not primarily "musicals" but have more than two or three musical performances in them, like School of Rock – although I could watch that credit sequence over and over again and never get tired of it. As much as I know it will pain you, this would probably also exclude The Fabulous Baker Boys.

So, I've been thinking about this all morning and the one that continues to stick in my head is Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds performing "From Her to Eternity" in Wings of Desire. Something about the way it was integrated in to the movie, both in terms of visual and overall mood, really struck me when I saw it and continues to stick with me years later. So, that's my initial vote, but I'm eager to hear more examples from you.