The 'Thor: Ragnarok' Soundtrack Is The Perfect Epic, Viking Rock Music For The Movie

There are a lot of reasons why the new Thor movie feels so much more fun and exuberant than the more dramatic previous iterations, but one of the main ones is its music. Right from the get-go, moviegoers are hit with rollicking heavy metal screams and supersonic guitar riffs as Thor escapes the clutches of a fiery demon to return to Asgard. Not only is it the perfect, invigorating pump-up anthem for the start of the movie, but the opening song in Thor: Ragnarok also just so happens to be lyrically perfect as well.

In case you didn't recognize the iconic hard rock song the welcomed us into Thor: Ragnarok, it was "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin. Released in 1970, "Immigrant Song" became one of Led Zeppelin's most famous, influential, and beloved songs. Aside from its ferocious and massively epic sound, it was the perfect choice for director Taika Waititi to score Thor: Ragnarok with also due to the shared lore and themes in both works. Most notably, "Immigrant Song" is just as seeped in Norse mythology as the Thor movies are. In the song, lead singer Robert Plant wails about the mythical Norse afterlife of Valhalla and about vikings sailing to conquer lands. He even sings about "the hammer of the gods," which we all know Thor knows a thing or to about.

But the level of how perfectly suited "Immigrant Song" is for Thor: Ragnarok don't stop there. The new Marvel film is also, at its core, most concerned with the themes of immigration and refugee-dom that Led Zeppelin were evoking in their viking metal parable. Spoiler alert for the ending of Thor: Ragnarok. It just seems so incredibly fitting that the movie would employ a song called "Immigrant Song" before all of the citizens of Asgard become intergalactic refugees when their planet is destroyed at the end of the movie. Just like the vikings Led Zeppelin was singing about in that track, now Thor, Loki, and the rest of the Asgardians are also vikings setting out on a ship to find a new land.

The decision to use a very famous and well-recognized throwback rock song as the movie's primary score also points at the influence 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy clearly had on Thor: Ragnarok. Not only does Ragnarok share the love of goofiness and jokes that most Marvel fans would agree Guardians is best known for bringing to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but the hit-packed soundtracks are also a clear connective tissue between the two movies.

The Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack was packed with recognizable funk, soul, and rock songs from the '70s and '80s, which were employed for mostly comedic effect in the movie. The soundtrack actually became as popular as the movie did, becoming the only movie soundtrack consisting entirely of previously released songs to ever top the Billboard charts. Thor: Ragnarok's inclusion of more well-known '70s rock into its big scenes is following the formula that Guardians proved to be very successful.

But unlike Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor: Ragnarok really only heavily features one iconic rock song, "Immigrant Song." The rest of the music in the film is wordless score, although there is a brief moment of "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory in the film as well. You can check out the entire soundtrack for Thor: Ragnarok (which for some reason does not include "Immigrant Song") on Spotify below:

This is far from the first time "Immigrant Song" has appeared in a major motion picture. It was also prominently featured in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and in Jack Black's comedy School of Rock, but this does seem like the best use of the epic viking track to date.