This article contains spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

I've had mixed feelings on James Gunn as a needledropper. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, as I wrote at the time of its release, had way too many songs, with 11 tracks packed into its brisk 44 minute runtime. The songs were generally pretty good — The Pogues' Fairytale of New York was a perfect choice for the ragtag Guardians — but with that many in such a short span, they began to lose their impact. On the other hand, the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie came out while I was in college and had a huge impact, introducing people my age to a ton of great music we wouldn't have heard otherwise. Gunn has great taste in tunes, but he leans a little hard on musical shorthand to communicate emotional beats.

I didn't really have that issue with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, especially because the threequel saves its two best needledrops for the end of the film. After the Guardians decide to split up, Rocket pulls out his MP3 player, scrolls through the decades, and selects the 2000s. The first movie used ‘70s tunes, the second explored the ‘80s, and most of the third movie is supported by a ‘90s soundtrack. With Rocket’s choice here, it marks a new era beginning. Familiar strings start to play. It's Dog Days Are Over and Rocket and Groot begin to dance, as Gunn gives us an emotional montage of where the other Guardians are headed now that they've disbanded the team. After nine years of the Guardians, it's the film's most moving moment.

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Then, after the first chunk of credits, we get a mid-credits scene with the remaining/new Guardians discussing their favorite songs. When they see that a herd of dangerous beasts are approaching them (and, more importantly, the vulnerable village behind them), Rocket puts on Redbone's Come and Get Your Love, a throwback to the first Awesome Mix.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 poster showing Rocket Raccoon, Gamora, Star-Lord, Drax, Groot, Nebula, Mantis, Kraglin, and Cosmo sitting on a spaceship at sunset

On one hand, these are just two really good, energetic songs. They send the movie out on a high note. But, they feel more personally meaningful to me, and I would suspect, to many Millennial members of the movie's audience. Dog Days Are Over was originally released as a single in late 2008, but didn't enter the charts in the United States until fall of 2010. It got a ton of mainstream radio play, but it was also popular on 94.1 The Edge, the alternative station I listened to while driving to and from my high school in south-central Michigan.

Come and Get Your Love, meanwhile, is similarly nostalgic for me, reminding me of the first year or two after Guardians first released. In college, I worked as a resident assistant, and met weekly with my resident director in his apartment in the dorm. I remember listening to the Guardians of the Galaxy Awesome Mix vinyl on his record player while hanging out, playing Super Smash Bros., or talking about how the job was going. Another close friend from that time got married while we were still in school, and performed choreographed dances with his family members at his wedding party. Hooked on a Feeling, another song on that album, was one of the songs he danced to.

As much as I fondly remember the first time I saw Guardians of the Galaxy in theaters, it's the songs that most tap into the emotional depths of my memory. Music has an ability to burrow deeper into your memory, to get fully tangled up and interwoven with the meaningful periods of your life. Gunn knows that. It's his greatest strength.

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