We all know that the Awesome Mix Volume 1 helped to set the mood for ‘Guardians of the Galaxy‘ but did you know that James Gunn gave Chris Pratt an unedited copy prior to filming so that he would know the music forward and backwards? That’s right folks, there was more to the first Awesome Mix than meets the eye, erm, ear. From a lack of room in the movie, or perhaps from lack of rights, there were a few songs that just didn’t make the final cut.

Here’s the actual breakdown straight from the director’s Facebook page!

In honor of this new Facebook like page, I thought I’d give you what many of you have been asking for for so long. When Chris Pratt and I started working together on Guardians of the Galaxy, I gave him a mixed tape (okay, I admit, a mixed CD) of Awesome Mix Volume 1, that he could listen to endlessly, so he’d know it backwards and forwards, just as Quill knew the tape his mom gave him. As I’ve mentioned in the past, it contained a few songs that were not on the eventual soundtrack. Here is that original list – the newer songs have a * –

  • I’m Not in Love – 10cc
  • Come and Get Your Love – Redbone
  • Go All the Way – Raspberries (band)
  • *Never Been to Spain – Three Dog Night
  • Hooked on a Feeling – Blue Swede
  • *Magic – Pilot (band)
  • The Pina Colada Song – Rupert Holmes
  • *Livin’ Thing – Electric Light Orchestra
  • Moonage Daydream – David Bowie (Official)
  • Fooled Around and Fell in Love – Elvin Bishop
  • *Fox on the Run – The Sweet
  • Cherry Bomb – The Runaways
  • Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum
  • O-O-H Child – Five Stairsteps
  • *Surrender – Cheap Trick

Not only did we get to see a few new songs that didn’t end up in the movie but Gunn also shared some details on how they choose the songs as well as how he wanted to have the mix help build the atmosphere.

Some of these songs were in the first cut of the movie – the mean blue guard danced through the prison listening to Magic on Quill’s headphones, and Livin Thing featured in a montage in the Milano after the gang left the prison. We shot Quill singing “Never Been to Spain” at the Nova guards in an aggressive manner when he was having his mug shot taken, but the winding-up-the-finger gag worked better, so it never made the cut. The rest were never really in, but I thought this would give you a good idea of the complete Awesome Mix to which young Peter Quill might have lived his life.

Also, in all honesty, Moonage Daydream wasn’t on the original tape – I added it in post-production – but I thought I’d leave it on the list to keep things simple.

Want to check out the songs that were almost in and didn’t make the cut? You can listen to them below!

That’s pretty awesome if you ask me. We now have the Awesome Mix Volume 1 Unedited, an Awesome Mix Volume 0 that was used on set, and it won’t be soon enough until we can finally hear the second volume.