You know that feeling when you hear a guitar riff and suddenly you're back in a high school hallway wearing platform sneakers? That's what happens the second the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack kicks in. It isn't just a collection of songs. Honestly, it’s a specific vibe of late-90s defiance mixed with that weirdly optimistic teenage angst we all had.
If you grew up during the era of TRL and oversized cargo pants, this movie was everything. It flipped Shakespeare on its head, sure, but the music? The music grounded the whole thing in a reality that felt way cooler than our actual lives. We didn't just watch Kat Stratford; we wanted her CD binder.
The Sound of Power Pop and Riot Grrrl Lite
When people talk about the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack, they usually start with Letters to Cleo. It makes sense. Kay Hanley and the band are basically the house musicians for Padua High. They appear on the roof during the finale, they play the prom, and they provide the iconic cover of Nick Lowe’s "Cruel to be Kind."
But there’s a nuance here most people miss. The soundtrack was a bridge. It bridged the gap between the dying breath of 90s grunge and the sparkly, polished pop-punk that was about to take over the early 2000s. You have The Cardigans bringing that sophisticated Swedish pop energy with "War," and then you have The Mighty Mighty Bosstones reminding everyone that ska-core was actually a thing people listened to in 1999. It’s a chaotic mix. It shouldn't work. Somehow, it’s perfect.
The selection reflects Kat’s character specifically. She’s "tempestuous," as the movie says. She likes "Thai food, feminist prose, and angry girl music of the indie-rock persuasion." While the actual soundtrack album didn’t include every single underground feminist track Kat might have actually owned—likely due to licensing costs and the need for commercial appeal—it captured the spirit of it.
That Letters to Cleo Rooftop Moment
Let’s talk about the ending. "I Want You to Want Me." Originally a Cheap Trick song, but Letters to Cleo absolutely claimed it for the 1999 crowd.
The story goes that the filmmakers actually shot the band on the roof of Stadium High School in Tacoma. It wasn't a green screen. The wind was real. The helicopter shot was real. It felt like a victory lap. When Kay Hanley belts out those lines, it feels like the definitive end of the 90s. It’s bright, loud, and unapologetic.
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Interestingly, the band almost didn't do it. In various retrospectives, Hanley has mentioned how the band was actually toward the end of their run when the movie came out. They weren't "the next big thing" anymore, they were the established veterans of a specific Boston sound. Their inclusion gave the film a sense of indie credibility that a manufactured boy band never could have achieved.
Why "Can’t Take My Eyes Off You" Changed Everything
Heath Ledger. That’s the tweet.
Okay, maybe not a tweet, but his performance of "Can’t Take My Eyes Off You" is the emotional anchor of the film. It’s also one of the few songs that isn't on the official 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack retail release. This is a common point of frustration for fans. Because of licensing hurdles or perhaps the fact that it was a live performance by an actor and not a "studio track," it got left off the CD.
Think about the guts it took to film that scene. Ledger, in his first major American role, had to run through bleachers, dodge security guards, and sing a Frankie Valli classic to a girl who supposedly hated him. It was a gamble. If he’d been too good, it would have felt like a musical. If he’d been too bad, it would have been cringey. Instead, it was charmingly flawed. It was human.
The Tracks You Forgot Were Absolute Bops
Most people remember the big hits. They remember "One Week" by Barenaked Ladies playing while we get the "intro to the high school" tour. But the deep cuts on the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack are where the real texture lies.
Take "Dazz" by Brick. It plays during the party scene. It’s a funk track from the 70s. Why is it there? Because the 90s were obsessed with 70s nostalgia. From Dazed and Confused to the resurgence of bell-bottoms, the late 90s were constantly looking back to look forward.
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Then there’s Sister Hazel. "Your Winter." It’s the quintessential "sad boy" song of the decade. It’s the track that plays when things look bleak for Cameron and Bianca. It has that acoustic-driven, slightly raspy vocal style that dominated radio stations like VH1 and Casey Kasem's Top 40.
- "Abba-Zaba" by Captain Beefheart – Kat listens to this in her room. It’s weird. It’s avant-garde. It tells you everything you need to know about her refusing to be "normal."
- "The Wrong Thing to Do" by Mudhoney – Real Seattle grunge roots.
- "Saturday Night" by Ta-Gana – The song for the "dance off" at the club.
The soundtrack isn't just a playlist; it’s a character study.
The Semantics of 90s Licensing
Have you ever wondered why some soundtracks from this era feel so much better than modern ones? Back then, soundtracks were a primary way people discovered music. There was no Spotify. There was no Shazam. If you liked a song in a movie, you had to wait for the credits, hope you caught the name, and then go buy the $17.99 CD at Sam Goody.
Because of this, labels put a ton of money into these compilations. The 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack was curated to be a "sampler platter" of what Hollywood thought "cool kids" were into. It’s a mix of power pop, alt-rock, and a tiny bit of hip-hop and funk. It feels curated because it was. Every song had to earn its spot because physical space on a disc was limited.
The Missing Pieces
It’s actually kinda frustrating when you look at what was left off the official album. Fans have spent years making "complete" playlists on YouTube and Spotify to fill the gaps.
Beyond the Heath Ledger performance, we’re missing "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett. That song is the literal theme of the movie. It’s the first thing you hear when Kat drives her beat-up car into the school parking lot. It’s her anthem. Excluding it from the official CD was a massive oversight, likely due to the high cost of licensing a Joan Jett master track.
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We also missed out on "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream and "Sexy Boy" by Air. These songs added a layer of "cool" that the power-pop heavy soundtrack lacked. Air, specifically, was the height of French electronic chill-out music at the time. Including them showed that the music supervisors (the legendary Karen Glauber and others) knew exactly what was bubbling under the surface of mainstream culture.
How to Experience the Music Today
If you’re looking to dive back into the 10 Things I Hate About You soundtrack, don’t just settle for the 14 tracks on the official album. You’re missing half the story.
Start by finding the "Complete Soundtrack" playlists that fans have painstakingly assembled. Listen to "I Know" by Save Ferris—another ska-pop gem that didn't make the cut. Notice how the horn section interacts with the bright, clean guitars. It’s the sound of a very specific window in time, roughly between 1997 and 1999, before the "Max Martin" pop sound completely flattened the charts.
Actionable Next Steps for the Soundtrack Obsessed:
- Check the Vinyl: If you’re a collector, look for the 20th Anniversary vinyl releases. They often feature better mastering than the original compressed CDs and look great in a collection.
- Watch the Credits: Next time you stream the movie, don’t turn it off when the Letters to Cleo song starts. Read the "Music Credits" section. It’s a masterclass in 90s A&R.
- Explore the "Riot Grrrl" Roots: If you liked Kat’s vibe, go deeper than the soundtrack. Look up Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, and L7. That’s the music the character was actually supposed to be obsessed with.
- Compare to "Clueless": For a fun afternoon, listen to this soundtrack back-to-back with the Clueless (1995) soundtrack. You’ll hear the transition from mid-90s "Alternative" to late-90s "Pop-Rock" in real-time.
The music of 10 Things I Hate About You survives because it wasn't trying to be trendy—it was trying to be honest about how it felt to be a teenager at the turn of the millennium. It was loud, a little bit messy, and surprisingly sweet. Just like the movie.