In 1964, the Trashmen recorded a manic, two-minute ditty called Surfin' Bird that went on to be covered a dozen years later by punk bands such as the Cramps and the Ramones.

It was a popular Vietnam-era song (it came out just the U.S. was just gearing up to get serious in Indochina) and helped sonically illustrate one battle scene in Stanley Kubrick's 1987 film Full Metal Jacket. The movie's final act is based on the battle of Hue*. The actual scene keeps getting removed from YouTube. If it disappears again, do some searching:

* For more, see this Jan. 31, 2008 post: The Tet Offensive. Oddly enough, it remains among my most clicked-on posts even today.

And in 2006, the torch was passed to a new generation and a new war -- but this ain't a movie scene: