"[5] Many of the songs on the soundtrack were suggested to Tarantino by musician Boyd Rice through their mutual friend Allison Anders, including Dick Dale's "Misirlou".

In addition to the surf-rock rendition of "Misirlou", other notable songs include "Jungle Boogie" by Kool & the Gang, Dusty Springfield's version of "Son of a Preacher Man", "Flowers on the Wall" by the Statler Brothers and "Bustin' Surfboards" by The Tornadoes, from 1962, which had been one of the first instrumental surf songs to hit the United States music charts after notables such as "Walk--Don't Run" by the Ventures.

The other song is unique to the film: it is Ricky Nelson's "Waitin' in School" as performed by actor Gary Shorelle, which plays as Vincent and Mia enter Jackrabbit Slim's.

21 on the Billboard 200, and at the time, was certified platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA), denoting shipments in excess of 100,000 units in Canada.

[8] The soundtrack helped launch the band Urge Overkill, which covered Neil Diamond's "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" (produced by Kramer) in 1993, into a mainstream market.

Sony "received a nice sum" for "Son of a Preacher Man"[9] and Kool & the Gang enjoyed a resurgence when "Jungle Boogie" was released on the soundtrack.

Del-Fi Records released a compilation CD in 1995 entitled Pulp Surfin' featuring songs by those bands plus sixteen other surf tracks from the vaults.

"Mundane commercials using Dick Dale '60s surf licks, the kind made popular again by the Pulp Fiction soundtrack...following a trend—in this case, a two-year-old hit movie.