Music is an important element of the Scott Pilgrim story, with chord progressions for a song being performed by the characters first appearing on page 15 of the first graphic novel.

[3] Interviewed by Den of Geek, Edgar Wright said that he and Godrich "worked on the soundtrack for about two years [with] this idea that each of the fictional bands within the film should have a different artist doing them.

[7] Though Godrich had initially reached out to the Black Lips to become Sex Bob-Omb,[1] and Times New Viking were also considered,[8] the band's music was based on Beck, who wrote their original songs and contributed others to the soundtrack.

[1] Godrich reflected on the soundtrack production and the involvement of these big acts, saying that "It's one of those things where it might be better to just not hear any music and to leave it to your imagination.

"[1] Many of the cast recordings were made at the home studio of Metric's Jimmy Shaw; the band had become friends with Wright when he moved to Toronto for pre-production.

Similarly, Wright chose to include a version of Frank Black's "I Heard Ramona Sing", one of his favorites, because of how much he used to listen to it when he was infatuated with a girl, long before production of the film, and the coincidence that it matched the main love interest's name.

Another O'Malley selection is the Beachwood Sparks version of "By Your Side", which was on the list of songs he compiled to accompany the first Scott Pilgrim graphic novel; Wright also joked that he owed the original writers of the song, Sade, "some publishing money" after having had his characters in Shaun of the Dead use a Sade album to fend off zombies.

"[9] Also on the playlist was "Sleazy Bed Track" by The Bluetones, which then inspired Wright to suggest including a song by Blood Red Shoes, a band with a similar sound.

[11] The graphic novels noted that Crash and the Boys' songs are three seconds long, which Godrich took as defining precisely what kind of band and sound that makes them.

Wright says that ABKCO then saw a cut of the film and wanted to let them use it, which was also influenced by Godrich using his friends' band The Hotrats to record a cover that they all agree was uncomfortably close to the original.

[8] These include the Bollywood-inspired song performed by actor Satya Bhabha as Matthew Patel and the electronic number given to the Katayanagi Twins band for their fights against Scott.

[19][20] Sex Bob-Omb's sound is that of a sloppy garage rock group, and Matt Burdick describes Webber's vocals as lead singer Stephen Stills to be "yelpy".

[1] The band's song "Garbage Truck" is described by Perez as a "simple, mid-tempo stompy punk-fuzz number"[16] and by Martens as a "sludgy anthem [that] is a mix of self-deprecating humor and misfit pride".

[1] "Summertime", however, has clear lyrics; Beck again expressed surprise, here because he felt the song most represented Sex Bob-Omb's sound, due to its looseness, but it was mainly used over the closing credits.

[16] The song comes from an idea of what O'Malley imagined Sex Bob-Omb to be, from an experience in a band with a friend whose heavily distorted acoustic guitar would "really upset [the sound guy; that's] what they were originally looking like.

"[1] Beck worked from the comics while composing the songs, imagining Stephen Stills to be like Kim Deal, who uses feedback to amplify her acoustic guitar with The Breeders.

[1] The Sex Bob-Omb song "Ramona" is only included on the soundtrack as two original versions performed by Beck, described as "lovesick longing".

[1] In line with Sex Bob-Omb's sound, Wright had a remix of Frank Black's "I Heard Ramona Sing" recorded for the soundtrack.

[1] Martens writes that "Sleazy Bed Track" has a "downbeat groove and depressed lyrics [that] hint that not all will be so sweet", and that the version of "It's Getting Boring By the Sea" used has a "sharp guitar opening [that] suits the fight-like atmospheres of the film".

[11] Glen Chapman said that Broken Social Scene's songs for Crash and the Boys "are almost unrecognisable from their epic pop sensibilities that typify their output".

[1] Haines told Martens that the song is "about the pains of growing up, and wanting and trying to simplify your life so you can enjoy what's valuable [...] it's about taking away all the distractions, that's the adult viewpoint.

"[1] Other previously released songs include "Scott Pilgrim", which barely features in the film; Martens notes it for an "alt-rock crust to the guitars, and a naive excitement to the vocals".

[1] "By Your Side" is described by Martens as a "lovesick slow dance of a tune, with bedside vocals and a romantically melancholic harmonica",[1] and Perez called it an "atmospheric, harmonica-laden" song that "has that wistful and bittersweet feeling that [the soundtrack and film are] chasing in its introspective moments".

[6] Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on August 10, 2010, by ABKCO Records on vinyl and compact disc.

[2] Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Original Score Composed by Nigel Godrich was also released on August 10,[30] exclusively to streaming,[1][11] though Wright did suggest it would be a second disc included with the soundtrack.

[48] The AllMusic review said that "soundtracks to movies adapted from comic books are often marketing free-for-alls", noting how promotional considerations often override the thematic coherence of the film, but that this "[could not] be further from the truth for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World's music.

"[26] Drowned in Sound added that "with a soundtrack that captures the spirit of the comics with such fervency, conviction and discipline, Scott Pilgrim vs The World looks set to be a lot less dislikable than you might've hoped.

[21] Den of Geek's Glen Chapman wrote that the Clash at Demonhead performing "Metric's 'Black Sheep' is the closest to what [he] imagined any of the bands would sound" like based on the comics; he said that he is disappointed that Larson's version was not on the soundtrack.

He found that the previously released songs were "excellent [and] absolutely appropriate for the scenes they accompany, both lyrically and musically [...] and, as such, none of the [soundtrack] inclusions are superfluous to requirements.

Where most soundtracks fall into a standard, even boring format – the mixtape compilation – Scott Pilgrim's filmmakers score major bonus points for creating something that allows the music to be as crucial to the movie-watching experience as it is in the comics.