In 1974, the Swedish pop group Blue Swede did a cover version, which included the "ooga chaka" introduction from Jonathan King's 1971 cover. Their arrangement was inspired by a version recorded in 1971 by the Jamaican Reggae band the Twinkle Brothers. The Blue Swede version of the song also tweaked the lyrics to avoid a drug reference.[13] This version reached No. 1 in the United States.[2] Billboard ranked it as the No. 20 song for 1974. On 24 July 2012, the 1974 live performance by Blåblus video was officially uploaded to YouTube; it has generated over 5 million views as of December 2020.
In 1992, Blue Swede's recording was featured on the soundtrack of Quentin Tarantino's debut feature Reservoir Dogs.
In 1998, during an episode of the legal comedy-drama series Ally McBeal, "Cro-Magnon", the main character's neurosis about being able to conceive a child before her biological clock runs out is illustrated by her imagining a computer generated baby dancing into her bedroom to Blue Swede's recording of "Hooked on a Feeling". A website featuring the dancing baby and the Blue Swede recording became an internet meme, further cementing this scene as one of the most memorable moments in pop culture history.[14]
The 2014 feature film Guardians of the Galaxy,[15] which featured the brass fanfare and title lyrics of the Blue Swede cover version prominently in its trailers and theatrical release, resulted in a significant spike in sales for the recording;[16] the film's soundtrack reached the top of the Billboard 200 chart in August 2014.[17] The song was also featured heavily in the teaser trailer for the 2017 sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.[18] although the song was not used in the actual film.[19]
