I think the whole thing is utterly embarrassing and repulsive." In 2006 Kilbey said of the recording, "It's actually flat lifeless 'n' and sterile. Great song, sure, but the performance, the sounds are ordinary. We coulda got that in Australia in a week or two for a 20th of the money we spent. Hey, it's sold almost a million in the US alone, but we'll never see any money 'cause it cost so much to make". Kilbey's assessment ignored its second life as a much-licensed track. In December 2011, he told News Limited reporter, Cameron Adams: "There is almost nothing, except for maybe a cigarette ad, I'd say no to 'Under the Milky Way' being used for [...] It was used for a car advertisement in America, very lucratively for me. You'd think people would think it's been overused, but the more it's used the more people seem to want to use it. I'm signing off all the time for TV shows or chocolate bars using it. Sure, have it, it's just a song, do whatever you like with it. You can hear it wasn't written for profit. It's an accidental song I accidentally wrote and accidentally became a single and accidentally became a hit. It's been a nice earner [...] I've written 2000 songs. Thank God one of them came through! [...] The others aren't pulling their weight. They sit and grumble about 'Under the Milky Way' and I say, 'Well, boys, go out and earn the same dough as that one'. I never see 'Under the Milky Way' – it's so busy out there working..." In 2001, the song was featured in the soundtrack for the movie Donnie Darko. In 2006, it was performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Kilbey said after the performance that it was as if the song had been made for the occasion, though in his blog he was critical of the Commonwealth Games as an event. In September 2008, readers of The Weekend Australian Magazine voted it as the best Australian song of the last 20 years. Sheet music for "Under the Milky Way" was published by Hal Leonard. In October 2010, The Church's Starfish was listed in the top 40 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums. The authors, John O'Donnell, Toby Creswell and Craig Mathieson, described "Under the Milky Way"