Friday 8-Track

It's 80's Movie Soundtrack Day!

John Parr - "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" - St. Elmo's Fire

I think I've seen this movie more times than I have actually hung out at Third Edition. Not the best Brat Pack film but perhaps one of the best cheesy tunes to come from one. This song has got L.A. Big Studio Production all over it and I love it. Dig those synthesized bass and horn parts.

Kenny Loggins - "Footloose" - Footloose

Seriously, this song kicks ass -- that frenetic walking bass groove is excellent. My old band used to play this and the crowd always got into it; unironically so. Probably one of many movies where the theme song was better than the film, I still can't help but get down with the big dance scene at the end. Did my friends and I used to breakdance in the basement? Yes. At 7 was I a better dancer than Chris Penn? Yes.

Huey Lewis & The News - "The Power of Love" - Back To The Future

I guess "Back In Time" would be the choice more lyrically germane to the film but this was by far the better of the two songs and it was what the Pinheads played in their dance band audition before abruptly being cut off by a cameo-ing Huey Lewis because they were "just too darn loud." Huey Lewis et al will probably always be thought of as "80's artists" but they were a real band with serious chops. The songs were often corny as hell but they could play their asses off. And what a good movie.

Ray Parker Jr. - "Ghostbusters" - Ghostbusters

Speaking of Huey Lewis, he ended up sueing Ray Parker Jr. for allegedly ripping off "I Want A New Drug" for this song. Whatever, it spawned one of the most ridiculous videos of my MTV-addled youth. This song has not held up well over time but not matter because the film has. As outrageous as it was, the humor was brilliantly dry. "Janine, someone with your qualifications would have no trouble finding a top-flight job in either the food service or housekeeping industries."

Psychadelic Furs - "Pretty in Pink" - Pretty in Pink

This might be the only song in today's 8-track that isn't cheesy schlock. For starters, no John Hughes film from his glory years could ever be considered that and neither is this tune. Social D did a pretty rockin' cover of this song but the original is always the best. And if you are going to the original, then go to The Original. The song helped to inspire Hughes' film and was subsequently re-recorded for the soundtrack. But the original session off of Talk Talk Talk, that is the one for the money. Richard Butler's voice says it all.

Harold Faltermyer - "Axel F" - Beverly Hills Cop

Remember when music stores (I'm talking musical instrument retailers) used to be in the mall? Every one of them had some big electronic keyboard display and this was the song I would rather weakly play everytime I was in the vicinity of one. Of course sometime after I saw Big and it was all "Heart and Soul" from that point on. Can you still buy those gigantic floor keyboards?

Limahl - "The Never Ending Story" - The Never Ending Story

The dance-mix version of this song has tried to ruin my youth but I shall not let it win. Me and my Luck Dragon are damn-near invincible. I had a crush on the princess of Fantasia when I was 8. I figured that if I could come up with a better name than Bastian did, she would be my girlfriend. (How could I possibly still be single?) "Bastian, I need a name!"

Kenny Loggins - "Danger Zone" - Top Gun

The king of the 80's soundtrack gets to do double-duty today. I don't know why, but my most vivid memory of this song is listening to it in 6th grade gym class while doing shuttle runs. IT might have even been a 45 we were listening to. While I think it is pretty clear why K. Loggins gets top billing (Caddyshack, Footloose, Over The Top, and Top Gun), as to why I have chosen the theme song to the most homo-erotic "action film" of all time, well that I'm not so sure about. "You can be my wingman anytime." It's a good thing I didn't pick "Playin' With the Boys" -- yup, the volleyball scene.