EIGHTIES SOUNDTRACKS
It was the decade of brat packers, teen movies and films about fast cars and even faster fighter pilots. Many with killer scores.
Brat packers, teen movies and films about fast cars and faster pilots... many with killer scores.
Sure, there were movie soundtracks before the dawn of the 1980s — who can forget the enduring image of Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper roaring along on Harley choppers to the sound of Steppenwolf’s Born To Be Wild in Easy Rider, or young Benjamin Braddock about to be seduced by the wily Mrs Robinson to the dulcet tones of Messrs Simon & Garfunkel in The Graduate? But more often than not, the soundtrack to a film often seemed like something of an afterthought.
In the 80s, however, everything changed. The movies got bigger, brasher and more bombastic. And so did their scores. It was a time for specially commissioned and written songs that fulfilled the remit of encapsulating the film in a three- or four-minute blast. Kenny Loggins seemed to develop a real knack for this and found a renewed sense of purpose during the 80s, writing the main rock themes for both Top Gun and Footloose.
Sometimes a director knew he’d have a hit film on his hands if only he could find the right piece of music to accompany it. After all, would Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger have been such a massive worldwide hit were it not for the fact that every time we heard it we subconsciously saw Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa pounding the streets in pursuit of his dream? Surely not. Similarly, think of all the monster ballads that have become mega smashes thanks to the film they were associated with. Would Berlin have been anything other than an obscure, struggling rock band had they not been offered the chance to record Take My Breath Away, the love theme to Top Gun?
Film soundtracks also afforded bands and artists the opportunity to record a song that might not fit into their regular album profile. For example, many 80s soundtracks featured bands putting their own distinctive spin onto a cover version. It was also a fantastic way to hear artists you might never have had the chance to before. Think of the soundtrack album as a way of discovering new artists, as a mixtape compiled by your favourite director, as a way of getting into the heart and mind of your favourite movie characters.
Oh, and don’t forget that in the 80s the songs that were featured in the accompanying album were actually to be found somewhere in the movie — unlike today’s current vogue for songs ‘influenced and inspired by the major motion picture’ marketing cash-in. What’s even better is that in the 1980s the overwhelming majority of soundtracks really rocked, as the following selection proves. Siân Llewellyn
1 Fast Times At Ridgemont High
A brilliant teen movie made all the more compelling by its tremendous soundtrack. Clocking in at 19 tracks, it ticks all the right rock boxes by including specially-commissioned songs from heavyweights such as Jackson Browne (who had a US hit with his contribution Somebody’s Baby) and Sammy Hagar. Also among the luminaries are most of the Eagles in their solo guises, Stevie Nicks and The Go Gos. It’s like one of the best hard rockin’ mixtapes that a friend never had to bother to make for you.
2 Rock ’N’ Roll High School
Yes it’s a low-budget flick featuring those loveable rogues the Ramones, but the soundtrack is more than just a selection of their tracks. Todd Rundgren contributes A Dream Goes On Forever,
and where would any self-respecting soundtrack to a film called ‘Rock’n’roll High School’ be without the inclusion of Alice Cooper’s School’s Out? The Ramones get a big chunk of disc time, of course, contributing the titular number and a medley of Blitzkrieg Bop, Teenage Lobotomy, California Sun and Pinhead.
3 The Lost Boys
Sex, drugs, rock’n’roll and, er, vampires. We needed a slightly surreal soundtrack to go with this brat-pack-tastic blood-sucking movie, and we Aussies obliged, INXS teaming up with Jimmy Barnes for two numbers — Good Times and Laying Down The Law — and Echo & The Bunnymen added a certain je ne sais quois to The Doors’ People Are Strange. Lou Gramm turns in the somewhat spooky Lost In The Shadows (The Lost Boys), while Roger Daltrey’s subdued take on Elton John’s Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me is worth the price of admission.
4 Top Gun
Sure there’s the Cruiser and amazing aerial photography, but also a rockin’ accompaniment to the breathtaking visuals. Soundtrack stalwart Kenny Loggins (who also did ‘Footloose’) was the guy who brought us Danger Zone, while Cheap Trick and Loverboy also show up. Oh, and let’s not forget the smash hit that was Berlin’s Take My Breath Away. Make sure you get the special edition, as it also includes Otis Redding’s (Sitting On) The Dock Of The Bay and Jerry Lee Lewis’s Great Balls Of Fire, both songs intrinsic to the movie itself.
5 Pretty In Pink
The movie that featured the girl from the wrong side of the tracks falling in love with a high-school rich boy gave the Psychedelic Furs their breakthrough hit in the shape of the title track (re-recorded from its original 1981 form), and it leads off the album in fine Bowie-esque style. Crammed full of cool Brit rock (Echo & The Bunnymen, The Smiths, OMD) and the cream of US college radio, Suzanne Vega takes a different shot at her Left Of Center, while there’s also the most curious carbon-copy cover of Nik Kershaw’s Wouldn’t It Be Good by Danny Hutton Hitters.