Six of the Best Pop Soundtracks
Movies and Music Make Magic On The Big Screen
Footloose
Kevin Bacon’s big breakthrough movie (forgetting the throwaway ‘Friday the 13th’) was a big hit thanks largely to his spirited turn as a city boy whose family move to a small town ruled by religion, where music and dancing are banned. A catchy theme tune by Kenny Loggins and hits from Deniece Williams (‘Let’s Hear It For The Boy’) and Bonnie Tyler (‘Holding Out For A Hero’) along with some exciting choreography make this one of the highlights of the 1980s.
Flashdance
Irene Cara (‘Fame’) performed the theme tune to this glossy drama from ex director of commercials Adrian Lyne. Jennifer Beals starred as Alex (Alexandra) Owens, welder by day and exotic dancer by night who dreams of becoming a professional dancer via a place at a prestigious dance school. The pop soundtrack sold 700,000 copies in its first two days and continues to sell on both sides of the Atlantic , receiving a Grammy and an Academy Award in 1984 for Best Original Song (‘Flashdance’).
Top Gun
Tom Cruise starred in this high octane action movie as trainee fighter pilot, Lt. Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, whose drive to be the best puts his team and himself in danger. Electronic whiz, Harold Faltermeyer (‘Flashdance’, ‘Beverly Hills Cop’), was hired to write the score, but the soundtrack album was largely filled with pop songs. ‘Danger Zone’, performed by Kenny Loggins (‘Footloose’) reached number two in the U.S. Hot 100 and Berlin ’s ‘Take My Breath Away’, was a worldwide smash hit.
Fame
Less glossy than the television series that followed, ‘Fame’ was a big hit for director Alan Parker. Set in the fictitious New York School For the Performing Arts, the story followed a group of disparate students working their way through to graduation. The soundtrack, including the number one selling theme tune by Irene Cara (who also performed ‘Flashdance’) was a strong seller, though the television show stole some of its thunder with hits such as ‘Hi-Fidelity’ and ‘Starmaker’.
Grease
‘Grease’ took cinemas by storm in 1978, with its youthful mix of music and dance set in 1950s America . A string of hits followed its release, including ‘Summer Nights’, You’re The One That I Want’, ‘Sandy’ and ‘Greased Lightinin’’, re-igniting the careers of its stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Though based on a stage musical,’ the film contained many tracks written especially for it, including some of those mentioned above. The soundtrack album remains popular today, inching its way back into the top ten when the film was re-released in 1998 in celebration of its twentieth anniversary.
Dirty Dancing
Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray provided the love interest in this drama set in an American summer camp in the 1960s. The soundtrack producers cleverly combined the best of the era’s pop music with some new tracks written to suit the style and feel of the movie. It famously ends with an extravagant dance sequence in which the pair shimmy and shake to ‘I’ve Had The Time Of My Life’, culminating in the now infamous lift mimicked (often pretty badly) the world over.
It is this visual element, combined with the songs of a generation and the kind of romantic encounter experienced behind the school bikesheds that make these corny combo's of pop music and dance a success; for an audience munching on popcorn, both the pop and the corn are most definitely worth the price of a ticket.
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