The awesome and epic Official Motion Picture Soundtrack to Fire and Water Records continues! On this fifth episode of Soundtrack Selections, Ryan Daly and guest Gene Hendricks from the Two True Freaks network share some more signature songs from movies. This time, the focus is on movie themes, not the instrumental score, but the iconic song that captures the essence of the movie or contributes to the story. And yes, despite Ryan’s best efforts, The Highlander soundtrack does make another appearance.
Track list
- “Flash’s Theme” by Queen from Flash Gordon
- “That Thing You Do” by The Oneders from That Thing You Do
- “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. from Ghostbusters
- “Sooner or Later” by Madonna from I’m Breathless / Dick Tracy
- “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins from Top Gun
- “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” by John Parr from St. Elmo’s Fire
- “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor from Rocky III
- “Blaze of Glory” by Jon Bon Jovi from Young Guns II
- “Princes of the Universe” by Queen from The Highlander
- “Into the West” by Annie Lennox from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- “Back in Time” by Huey Lewis & The News from Back to the Future
Additional music by Ray Parker, Jr.; The Soggy Bottom Boys; Whitney Houston; Prince; Will Smith; Madonna; Seal; Irena Cara.
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One correction: It was “Another One Bites The Dust” that Stallone wanted for Rocky 3, not “Under Pressure”. It was written correctly in my notes, but I obviously didn’t refer to them in that segment.
What the hell, Gene???
But did you know that AOBTD was only released as a single because Michael Jackson – who was working with Freddie – suggested it. Hence, the huge crossover hit that made some bank for John Deacon.
Also, Ryan – I suggest you try “The Hero” from the Flash Gordon soundrack. it’s a real song not dependent upon visuals.
To quote Lou Costello, “I’m a baaaaaad boy!”
Here’s a useless fact: “You’re the best around” by Joe Esposito was originally intended for Rocky 3. That’s why you have the lyric: “History repeats itself”. it was dropped by Rocky 3 and took its rightful place as the kick-ass anthem of KK1!
Thanks for this up-tempo episode guys. After a rough and mostly sleepless night of stirred-up pets, noisy teenagers, and beeping diabetic alarms, I really needed this.
Cindy and I love “That Thing You Do”. I felt for a long time we were the only people who knew about the film, but its kind of come around. The fact that three of the leads have played Booster Gold, Jonah Hex and Betty Ross is kind of cool too. But what a great song!
Its funny Gene should mention Ray Parker in amongst his love of Huey Lewis (which I share). Legend has it the Ghostbusters filmmakers approached Huey for a song for the film, similar to his hit “I Want a New Drug”. Huey declined, and Ray Parker Jr. wrote “Ghostbusters” which is VERY similar, musically, to that Lewis song. So much he sued Parker, I believe.
My buddy Jason Todd (no not THAT one) and I got the DeeJay at our Junior Prom to play “Flash’s Theme”. Only he, Cindy and I dug it, as the Muggles around us looked aghast, but I didn’t care. It was awesome to hear it blared out over that nice sound system in a ballroom!
I love the first Highlander film, (not as much as DAG, but who does), but the 10 year old in me has always wanted someone to use the obvious “Princes of the Universe” in a Masters of the Universe film. That part of the song really kicks in with Brian May’s guitar would be awesome accompanying scenes of He-Man wading through villains astride Battle Cat as they head for Castle Grayskull!!!
Chris
You are correct, Chris. Huey Lewis did sue and it was settled out of court.
And now you have my imagination running wild on with “Here we are! We are the Masters of the Universe!” 🙂
Brian May is as nostalgic as you, Kentucky Kid. He and Roger Taylor LOOOOOOOVED their classic sci-fi, hence the push to do an FG soundtrack. And the Starfleet cover single. And the Spider-Man BBC radio theme.
Here’s something the other podcasters won’t tell you – Queen grew super disinterested in the Flash album. Eventually, it was just Brian who gave a shit. THere’s a story that the FG album was playing in the studio and John Deacon seriously asked, “Who is THIS?”
To be fair (or ‘furr’ if you’re Andy Leyland), this was during the band’s least cohesive period. They were all hanging out in Germany and Switzerland. Brian’s first marriage was on rocks (he wrote “Dragon Attack” and “Sail Away, Sweet Sister” about that), Roger was partying, Freddie was debauched out and about the clubbing scene, and John was enjoying the club/dance scene.
The spilt was around musical direction. Brian anchoring on the side of rock; Freddie and John fighting for that dance club sound; and Roger leaning toward his experimental roots.
And cocaine and booze. SO much coke.
I remember hearing about the “Ghostbusters” /“New Drug” suit. Naturally, I couldn’t remember when we were recording, though.
The U.S. audience may not know that though “Man In Motion” was used in St. Elmo’s Fire – Ryan is right to call it “a hero’s anthem”. David Foster, the songwriter, originally wrote the song inspired by a Canadian named Rick Hansen, who wheeled a three-year marathon around the world in the mid-1980s, to raise money for spinal cord paralysis research. His last lap was across the vast expanse of Canada, in the dead of winter, and that movie theme got a second life as it was used often to promote the tour on Canadian TV and radio, and, of course, played whenever Rick would arrive in town. Which he did in my town, and I got to briefly shake the hand of the Man In Notion as he rolled by me. Thus, Canadians have an entirely different vision of the song, yet as Ryan points out–is an awe-inspiring call to action.
It should also be noted in the F&W Metaverse, that Rick Hansen, was among those on hand to bring in the Olympic Torch into the stadium to initiate the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics, carried on his wheelchair. Why do you care? Well, David Foster also wrote and performed the instrumental theme for those Olympics–called simply, “Winter Games.”
You may know that tune – as Shagg uses it to introduce the Justice League Europe segments of his “Bwah-Ha-Ha” Podcast. As suggested by Michael Bailey – because – wait for it – it all comes back to Superman.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Hansen
Wow, both of those factoids are really cool! Thanks for sharing.
excuse my spieling airers. The Word doc spell check flailed meee.
After hearing Man In Motion, I had the same idea to mention the Canadian connection! I agree with you it has a different vision for me than the movie. So much so, that when I grew up, I was amazed people knew this song from a movie rather than Rick Hansen! And, oh man, that Winter Games sound takes me back. I can hear Brian Williams (the Canadian one) saying over top of it, “…… and welcome back to day 8 of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games.”
Into the West was on my short list for when I was on the show, and yeah, makes me freakin’ bawl. Even that short bit on the show.
M’boy Fixit freakin’ loves the ’80s Flash Gordon movie, and I think Sam Jones is the only signature he’s ever sprung for. I saw it theatrically, but it didn’t make the same impression on me. I did have a book & record for it, but that’s about as far as that went. Like Dick Tracy, it leaned hard into being as literal an adaptation of a comic strip as possible, colorful and corny as hell, with a sucking black hole of a lead. It’s almost as if the rest of the picture has its senses heightened to make up for the absence of a lead actor with any semblance of charm. I think they’re both arguments in favor of translation over slavish reproduction. I generally like Queen, so it was probably an off-hand remark along the lines of how “Flash” is a basic bitch skeleton of a song that could have been great with some actual effort that made me a blood enemy of DAG. I assure you Fixit also wants to cut me when I express the same sentiment in his presence. Others might, charitably, call it “spare.”
I’ve never seen “That Thing You Do,” and likely never will at this point. Was it Gene who did a short podcast episode just on their love of this song? I liked that show.
I can hear the similarities between “Ghostbusters” and “I Want A New Drug,” but I don’t think anyone was liable to confuse the two. I prefer the Huey Lewis number, but no one can deny what an earworm Ray Parker Jr. crafted. Among my many well documented dissents, I’m largely indifferent to Ghostbusters, and was disappointed after seeing the first one at a time when I was WAY easier to please.
Related, I liked Dick Tracy more than Batman, and hope to do a podcast for its thirtieth anniversary this year. As with Evita, Madonna was punching way out of her weight class as Breathless Mahoney, so “Sooner or Later” is the only song from the soundtrack I’d be liable to include in a playlist. I was already sick of “Vogue” by 1991.
I’m going to completely disagree and say I could hear most of the alternates pulling off “Danger Zone,” especially Bryan Adams and Corey Hart. I don’t think REO Speedwagon could have topped Kenny Loggins, and Toto’s the real reach, but the song was already there to be performed. I’ve never liked Top Gun, but “Danger Zone” is such a strong anthem that it transcends its source.
I can’t recall if it was myself or my parents that got rooked by the Movie Hits cassette we got at Woolworth’s, but regardless of all the songs actually being covers performed by The Beech Street Band, it actually served us well. It was similar to Gene’s, but ours included “I Just Called To Say I Love You,” “Ghostbusters,” “The Power Of Love,” “Neutron Dance,” “Invincible,” and “Anything Goes.” Some of the covers were better than others, but more importantly, at a basic level, so were the songs. “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” was on the borderline, with the two firmer flops being “This Is Not America” and “Closest Thing To Perfect.” Half-watched the movie once, and I can’t tell you much about it.
I’ve referenced “Eye of the Tiger” elsewhere, and it’s obviously an undeniable motivational classic. Most often though, my girlfriend and I will do an imitation of Chiara Mastroianni’s performance as Marjane Satrapi in Persepolis when she needs a pick-me-up. It’s a lot of fun singing it off-key with an Iranian accent, especially with the guttural “uh! uh!” at the end of the chorus.
Bon Jovi is one of those acts I liked when I first heard them, but got embarrassed by when they got super-popular and went hard on the sappy power ballads. Grunge hadn’t yet come for hair metal when Young Guns II was released, so I was able to unselfconsciously embrace “Blaze of Glory” as a return to early Slippery When Wet form.
Again, oft-referenced, but Highlander was one of my very first VHS rentals, beginning a perceived streak of winning selections that also included Big Trouble In Little China and Howard the Duck. Judge me. I would you, and I will defend these features. Anyway, this was the start of a since abated but long lived man-crush on Christopher Lambert, and was the first movie where I truly took note of Sean Connery. “Princes of the Universe” is one of the greatest movie anthems ever, and I think it had more to do with Highlander surviving as a franchise than any other element. So long as that song plays over the credits, you want to at least try to watch anything that comes after.
Though I never graduated from a singles fan, I really loved me some Eurythmics hits, and the goodwill carried over to Annie Lennox’s first few solo albums. She dived into oceans of adult contemporary cliche, to the point of self-caricature, and I took “No More ‘I Love You’s” so literally that I have a strong aversion to anything thereafter. I detest Tolkien, and when ya’ll said portions of his writing was lifted to craft “Into the West,” I recognized why I was so repulsed by this Frankenstein’s Monster of stuff I can’t stand.
No matter how many times I see the eternally entertaining source movie, I will never not think of the SNL skit where Michael J. Fox is stuck in an elevator with Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon as they insist on singing “Back in Time” (just the words “gotta go back in time”) over and over.
Thanks for another great episode! I really enjoyed all the songs on this playlist. They’re great examples of songs that helped the movies and vice versa. To me, I can’t hear Power of Love without thinking of Back to the Future, but I also can’t think of Back to the Future without thinking of Power of Love. Even though, by itself, I think it could have stood alone as a Huey Lewis and the News single, it is so ingrained in me as a time travel song because it was written for the film. Such a great pairing!
I remember buying the Top Gun soundtrack way before seeing the movie and all the songs on that soundtrack seem like original Top Gun songs to me. Mighty Wings, Playing With the Boys, Heaven In Your Eyes, Take My Breath Away…. but by far, the one song that got the most airplay in my house was the Top Gun Theme instrumental. It one of those songs that I laugh every time I hear it because of the ludicrous guitar solo (that I have to air guitar), but I love it just the same. Do you guys have any of those songs that you love but can make fun of at the same time?
So many great choices by both of you that it makes me want to listen to these soundtracks and go watch the movies! Keep up the great work!