Right here at JoBlo, we love the eighties. Heck, we also have a Fb web page and a YouTube channel known as Loving the 80s— that’s how a lot we’re obsessive about the last decade. Nonetheless, when you consider all of your favourite eighties motion pictures, I’m prepared to wager that for almost all of them, there’s a track that instantly involves thoughts. That’s as a result of the 80s had been the heyday of film soundtracks. These days, motion pictures simply don’t have tremendous well-liked songs related to them the best way they used to (which is why the Finest Unique Tune class on the Oscars is so horrendous). It’s a disgrace, as a result of there’s one thing a few hit track and a film collectively that’s simply indelible.
However there are two sorts of eighties film soundtracks. There are these like Towards All Odds, the place the theme track “Take a Look at Me Now” by Phil Collins was WAY extra well-liked than the film it got here from. Then there are others the place total soundtracks turned half of popular culture — and people are those I’m going to speak about right here. So, right here we go along with the Finest Film Soundtracks of the 80s (in chronological order!)
1. Quick Occasions at Ridgemont Excessive
That is an iconic however unusual soundtrack, deeply divided between the aesthetics and preferences of the director Amy Heckerling, and the financiers of the film, who occurred to be related to The Eagles. As such, half of the soundtrack is New Wave, whereas the opposite half is California rock, made by bands carefully related to The Eagles. The album launched as a tie-in extra carefully displays California rock, with solo songs by each member of The Eagles besides Glenn Frey, whereas the film’s combine is extra eclectic. Among the most memorable tracks, like Shifting in Stereo by The Vehicles, are absent from the album however add immensely to the movie and helped popularize New Wave.
2. Flashdance
Adrian Lyne’s film was arguably the primary eighties movie to actually replicate the MTV aesthetic that might come to outline the last decade. Paramount had little to no religion within the film, however they minimize a number of music movies from the soundtrack for MTV, and the film turned a smash hit. Among the signature songs embody “Flashdance! (What a Feeling)” and “Maniac.”
At least three songs off the Footloose soundtrack made it into the highest 10 of the Billboard Sizzling 100. There was the title monitor by Kenny Loggins (and lots extra from him), “Let’s Hear it For the Boy” by Deniece Williams, and “Almost Paradise” by Ann Wilson and Mike Reno. Even songs that didn’t make the highest 10 had been iconic, like Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero.”
4. Ghostbusters
Would Ghostbusters have been as large of successful with out Ray Parker Jr’s theme track? “Who you gonna call?” turned the rallying cry for this film, however the soundtrack truly has a whole lot of good songs on it, together with “Magic” by Mick Smiley, which will likely be instantly recognizable to anybody who’s seen the film (which I wager is everybody studying this text).
5. Purple Rain
Prince’s display debut turned an album inextricably linked to the film, with two primary hits on the Billboard High 100 (“When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy”), one other quantity 2 hit (the title monitor), and one other that hit quantity 8 (“I Would Die For You”). The soundtrack went 13 occasions platinum and continues to be one of many highest-selling albums of all time.
6. Beverly Hills Cop
Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer actually knew the way to assemble a kick-ass soundtrack. Realizing that Flashdance’ssoundtrack helped propel it to boffo field workplace, they went all out on the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, which mirrored an eclectic mixture of pop music. There was Glenn Frey’s “The Heat is On,” but additionally city tracks like “Neutron Dance” by The Pointer Sisters, and extra. Extra impressively, an instrumental monitor, “Axel F,” from the rating by Harold Faltermeyer turned a quantity 3 hit on the Billboard High 100.
7. Again to the Future
Once I consider Again to the Future, I can’t assist however consider Huey Lewis & the Information, with their track, “The Power of Love,” arguably probably the most instantly identifiable soundtrack minimize of the last decade. However they’ve bought one other traditional on the soundtrack too — “Back in Time” — that’s nearly pretty much as good.
8. The Breakfast Membership
John Hughes is the definitive voice of 80s teenagers on movie, and his soundtracks mirrored that he had his finger on the heartbeat of what this technology of youngsters had been listening to. Nowhere was this extra apparent than with The Breakfast Membership, with the Easy Minds monitor “Don’t You Forget About Me” being one of many greatest and greatest songs of the last decade.
9. High Gun
One other Simpson/Bruckheimer joint, the High Gun soundtrack had not one however two iconic theme songs it’s unimaginable to separate from the film — “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins, and “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin. That is one other soundtrack that offered so many information it’s thought of one of many defining albums of the last decade.
10. Soiled Dancing
Regardless of being set within the Nineteen Sixties, the makers of Soiled Dancing didn’t restrict themselves to interval tracks. Oh no. Whereas they included loads of old-school songs, most of the greatest hits on the soundtrack had been model new, together with Eric Carmen’s “Hungry Eyes,” “She’s Like the Wind” (which is sung by the film’s star Patrick Swayze), and probably the most iconic track off the soundtrack, “I’ve Had the Time of My Life.”
Bonus: Much less Than Zero
That is one other film whose soundtrack is healthier identified than the movie it comes from. This adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel was a giant flop, however the soundtrack is a banger, produced by Rick Rubin, who included songs from the burgeoning hip hop scene in addition to rock tracks, akin to The Bangles’ cowl of “A Hazy Shade of Winter.” Of all of the soundtracks on this checklist, that is the most effective curated one.
What do you consider this checklist and what are we lacking? Tell us within the chat!
