5 80s Movie Songs Named After Their Respective Films

Did you know that Huey Lewis almost turned down the job of writing the theme song to Back To The Future? It turns out that Huey didn’t want to get hemmed into writing a song called “Back To The Future”. Luckily, the producers let him write whatever he wanted, which is how we ended up with “The Power Of Love”.

Videos by American Songwriter

Some 80s artists didn’t have that same leeway but did quite well for themselves just the same. Here are five movie songs from the decade that were titled after the films in which they appeared.

“Fame” by Irene Cara

Cara could have appeared on this list twice if we really wanted to go that route. But we left off “Flashdance…What A Feeling” because you don’t actually hear the title Flashdance in the lyrics. She gets bonus points for “Fame”, however, since she starred in the movie as well as singing the title track. The song was written by composer Michael Gore and lyricist Dean Pitchford. It worked well in the context of the film, which was about students at a performing arts school. But it also resonated with anyone who ever dreamed of seeing their name in lights.

“Footloose” by Kenny Loggins

Come on, now, we couldn’t have a list about 80s movie songs without the king of the soundtrack himself. Anyone wanting to release an iconic film in that decade was wise to contact Kenny Loggins to work his magic. He came up big both with songs he wrote (“I’m Alright” for Caddyshack) and songs he just interpreted (“Danger Zone” for Top Gun). He co-wrote “Footloose” with Lee DeCarlo. The manic energy of the music is matched by Loggins’ no-holds-barred vocal performance.

“Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.

This one’s a bit on the controversial side. Not so much in terms of the song’s impact, because it seems likely that at least half the free world had the lyrics “Who ya gonna call?/Ghostbusters” emblazoned in their brain in 1984. But Ray Parker Jr. did have to deal with a lawsuit from Huey Lewis, who claimed that the song borrowed heavily from “I Want A New Drug”. The case was settled out of court, although Lewis allegedly later had to pay some back when he violated an agreement forbidding him from talking about the whole mess.

“Weird Science” by Oingo Boingo

OK, we could have gone another route with a John Hughes movie and picked “Pretty In Pink” from The Psychedelic Furs. But in that case, the song predated the movie’s creation by a few years. “Weird Science”, however, was an ad hoc writing job by Danny Elfman of Oingo Boingo. The song would become the cult band’s most well-known release in America. Elfman’s demented cackle certainly feels like it could have emanated from a scientist trying to create human life without realizing the unexpected consequences.

“St. Elmo’s Fire (Man In Motion)” by John Parr

John Parr perused the script for St. Elmo’s Fire, knowing that he had the assignment of writing a song for the movie. Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite relate to the story of preppy college kids romancing each other and questioning their life choices. That’s when Parr happened upon the story of Rick Hansen. Hansen gained notoriety for crossing the country in a wheelchair to raise money and awareness for those with disabilities. Parr, who co-wrote the music with David Foster, stuck the movie title in the lyrics. That fooled producers into believing he was writing about the plot of the film.

Photo by Ponopresse/Shutterstock