4 Songs From the 80s That Were Written for Iconic Movies (And Hit No. 1)

If you didn’t grow up in this decade, you likely know these tunes as “popular songs from the 80s.” But there was a time when these songs were catching people’s attention in the theater, before they made it on the charts. Here are four songs from the 80s that were written for iconic films and found success on their own.

Videos by American Songwriter

“Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor

When Sylvester Stallone was on the hunt for a theme song for his movie Rocky III, he first consulted Queen. Apparently, the rock group didn’t want “Another One Bites The Dust” to be used in a film about wrestlers. The opportunity came just in time for Survivor, who were actually at risk of being dropped from their label.

“(Don’t You) Forget About Me” by The Simple Minds

When they were asked to write an end credits song for a new John Hughes movie called The Breakfast Club, the members of Simple Minds weren’t all too keen on the idea at first.

“They said, ‘This thing came up, and it’d be great for you to be involved, and they’re very keen to have you. It’s a movie, blah, blah, blah,’” Kerr told People. “We said, ‘Okay, that sounds great.’ They said, ‘All right, we’ll send you the song.’ We said, ‘Hang on a minute, what song? We write our own songs.’ And they said, ‘No, no. There’s a song written to go with a script, and it’s this guy Keith Forsey.’ We said, ‘Hmm, we don’t really do [other] people’s songs, but let’s check it out.’”

The song and the movie became a smash hit. The Breakfast Club became a staple of 80s cinema, and “(Don’t You) Forget About Me” became The Simple Minds’ biggest hit in North America.

“Footloose” by Kenny Loggins

The iconic theme song that served as the background for more than one dance scene in the movie Footloose was also Kenny Loggins’ first and only No. 1 hit. As he told AXS TV, though, writing music for the movie was actually done as a favor to his friend, Dean Pitchford.

“You know it’s not usual to have somebody hand you a screenplay and say, ‘Would you write a song for it?’ But Dean [the screenwriter] was a friend of mine, so I did.” He continued, “A year later, this is the biggest movie of the summer, you can’t see that coming.”

“Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.

Now, in a surprising turn of events, this one was written for…you guessed it! Ghostbusters. Ray Parker Jr., who was known for songs like “The Other Woman” and “Jack and Jill”, actually only had a few days to pen this track. Inspired by a commercial for a business he saw on TV, Parker incorporated the famous “Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!” call and response segment.

Photo by: CBS via Getty Images