The Movie Hit That Helped Tina Turner Prove Her Comeback Was No Fluke in 1985

Tina Turner had watched her career prospects dim to the extent that the brilliant light of her talent was nearly extinguished to the outside world. Once she overcame the down times, she ensured that they wouldn’t return.

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Turner did that in part by taking on a bold movie role not long after she turned into a belated pop music star. “We Don’t Need Another Hero” came from that project and solidified her comeback story.

Going ‘Private’

Tina Turner was a forgotten artist in the late 70s and early 80s. As she picked up the pieces of her life after her divorce from Ike Turner, who had helped to define her musical path earlier in her career, she took whatever work she could get.

Luckily, she had some influential fans who knew what immense talent she possessed. Big names like David Bowie and Mick Jagger sang her praises to anyone who would listen. Eventually, music industry execs listened, and she earned a new contract. Going the pop/rock route on her 1984 comeback album Private Dancer, she went nuclear.

The catalyst for her success was the single “What’s Love Got To Do With It”. When she first heard the song, written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle, she didn’t think much of it. After the song went to No. 1, Turner was eagerly listening when Britten and Lyle returned with another song, this one to accompany a high-profile movie role.

“Hero” Worship

Turner easily could have hustled back into the studio to follow up Private Dancer. Instead, she made a counterintuitive move and revived her acting career, which had been dormant for a decade. And she didn’t exactly ease her way back into it.

Turner took the role of Auntie Entity, the antagonist to Mel Gibson’s titular character in the 1985 sci-fi spectacular Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. To ensure that her newfound music fans didn’t forget about her, Turner also recorded a pair of songs for the soundtrack.

She went back to her old friends Graham Lyle and Terry Britten for one of those songs. “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” featured slinky grooves reminiscent of “What’s Love Got To Do With It” before eventually opening up into a booming chorus. The song went to No. 2 in 1985, proving that Turner hadn’t lost an ounce of momentum from Private Dancer.

“We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” works in the context of the movie, but it also proves resonant to any put-upon group wanting to rise above their circumstances. “We are the ones they left behind,” Turner sings. These poor souls are “living under the fear ‘til nothing else remains.”

She strikes a hopeful tone in the second verse. “Love and compassion, their day is coming,” she sings. “All else are castles built in the air.” The bridge finds Turner belting at her highest register about the possible outcomes. “Will our story shine like a light?” she wonders. “Or end in the dark? Is it all or nothing?”

The success of “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” and “One Of The Living” (also from the film) kept Turner front and center on radios and MTV. A year later, the album Break Every Rule kept her incredible hot streak going.

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