The 25 Most Quintessential 1980s Soundtracks, From ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Footloose’ to ‘Do the Right Thing’ and ‘Repo Man’
Published At: 29 May 2022 , 01:38 PM
When news of a “Top Gun” sequel was announced, questions like “Will Tom Cruise do his own stunts?” and “Will Val Kilmer be in it?” were a little bit down the list of burning ones. Nos. 1 and 2, for certain: “Will ‘Take My Breath Away’ be in it? Will ‘Danger Zone’?” That is the power of the blockbuster 1980s soundtrack: When we look back on the really enduring mainstream movies of the era, it’s not the poster art that pops right into our minds first, usually — it’s the poster art as adapted into an album cover.
The producers of “Top Gun: Maverick” didn’t take many chances when it came to trying to come up with a hit album: They enlisted Lady Gaga for a brand new song, to take the place of “Take My Breath Away,” but did, yes, also include Loggins’ “Danger Zone” to tickle the throwback part of your brain. The chances of this new soundtrack album achieving even a third of the nine-times-platinum status of the original are nil, of course: This is a different era for music, generally, but soundtracks particularly. The lure of “various artists” movie albums actually started to wane around the mid-’90s, really, and now, save for the very occasional “Star is Born” outlier, it’s a nice market, not market leader.
But let’s remember a time when pop soundtracks were the primary souvenir you could buy of a movie (before DVDs!), or were just a bitchin’ way to collect a variety of tunes in one fell swoop (before the “NOW! That’s What I Call Music” series… or Spotify). Here are 25 of the albums that defined the decade, from massive hits like the three F’s — “Fame,” “Flashdance” and “Footloose” — to some collections that introduced us to new sounds, like “Times Square” and “Wild Style.” And in case the descriptions alone don’t take you right back to the period: Click on any of the still images to watch a music video representing that particular soundtrack. — Chris Willman
Top Gun (1986)
Photo : Everett Collection
The Miami Sound Machine, Kenny Loggins and Berlin. Welcome to 1986 and the “Top Gun” soundtrack. From the film’s opening, the “Top Gun” Anthem,” by Harold Faltermeyer, who scored the film—plays softly over the opening credits to the “Danger Zone,” cut, the film’s soundtrack is part of pop culture, like the film. Remember when Tom Cruise’s Maverick serenades Kelly McGillis with “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling?” at the bar? Music in “Top Gun” is an important part of the film, and an important soundtrack in film history. — Jazz Tangcay
Purple Rain (1984)
Photo : The Kobal Collection
It’s hard to think of a more self-fulfillingly prophetic film than “Purple Rain,” which was about a young musician overcoming his demons (and rivals) on his rise to the top — and lofted Prince to global superstardom in a matter of weeks during the summer of “Ghostbusters” and “Born in the U.S.A.” Yet it never would have happened without the brilliant songs on this album, which range from rockers (“Let’s Go Crazy”) to ballads (“Beautiful Ones”), from porn-funk (“Darling Nikki”) to the epic, anthemic title track — and one of the most unusual No. 1 singles of all time in “When Doves Cry.” It’s Prince’s most concise and accessible album — and a mountaintop he never bothered, or needed, to climb again. — Jem Aswad
Do the Right Thing (1989)
Photo : Everett Collection
One has to go back to “Midnight Cowboy,” or even “Casablanca,” to find a film that is as inseparable from its signature song as Spike Lee’s masterpiece “Do the Right Thing.” Heard blasting out of Radio Raheem’s boombox at key moments throughout the film, Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” managed to channel all of the narrative’s unbearable tension and righteous rage into five of the most explosive, densely packed minutes of music imaginable. There were plenty of other gems on the soundtrack – Guy’s smooth R&B jam “My Fantasy,” Lee-favorites E.U.’s “Party Hearty” – but it stands as a deathless landmark of film music for that song alone. – Andrew Barker
Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science and the John Hughes ST Catalog
Photo : Everett Collection
As the king of teen angst, John Hughes had plenty of memorable music moments in his films. The classics he directed, like “The Breakfast Club” and “Weird Science,” as well as the ones he wrote but that still seemed like John Hughes movies, like “Pretty in Pink,” all had solid collections of creative needle drops from the new wave and pop bands of the 1980s, though not all were released as soundtracks at the time. But most are remembered by a singular, often title track. The Psychedelic Furs growled about their promiscuous rose-garbed friend years before Hughes used “Pretty in Pink” as both the title and the title track of the Molly Ringwald film. Likewise, Oingo Boingo’s cheerfully wacky “Weird Science” remains the best-remembered track from Hughes’ film, which also featured tunes by Killing Joke and Lords of the New Church. And Simple Minds “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” an iconic hit as the theme from “The Breakfast Club,” was by far the British group’s biggest song ever. “Sixteen Candles” never got a full soundtrack release despite fun choices like Kajagoogoo, Altered Images, Spandau Ballet and Patti Smith, while “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” got a belated 2016 version, with some curious but interesting selections like The Dream Academy covering the Smiths’ “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” and “Love Missile F1-11” by Sigue Sigue Sputnik. (Remember them? No? You’re not alone.) — Pat Saperstein
Flashdance (1983)
Photo : Everett Collection
No stars in your movie? Not a problem in 1983, when it was possible for a soundtrack to become the star of a movie, thanks to nascent MTV. The video clips for the two No. 1 songs from the movie — “Flashdance… What a Feeling” by Irena Cara and “Maniac” by Michael Sembello — were played relentlessly on the then-new music video channel, as the film and soundtrack fed upon one another for mutual blockbuster-dom. Ultimately, the album was RIAA-certified for 6million U.S. sales… and who knows, it might have even landed a little higher than that, if the initial success hadn’t caught everyone by such surprise that stores quickly sold out of the mere tens of thousands of LPs initially manufactured. As indelible as “Maniac” was, it’s really all about the title song. Giorgio Moroder (reaching a new soundtrack high a few years after “American Gigolo”) came up with a slow-burn that perfectly fit the wait-for-it highs of the climactic dance audition sequence … so compellingly that we almost suspended our disbelief that Jennifer Beals was on-screen anywhere during that scene. And Irena Cara sang the best-song Oscar winner for the second time in four years. The real winner, though? MTV and movie marketing departments. — Willman
Repo Man (1984)
Photo : Everett Collection
1984’s “Repo Man” was not only an explosive film about L.A. for British director Alex Cox, it also helped bring mainstream recognition to numerous L.A. punk bands featured on the soundtrack: Fear, the Circle Jerks, the Plugz, Suicidal Tendencies and, the most L.A. punk of them all, Black Flag. The pride of the South Bay get the ultimate product placement in a scene in which Emilio Estevez’s misunderstood repo man Otto walks home dejectedly singing the early Black Flag anthem “TV Party” (“We’ve got/nothing better to do/than to watch TV/and have a couple of brews.”) The music of “Repo Man” captures a fertile moment for L.A.’s local music scene that is now being explored by music historians in depth in such books as 2001’s “Our Band Could Be Your Life” and the newly released “Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records.” — Cynthia Littleton
