more 80s soundtracks

can't get enough of 80s movies at the moment. nostalgia can be indulgent but sometimes you're just fed up with the real world, or, you just prefer the music and movies of another time.

now that i have worn out and/or broken most of my sex and the city dvds, i find myself watching an 80s movie to wind down.

i wonder if, in the future, there'll be a place you can go to where to all intents and purposes, it's the 80s, or the 70s or whatever era you feel like living in. yes, one of the last 80s films i watched was back to the future.

ten more 80s soundtracks - download here

beverly hills cop (1984)

junior - do you really want my love

**bonus**vanity 6 - nasty girl

forget 'axel f' i think we can safely say its forever ruined by a crazy frog. junior was a uk soul singer whose only real hit was the growly 'mama used to say'. vanity 6's biggest hit was, for purple reasons, left off the soundtrack. the film? well if the only eddie murphy you know is the sorry fortysomething player who fathers children with desperate spice girls, you need to get this and coming to america and find out why he's even famous in the first place. get raw and delirious while you're at it as well, i hear they just came out on dvd.

ferris bueller's day off (1986)

yello - oh yeah

how does matthew broderick look the same now as in 1986? anyway, who can forget this scene - battered and defeated headmaster, ed rooney, resigned to catching a school bus. earlier he declared, 'i did not achieve this position in life by having some snot-nosed punk leave my cheese out in the wind'. like the breakfast club before it, ferris delighted in watching authoritative adults sink under the delusion that they were smarter than sassy 80s kids. i loved the character cameron in this movie. check out jennifer grey before dirty dancing and that nosejob as ferris's sister jeannie.

ghostbusters ii (1989)

bobby brown - on our own

copyact sequel, but an opportunity for young bobby to cement his growing popularity. this track hasn't engraved itself on the memory like ray parker jr's effort but it was huge in 89. he did provide another song for the soundtrack but...its awful. and i'm a huge bobby fan. don't try to track it down. think vanilla ice and those ninja turtles and be glad you left well enough alone. the film is exactly the same as the first ghostbusters - bill murray, big marshmallow baddies who threaten to eat new york. ok there might be slightly more to it than that...but not a hell of a lot.

krush groove (1985)

sheila e - a love bizarre

kurtis blow - if i ruled the world

if you're a fan of 80s hiphop, this soundtrack is worth seeking out, although it probably doesn't exist on cd. the story follows def jam's early days and features sheila e, ll cool j, beastie boys and new edition amongst others. it also stars a young blair underwood. as in the fit doctor miranda dates in the last series of sex and the city. the fit, rich doctor who can cook but also buys her pizza and a cookie that says 'i love you'. which sends her running back to broke barman steve. i'm sorry, i loved that show but COME ON that would never happen. he was too good for her - oh, ok i'll calm down now....

top gun (1986)

teena marie - lead me on

the rest of the soundtrack was eclipsed by 'take my breath away' but its actually a good representation of mid 80s power pop, especially 'danger zone', the likes of which just wouldn't work in the 00s for so many reasons. this was before living in an inner city was indeed like 'living in a danger zone' as per this song. this teena marie song is the most soul-oriented track. many a ten year old girl developed a crush on tom cruise thanks to this movie, and cocktail, that has carried into later life. until katie holmes and scientology, obviously, at which point he visibly lost it.

who's that girl (1987)

duncan faure - 24 hours

scritti politti - best thing ever

madonna filled this soundtrack with four of her own tracks, naturally, and most fans bought it for these and skipped the others. i copied from a friend as i wouldn't spend £5.49 on a tape with only four madonna songs. not when i could spend 70p on a blank tape and a bag of kola kubes to bribe said friend. we didn't share msuic quite so freely in those days. scritti politti were a great 80s blue eyed soul band with breathy vocals and this is a good example of their offerings. duncan faure? one hit wonder if this even counts. I used to think this was sung by the male lead in the film, griffin dunne.

body rock (1985)

maria vidal - body rock

fabulous example of mid 80s legwarmers-and-headband dance music, hot on the heels of fame and flashdance. i haven't seen the movie in years, but i'm not sure its really necessary, to guess what its about. this song was a favourite of sadistic p.e. teachers up and down the UK, looking to motivate lazy 16 year olds into aerobics, well into the 90s. why was all the music in those lessons at least 10 years old?? another favourite was the pointer sister's 'jump' for trampolining (arf...) and i also remember being forced to do aqua aerobics to elton john's 'i'm still standing'. funny cos i don't remember the p.e witches having a sense of humour...














bright lights big city (1987)

prince - good love

from one shortarse to another, prince contributed this rare track to michael j fox's 1987 movie. as i remember, this is almost exactly the same as 'the secret of my success'. michael, previously playing teen roles in teenwolf and back to the future, made the apparent leap to twentysomething hotshot within the space of two years. like ralph macchio, he was a good ten years older than most of his characters. which must be like the ultimate affirmation of hanging on to your youth, I presume. good for them.