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Top 10 '80s Movie Songs You Forgot Were Awesome
MsMojo
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3/9/2025
These epic tracks helped make these 80s movie moments unforgettable! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today weβre counting down our picks for those deep cut tunes from 1980s movie soundtracks that we feel deserve some reinvestigation!
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00:00
Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for those deep cut tunes from
00:12
1980s movie soundtracks that we feel deserve some re-investigation.
00:24
Number 10.
00:25
Jungle Love β Purple Rain
00:28
To paraphrase Jay from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,
00:31
I've never said an unkind word about the time.
00:34
Forrest Day and The Time are indeed the mad note.
00:38
Jungle Love is unequivocally the group's legacy and calling card.
00:42
But this isn't a bad thing.
00:44
After all, any 80s funk band worth their salt would kill for Prince to write a song this
00:50
good for their catalog.
00:59
Jungle Love hinges upon that ultra-synthesized 80s production, that smooth bassline and backing
01:05
vocals that become immediately stuck in listeners' heads.
01:08
Meanwhile, the song's appearance in Prince's own Purple Rain allowed Forrest Day and The
01:13
Time's amazingly cool choreography to swing for the fences.
01:24
Number 9.
01:25
To Live and Die in L.A. β To Live and Die in L.A.
01:35
Director William Friedkin struck gold once again with 1985's To Live and Die in L.A.,
01:41
yet another standout from a filmography that included both The Exorcist and The French
01:46
Connection.
01:47
Wang Chung's theme to the film updates its crime, mystery and thriller themes with a
01:52
and expansive.
02:00
Dance All Day's and Everybody Have Fun Tonight may be the songs most associated with Wang
02:04
Chung's chart success, but To Live and Die in L.A. deserves to be equally remembered.
02:09
The modulated section that occurs shortly before the three-minute mark ramps up the
02:13
tension a little bit, while the song as a whole is a smooth synth pop song with style
02:18
to spare.
02:27
Number 8.
02:28
Only the Young β Vision Quest The history of Only the Young is an interesting
02:34
one, because its composers and journey actually sold off the rights to Patti Smith and Scandal,
02:40
who recorded the first version in 1984.
02:52
That said, most listeners are probably more familiar with the version that Journey themselves
02:56
released as a single in conjunction with the 1985 film Vision Quest.
03:02
There's certainly no shame in Scandal's game, but there's few that would deny Steve
03:06
Perry all of the flowers when it comes to Journey's version.
03:16
Co-songwriter Neil Schoen also adds some tasty guitar accents to the chorus, while Jonathan
03:21
Kane's keyboards create urgency and drama.
03:25
This latter sentiment ties into Vision Quest as a character piece concerning love, challenge
03:31
and competition.
03:38
Number 7.
03:40
Somebody's Baby β Fast Times at Ridgemont High
03:43
You could be forgiven for spacing out on this Jackson Browne soundtrack cut for Fast Times
03:48
at Ridgemont High.
03:57
After all, this was a movie soundtrack that was absolutely stacked with killer cuts.
04:02
Somebody's Baby is a case of musical kismet, a tune where the lyrics resonate with those
04:08
awkward moments of first love, romance and heartbreak.
04:16
Meanwhile, Browne and his band craft a main melody that's wistful and slightly melancholic
04:23
β a nostalgia-fueled trip back for fans who remember watching Fast Times for the first
04:28
time.
04:29
It's virtually impossible at this point to separate Somebody's Baby from its filmatic
04:37
source material, and this is a good thing.
04:45
Number 6.
04:47
I Still Believe β The Lost Boys
04:51
The soundtrack to The Lost Boys is another release that's chock-full of bangers.
04:56
Cry Little Sister from Gerard McMahon serves as the film's outstanding main theme.
05:04
However, there's little that can stand in the way of Tim Capello's blaring saxophone,
05:12
oiled-up physique and gyrating masculinity.
05:28
I Still Believe is actually a cover, the original of which was written and recorded by a group
05:33
known as The Call.
05:34
Capello brings his own inimitable style of swagger to the tune, however, as well as a
05:39
nice dose of hard-rock attitude.
05:42
This results in a cover that's as slick and MTV-friendly as The Lost Boys was for
05:47
kids in the late 80s.
05:59
Number 5.
06:00
Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young β Streets Of Fire
06:04
There's just no other way to say it.
06:13
Streets Of Fire goes hard.
06:15
The soundtrack is equally dense, featuring a bevy of songwriters, studio musicians and
06:21
singers working together to get the project off the ground.
06:32
Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young is pantomimed slash performed by Diane Lane's character
06:37
in the film, but the recorded version was by a session group called Fire Inc.
06:48
The song was written by frequent Meat Loaf collaborator Jim Steinman, and its vibe embodies
06:53
everything that name entails.
06:55
This is big, bombastic and gothic rock, full of grandeur and with absolutely zero sense
07:01
of irony.
07:02
It's a vision that's as ambitious as Walter Hill's script and direction for Streets
07:07
Of Fire.
07:08
In other words, it's a true cult classic.
07:18
Number 4.
07:19
Almost Paradise β Footloose
07:22
Man, they don't make them like this anymore.
07:31
It's difficult to replicate a song like Almost Paradise in the modern day, since there's
07:36
just so much sincerity at play within the songwriting.
07:40
Eric Carman and Dean Pitchford struck gold with their music and lyrics respectively,
07:45
with Almost Paradise being an earnest love theme for a movie soundtrack that was already
07:50
bursting with hits.
08:03
The Footloose soundtrack may be remembered today for its more upbeat numbers, but Mike
08:07
Reno of Loverboy and Anne Wilson from Heart absolutely kill it with this mid-tempo ballad.
08:13
This is pure, unfiltered 80s schmaltz, mainlined straight into the rose-colored hearts of Footloose
08:20
fans around the world.
08:28
Number 3.
08:29
No Easy Way Out β Rocky IV
08:40
We honestly could have populated this list solely with amazing, pumped-up montage tunes
08:45
from the world of 80s action flicks.
08:48
But you know what?
08:49
No Easy Way Out by Robert Tepper would still rank way up there, and that's how hard this
08:54
song jams.
09:02
Tepper contributed this song to the soundtrack for Rocky IV, and it goes broke right from
09:07
Jump Street.
09:08
The vocals are brutally emotive and passionate, while the synthesizer stabs and a fantastic
09:13
bass line anchors the entire affair.
09:16
No Easy Way Out isn't only one of the best Rocky soundtrack cuts, it's one of the best
09:21
songs from the entire 1980s.
09:29
Number 2.
09:31
Mighty Wings β Top Gun
09:40
A lot of classic soundtracks have those tentpole cuts that become inseparable from the film.
09:46
Berlin's Take My Breath Away and Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins do that sort of work for 1986's
09:52
Top Gun.
09:58
That said, we'd argue that Mighty Wings from Cheap Trick is the dark horse hero from that
10:03
OST.
10:05
Maybe it's due to the fact that the full version of the tune didn't get played until
10:08
the film's closing credits?
10:20
All we know is that this Harold Faltermeier, Mark Spiro composition gets the Cheap Trick
10:25
treatment of raging guitars and a lead vocal to die for.
10:29
Oh, and apparently Mighty Wings also influenced the composition of Ken's theme from Street
10:34
Fighter 2.
10:35
Now that we know that, we can't unhear it.
11:02
Number 1.
11:03
Who Wants to Live Forever β Highlander
11:18
There's no denying that Queen's Who Wants to Live Forever sounds great in a vacuum,
11:23
away from the 1986 film Highlander.
11:26
That said, the song takes on a whole new meaning as viewers watch the film, since its placement
11:31
occurs during a montage of Connor McCloud and his wife Heather.
11:35
The former is a Highlander, destined for immortality or the blade, while his wife is immortal.
11:49
Connor is forced to watch his beloved age while he remains young, making the Queen tune
11:54
feel like a heartbreaking concerto for this tragedy.
11:58
Who Wants to Live Forever asks this question of its audience, while the story on screen
12:03
acts as a bittersweet cautionary tale.
12:13
Is there a particular decade that you feel locked in the art of the film's soundtrack?
12:19
Let us know in the comments!
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