Cinematical Seven: Great 80's Soundtrack Songs

To me, nothing defines my awkward childhood better than those irresistible 80's movie tunes. Back in the day, before I saved up my hard-earned cash to purchase the Ghostbusters 2 soundtrack on a cassette tape (true story), I would take my boom box, hold it up to the TV and record the songs like that. Some of the time you'd even hear the actors' dialogue pop in -- but I didn't care; if that was the only way to get The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News right that second, so be it. There were loads of songs to choose from while writing this list, and I was tempted to include two from the same movie on several occasions (Footloose, to give one example), but in the end I decided to go with the songs that meant the most to me. The songs I would sing in the shower when I knew my parents weren't home. The songs that showed up at a certain point, kicked tons of ass, and defined a movie. So, without dragging this on any further, I present to you Seven Great 80s Soundtrack Songs ...

Don't You Forget About Me (Simple Minds), The Breakfast Club -- Perhaps the most memorable for any angst-ridden teenager trying to sort out their feelings about high school and the opposite sex, this song and this movie helped define a generation. When the time finally comes in the film for this song to be played, you feel like you've gone through such an emotional journey with the characters -- all of whom found their lives change forever over the course of one, long weekend detention session. Who knows if they ever remained friends after that; if their brief chats in the hallway progressively got shorter and eventually became friendly nods until, finally, they graduated, moved on with their lives, raised families and that whole experience became a distant memory. If it wasn't for that song, The Breakfast Club might have gone the same route -- and instead of becoming a classic, it may have gotten lost amidst a long list of films you remember from time to time, but quite often forget. -- Most Quotable Line: Don't you forget about me.

Footloose (Kenny Loggins), Footloose -- As with The Breakfast Club, Footloose (the song) comes at the very end of the film, after we've watched these kids fight and fight for their dance -- it's arrived -- and all they can do is rock their socks off. I used to rewind that scene and play it over and over again -- just because it was that much fun to watch. While I came close to choosing Almost Paradise to represent the film, I just couldn't ignore Footloose. The kids wanted to dance. They wanted to party. They fought hard for it ... and they played this song. How do you not choose it? --- Most Memorable Line: Footloose, Footloose -- kick off your Sunday shoes.

You're the Best (Around) (Joe Esposito), The Karate Kid -- Most folks would probably choose Cruel Summer to represent The Karate Kid, but my friend and I have always cherished You're the Best. Like the previous two films, this song once again comes toward the end of the film. However, it's not the very end -- it comes at that crucial point when, like the character of Daniel LaRusso, we're asked to get pumped up for his round of fights against the dreaded Cobra Kai. Out of the thousands of cheesy montage sequences we've been exposed to throughout the years, the You're the Best montage in The Karate Kid ranks right up there as one of the most satisfying, pump-your-fist-in-the-air moments from any movie ... ever. Most Memorable Line: You're the best around -- nothing's gonna ever take you down.

The Power of Love (Huey Lewis and the News), Back to the Future -- I had to take a song from one of my favorite movies of all time, and what better a choice than Huey's The Power of Love -- kicked off when Marty tells Doc, "Shit, I'm late for school!" And he's off, on his skateboard (what kid didn't want to hold onto the back of a truck whilst riding a skateboard after watching this film), through the town, past the women doing aerobics and up to school -- where Jennifer attempts to save him from getting caught showing up late ... again. The song kicks in one more time after Jennifer writes him a little love note before the two plan to meet up later to head up "to the lake." Of course, things don't go as planned and Marty, instead, winds up traveling back to the year 1955. Most Memorable Line: Don't need money, don't need fame -- don't need no credit card to ride this train ...

(I've Had) The Time of My Life (Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes), Dirty Dancing -- It's almost impossible to choose one song from off one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time, but if you had to pick a moment from the movie when everything is on the line, then it's at the end, during that final dance, while this song is playing. A song that begins after Johnny mutters one of the most quotable lines from the 80s: "Nobody puts Baby in a corner." And, yes, when I was talking about songs that I recorded off the TV using my boombox -- I'm embarrassed to say it, but this was one of those songs. Even if the little chat between Dad, Baby and Johnny shows up in the middle; I just tuned it out. Because after seeing that movie as a teenager, it was always my dream to have a moment like that -- a moment where I could take a girl by the hand and dance with her to this song. And I'm happy to say that moment was achieved on my wedding day two years ago. Most Memorable Line: I've had the time of my life ... and I owe it all to you oohh oohh.

St. Elmo's Fire (John Parr), St. Elmo's Fire -- This films reminds me of what would've happened to The Breakfast Club kids had we followed them through their college graduation. Once again, Judd Nelson plays "the dick" -- and if you're not paying close enough attention, you might wake up and think -- holy crap, they made a sequel to The Breakfast Club. There's a great scene in the movie when Rob Lowe's character talks about St. Elmo's Fire and how it works into where they are at this point in their lives. He says (to Demi Moore, who's such a crackhead in this flick): "It's St. Elmo's Fire. Electric flashes of light that appear in dark skies out of nowhere. Sailors would guide entire journeys by it, but the joke was on them... there was no fire. There wasn't even a St. Elmo. They made it up. They made it up because they thought they needed it to keep them going when times got tough, just like you're making up all of this. We're all going through this. It's our time at the edge." The funniest part of that speech -- a critical part of the film -- is that it's entirely incorrect. But the song still rocks, and when you hear it, you instantly remember all the words. Most Memorable Line: ...Gonna be your man in motion, all I need is a pair of wheels, take me where my future's lyin' -- St. Elmo's Fire!

The Goonies 'R' Good Enough (Cyndi Lauper), The Goonies -- With every Cinematical Seven, you take a risk -- and I guess you could say this is my risk. Sure, there are a host of other songs I could've chosen to include, but I loved the point in the movie when this song played. The boys just finished tying Brand down to the chair, and they peel off in their bikes in search of the buried treasure. To them, they have no choice -- Mikey's parents are forced to sell their house, the place where they grew up, the place where The Goonies came to be, and if they don't find the money, it's off to another town in another city. This also marks the last scene in the film in which the boys are still clowning around, having some light-hearted fun -- and from that point forward, their adventure begins. It might not be a good enough choice for you, but it's good enough for me -- yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. Most Memorable Line: See the previous sentence.