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Movie Title Theme Songs


Swift

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I guess these were popular in the 80s because I happen to have watched a surprising number of films this year with them. I feel they exist these only for viewers of the particular movie, as I can't imagine people actually listen to much of these outside of that, especially because they're generally by one hit/ no hit wonder types. If I was industrious, I'd create a podcast or a blog featuring an indepth look at these on a weekly basis, but I'm not so I'll just post them here. You too can post yours. The rule is that they have to actually mention the movie title in the song. James Bond theme songs are excluded as they're far too well known. Probably the most well known other example (as far as I can think of) is Ghostbusters. EDIT: I guess another well known example would be Shaft.

Another well known example due to being featured in Stranger Things recently is The NeverEnding Story by Limahl.

But here's some more random ones, kicking off with what is genuinely a fun 80s song.

Revenge of the Nerds - The Rubinoos

Shocker - The Dudes of Wrath

Jewel of the Nile - Precious Wilson

You Can Be a Garbage Pail Kid - Jimmy Scarlett & The Dimensions

 

Edited by Swiftian
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You may need to exempt blaxploitation films. In addition to the aforementioned Shaft, Superfly, Slaughter, Foxy Brown, Dolomite, the Human Tornado, truck turner and Across 110th Street all qualify. And some of their sequels too. 

Edited by odessasteps
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While I appreciate the idea of this post, I am saddened by the rule of "title mention", because it disqualifies one of my favorite movie themes in "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham.

Since @Execproducer beat me to the one that jumped to the forefront of my mind I'll mention a couple others that I enjoy.

John Parr - St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion) - It's got fuck all to do with the film it is the theme for, but it's a pretty decent pop tune. The video makes the connection with the cast of the film, but that doesn't change the fact that Parr and a partner wrote it about Rick Hansen and his "Man In Motion World Tour" while sort of quasi-alluding to the themes set forth in the film.

Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder - Together In Electric Dreams - Great song, much more well regarded and a bigger hit that the film ever was, but how could it not be with those two responsible for its writing and performance?

Irene Cara would get my vote for the theme from "Fame", and since I just watched "Xanadu" the other day, that one is fresh in my brain as well.

Footloose is another winner, but I almost feel like that's cheating, since Kenny Loggins was the king of the movie theme. 

In looking at this list, it sort of throws away the one-hit wonder vibe a little bit as well. John Parr is the closest, but he had another #1 with "Naughty Naughty" so he's a two hitter, and Irene Cara had "What A Feeling" and "Breakdance" as chart hits as well.

Edited by grilledcheese
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I got a wild hair up my ass and learned "Tony's Theme" from Scarface (at least the beginning notes) on guitar one time. As dated as all those songs are they still work perfectly for the film, Giorgio and company did a hell of a job. Rush rush to the yayo groove, y'all.

But posting that is breaking the rules so here's "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)" instead.
"

That is the most '80s thing ever recorded probably, unless it's something else in this thread.

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2 hours ago, Gonzo said:

I can't believe we've gotten this far and missed this one:

 

You could've tried to make a case for On Our Own (Ghostbusters) by Bobby Brown.

It doesn't specifically mention the title of the movie, but Bobby raps the entire plot during the bridge.

Edited by J.T.
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8 hours ago, J.T. said:

As much as I'd like to include We Don't Need Another Hero by Tina Turner, it only mentions Beyond Thunderdome and not Mad Max.

I wish we could just get beyond Thunderdome.

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