Random List-Mania: 40 Best Original Movie Songs of the 1980s
Tuesday, August 25, 2015 at 1:00PM 
We did this once for the 1990s and you loved it, so here's round two.
Young Oscar fanatics might not have tripped over this tidbit yet but in the 1980s they were still giving out an award for "Original Song Score" - an old vestige category of the decades when a dozen plus movie musicals arrived each year. Three of these Oscars were handed out in the 1980s for Victor / Victoria (1982), Yentl (1983) and Purple Rain (1984). None have been handed out since even though it's technically still a category... just not one that they invoke anymore. Though it's a pity they didn't consider giving one to Moulin Rouge! or Hedwig and the Angry Inch for 2001 as the category can also be awarded to "Adaptation Score"
The presence of this category in the early 80s probably explains why Purple Rain and Victor/Victoria had no "Original Song" nominees in their years (why double dip?) but it does not explain why Yentl had nominations in both categories. Because of these films I only allowed myself 2 songs per movie so as not to let these five films hog this entire list.
BEST ORIGINAL MOVIE SONGS OF THE 1980s
Beautiful Song Craft and/or Cheesy Epic Ballads For the Wins
* Oscar nominee | ** Oscar winner
- "Nine to Five"* -Nine to Five (Dolly Parton)
- "Le Jazz Hot" - Victor/Victoria (Henry Mancini)
- "Purple Rain" - Purple Rain (Prince)
- "Into the Groove" - Desperately Seeking Susan (Madonna)
- "Xanadu" - Xanadu (Jeff Lynne)
- "Fame"** - Fame (Michael Gore & Dean Pitchford)
- "When Doves Cry" - Purple Rain (Prince)
33 more numbers after the jump... - "Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)"* - The Color Purple (Quincy Jones, Rod Temperton, and Lionel Richie)
- "Endless Love"* - Endless Love (Lionel Richie)
- "Let the River Run"** - Working Girl (Carly Simon)
- "Papa Can You Hear Me"* - Michel Legrand, Marilyn Bergman & Alan Bergman)
- "Crazy World" - Victor/Victoria (Henry Mancini)
- "Out Here On My Own"* - Fame (Michael Gore & Leslie Gore)
- "This One's From the Heart" - One From the Heart (Tom Waits)
- "Wild Wild Life" - True Stories (David Byrne)
- "Magic" - Xanadu (John Farrar)
- "Call Me" - American Gigolo (Giorgio Moroder & Debbie Harry)
- "Up Where We Belong"** - An Officer and a Gentleman (Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Will Jennings)
- "Under the Sea"** - The Little Mermaid (Alan Menken & Howard Ashman)
- "Live To Tell" - At Close Range (Madonna & Patrick Leonard)
- "Piece of Sky"* - Yentl (Michel Legrand, Marilyn Bergman & Alan Bergman)
- "Flashdance"** - Flashdance (Giorgio Moroder, Keith Forster, Irene Cara)
- "Kiss the Girl"*- The Little Mermaid (Alan Menken & Howard Ashman)
- "It Might Be You"* - Tootsie (Dave Grusin, Marilyn Bergman & Alan Bergman)
- "Crazy For You" - Vision Quest (John Bettis & Jon Lind)
- "Every Sperm is Sacred" - Monty Python's Meaning of Life (André Jacquemin, David Howman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones)
- "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space"* - Little Shop of Horrors (Alan Menken & Howard Ashman)
- "For Your Eyes Only* - For Your Eyes Only (Bill Conti & Mick Leeson)
- "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)"** (Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager,Christopher Cross and Peter Allen)
- "Don't You Forget About Me" - The Breakfast Club (Keith Forsey & Steve Schiff)
- "Cool Rider" - Grease 2 (Dennis Linde)
- "We Don't Need Another Hero" - Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (Terry Britten & Graham Lyle)
- "Who's That Girl" - Who's That Girl (Madonna & Patrick Leonard)
- "Footloose"* - Footloose (Kenny Loggins & Dean Pitchford)
- "Take My Breath Away"** - Top Gun (Giorgio Moroder & Tom Whitlock)
- "Somebody's Baby" - Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Jackson Brown & Danny Kortchmear)
- "All Time High" - Octopussy (John Barry, Tim Rice, Stephen Short)
- "A View to a Kill" - A View To a Kill (John Barry & Duran Duran)
- "Together in Electric Dreams" - Electric Dreams (Philip Oakley & Giorgio Moroder)
- "Kokomo" - Cocktail (Mike Love, Scott McKenzie,Terry Melcher, John Phillips)
Honorable Mention
"Coming Around Again" - Heartburn (Carly Simon)
"I Can Dream About You" - Streets of Fire (Dan Hartman)
"Let Me Dance For You" - A Chorus Line
Honorable Mentions: Anything else from Victor/Victoria, The Little Mermaid, and especially Purple Rain or Xanadu which would have left little room for anything else! Oh and also the entire Under the Cherry Moon album, too, which I forgot about while making this list. Check out this retro trailer for that ill-fated Prince movie-- Kristin Scott Thomas' debut no less!
Reader Comments (41)
THIS was the era when Original Song meant something! Let's face it - a lot of these films are mediocre at best, but the song gives the film life beyond the 80's. Does Vision Quest have any redeeming value beyond Crazy For You and Gambler? (although Linda Fiorentino... oh so hot)
I'd include Trust from Batman.
I'm still annoyed by the hit me with your best shot edition on The Color Purple. Practically everyone focused on the middle section of the movie. The number Sister and the lesbian kiss.
"Part of Your World"
"Let's Hear It for the Boy"
"God Is Trying to Tell You Something"
"Fight the Power"
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"
Madonna sure had some 80's hits from films didn't see? Forgot about all those!
I'd like to add "Rush, Rush," from "Scarface." Debbie Harry and Giorgio Morodor again. Not nearly as big as "Call Me," but still worth the listen.
Yay! Great list. Best Original Song is one of my favourite categories in the 1980s.
I'm so glad you included 'Call Me'. How that didn't get nominated I'll never know! And 'Every Sperm is Sacred' - a great song and a great musical number!
I'm glad Troy H. mentioned 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now'! I'd have given it the Oscar that year over '('I've Had') The Time of My Life'.
Three more from me:
'Happiness Hotel' from The Great Muppet Caper (or any song from that great film)
'Over You' from Tender Mercies
'I Love to See You Smile' from Parenthood (the best Randy Newman-style Randy Newman song, if you see what I mean)
More from "Streets of Fire"! Jim Steinman was in rare form, and "Tonight is what it means to be young" is an epic debacle. I also have a soft spot for DeBarge's "Who's Johnny" from "Short Circuit".
I second that...more Streets of Fire! Just saw restored print on the big screen and it gets better and better.
Speaking of DeBarge, "Rhythm of the Night" from The Last Dragon!
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now"
Literally my all-time favorite song from the entire 80's era. It's like cocaine coated ear candy featured the cinematic MASTERPIECE, Mannequin.
This is an amazing list. It's a durn shame that the film version of Let The River Run isn't available on any CD.
"After All" by Cher & Peter Cetera did well on the charts and award noms in '89.
Echoing the lack of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." Where is it?
Call Me and Flashdance are way too low, and Endless Love is at #9?! That is the My Heart Will Go On of the 80s
The song from Tootsie ("It Might Be You") immediately came to my mind, so I'm happy to see it included here. No mention of Stevie Wonder's Oscar-winning "I Just Called to Say I Love You" though? While I still haven't seen The Woman in Red, this song is too catchy to omit from a list like this. I'm also a little surprised you didn't include the title song from Ghostbusters, but it probably wouldn't make my list either.
What an epic list! Anything from Victor/Victoria, Let's Hear It For the Boy, Neutron Dance, and Against All Odds.
Oh, yes, 'After All' - thanks, rick gould.
Does anyone know if WIND BENEATH MY WINGS from "BEACHES" was an original song? Surely that would make the cut... maybe it wasn't original though ;(
Call me crazy, but I think "Out Here On My Own" is a MUCH better song than "Fame".
And I'm SHOCKED that "Part of Your World" isn't on this list representing The Little Mermaid (although putting any of those three songs, and yes, even "Les Poissons", above each other is SO difficult).
Can I just say how weird it is that no one seems to know about the Adaptation Score category? Surely BLACK SWAN, SCOTT PILGRIM, and TRUE GRIT should have been enough to activate it in 2010.
Great list, and such a fun article, well done!
I have to admit that "Wind Beneath my Wings" may seem totally cliched now, but it was a huge hit and deserves to be included. (Bette would be disappointed not to be on this list)
"Under the Cherry Moon", doesn't Kristin Scott Thomas look fabulous?
She admits she had no idea about acting in this film, but does the camera love her - gorgeous.
Time to go watch a few clips from "Bitter Moon".
Far too many choices, and too many to pick from
So I would do 2 tests:
The first is the old Oscar Hammerstein dictum, does the song advance the story or the character: (That doesn’t mean these can’t be great songs, but are they great MOVIE songs. ) Then to that test I would add, Have they stood the test of time? (which we do get to do 25 years later). Papa Can You Hear Me may fit the first one but not the second)
My 5 would be
Nine to Five
Up Where We Belong
Footloose
Arthur's Theme
Best combination of the two criteria:
Call Me. ( American Gigolo)
Since "Wind Beneath my Wings" was written and recorded several years before Beaches (and covered multiple times before Bette's), it wouldn't be considered an original song...
what ryan said -- Wind Beneath My Wings was not an original.
as for "nothings gonna stop me now"... i always hated that song (lol). only ever enjoyed it via Skeleton Twins last year.
I love the inclusion of "Together in Electric Dreams"!!
Missing:
"The Neverending Story"
"Ghostbusters"
"Almost Paradise" (Footloose)
"St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)"
"Glory of Love" (Karate Kid Part II)
"Underground," "Magic Dance," and my favorite, "As the World Falls Down" (Labyrinth)
"Danger Zone" and "Playing With the Boys" (man, what a HOT volleyball scene!) (Top Gun)
"Somewhere Out There" (An American Tail)
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (Mannequin)
"Cry Little Sister" (The Lost Boys)
"Storybook Love" (The Princess Bride)
"After All" (Chances Are)
and one of the most overlooked gems...
"All for Love" (Say Anything)
I've always had a question mark over whether "Purple Rain" (the song) was eligible for Original Song, since it was originally recorded at a benefit concert in 1983, along with "I Would Die 4 U" and "Baby I'm A Star", and I'm not sure it was with the sole aim of being in the movie which was still in development. This may have been similar to the Moulin Rouge "Come What May" ruling where, even though it hadn't been commercially released, they got wind that the song itself wasn't created solely for the movie?
The reason the film itself would still be eligible for the Original Song Score Oscar is that the rules state "not fewer than five original songs", and of course the other tracks on the Original Soundtrack album easily achieve that tally (even though other songs such as Apollonia 6's "Sex Shooter" had been kicking around for a bit).
If "Purple Rain" (the song) weren't eligible based on this logic though, "When Doves Cry" still would've been.
The Miss Celie's Blues scene is one of my favourite movie magic moments. The music! Margaret Avery is perfect and Goldberg is so sublime in this movie, and this moment is such joy!
"Within You" from Labyrinth.
Josie Cotton - School Is In & You Could Be The One (Valley Girl).
Not 100% sure if those songs existed prior to the movie, but I certainly love those songs!
"Partyman" - Batman (Prince)
"The Beautiful Ones" - Purple Rain (Prince)
"Let's Go Crazy" - Purple Rain (Prince)
"Picking Up After You" - One from the Heart (Tom Waits)
"Party Party" - Party Party (Elvis Costello)
"Can I Go On" - The Wiz (Quincy Jones, Nickolas Ashford, Valerie Simpson)
"Is This What Feeling Gets" - The Wiz (Jones, Ashford, Simpson)(vocal version cut from film)
There goes my childhood!
A few more:
"Is It Okay If I Call You Mine" - Fame
"Maniac" - Flashdance
"The Neverending Story" - The Neverending Story
"When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" - The Jewel of the Nile
"(I've Had) The Time of My Life" – Dirty Dancing
"Storybook Love" – The Princess Bride
"Calling You" - Bagdad Cafe
RobUK: 'When Doves Cry' was even nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
Paul Outlaw: The Wiz is too early for this list - 1978.
"That's What Friends Are For" was an original song for the movie Night Shift, a very funny dark comedy with Henry Winkler, Shelley Long, and Michael Keaton, directed by Ron Howard. Rod Stewart signs it over the End Credits.
It also had the title song by Quarterflash (remember them?) and a nice pop jazz piece by Al Jarreau named "Girls Know How". It fits the story VERY well.
Another point for "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". Pure. Velveeta. Gold.
Ah, my teenage / college years. I saw and heard all of these all. the. time! Memories!
Seriously so many great songs. I could do a list of top 100, I reckon. Brilliant era.
It Must Have Been Love from Pretty Woman was not specifically for the movie but damn that's my jam.
Agree with everyone else on Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.
As for Little Mermaid... Part of Your World and Poor Unfortunate Souls slay me way more than Under the Sea.
It Must Have Been Love was not written specifically for Pretty Woman but damn that song is my jam.
Also, I echo the sentiments of everyone with Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now.
As for Little Mermaid, Part of Your World and Poor Unfortunate Souls slay me way more than Under the Sea.
Oh, and Somewhere Out There from An American Tale is cute.
Into The Groove is everything.
Just off the top of my head.
Thanks, Edward L. I got over-excited thinking about Miss Ross.
Yes, Peggy Sue: "Calling You"! Jevetta Steele, great voice.
where's "nowhere fast" (jim steinman) from streets of fire, that has to be one of the top 5.
also missing "calling you" from bagdad cafe, "against all odds" phil collins,
and both "let's hear it for the boy" and "holding out for a hero" (jim steinman again) from footloose.
and of course "don't you forget about me" (simple minds) from the breakfast club
I love "The Beautiful Ones" (Purple Rain) though I must admit that I only know it because Mariah Carey and Dru Hill covered it on her "Butterfly" album.
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" is only a good song if you watch Detox of RuPaul's Drag Race perform it live, because she does a whole performance where starts at a 1980's mannequin who comes to life.
You left off "Fight the Power" from Do The Right Right Thing - for shame! Amazing song and one of the very best movies from the decade.
@ jakey: Blasphemy! :-)