Cheesy '80s Songs About Heart and Soul and Overcoming and Winning and Givin' it All That You Got (RIYL Action Movies and Training Montages and Cocaine)

Heart and Soul did you say?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oSB-MDt_10

Pokemon theme is pretty much this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wxyN3z9PL4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueRzA9GUj9c

The Beyond Yacht Rock guys did a great ep on this kind of music, they baptized it Heavy Medal:

http://www.yachtrock.com/podcast/2016/9/22/heavy-medal

I didn't realize until quite recently that there's a song on the Rocky IV soundtrack which is literally entitled 'Training Montage'.

sorry for another parody but 10-15 years ago in Atlanta there was a band called Rump Posse that was all about this aesthetic. they used to cover the Top Gun theme song and the song from Mike Tyson's Punch Out. for stage clothes they wore Hanz N Franz style workout costumes and in between songs they would blast a techno track while working out. needless to say some of these guys work at Adult Swim nowadays:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg70NlyXb0Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2hPtN8rFyE

E.G. Daily's "Mind Over Matter". I actually went to see this movie in the theatre when it came out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-XB1DDiu5c

Pat Benatar's "Invincible" is probably my favorite of these. I felt so powerful after seeing that movie as a pre-teen haha.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crIZ_hgKlAg

^Good one!

I just realised Katy Perry looks exactly like the actress from Billie Jean when she cut her hair short at 1'23".

I've never seen Billie Jean but in the summer of 1985 when my cousin and I were 11 we spent about a month yelling "WHERE IS SHE?" at each other, and you had to reply "EVERYWHERE" in a shitty southern accent because of this trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMzTItRnx4k

Sammy Hagar might be the godfather of heavy medal.

"Top of the Rock" (HSAS) + whole 'VOA' album

This record was a thrift store punt. It's... not good, but maybe it fits here. Actually it's so earnest I wonder if it's a Christian Rock thing.

Tony Carey - We Wanna Live

https://youtu.be/_So6i9bFI8I

If only a bona fide rock star took a pass at this maligned genre. Imagine how great it could be. Maybe for a movie that captured the electric energy of bike messengering. Break from the pack. Shoot for the stars. Trade your chains for wings.

My friends, submitted for your pleasure, Roger Daltrey's theme for Quicksilver. Can you dig it? I know that you can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5gDgoyNaa8

on the other hand, why trade those chains for wings when you can take these broken wings and learn to fly again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKhN1t_7PEY

or, for that matter, throw off your mental chains

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fjg7N_mGaU

This song has been discussed in detail on another thread, but it deserves a spot here. Jefferson Airplane: Planes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0gnnVcOLNc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRzjVFyrQjk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsFbpWQOMWU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur8ftRFb2Ac

verging on power-pop/synth-pop but I think this qualifies...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofL-ePVAshs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n5U_UExIu4

How did this thread last two weeks without anyone mentioning the roughly 500 times that "Only the Young" appears in Vision Quest?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9hWqa4xxZY

Well if we're talking that film then we have to nominate this song, which my sister, without a shred of irony, has insisted we play at her funeral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApZ1aD8nYEk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ymEXHefjMc

This thread recreates the trauma of watching music videos waiting for The Cure or Prince to show up, but all you got was endless this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UvAu4Tb33Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o_vCHOfb1I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGsMXefOq-w

I dunno, guys, I...I just don't feel like I have what it takes. I think I'm just gonna throw in the towel, hang it up, call it quits.

Ah, who am I kidding? I've got heart, I've got the fever, it's time to take it higher, it's time to give it my all. It's time to reach for the sky!

(clicks play on boombox)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uzGmcRN114
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNVZzXgMdXs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JjSC1r_zsM

Hey Old Lunch, if you like John Farnham's motivational BMX jams from RAD, you might also enjoy the soundtrack to BMX Freestyle which features a bunch of otherwise unreleased tunes by Michael Sembello

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/9121--XwVKL._AC_SY445_.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYUSDghZh6M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbXnUr-K50U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uABkEr3UyIA

I posted these on the Sembello thread earlier this year, but now it's time to bring them to the people of Cheesy '80s Songs About Heart and Soul and Overcoming and Winning and Givin' it All That You Got.

Sweeeeeet.

When Michael Sembello began to fade from pop stardom (despite his steady work in soundtracks), did he give up? No, reader, he did not.

He applied his Heart and Soul. Grit, even. He Overcame Great Odds, whilst Givin' His All.

He jumped headlong into a burgeoning, hot new art form, destined to take the music world by storm: videotapes of people riding bicycles.

And the rest, folks, is history. The BMX VHS-tape craze captured the imaginations of a generation. We laughed, we cried, we strove for bitchin' amounts of Air and difficult one-handed wheelies.

Yeah, Sembello could have released these epic anthems of human persistence and achievement in the usual way, like having a record company attempt to get radio play and album sales. But that's not Our Michael. He's not one to take the easy path to fame and groupies and epic amounts of cocaine. Nope.

These Sembellograms, these Mike-a-paloozas, these Jambellopuses are not for everyone. Just for the chosen few, just the connoisseurs. The REAL fans. Those with a working VCR or access to YouTube.

An inspiring story for the ages.

cf. "This is It"

Legendary Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton released this in 1986:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoMkMCCtIzY

Nice, but I prefer his work with the Shufflin' Crew.

the lamest butt cheese of the 80s! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_E2EHVxNAE

I have been listening and relistening to Jim Steinman's songs from Streets of Fire for like half a year now so my heart and soul are so supercharged that I could shatter the night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClnN_s2VGV0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eln48BCELk

cross-posted to the Meatloaf thread. A Time For Heroes by Meatloaf, Brian May, and Tangerine Dream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR_dk7iyGFA

^theme song for the 1987 Special Olympics

Tim Cappello - I Still Believe, obviously.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P23c9KO5uY

Been working on my personal playlist of this stuff because it's a really great way to start the morning. Titled it Motivational Dudes in an attempt to channel some of that positive masculinity that is a hallmark of the genre. No offense to Pat Benatar, of course. This thread has been very helpful.

I see that we have Stan Bush's The Touch, but let's not forget Dare, which I honestly think is his better song from the Transformers soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUhB1O8Le0Q

John Parr's Restless Heart (closing theme from The Running Man) is kinda like this. It's more about overcoming romantic problems than winning the big race or whatever (even though it does actually contain the lyric "and now the race is won).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdglEovz3Z0

And wait! Speaking of John Parr - St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx7vNdAb5e4

And final update, some people might want to make their own spotify playlist of such hits and include Push 1t T0 the L1m1t by Paul 3ng3mann. "Damn," they might say. "That song is not on Spotify and all I can find are cheesy cover versions!" Well, I was a/b-ing the cover versions trying to find the best one and discovered that someone uploaded the actual original song under the artist name Y0ung4n Y0ung4n. Don't know how long it will stay up, but thank god for them.

I've seen that lost boys clip referenced a lot lately and the most confusing thing about it is trying to imagine a bunch of teenagers in any era, vampires or otherwise, being excited about seeing that song performed in that manner.

Yeah, I hear you. Although apparently the gyrating and thrusting his standard saxophone move (his main gig was as Tina Turner's sideman). Here's a couple quotes from an interview he did in Gizmodo:

In the end, the look of the character may have been the most complex and thoughtful thing about the character, and it was all Cappello. “There was nothing,” he says when I ask about directions from the filmmaker. “I made my own clothes and just showed up with them. So they gave me no wardrobe. There was just nothing.” All he knew was it was a big party scene and he wanted the character to pop. “I knew that I wanted it to be a little wrong,” Cappello said. “I’d like to make this, like, a little bit funny. Take this a little too far. So I did the tie-dye, which was pink and purple on the pants...[then] I went a little further with the Home Depot chains.”

He added, “There’s gotta be something wrong about anything that you do, otherwise it’s just plain old cliché.” The result was a look nearly as memorable as his performance. Oh, and don’t forget the oil.

“You always oiled up,” Cappello said “Every night with Tina, I would oil up. It’s just always what you did...It was kind of like you were wearing a shirt. You were wearing a flesh shirt that was shiny.”

I'll be honest - I'd been so busy looking at his shiny flesh shirt that I didn't notice the pink and purple tie-dyed pants.

Fun fact, you can get a shareable video message from Cappello via Cameo.

Some friends of mine did so recently and it was everything one could hope for. Shirtlessness, chains, saxophone, believing, giving it your all, going the distance, overcoming obstacles, not giving up, etc.

https://www.cameo.com/dolcevito

If you ever need inspiration to help you win, or complete a training montage, or defeatsome vampires. Message this dude. He still believes and he will give his all, just for you. Definitely worth a hundred oily dollars.

the Pokemon theme song is heavily influenced by this genre.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3wpqrg

Glenn Frey: "Livin' Right"

Put on your bandoleers and your necklace with a hand grenade, it's time to 'Remember the Heroes' go back to 'NAM and bring our boys home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSoDTHDI_aU

https://w.notrecinema.com/images/filmsi/uncommon-valor_226614_3311.jpg

Titled it Motivational Dudes in an attempt to channel some of that positive masculinity that is a hallmark of the genre. No offense to Pat Benatar, of course

Okay, I did have to add Pat Benatar because that song is just so good. But can anyone name any more of these by women?

same artist & film, nearly as good...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGFAjwtjlPc

lol already Farnham in the first post I see now

Peace, man, I need to tell you that I just walked through a room in which my child is watching a trivia show called "Mental Samurai," hosted by... Rob Lowe.

I can go a LONG time without encountering or thinking about Rob Lowe. Like, it's one of my superpowers. Between first seeing "St. Elmo's Fire" in 1985 and today, I have thought about Rob Lowe maybe eleven times, so an average of approximately three times per year.

Because of you I have thought about Rob Lowe twice in one day. That's my quota for the year. One more and will will somehow have to avoid any mention of him for a while, or it will skew my average.

Wouldn't it be once every three years? So you're actually good for your Rob Lowe fix until 2028 now (or 2031 if you count this post as #3)

Rob Lowe was really good in Behind the Candelabra from 2013, fwiw

Outside of the realm of DX7s and searing electric guitars, but I was thinking this morning about how the theme song to Laverne and Shirley is a lyrical antecedent to this stuff. There's probably a rabbit-hole to go down of other television themes about overcoming and winning, etc. If I find some free time in the near future, that's my plan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAnecJl_Z1A

Making Our Dreams Come True (performed by Cyndi Grecco, written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel)

I always considered the L&S theme a more lighthearted homage to the Mary Tyler Moore theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNKOt2k7Pm4

There is also a Husker Du version, because of course there is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFyy3XB_3Y4

See also: Diff'rent Strokes, Good Times, Family Ties, One Day at a Time, Alice, Gimme a Break.

All those themes had uplifting messages in spite of difficulty.