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)

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?

We don't need another hero

Cause I am the warrior

And this is my fight song

Good ones. Yeah, I thought about Fight Song and Katy Perry's Roar, which both fit the bill to a certain extent, but they're definitely not 80s.

Right, just riffing.

80s training-montage music does seem to have been a sausagefest

We must not, however, stop thinking about tomorrow

I feel like Kim Mitchell's cheesy '80s song about heart and soul and overcoming but compromising and not partying too hard should be here as a cool down number.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXnTbmPxv5g

I feel like Sammy Hagar's "Winner Takes It All" and Queen's "I Want It All" are the harder-edge of this idea

lol that Bryan Adams has a song called "We're Gonna Win" that sounds like he's trying to do Green Day

Irene Cara - Flashdance...What A Feeling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILWSp0m9G2U

the cheeziest and worst of them all! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_E2EHVxNAE

I don't want to bring negativity to this thread, but that doesn't match the feel at all. Right Here Waiting is just a ballad.

I do think "What a Feeling" fits the thread topic though, good pick.

If I ever have a chance to select music for a bitchin' 80s training montage, that will be a contender.

Yeah, the thing that I notice about all the women's contributions that I've found is that they are much more individualistic. Like, the Irene Cara song is definitely disco-influenced pop. We Don't Need Another Hero is like a pop-rock ballad anthem thing? And I was just sitting around trying to decide whether The Goonies 'R' Good Enough would qualify, and that's squarely in the 'Cyndi Lauper' genre.

But the songs by dudes that make up the heart and backbone of this list that I think Old Lunch was trying to get at - your John Farnhams, your Stan Bushes, your Jean Beauvoirs and Larry Greenes - they all played this this weird, interchangeable kind of arena rock.

They were men in motion. They were the best around. Nothin' was gonna break their stride. Because they had what it takes and they gave it all they had. They were the champions, my friend.

"We Don't Need Another Hero" is more about surrendering and losing than overcoming and winning.

Your point is well taken, but isn't it nobler to rise up to the challenge of their rivals?

They did their time and took their chances. Regrets? Perhaps they had a few, but they gave their all and overcame the odds.

regrets
I've had a few
but then again
i gave my all and overcame the odds

I heard "we don't need another hero" the other day on the radio for the first time in ages, and divorced from its context and video it was cracking me up that this iconic pop-rock ballad anthem has totally earnest lyrics about Thunderdome

Yeah, that's definitely a little jarring.

I was just the other day thinking about starting a thread for songs like that, when I was half consciously listening to an old Bobby Brown jam and had briefly forgotten about the part where he randomly starts rapping about the plot of Ghostbusters 2. See also 'Man in Motion' (which isn't a bad selection for this thread, assuming it isn't already in here somewhere).

But can anyone name any more of these by women?

Oh duh, Amy Holland's 'She's On Fire' from Scarface is an even better one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e03_Mk53OhQ

This thread inevitably reminds me of my middle school chorus teacher, a man with the unfortunate name of Mr. Fenicle, who wore a horrible toupée and still lived with his mother. Barely closeted, in other words, but a very sweet and kind man.

However, because it was a public school and religious music wasn’t allowed, we had to sing a lot of choral arrangements of pop songs, so that my first exposure to many iconic songs was through chorus— we did “Man in Motion,” “What a Feeling,” and “Eye of the Tiger,” so basically the sorts of songs this thread is about. Also, tho, some others, including “La Isla Bonita,” “The Rose,” and “Allentown.”

I was in his classes for three years, and it was my time spent in those classes that made me realize the juvenile nature of so much cruelty— I would be sitting red-faced in the corner as some other kid would keep asking Mr. Fenicle if he’d seen “Deez” that day. It made me so sad for him.

Then he would start pounding away at the piano and we’d be singing “Tropical the island breeze.” This was suburban Philadelphia.

The 1989 Gillette jingle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThDBf14qPsc

cosign Flashdance

I think this

“Man in Motion,” “What a Feeling,” and “Eye of the Tiger,” so basically the sorts of songs this thread is about. Also, tho, some others, including “La Isla Bonita,” “The Rose,” and “Allentown.”

Would be a pretty fly set for my 80s cover band. I could even just do this as an acoustic open mic set!

Not in that order, though. I would probably alternate the inspirational anthems with the soft pop jams, and add like three flute solos

I know at least two separate dudes who specialize in doing 80s/90s pop diva stuff as middle-aged male acoustic-guitar songs.

Nothing compares (ahem) to a tipsy middle-aged white dad who will totally play yr Pat Benatar, Paula Abdul, Miley, Mariah, etc., in a sparsely populated suburban brewpub on a Monday night

Tbh Mr. Fenicle had reasonable taste, I’ve wondered in retrospect what sort of music he was really into.

An avenue worth exploring: I've noticed that there are a few of these songs where they've been used more than once, but by different artists. For instance, many people know the song Nothing's Gonna Stand In Our Way as performed by Spectre General (aka Kick Axe) on the Transformers the Movie soundtrack.

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

But here is it being performed in 1984 by John Farnham (aka RAD dude) for the soundtrack of something called Savage Streets*:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8B7RLEslMc

*"Crossbow-armed Brenda (Linda Blair) hunts down a Hollywood gang led by a punk (Robert Dryer) with a razor-blade earring."

Oh fuck, just discovered that Sue Shifrin, one of the writers on John Farnham's Break The Ice, also co-wrote Robbi Robb's In Time from Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Definitely more on the ballad side of things than most of these montage songs, but what do you think?

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

An avenue worth exploring: I've noticed that there are a few of these songs where they've been used more than once, but by different artists. For instance, many people know the song Nothing's Gonna Stand In Our Way as performed by Spectre General (aka Kick Axe) on the Transformers the Movie soundtrack.

Ok, so this isn't quite the same, but here's Stan Bush doing John Farnham's Thunder In Your Heart. This is a newer recording from 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGSSuziWX3A

Here's more Joe "Bean" Esposito. Cry of the City, from the 1986 film Knights of the City. Co-written by Stan Bush's The Touch collaborator Lenny Macaluso.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kvKD5kG9z8

Not cheesy or eighties, but relevant to the interests of this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lttMHEdpZM

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

Shooting Star by Sylvie Vartan, a Euro-Pop singer from Bulgaria. It was written by Gloria Sklerov, who along with Lenny Macaluso wrote Thunder In Your Heart and Cry of the City.

Exemplary! Every note of the guitar solo was exactly as expected.