And we may as well finish our course in the soundtrack to 1985's The Heavenly Kid with this strong offering from Joe Lynn Turner. It is Heartless, appropriately played during a party scene where the true character of the stock hot-chick-with-no-heart is revealed.
You are undoubtedly familiar with this character from any and all teen 1980s movies. Pamela Wells in Teen Wolf. Beth in Better Off Dead. If you didn't have a heartless hot chick in your '80s high school movie, then the film was an impostor.
Well, here we are back at the 1985 film The Heavenly Kid. The fact of the matter is that this soundtrack was one of the most consistently catchy and consistently 80s musical scores to provide a film's backbone in that decade. Whatever adventures Lewis Smith and Jason Gedrick were getting up to, they were always supported by the film's strong musical spine.
Howard Hewett was part of the 1980s group Shalamar, which also made contributions to the popular and iconic soundtracks to Footloose and Beverly Hills Cop. Here is Obsession, Hewett's entry to the quintessentially 80s score for The Heavenly Kid.
And yet again from the files of songs that had an integral role in making a successful movie what it was, we have Far From Over, ostensibly the theme song from the 1983 film Staying Alive. The song's contribution to the film earned it a Golden Globe nomination.
Staying Alive was the sequel to the 1979 hit Saturday Night Fever, with Travolta reprising his role as the egotistical Tony Manero. This time, Tony has graduated from the discos and is trying to break into Broadway. The film was written and directed by Sylvester Stallone (with a two-second cameo appearance). The result was an intense rags-to-riches fusion of broadway dancing and pursuit of the American Dream. Oddly enough, it worked.
The Stallone connection explains the appearance of Frank Stallone, both in a supporting role in the film, as well as featured prominently on the soundtrack. Frank appeared in small roles or on the soundtracks of many of Sylvester's films in the 1980s, including Rocky III, Over the Top, and Rambo: First Blood Part II.
Here is the original recording of the song with clips from the film.
And here is a very strong 2008 live performance of the song, 25 years later, by the Frank Stallone Band. As you can hear, Frank still has the chops.
This article wouldn't be complete without the cheeseball theatrical trailer for the film.
And last but not least, the longevity and disco-dream-iconic nature of the song is attested to by its inclusion in the trailer for the Saturday Night Live spinoff film Superstar.
Well, a huge part of the success of the teen favorite The Heavenly Kid was the soundtrack, and from start to finish it delivered. Here we have the ambience for the a nerdy Jason Gedrick's "extreme makeover." Animal Attraction by Jamie Bond.
Anyone who saw The Heavenly Kid in 1985 can't help but look back fondly on the formulaic film and the quintessentially 80s memories it inspires. Those memories are, without a doubt, closely tied with the theme song to the film: Out on the Edge by Jon Fiore.
The film starred Richard Mulligan of Empty Nest fame, as well as a young Jason Gedrick and character actor Lewis Smith in a rare leading role. This was one of a handful of quiet 80s teen classics that have been all-but-forgotten in the intervening years...except for here on the 80s Music Channel.
It stands as one of Madonna's most remixed songs and possesses a quiet "staying power" that has allowed it to endure despite not being one of her highest selling singles. Dress You Up was released as a single from the Like a Virgin album in 1985, peaking at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart even though it never enjoyed the benefit of having an official video made to accompany it.
Here is a live performance of the song from the Virgin Tour in 1985, which ultimately served as the de facto video.
And here is a fusion of the song with Material Girl from the 1987 Who's That Girl tour. This was, in fact, the last tour during which the song was performed by Madonna as part of a concert set.
One of the more unique unofficial arrangements is the following Forever in Love Remix...
Finally, and this was met with a mixed reception at the time, here is a sample of the Gap's 1990s Dress You Up ad campaign. Some thought it was trendy and fashionable. Others thought a dance classic was being murdered with a cheap gimmick. And others still were simply happy to have one of their favorite Madonna songs dusted off and appearing between segments of Melrose Place.
They later went on to become possibly Canada's most popular band "within the borders of their home country." The hard rock poets led by Gordon Downie mixed sometime hard-driving and sometimes off-kilter melodies with their own brand of poetic lyricism to join musicians like Tom Cochrane as homegrown acts who enjoyed moderate internationally but were music superheroes in the land of the Maple Leaf and permanent fixtures in Canadiana musical folklore.
Small Town Bringdown was the lead single from their 1987 self-titled album and arguably the hardest rocking song they ever produced.
While they enjoyed greater chart success with later songs in the 1990s, some felt that the future offerings would be a little more self-indulgent and poetry-focused and longed for the Tragically Hip to still prove they could rock out like they did in the late 1980s.
Tragically Hip covers remain popular and common throughout Canada, as many musicians have been inspired by the band. This cover by Ronnie and the Law is one example.
