There are a couple of things that almost all of us will remember from the 1980s – Michael J Fox as Marty McFly in the Back To the Future movies and Kenny Loggins taking us on a highway to the Danger Zone in Top Gun.
Both of these things weren’t the first choice of the people who make these decisions.
Eric Stoltz was the producers’ first choice for the role of high school student Marty McFly in the movie and filming had already begun. There are more than a few production stills from Stoltz’s opening days on the set as he worked with Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown) and Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) in some scenes that had been shot.
But the chemistry wasn’t there. Stoltz, a serious young method actor at the time with serious movie credits to his name like The Mask, just wasn’t up the adventurous McFly and after a few weeks, Canadian Michael J. Fox, a better comic actor, was brought in for the movie. Because it was the 1980s, digitally reshooting everything was impossible so much of the first few weeks’ scenes with Stoltz now had to have Fox in them.
Beyond a few Canadian film and television roles, Fox had some credits to his name too, playing young yuppie Alex P. Keaton in the hit Family Ties show at the time. The iconic theme song that we all know ‘Without Us’ was performed by Johnny Mathis and Denise Williams and was the first sign the a poignant and funny half hour was about to happen. The saxophone part in that song was done by Tom Scott, a longtime studio musician, composer and arranger who has collaborated with the likes of Rod Stewart, Carole King and Steppenwolf in his long career. But he’s also known for playing the sax in a song nearly nobody wanted.
Giorgio Moroder’s songs have stood the test of time. His Theme From The Good, The Bad and The Ugly might be one of the top ten most recognizable musical stings in history. He was tapped to provide music for the Top Gun film and, being a veteran of the music industry, he was a virtual warehouse of songs that could be used for the purpose of the film.
The band Toto – performers of songs like Africa, Rosanna, Hold The Line – was asked to perform Moroder’s Danger Zone but legal disputes between the two wouldn’t allow it to happen. Producers looked to Bryan Adams, but being a good Canadian, Adams wasn’t too keen on providing anything for the soundtrack if he felt the film glorified war.
(Whether or not it glorifies war is its own issue; my feelings are it glorifies armed conflict in the way that Pac-Man glorifies unreserved gluttony. Your mileage may vary.)
REO Speedwagon was asked, but they wanted one of their songs to be on the soundtrack in return. Thanks but no thanks, producers said. Corey Hart said he only preferred to write and perform his own compositions (only a couple of years before he covered I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You, but anyway).
Finally, Kenny Loggins was already a soundtrack force, having done Caddyshack, Over The Top and Footloose. Producers approached him and he did the song.
But for a moment, imagine an alternate universe where Hart, REO Speedwagon or Bryan Adams did the Danger Zone song from Top Gun, or where Stoltz tries to turn Back To The Future into an Academy Award nominated serious role. I don’t know that I’d want to live in that universe to be honest.
The reason why 1980s nostalgia is popular is because the decade was full of bubblegum moments and movies that reminded us of a fun time.
And it still is. Life is hitting us with threats from everywhere, from school shootings in the United States to puffed up trade disputes between provinces here in Canada. It’s not hard to see the appeal of trying to get away from these conflicts with the comfort food from the 1980s.
But boy, wouldn’t that be different with just a few small changes?
