The 25 Most Quintessential 1980s Soundtracks, From Top Gun and Footloose to Do

When news of a “Top Gun” sequel was announced, questions like “Will Tom Cruise do his own stunts?” and “Will Val Kilmer be in it?” were a little bit down the list of burning ones. Nos. 1 and 2, for certain: “Will ‘Take My Breath Away’ be in it? Will ‘Danger Zone’?” That is the power of the blockbuster 1980s soundtrack: When we look back on the really enduring mainstream movies of the era, it’s not the poster art that pops right into our minds first, usually — it’s the poster art as adapted into an album cover.

The producers of “Top Gun: Maverick” didn’t take many chances when it came to trying to come up with a hit album: They enlisted Lady Gaga for a brand new song, to take the place of “Take My Breath Away,” but did, yes, also include Loggins’ “Danger Zone” to tickle the throwback part of your brain. The chances of this new soundtrack album achieving even a third of the nine-times-platinum status of the original are nil, of course: This is a different era for music, generally, but soundtracks particularly. The lure of “various artists” movie albums actually started to wane around the mid-’90s, really, and now, save for the very occasional “Star is Born” outlier, it’s a nice market, not market leader.

But let’s remember a time when pop soundtracks were the primary souvenir you could buy of a movie (before DVDs!), or were just a bitchin’ way to collect a variety of tunes in one fell swoop (before the “NOW! That’s What I Call Music” series… or Spotify). Here are 25 of the albums that defined the decade, from massive hits like the three F’s — “Fame,” “Flashdance” and “Footloose” — to some collections that introduced us to new sounds, like “Times Square” and “Wild Style.” And in case the descriptions alone don’t take you right back to the period: Click on any of the still images to watch a music video representing that particular soundtrack. — Chris Willman

Top Gun (1986)
The Miami Sound Machine, Kenny Loggins and Berlin. Welcome to 1986 and the “Top Gun” soundtrack. From the film’s opening, the “Top Gun” Anthem,” by Harold Faltermeyer, who scored the film—plays softly over the opening credits to the “Danger Zone,” cut, the film’s soundtrack is part of pop culture, like the film. Remember when Tom Cruise’s Maverick serenades Kelly McGillis with “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling?” at the bar? Music in “Top Gun” is an important part of the film, and an important soundtrack in film history. — Jazz Tangcay
Purple Rain (1984)
It’s hard to think of a more self-fulfillingly prophetic film than “Purple Rain,” which was about a young musician overcoming his demons (and rivals) on his rise to the top — and lofted Prince to global superstardom in a matter of weeks during the summer of “Ghostbusters” and “Born in the U.S.A.” Yet it never would have happened without the brilliant songs on this album, which range from rockers (“Let’s Go Crazy”) to ballads (“Beautiful Ones”), from porn-funk (“Darling Nikki”) to the epic, anthemic title track — and one of the most unusual No. 1 singles of all time in “When Doves Cry.” It’s Prince’s most concise and accessible album — and a mountaintop he never bothered, or needed, to climb again. — Jem Aswad
Do the Right Thing (1989)
One has to go back to “Midnight Cowboy,” or even “Casablanca,” to find a film that is as inseparable from its signature song as Spike Lee’s masterpiece “Do the Right Thing.” Heard blasting out of Radio Raheem’s boombox at key moments throughout the film, Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” managed to channel all of the narrative’s unbearable tension and righteous rage into five of the most explosive, densely packed minutes of music imaginable. There were plenty of other gems on the soundtrack – Guy’s smooth R&B jam “My Fantasy,” Lee-favorites E.U.’s “Party Hearty” – but it stands as a deathless landmark of film music for that song alone. – Andrew Barker
Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Weird Science and the John Hughes ST Catalog
As the king of teen angst, John Hughes had plenty of memorable music moments in his films. The classics he directed, like “The Breakfast Club” and “Weird Science,” as well as the ones he wrote but that still seemed like John Hughes movies, like “Pretty in Pink,” all had solid collections of creative needle drops from the new wave and pop bands of the 1980s, though not all were released as soundtracks at the time. But most are remembered by a singular, often title track. The Psychedelic Furs growled about their promiscuous rose-garbed friend years before Hughes used “Pretty in Pink” as both the title and the title track of the Molly Ringwald film. Likewise, Oingo Boingo’s cheerfully wacky “Weird Science” remains the best-remembered track from Hughes’ film, which also featured tunes by Killing Joke and Lords of the New Church. And Simple Minds “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” an iconic hit as the theme from “The Breakfast Club,” was by far the British group’s biggest song ever. “Sixteen Candles” never got a full soundtrack release despite fun choices like Kajagoogoo, Altered Images, Spandau Ballet and Patti Smith, while “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” got a belated 2016 version, with some curious but interesting selections like The Dream Academy covering the Smiths’ “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” and “Love Missile F1-11” by Sigue Sigue Sputnik. (Remember them? No? You’re not alone.) — Pat Saperstein
Flashdance (1983)
No stars in your movie? Not a problem in 1983, when it was possible for a soundtrack to become the star of a movie, thanks to nascent MTV. The video clips for the two No. 1 songs from the movie — “Flashdance… What a Feeling” by Irena Cara and “Maniac” by Michael Sembello — were played relentlessly on the then-new music video channel, as the film and soundtrack fed upon one another for mutual blockbuster-dom. Ultimately, the album was RIAA-certified for 6million U.S. sales… and who knows, it might have even landed a little higher than that, if the initial success hadn’t caught everyone by such surprise that stores quickly sold out of the mere tens of thousands of LPs initially manufactured. As indelible as “Maniac” was, it’s really all about the title song. Giorgio Moroder (reaching a new soundtrack high a few years after “American Gigolo”) came up with a slow-burn that perfectly fit the wait-for-it highs of the climactic dance audition sequence … so compellingly that we almost suspended our disbelief that Jennifer Beals was on-screen anywhere during that scene. And Irena Cara sang the best-song Oscar winner for the second time in four years. The real winner, though? MTV and movie marketing departments. — Willman
Repo Man (1984)
1984’s “Repo Man” was not only an explosive film about L.A. for British director Alex Cox, it also helped bring mainstream recognition to numerous L.A. punk bands featured on the soundtrack: Fear, the Circle Jerks, the Plugz, Suicidal Tendencies and, the most L.A. punk of them all, Black Flag. The pride of the South Bay get the ultimate product placement in a scene in which Emilio Estevez’s misunderstood repo man Otto walks home dejectedly singing the early Black Flag anthem “TV Party” (“We’ve got/nothing better to do/than to watch TV/and have a couple of brews.”) The music of “Repo Man” captures a fertile moment for L.A.’s local music scene that is now being explored by music historians in depth in such books as 2001’s “Our Band Could Be Your Life” and the newly released “Corporate Rock Sucks: The Rise and Fall of SST Records.” — Cynthia Littleton
Footloose (1984)
If you attended a bar mitzvah bash anytime between January 1984 and, well, today, then chances are the hired DJ or band played “Let’s Hear It for the Boy,” Deniece Williams’ peppy pop anthem to male adolescence and track two on the chart-topping “Footloose” movie soundtrack. (In 1989 my then 13-year-old brother walked out to the synagogue social hall floor to this song, guests in bad 80’s hair-sprayed bangs clapping their hands to the beat.) “Footloose” tunes were everywhere in the ’80s, and not just coming-of-age parties. From dance recitals set to Kenny Loggins’ title track to lovesick girls crying over boys while “Almost Paradise” (Mike Reno and Ann Wilson) played in our summer camp cabin, to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero” echoing across gym class, “Footloose” was the de facto soundtrack to American youth aching to “cut loose.” — Malina Saval
Less Than Zero (1987)
To soundtrack this highly sanitized film adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’ yuppie-kids-gone-bad novel, 20th Century Fox handed the curatorial reigns to Rick Rubin, co-founder of the then-nascent Def Jam Recordings. The result was a delightfully unpredictable hodge-podge of the young producer’s eclectic tastes. New Def Jam signees Slayer got their first taste of mainstream attention with a cover of “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” (much to the band’s chagrin), and labelmates Public Enemy’s louder-than-a-bomb anthem “Bring the Noise” made its first appearance alongside the varied likes of Danzig, Roy Orbison and Joan Jett. The soundtrack’s real standouts, however, were the Bangles’ hit cover of Paul Simon’s “Hazy Shade of Winter” and LL Cool J’s “Going Back to Cali,” the latter of which would become a hip-hop anthem, referenced by everyone from the Notorious B.I.G. to Eminem and Sonic Youth. – Barker
Dirty Dancing (1987)
In the movie, “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” plays over Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze’s climactic dance-show performance, but the Oscar-nominated duet by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes so perfectly describes the feeling the movie gave young audiences that it’s only right that it should kick off the soundtrack. The album is otherwise packed mostly with on-theme oldies like The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and The Blow Monkeys’ “You Don’t Own Me” (“Dirty Dancing” takes place in the summer of 1963 and features a character named “Baby” breaking away from her conservative Jewish parents and asserting her own sexual independence). Eric Carmen recorded hit “Hungry Eyes” for the film, but its swooniest musical surprise was Swayze singing a ballad he’d written, “She’s Like the Wind.” — Peter Debruge
Fame (1980)
Long before “Glee,” director Alan Parker gave us the “A Chorus Line”-inspired teen musical “Fame” about New York’s famed High School of the Performing Arts (now known as Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School). In the decades following its release, the RSO Records soundtrack has helped make sure the 80s do live forever. The title track, written by Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford and sung by the film’s star Irene Cara, earned an Oscar for original song. “Out Here On My Own,” also performed by Cara and nominated for an Academy Award, captured teen angst beautifully. — Marc Malkin
Urban Cowboy (1980)
A lot of folks blame the “Urban Cowboy” phenomenon for ushering in a wave of pop-country they believe transformed country music from an authentic genre into a tourist attraction, just like Gilley’s, the real-life mega-club featured in the movie. That’s a whole lot of onus to place on one movie or one soundtrack. But for better or worse (probably both), it did take country out of its then-niche and put it back on the pop-culture radar in a big and potentially lucrative way. As with a lot of the soundtracks of the era that had Irving Azoff as a driving force (see “Fast Tmes,” below), there are otherwise creditable artists crammed into it that don’t particularly fit the milieu — no one would remotely mistake it for a representative survey of the country music of the time. But Johnny Lee’s No. 1 smash “Lookin’ for Love in All the Wrong Places” sure holds up. That song describes a phenomenon that hasn’t exactly let up in the last 42 years. — Willman
The Big Chill (1983)
From Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World,” which we hear when Kevin Kline’s character is giving his son a bath, the soundtrack sets the nostalgia to appeal to baby boomers who were then in their prime parenting years. Evoking the 1960s-70s other tunes include the Marvin Gaye version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” Zombies’ “Time of the Season” and of course, Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” In the best tradition of musicals this soundtrack not only sets the mood but moves the plot forward. — Shalini Dore
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Aside from the acquisition of Pixar, perhaps no single move was more key to returning Disney Animation to the peak of children’s entertainment than the hiring of Off Broadway wunderkinds Alan Menken and Howard Ashman to write music for “The Little Mermaid.” Bringing a literate, distinctly modern musical-theater sensibility to the children’s fairy tale, the pair notched an Oscar and a Grammy for the calypso-styled “Under the Sea.” But it was the classic “I want”-tune, “Part of Your World,” that has since become one of Disney’s best-loved songs – despite studio chief Jeffrey Katzenberg’s initial attempt to cut it from the film. Menken and Ashman would continue to pen indelible Disney tunes until Ashman’s death from AIDS complications in 1991, and the blueprint they established on “Mermaid” remains essentially the studio’s house style. – Barker
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)
People didn’t buy the “Good Morning, Vietnam” soundtrack for the music. They bought it for the presentation — half high-energy classic-rock playlist, half comedy album, featuring clips of Robin Williams’ character, real-life Air Force DJ Adrian Cronauer, riffing between such favorites as James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and “Nowhere to Run” by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas. The movie focused on how Cronauer’s disillusion with the Vietnam War landed him in hot water, but the album shrugs off the politics, re-creating the feel of one of Cronauer’s gut-busting radio broadcasts — right up until the closing track, Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Anyone who saw the movie remembers how director Barry Levinson ironically deploys that song over napalm raids and crying orphans. — Debruge
Wild Style (1983)
Hip-hop was not initially an LP-friendly genre, which makes the cohesiveness of this full-length soundtrack to the little-seen (at the time) film all the more impressive. Featuring a treasure trove of hip-hop’s true-OG innovators – the Cold Crush Brothers, DJ Grand Wizard Theodore, Grandmaster Caz, Rammellzee – the album (produced by Blondie’s Chris Stein) is an irreplaceable snapshot of an entire culture’s formative years: bursting at the seams with energy and creativity, unencumbered by the commercial burdens that would start to arrive soon after. Not for nothing that the greatest hip-hop album ever made – Nas’ “Illmatic” – opens with a “Wild Style” sample. — Barker
The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
Director Penelope Spheeris had an ear for talent as she assembled her documentary about the vibrant local music scene in L.A. in the early 1980s. Her decision to focus on future legends including X, Black Flag, Fear and the Circle Jerks holds up well, as do the charm of more obscure outfits such as Alice Bag Band and Catholic Discipline. But it’s the footage she captured of the fabled punk band Germs and its legendary frontman Darby Crash that makes “Decline of Western Civilization, Part 1” an truly invaluable document. Crash was dead of a heroin overdose (on Dec. 7, 1980, the day before John Lennon died) by the time the film was released in 1981. The film is a captivating look at the bands at their finest on stage, juxtaposed with a look at their mostly squalid existences in and around Los Angeles, notably Black Flag’s notorious residency at an abandoned church in Hermosa Beach. The mix of musical styles, from the harmonies of X on “Johnny Hit and Run Paulene” to the thudding one-two-three-four beats of Fear’s “I Love Living in the City” to Crash’s signature growl on “Manimal,” reflect the city of Angels in a vibrant moment of musical transition. — Littleton
Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
Just four years after it premiered off-Broadway, “Little Shop of Horrors” was adapted into the big screen in the best movie musical of the ‘80s. But the appeal of the show’s score is how little it sounds like it came from the decade at all. Composed by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman, both of whom would go on to become Disney legends, the songs of “Little Shop” take inspiration from ‘60s music styles, including doo-wop and early Motown sound. The results are absolutely timeless, from the opening title song to the thrilling crowd number “Skid Row,” to Steve Martin’s show-stopping performance of “Dentist!” But perhaps the best is “Somewhere That’s Green,” a classic “I Want” song performed with perfect longing by Ellen Greene, reprising her role as Audrey from the original production. — Wilson Chapman
The Lost Boys (1987)
For anyone who grew up in the ‘80s, “The Lost Boys” remains a fun vampire horror with plenty of comedy. The film’s soundtrack featured artists such as Echo and the Bunnymen and INXS. The theme song, “Cry Little Sister,” came courtesy of Gerard McMann, and was a pop/goth tune. Another big ‘80s band, Foreigner was also represented on the soundtrack through Lou Gramm’s “Lost in the Shadows.” However, despite the big names, the song that really made its mark is Tim Cappello’s “I Still Believe,” a cover of a song originated and initially made popular by the group the Call. While many will remember him more as “Naked Sax Guy” than by name, everyone who saw the film recalls Cappello’s memorable moment as he performs on stage during a concert at the pier. It’s when Jason Patric’s soon-to-be-vampire spots Star (Jami Gertz) for the first time, and Capello’s performance is unforgettable. — Tangcay
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
While many soundtracks are known for just one song, this one is iconic less for the music it contains than its business model: Nearly every act on the album is from the roster or Rolodex of super-manager Irving Azoff, a producer of the film and the man who has steered the Eagles to near-billionaire status for 50 years. As veterans of both the era and the demographic can attest, Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Graham Nash and Jimmy Buffett were not being rocked by many high school students in the years just before MTV reshaped the American musical landscape. Only the Go-Go’s, Stevie Nicks and Billy Squier even vaguely reflect the soundtrack of those fast times — and the most memorable song use in the film, a literally masturbatory fantasy sequence involving a bikini-clad Phobe Cates set to the Cars’ stoner-bait classic “Moving in Stereo,” isn’t even on the album. — Aswad
Batman (1989)
When Prince released the lead single, “Batdance,” off the 1989 soundtrack to Tim Burton’s “Batman,” it was iconic. Six minutes of the singer with lines of dialogue taken from the film, and it was as much a Prince song as a movie song. It was pop with guitar and he got the funk up, with lyrics like “I want to bust that body” and “Let me stick the 7-inch in the computer.” But was it really a soundtrack album? Most of the songs aren’t in the film, so it was billed as a companion album, with Danny Elfman’s score being billed as the official soundtrack. Needless to say, Prince fans weren’t and aren’t into quibbling about it. Other significant contributions include the ballad “Arms of Orion” and “Partyman,” which is played in the film. It may have been a “song inspired by…” album, but there haven’t been other projects of the same nature this inspired since. — Tangcay
Times Square (1980)
The soundtrack for the nearly-forgotten 1980 film is probably better than the movie itself, which revolves around a couple of teenaged girls who break out of a mental institution and head to New York to form a punk band, as one does. While the tracks include some familiar new wave and punk rock hits, like the Ramones “I Wanna Be Sedated,” it’s the lesser-known tunes that make this collection one of the most compelling of the 1980s. Gary Numan’s eerie “Down in the Park” is the perfect complement to Tim Curry’s lizardy DJ character, while the Cure’s “Grinding Halt,” Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime” and tracks by the Ruts, David Johansen, Suzi Quatro and Roxy Music provide the right atmosphere for this indelible peek at a time when New York was on the cusp of a decade stuffed with gritty artistic promise. — Saperstein
Absolute Beginners (1986)
Less than a year after world music superstar Sade released her first No. 1 album, “Promise,” in 1986, Julien Temple’s ’50s-set musical extravaganza, “Absolute Beginners,” hit theaters — and sadly the critics hit back, and the film faded from view. But time has been kind to both the movie and the spectacular soundtrack album, which, like the film, is a Technicolor fever dream of lively vital pop stars such as Ms. Adu, Kinks maestro Ray Davies and David Bowie, all of whom also appeared in the film. Bowie, coming off his smash album “Let’s Dance,” took the film’s theme song to No. 2 on the British singles charts. The soundtrack album’s eclectic mix of styles has room for Sade’s “Killer Blow,” plus ’80s scenesters Style Council, who scored a Top 20 hit from the film with “Have You Ever Had It Blue,” as well as jazz legends Gil Evans and Slim Gaillard. — Steven Gaydos
Streets of Fire (1984)
As a movie, “Streets of Fire” has reverberated about as well as 1980s sci-fi movies like “Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone” or “The Last Starfighter,” but its soundtrack has been shown to have lasting charms. The standout track, “I Can Dream About You,” is a pop confection that relies on doo-wop elements and proved to be a hit in 1984. The radio single is led by singer Dan Hartman, though in the movie, it’s crooned by a group called the Sorels made up of actors including Robert Townsend and Mykelti Williamson. Five songs, including those performed under the rubric of the nonexistent band Fire Inc., were produced by none other than Jimmy Iovine. And among the rest, some ’80s roots-rock treasures: two songs by the seminal LA rockers the Blasters and one from former Lone Justice chanteuse Maria McKee (that was actually penned by Tom Petty and Benmont Tench). — Brian Steinberg
Urgh! A Music War (1981)
Many years before the likes of Coachella and Lollapalooza, the Urgh! concerts brought together the most cutting-edge acts of the early ‘80s in a series of artistically daring shows that were released as a 1981 documentary featuring a blistering and blatantly sexual performance by the Cramps. The resulting soundtracks on vinyl, cassette and CDs included various permutations of the artists, with standouts including spiky post-punks Gang of Four and Magazine, the utterly quirky Pere Ubu, The Police when they were still considered slightly edgy, new wave stalwarts like Echo and the Bunnymen, Devo, Wall of Voodoo and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, female punk pioneers the Au Pairs, and unclassifiable avant-gardists like Klaus Nomi. — Saperstein
Say Anything (1989)
One of the most iconic images of the ‘80s is John Cusack holding up a boombox towards the end of Cameron Crowe’s debut film “Say Anything,” with Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” blasting from the speakers. The scene has forever made Peter Gabriel’s love song synonymous with the sensitive and lovely teen drama film, and it’s the centerpiece of the film’s 10-song soundtrack. While the other songs aren’t well-remembered as “In Your Eyes,” the album is a memorable snapshot of rock music in the late ‘80s, with highlights including “Taste the Pain” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers and “Stripped” by Depeche Mode. — Chapman
And, more song-based soundtracks recommended for your further ’80s listening indulgence:
“Back to the Future,” “Something Wild,” “The Blues Brothers,” “Krush Groove,” “Stand by Me,” “True Stories,” “Labyrinth,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “School Daze,” “The King of Comedy,” “Valley Girl,” “Never Ending Story,” “Cocktail,” “To Live and Die in L.A.,” “Xanadu,” “One-Trick Pony,” “Flash Gordon,” “Beverly Hills Cop,” “Electric Dreams,” “Against All Odds,” “The Wild Life,” “Heavy Metal,” “The Goonies,” “The Jazz Singer,” “Hairspray,” “Christine,” “Shag,” “American Pop,” “Eddie and the Cruisers,” “Shock Treatment,” “La Bamba,” “Rocky IV,” “One From the Heart,” “Caddyshack,” “The Color of Money,” “Married to the Mob” and “Earth Girls Are Easy.”

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Update: 2024-09-27