'80s Movie Hits

The '80s was a glorious decade for the movie soundtrack — an era when a mega-single didn't just decorate a movie, but trapped its very essence in a nutshell of pop perfection. That's why, every time we hear Berlin's "Take My Breath Away" we picture Tom Cruise shattering the speed of sound en route to Kelly McGillis's heart; why we instantly picture Jennifer Grey dirty dancing with Patrick Swayze, whenever Bill Medley joins Jennifer Warnes on "(I've Had) The Time of My Life"; and why Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" makes us want to cheer for silver screen pugilist, Sly Stallone — make no mistake these '80s movie hits are songs you see every bit as much as you hear.

For more songs that flat-out defined your favourite '80s movies, head to Next Steps.

No other police movie nailed the '80s quite like Beverly Hills Cop — and the music was a crucial part of the action, whether it's the hero's signature synth track by Harold Faltermeyer ("Axel F") or an adrenalised dance cut like "Neutron Dance" by the Pointer Sisters. James Bond got to conduct his top secret business with backing from pop's '80s A-listers, including Sheena Easton, who soundtracked Roger Moore's license to kill on For Your Eyes Only (1981) and a-ha, who offered Scandinavian support to Timothy Dalton during The Living Daylights. And when we needed something big, bold and supremely camp for a reinvented Flash Gordon, who better to deliver it than Queen ("Flash's Theme"). The greatest moments of '80s movies were immortalized by their music . . . as our Deep Cuts confirm.

Before it's use in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" — a collaboration between electro-soundtrack legend Giorgio Moroder and David Bowie — featured as the title track to Paul Schrader's Cat People, a loose 1982 reworking of the 1940's horror classic much admired by director Martin Scorsese . . . who used Eric Clapton's "It's in the Way That You Use It" to accompany the snap of Paul Newman's pool cue in The Color of Money, a belated sequel to The Hustler. And Spaghetti Western soundtrack genius Ennio Morricone delivered one of the decade's most memorable, haunting scores with The Mission, featuring "Gabriel's Oboe".

In the '80s, perhaps for the first time, soundtracks were just as important as the films from which they came. More dynamic than any poster, they gave us an additional tier of star power — the A-list artists who delivered the tunes that underscored the heroic, romantic or villainous deeds of the famous faces up there on the silver screen . . . from Madonna and Lionel Richie to Simple Minds and the Beach Boys. In the picture palace we were treated to soul classics like Ben E. King's "Stand by Me", new wave landmarks (Blondie's "Call Me") and a whole lotta of Kenny Loggins and Phil Collins. From "Purple Rain" to "Pretty in Pink" these are the songs that made you feel the entire film without even walking into the cinema.