1000th Blog Special-Why 1984 Was the Best Year Ever!

Ten months ago I said that this year would mark my 1000th blog and I would celebrate with follow up’s and reposts of old stuff. Well my friends today we have done it, 1000 blogs starting in August of 2011. I can’t express my appreciation enough for those of you who come back and read these silly things I post. These blog’s have become a very important way for me to share things I love, and to escape the stresses of the real world. I went back and forth on what I should talk about for this, and then I remembered this old idea. It was one I always wanted to do but never got around to it. So since it was an old idea I always wanted to do and the anniversary lines up, here we go.

“1984” was a George Orwell book regarding a dystopian future. The funny thing though is that 1984 was one of the best year’s EVER. And I don’t just mean because I  turned 10 at the end of it. There are hardly any year’s that managed the success that year did in the world of TV, movies, and music. So since it’s the 35th anniversary, let’s do an overview.



TV:

The new show’s that debuted that year included:

Night Court

This show came along as a mid-season replacement and would stuck around for several years.

Ten Favorite Movie Closing Songs

It’s well known that a lot of movies these days will have post credit scenes as a way to keep the audience watching. But sometimes you don’t need more scenes or bloopers, all you need is a kick ass song which people want to stick around and hear. Most of the tine when the credits roll and the lights come up, we walk out and that’s it. Or turn the tv off. Some tv stations will cut the music off entirely and speed thru the credits. But when the marriage between a song and a movie is perfect, so that you can’t imagine one without the other, you have to stay until the song is over for the experience to be complete. Even if you’re watching the movie at home for the tenth time.





Here are ten examples of what I mean. For this list I didn’t want credits that showed scenes or had dialogue. Just the credits with the black screen (or minimal images) and that fantastic song playing over it. Because sometimes if its the right song that’s all you need!




Titanic
One of the things that made thus movie amazing was the score. My Heart Goes On was a great song for this movie, and the transition to the full song is just wonderful.

(best video I could find)

Ten Music Videos Better Than The Songs

Music videos are a great way to get a song noticed. Especially when the video is more than just the artist standing there singing. Over the years we’ve seen some amazingly inventive music videos, they make the song more memorable with cool visuals and sometimes even tell a story all on their own! And some times the video is so amazing and so well done..that it kind of eclipse’s the song. You hear the song and you kinda think “Yeah that’s nice, but man that was a cool video!”.

Here are five examples of what I mean, and please remember I am not saying any of these songs are bad. Far from it! I am just saying the video makes them a little better, or to use another word-memorable.



Say Say Say
I talked about this way way back when I discussed my favorite music videos. But it inspired this idea, so here we are. The song, by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, is OK but the video make so much more. The song actually becomes the backdrop for this story of two con artists scamming their way through a couple towns. I don’t think the two are even connected, but man is the video a lot of fun.

Top 6 Favorite Scores from Danny Elfman

So my look at movie composers continues with Danny Elfman. He’s done a bunch of movie and TV work, of course a lot of it was for Tim Burton. Course the big question you probably have is, why only 6??? I really couldn’t find 4 more??? Honestly I am not the biggest fan of his stuff. It just sounds so repetitive, and unlike the other composers I discussed the movies that I’ve seen that he worked on is not long. Not to diminish his amazing talent or wide range of work.

But I do like some of it, so here we go :




#6.Mission:Impossible
How do you take a catchy yet bland TV theme and make it rock? Ask Danny Elfman who turned that simple theme into this metal tune. The movie was awful and confusing, but damn that theme rocks!!

Top 10 Favorite Scores From Alan Silvestri

So last month I talked about John Williams and his fantastic film scores. It’s only fair to point out that there are other amazing artists who have done some fantastic movie work. And Alan Silvestri is another favorite. His filmography is just amazing! He has been doing these scores since the 80’s and is still going strong! The one problem with this list is that some of the movies Silvestri has done are not quite as iconic as John Williams. So obvious choices may be missing simply because I never saw the movie. But I think I covered the big one’s.

Here are my ten favorites :




#10.Romancing the Stone
I’d been wanting to talk about this movie because it’s one of those 80’s films that has not passed the test of time. Who remembers it? I saw it and hardly remember it. This was Silvestri’s first movie score, and his first collab with Robert Zemeckis, and it kind of shows. The score is nice by doesn’t really fit the film, being more romantic than action oriented. This was a good movie and it’s long overdue for a re-watch.

Six Underrated Disney Songs I Love

I haven’t talked about Disney in awhile. And as I look through my previous stuff I realize I haven’t discussed Disney music nearly enough. Music from Disney movies is always something special. They always go that extra mile so not only is the song fitting in the movie but it so well done that it tanscens the movie and is just a massive hit. In 1995 I heard “Color of the Wind” constantly on the radio. And is there anybody who can’t sing along to “A Spoonful of Sugar”? And the villain songs are even better, but that’s another article.

However while many songs do become beloved and popular, some do not. Oh sure, people love them but they tend to gi under the radar when discussing Disney songs even though they are just as great as the big one’s. No normally when I do these kind of lists the idea is examples which most people don’t know. But let’s be honest here. If you’re even a passive Disney fan chances are you’ve come across these. So I wont act like I am the first to discover these or anything, these are just songs I love that I don’t think get the attention they deserve. They didn’t win the academy awards and they aren’t the first song people associate with the movies. But they’re awesome nonetheless.




Candle on the Water from “Pete’s Dragon”.
I don’t have much to say about this movie. It was just another feeble attempt to blend live action and animation. Why did it take so long for Disney to realize that just throwing cartoons into a live action movie isn’t going to make the movie good? That being said, this song is simply beautiful. I called it underrated but it was a maginal hit. It was nominated for best song but lost. And Helen Reddy’s recording of reach #27 on the charts. Never heard of it? Take a listen.

Top 10 Favorite Scores From John Williams

This one is long overdue my friends. I don’t think I really need to explain who John Williams is. He has written some of the most famous and beloved movie music compositions of all time. I’ll be honest when I looked at the full list I was surprised just how massive it was.

Now some may cry foul only having ten, but remember I am not the biggest movie fan out there. So here my ten favorites.


#10.Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Main Theme)

Not gonna lie, I did not care for this movie. Maybe if I had seen back when it first came out it would have been different but man was it boring. The music is great, with that very memorable melody.

Ten Favorite Music Star Soda Commercials

There was a time when soda companies would go all out with their advertising. They would be pretty impressive productions taking a popular artist and either using one of their newest hits to make big time commercial, or giving them an all new song that they could make a new household slogan. This doesn’t happen so much anymore (Kendall Jenner notwithstanding) but here are some of my favorite soda campaigns from the 80’s and 90’s.




Michael Jackson “Pepsi Generation”

This may be the granddaddy of these kind of commercials, I could be wrong however. When Pepsi landed the rights for Michael Jackson to star in their ads it was HUGE! This was the first as he did, and yes there is a story about an accident he had filming these ads but that is a story for another day.

Michael Jackson “Bad”

Now one thing I didn’t mention was that sometimes, this can be a bad a idea. The creators will rush the ad together without ever really hearing the song. And when the song is violent or religious (see next example) things can get a little sticky. Here is a later Pepsi ad Michael did which didn’t air long. How huge was this ad? It was in parts!

Top 10 Favorite Weird Al Songs

There are some music artists out there that I love so much, I can listen to their entire album and enjoy it. So maybe this year it’s time to go over some them, artists that I love and albums I adore. Today I wanted to start by discussing the master of song parody, Weird Al Yankovic

There aren’t to many artists out there I can say I loved as a kid and still love today. But we discovered Weird Al sometime in the 80’s, and I think my brother and I played that greatest hits album a million times. I just love how talented he is, and his parodies were great in the 80’s and are still great today. Ok I never saw UHF or anything, but some of my favorite songs are these silly parodies.


Rather than discuss the songs in that, admittedly old, album I wanted to cover the ten songs I love from any era. Here are my ten favorite:




#10.Everything You Know is Wrong
I can’t lie, I hadn’t really heard this song until it started being used by Nostalgia Critic and Linkara. I also put it here because he has done a lot of original songs, and so I needed one. There doesn’t seem to be an official video so enjoy the below.

Top 10 Creepiest Songs for Halloween

How is it I haven’t done this one?



So yesterday I discussed scary music that I love, it’s time today to turn to actual songs. Some are themes but most were simply songs that were recorded and released into the mainstream. I don’t even think most were intended as Halloween songs per se, they just fill the bill so perfectly by being moody and even scary that we can’t help but enjoy them when October rolls around every year.





#10.Purple People Eater
Purple People Eater is cute and silly and..I don’t know why I love it.

Ten Movie Songs and/or Music I Just LOVE

Time for my annual music article. Well not really annual but it seems that way (and no I’m not counting those ear worm articles). Movies are filled with music, from theme songs to melodies in important scenes to pop songs put into spice the movie up. But when a song from a movie really gets your attention, so much so that when you leave the movie it’s the song you most remember, that is really something special.



Awhile back I did a list of songs I love from movies which aren’t so great. But most of those I hadn’t even heard in the movie to be honest. Today I wanted to talk about ten songs which I loved when I was literally watching the movie, so much so that I bought or downloaded the album (or recorded it off the radio, yes I’m old!).



These are in no specific order. And no animated films, that’s a different article.



10.Truman Show Main Theme

I did some checking and I really have not discussed thus movie enough. This movie is not a standard type of film, and it would be easy to hate it. But several things make it work. the premise is cool. Jim Carey is freaking awesome. And that soundtrack is fantastic, with some great piano melodies. My favorite is the main theme, which is soft and yet very effective in establishing the mood. The main scene it’s in this music literally does all the talking and very well! And yes it was not made for the movie and can be heard in other things. I will always associate it with this.

Top 10 Star Trek Movie Themes

One thing I haven’t really talked about much is the music we’ve gotten over the years in the Star Trek movies. Let’s be honest, there is some great music to be found in these films. And the TV series, but today I am focusing on the movies. So I thought it would be fun to go over the theme’s to all ten movies, and rank them from what I consider worst to best. And I am not including the re-boot movies simply because the music never did anything for me with either of them. Yes I did listen to them they are OK just not “Star Trek”. Besides this way it can be a “Top 10″.




#10.Star Trek Nemesis

This is considered one of the worst Trek theme’s, and I agree. No offense to Jerry Goldsmith but man is this boring. Maybe for a dark movie like The Terminator or something, but it just isn’t Star Trek and really sucks. It’s to dark and to damn dull.








#9.Star Trek V:The Final Frontier

Awesome, Jerry Goldsmith was back! Did he have to use the exact same theme as The Motion Picture? Seriously, The Next Generation was going strong also so hearing this in the theater wasn’t really exciting. It felt lazy, like they didn’t want to try something new. This movie was awful and it started with this recycled theme music. To be fair the standard theme does segue into some new music which is nice, .but….eh.

My Top 12 Pop Songs Made Memorable By Sitcoms

Thanks to Les for letting me steal his idea (not the first time). But the other day he talked about songs which were made famous by movies. And yes my friends, the same can happen with TV shows.


Now to be clear I am not talking about theme songs, or songs made for a series which became popular after, but pop songs that are heard in a scene and blend so perfectly the song almost becomes synonymous with that scene (and series). Drama’s are pretty well known for this sort of thing, in fact I have seen drama’s outright plug the album or song the episode had. But yes even a silly sitcom can break through with a very memorable combination of song and scene (or character).



Now unlike Les’s great list, most of these songs were famous before they were featured in the episode (except one or two). But sometimes a TV show, or movie, can bring you back to a song that has already been popular in a special way, especially if you were a kid and may not have been aware of the classic. Whether the song is just on in the background or the artist him or herself is there to sing it, you remember that moment. That is what this article is all about.



The only rule is the song has to be from the original artist, either a recording over the scene or done by the actual artist on the show. Characters singing pop songs is another list entirely my friends (though lip synching to the original is OK as you’ll see). Here now are 12 great songs which you can’t hear without thinking of the sitcom episode they happened to be featured in (well, at least I CAN’T!)





#12.”The Future’s So Bright, I gotta Wear Shades” by Timbuk3 (Head of the Class)
I’m not sure how many remember this one, but I sure do. This under appreciated Howard Hesseman sitcom had an episode which involved the class putting together a time capsule. They end up making a music video lip synching to this song. At the top because I am not sure how many besides me always remember this when they hear the song. Want a blast of 80’s goofiness? Here it is my friends.

Top 5 Elvis Songs I Just Love–When Not Sung by Elvis!

 

Elvis Presley was the King of Rock and Roll. Not only did he come out with some major hits, he made movies too. Actually he made lots of movies, I didn’t even realize how many until I looked it up (30! No kidding!!). He has been parodied and homaged dozens and dozens of times with people acting and dressing like him and pretending to be him. For years there were Elvis sightings and people still connect him with Las Vegas and flock to his home in Graceland to see where he lived. He sadly passed away in 1977 but left behind and enduring legacy as an icon and is loved and adored by millions…but I am not one of them. 

I never liked his music. I don’t get it, why did women faint at the site of this guy? Don’t get me wrong he was talented and all, but I mostly find his songs annoying. Just something about his voice does not work for me, and I don’t care how much is moves is pelvis. In fact I have found that the only time I love his songs is when someone else sings them. And that’s what I want to discuss today.


Here are five covers of Elvis songs that I prefer over the more familiar and/or classic Elvis version.



#5. In The Ghetto by The Cranberries

I don’t know if this is one his biggest hits but it’s OK when he sings it. But what I really prefer is the cover done by The Cranberries. That soft female voice just works a lot better than Elvis’s. She actually makes the song work for me. Of you want to hear it, here is a clip here. Not sure if this was made for the film “The Outsiders” but the clip has images from that in it. See it HERE

My Favoite "Hell Yeah" Pick Me Up Songs

This article has been a long time coming. The last few weeks have seen a lot of bad news, so I decided it was time to discuss something to get us all into a good mood. And nothing does that faster than the right song.

I have already discussed this in relation to TV themes, but what about normal songs? Music amazes me because of how it ties right into our moods and our lives. The right song can make you remember good times gone  by. Or it can make you depressed and cry your eyes out. Of course not every song will resonate with every person, but music is a very personal thing for all of us.

Today I want to discuss a few songs which always pick me up and put me in a good mood. These aren’t just songs I like, they’re songs that make me smile and feel good whenever I hear them. These are arranged by artist but are in no particular order, and this is just me so feel free to disagree or toss out your own favorites.


Circle of Life/I’m Still Standing by Elton John

The version we get in the cartoon is really good, don’t get me wrong, but I adore the Elton John version. I really don’t know what it is, but I think it’s a combination of a very strong melody and lyrics which are very powerful. I love the way the music builds and builds to that chorus, which we only hear twice! Fantastic song which always puts me in a good mood. A close second would be “I’m Still Standing” which I have loved since a very young age. The whole song is about not giving up and if that isn’t a pick me up song nothing is
Circle of Life HERE
I’m Still Standing  HERE

Five "WTF??" Popular Songs

Hey who doesn't love a good song once in awhile! But sometimes a pop song which seems harmless enough really isn't when you really pay attention to the lyrics. Below are five songs which are well liked, but when you realize what the lyrics are saying you have to stop and say WTF???

Everybreath You Take (The Police)

I love this one because it isn't just me who got the message of the song wrong. Many consider this a romantic tune, and even make it their wedding song. Ah, no. It's a song about a man obsessing over a girl to the point where he is watching  "every breath you take; every move you make". I can't even listen to this song now (ok, part of that is because I hate Sting but that's another story).

Baby It's Cold Outside

As Christmas has come to a close there is a question I must ask. WHY IS THIS A CHRISTMAS CLASSIC?? Take away the fact that the song isn't the least bit Christamassy (talk of a storm isn't enough!). The song is about a man refusing to let a woman leave. What? My favorite line is this one : "Say… What's in this drink? ". Ok, I get that this was recording back in the old days but why is it still loved today? It's a guy trying to have sex with a girl whether she wants to or not!!!

Sunny Came Home (Shawn Colvin)

Shawn Colvin is underrated in my opinion. She is a nice singer and I love her soft voice. This was her big hit, and seemed harmless. Until you find out what it's about. A woman returning to her childhood home SO SHE CAN BURN IT DOWN!! And she does!! It is a nice song of liberation from your past but...man! Of all these I liked and still like this song, even if the message is a little dark.

Greased Lightning

Have you ever heard the lyrics to this? They're filthy! This is of course from the very popular play and movie Grease. It sounds like a cool song regarding how much Danny loves his cool car. If you really listen to the lyrics, you realize he REALLY loves his cool car! I mean, wow!

She Bop (Cyndi Lauper)

Maybe I am an idiot, but I had no idea what this was about when I first heard it. It just sounded kind of cool. And I like Cyndi Lauper enough. Then, I found out what it is about. And it's real hard to listen to this one now. If you don't know, the song is about a woman...um, pleasuring herself. The lyrics are pretty tame but when you hear them, you get it. But you know, maybe it's just me and this isn't so bad. Let me see what Wikipedia says about this:

"In an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Lauper stated that she recorded the vocals of the song while nude"

I will never listen to this the same way again  

I am sure there are plenty more I could mention, which songs come to your mind that seen nice but are really disturbing?

Five "WTF??" 80's Music Videos

I grew up in the 80's, and I loved my MTV! Remember when they played music videos on there? ALL DAY?? I would sit and watch. My  favorite VJ was Martha Quinn, whatever happened to her? Anyway, while I loved music videos I have to admit there were some which were freaky. Even scary, as young as I was back then. These are the videos I am talking about today. The ones that freaked me out and made me say "WTF???"

As you know I am not a major music fan, as you can tell since I have done three whole articles on music and only one was just about music that I like (this needs to be rectified!), so I may be missing more obvious ones. Also these are from when I was a kid and as I have discussed before, things that bug as a kid don't bother us the same was when we are grown up.

#5."You Might Think" by The Cars

This is an example of a cool WTF moment, because it never scared me but man was this video cool! The Cars may not have had to many great hits, but who doesn't love this video with, at the time, state of the art special effects. It's real hard to describe here but there are all kinds of weird images in this. It almost makes me forget that the video is about a guy stalking a girl.

Eight Great Songs from Eight Not So Great Animated Movies

Last year I did list of great Christmas songs from not so great Christmas movies. I then followed it up with a list of pop songs which are much better known than the movie which spawned them. Today I am going to go over eight songs from animated movies where the song is more highly regarded than the film which originated it.

#8. "At the Beginning" from Anastasia
Nothing taking Russian history and doing whatever we want with it. This film wasn't that bad but it wasn't great either. What was pretty good was this cool song which came from the movie.


#7. "The Prayer" from Quest for Camelot
This is a beautiful little song from Celine Dion, among others, and I enjoy listening to it during the holidays. I was very surprised that such a nice song came from such a crappy movie. If you saw the Nostalgia Critic's review I don't need to explain why it was bad, but the song is beautiful.

#6. "When You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt
Cheating a little on this one because this was a decent movie. At least, I've heard it was because I've never seen it. I am including it because I think the song by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston was more popular than the actual film turned out to be.

#5. "Why Should I Worry" from Oliver & Company
Oliver & Company came along just before the Disney renassaicne in the late 90's. To be fair, this movie isn't that good. It isn't bad either, but compared to the masterpieces that followed it doesn't match up. However this song by Billy Joel is awesome, and once you hear it you will never forget it.

#4. "Reflection" from Mulan
I may be off base saying this was bad, this is another one which I never saw but fell in love with the song anyway. The movie is probably fine, but the song is amazing.

#3. "You'll Be In My Heart" from Tarzan
I actually liked this movie, and I enjoyed the Phil Collins song which was featured in it. No complaints here, decent movie and a great song

#2. "Zip A Dee Doo Dah" from Song of the South
What can you say about this movie? Boring? Hell yeah. A little racist? Sure. Makes no sense? Well that may be pushing it a bit. This movie has one thing going for it, and it's this little upbeat number which is real fun to sing.

#1. "Go the Distance" from Hercules
Who knew it would be a Michael Bolton song that would be the best part of a Disney movie? This movie was just lousy, but at least we got this song out of it.

That's it, hope you liked it

What I Loved in the 80's-Top 5 Favorite Music Videos

I consider myself lucky. I grew up in the era when MTV, believe it or not, played music videos! I used to sit in front of the TV for hours just watching, and I loved the MTV V-J’s they had including Martha Quinn. Here now are my favorite videos from that decade. I am not suggesting the songs are the greatest; this list is more about the videos. I am also not suggesting there aren't better videos out there; these are just my personal favorites.

#5. Say, Say, Say By Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson

Ok, this one is hard to watch today. You remember how Michael Jackson turned out. You remember what happened with the Paul McCartney/Michael Jackson relationship. You remember how awesome Linda McCartney was, and how said it is she died so young. You see Latoya...and enough said. However, if you push all that aside you're left with one entertaining video. They wrap the song around a storyline and it is fun to watch.

#4 Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

Does any song scream 80's the way this one does? Cyndi Lauper had some good songs (Time After Time is a personal favorite) but this one will be her legacy. Why? Because the video is just so darn fun to watch! Even though I am not a girl I still like this. You can see the work she is putting into it, and that is what makes it fun to watch.

#3. You Might Thing By The Cars

It amazes me how a song about stalking someone could be a big hit. But hey, everyone loves "Every Breath She Takes" and that's even worse than this one (why would you play that at your wedding??)  Anyway, the memorable part of this was the amazing video. Using (then) state of the art special effects, the video has so many strange images that you can't help but be drawn into it. This is the kind of thing missing from MTV today.

#2. Jump by Van Halen

 Who needs flashy special effects and a storyline you need to pay attention to? Just show the band singing and dancing, that's all you need. I am not really a Van Halen fan, but this song and video always makes me feel good. It's such a simple song, and the video by all rights should boring, and yet somehow they both work.

#1. Beat it by Michael Jackson

Ok, let the jokes begin. Here is the fact; he was never convicted of anything. I know people will laugh and make fun, but in the 80's I loved listening to his music and NO ONE can take that away from me. Not saying he didn't get weird because he did, but his music is a part of my childhood forever. I am so tired of being embarrassed to say this, I loved his music, and this video, and I still enjoy watching it. The song would have been his biggest hit but Thriller was of course the chart topper. For those wondering why I didn't include that, it was a little long and scared me as a kid. Billie Jean is good on to, but this is the one I love.

Ah, 80’s music.I considered Karma Chameleon by Culture Club and Simply Irresistible by Robert Palmer. Land of Confusion by Genesis is generally considered one of the best videos of that decade, but it scared the crap out of me as a kid!

Finally, in honor of Whitney Houston who made amazing music, and that will always be her legacy:

Eight Great Songs From Not So Great Movies

During Christmas I did an article about some Christmas songs that are almost better than the movies they came from. The thing is, it doesn't have to be a Christmas song/movie for this to happen. Plenty of great songs come from less than stellar films. In fact, a lot of these songs become so famous you outright forget they were in a movie at all. So, here is a little look at eight great songs from not so great movies.

8."Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” from Mannequin. This has to be the dumbest movie. The story is about Anthony McCarthy falling in love with a mannequin which can come to life. As silly as this movie is, the song featured in it is just a classic, and it’s nice for Starship to have a decent song,

7.”There You’ll Be” from Pearl Harbor. Who says you have to follow history if you’re making an historical film? Pearl Harbor wanted to do what Titanic did, romanticize an incredible tragedy. It missed with its bad acting, crappy effects, boring story, and historical inaccuracies. However, it does leave behind the nice little song from Faith Hill.

6.”Kiss From a Rose” from Batman Forever. Say what you want about Batman Forever, some like it and others hate it, this song is pretty cool. I admit to a little hesitation putting this one here, not really sure if people immediately associate these two. However, the song was on the soundtrack so I guess it counts. Seal give one great song, the movie was….Ok.

5.”I Don't Want to Miss a Thing” from Armageddon-Armageddon was a loud, noisy mess. However, it does have one thing going for it. This song is pretty awesome. Aerosmith is very take it or leave it with me, and I enjoy this tune every time it comes on. The movie, that's another story!

4.”Gangsta's Paradise” from Criminal Minds- I thought I would mix things up by putting this on here. I hate these kinds of songs, but this one works for me (maybe because Weird Al Yankovick did a fantastic parody of it). The movie is about a white marine female who takes a job a very urban school. Coolio's song is great, fits the mood perfectly, and for me to like this song says A LOT!

3.”I Will Always Love You” from The Bodyguard. One of the movies everyone forgets Kevin Costner made. He starred in this movie with Whitney Houston (yes, that's right). The idea was simple, he was her bodyguard but then they start getting romantic. Too bad there was no chemistry between the two. I never saw the whole film, but must have seen the music video a hundred times. The song was a smash hit. The movie? Well....

2.”I Just Called to Say I Love You” from The Lady In Red. Pretty sad when a song reminds me of a Cosby Show episode rather than the film the song was written for. Stevie Wonder wrote this great song; unfortunately the Gene Wilder film it was featured in was less than memorable. It was basically just a romantic comedy,and has been pretty much forgotten. The song is a classic however.

1.”Because You Loved Me” from Up Close and Personal. Does anyone remember this movie? This little romantic drama starred Michelle Pfeifer and Robert Redford. It’s a great example of how having two amazing actors does not a great movie make. As forgettable as the film is, it did leave behind this memorable song which started the rise of Celine Dion (a rise which would spike a few years later when she did the theme in Titanic).

Of course keeping this list at eight kept a lot of great songs off. It was real hard to pick the best, and I had to leave a lot off. Did I miss your favorite?