January 30th, 2012 
James Shotwell 
Written by UTG critic Grace Duffy, Scene & Heard takes a look at the music that makes our favorite films so memorable. Whether it’s the 400-piece orchestra Christopher Nolan used for The Dark Knight, or the dozen or so bands that contributed to the soundtrack of Top Gun, there is no denying the impact music has on movies and this column hopes to highlight the best of the best.
If you have a suggestion for a film we should cover on Scene & Heard, please contact us by emailing utgjames@gmail.com.
I listen to the Top Gun soundtrack for motivational purposes. Also for enjoyment. But mostly motivation. When I was moving to Luxembourg last year and a bit daunted and terrified, playing “Danger Zone” made me feel better. Genuinely, it did. That’s the power of this movie and the music that accompanies it. It makes you feel unassailably cool, as though you could saunter into a courtroom wearing shades and swag and arrogance and still blow everyone away. It also gives me the overwhelming urge to stay inside watching 80s movies for a week, which ranks about the same in terms of fulfilment. While in Luxembourg, myself and my cohorts spent some time teaching a French friend about the joys of this film, and if it’s good enough for an opinionated Parisian indie kid (hi G., I know you read this), then it’s good enough for anyone. Soundtrack included.
Despite being mostly associated with sweaty volleyball scenes and a thinly-veiled homoerotic subtext, <em>Top Gun</em> is a classic. The storyline doesn’t make much sense, but plausibility should never get in the way of an enjoyable movie. Further, its soundtrack is an homage to 80s cheese, filled with triumphant odes to daredevils, thrill-seeking, and the alpha male. Kenny Loggins’ “Danger Zone” is outright bizarre if you listen to the lyrics, but a more rigorously exciting song has ne’er been composed. It’s commanding and exhilarating, used to add a greasy veneer of cool to awe-inspiring scenes of fighter planes taking off and landing. Further, it jumpstarts a vacant orchestral score to give the audience their first indication that this movie may be brooding and sombre, but it’s also deliciously fun. You’re encouraged not to take it seriously, no matter how intense all the onscreen staring is.
Cheap Trick’s “Mighty Wings,” ups the ante and adds more drive and propulsion to the music. A crusading, fiery track, it’s all bombast and thrills and matches the jets on show for velocity. As soundtracks go, this is a textbook example of what John Cusack referred to in <em>High Fidelity</em> as “…you’ve got to kick off with a killer, to grab the attention. Then you’ve gotta take it up a notch.” It has that same shameless, irreverent excess that makes so many 80s song enduring classics, and fits in nicely with the aerial theme.
The Kenny Loggins influence extends further with the inclusion of another track as the backing anthem for the infamous volleyball scene. Not to place too much emphasis on aesthetics, but it must be said that I, personally, have no problem with Val Kilmer (given <em>Top Gun</em> was made back when he was attractive) diving about playing sports on the beach. That said; the scene as viewed through the intense prism of self-awareness that the Noughties foisted on us is hilarious. It’s hard not to long for a time when people wouldn’t raise eyebrows and write slash about this sort of thing on the internet, though Loggins at least thought ahead by naming his track, rather exquisitely, “Playing With the Boys.” The song itself is actually pretty laid-back and carefree, a relatively simplistic tale of the joys of hanging out and kicking a ball about with friends. It’s got some heady riffs, if nothing like the surging rush of “Danger Zone,” its verses are catchy and its chorus endearingly hearty.
Further along, “Through the Fire” by Larry Greene has an element of danger that better represents the brief glimpses of peril onscreen. It’s climactic, urgent, and bombastic; its huge sound spilling invasively across the screen during the action scenes. Indeed, with all these posturing adrenaline rushes, it’s almost surprising when the evocative strains of “Take My Breath Away” by Berlin appear midway through. This powerful love song is the one perhaps most associated with the film, underscoring every interaction between Maverick and Charlie. Heavily influenced by the rugged percussion and overpowering synth work that so define the Eighties, it is far more loveable than your average overplayed movie ballad. It’s quite understated, despite its intensive sound, and its lyrics carefully create a loving, absorbing atmosphere without drenching everything in glossed sugar.
A Portuguese friend, to whom I gave a copy of this soundtrack, bemoaned the absence of “Great Balls of Fire.” It may be on the extended version, but I only have the standard copy that I picked up for the princely sum of €3, and my life has been immeasurably better since. There has recently been talk of a sequel to <em>Top Gun,</em> which isn’t necessarily as terrible a proposition as it may seem. Maverick intended to go back to Top Gun to be an instructor, after all, and if the remake’s producers don’t cast some pouting nitwit with a gaping hole where his charisma should be as lead it could work quite well. The real test will be for the soundtrack guru. How to recreate such a glorious record in an era when taste has all but vanished will be tricky. So long as they keep Nickelback far, far away…
Review written by: Grace Duffy (Follow her on Twitter)
- 2015’s Most Underrated Films - December 29, 2015
- Passing The Torch: The End Of An Era For UTG - December 1, 2015
- UTG PREMIERE: Before The Streetlights – “Private Browser” - November 26, 2015
Posted in 
Tags: 