Theme Song: To dig into this soundtrack is to deep-dive down a discogs wormhole of near-miss AOR musicians and studio mainstays. It’s almost hard to keep it all straight:
– Jeff Porcaro, drummer from Steely Dan and Toto cowrote a track.
– Guitarist Van McLain and drummer Gary West from Shooting Star have writing credits on a few.
– David Batteau, songwriter to Seals and Crofts as well as member of ‘80s synthwave band Nomo, also cowrote a couple.
– Gary O’Connor of Gary O-fame gets in on the action, as well.
– Last but not least, Scott Shelly, guitar teacher to Randy Rhoads, has a bunch of writing credits listed, including the namesake song.
It’s pretty incredible with all these names a soundtrack album was never released. The only thing to hit the market was a promo 45 of two Shelly songs, both of which are thick slabs of AOR magic:
Heart To Heart
Can’t Look Back
Vocals on these are handled by Roger Wilson, star of Thunder Alley. Wilson had musical aspirations and the songs are handled well.
Oh, and all of this ignores that Leif Garrett co-stars and has vocal duties on a few of the above mentioned tracks.
Interesting Dated References: Bands having to tour; bands caring about which direction their music takes them instead of endlessly catering to what will get the most plays.
Social Context: There’s some underlying messaging about popularity and ego and what it means to be successful in this life, but who cares.
Summary: Hayseed Richie (Wilson) has dreams of success, but can’t find his place at home. He starts hanging out with his friend Donnie and his band Magic, which is fronted by Skip (Garrett). Eventually Richie starts subbing on guitar, then writing songs, then doing vocals, which slowly pushes Skip out of the spotlight.
Did I mention there’s an entire subplot wherein Magic’s manager, Weasel (played by character actor Clancy Brown), repeatedly tries to convince them that they, an AOR band, are better than the other act he manages, Surgical Steele, a Judas Priest style metal band. The fact the filmmakers expect us to believe these two bands can play shows together and have the same audience is a hilarious oversight.
Surgical Steele was an actual band, for the record.
Eventually Richie takes his place as the lead in Magic and Donnie “OD’s” on “drugs” and dies. Then a bunch of backstabbing happens and Skip joins the Steele, but not before Richie pulls some tricks to be able to play “Heart To Heart” for like the 3rd time in the movie, and Skip comes out on stage to sing it with him, and everyone is happy.
Worth Mentioning:
– Richie’s love interest, Beth, is played by Jill Schoelen (The Stepfather, Hot Moves) and she’s awesome as usual. If you are not a gigantic fan of Jill, then I do not want to know anything about you.
– Thunder Alley is the real deal. Lots of effort went into these songs and the acting, and overall it’s a top-flight production if you get past the part where we’re supposed to believe an ‘80s metal band has any crossover with a roots-rock AOR handsome guy showcase.
– RD Francis has a deep-dive into this soundtrack and Roger Wilson’s music career and does a better job than I ever could.
– Second film for director J.S. Cardone after The Slayer.
Poster and Box Art: A beautiful photo collage with some nice retouching as well as a solid logo treatment make this one an excellent effort.
