Yes, yes, I know I link to something on the Onion AV Club at least once a week. That’s because it’s awesome.
This week, they’ve run the second of their “Song and Vision” columns, which are devoted to thoughtful explorations of the perfect synergy that can occur between a movie and a pop song on the soundtrack.
It’s about the perfect union forged between Robert Zemeckis’ “Back to the Future” and its opening number, “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News.
It’s a marvelous read, particularly if you — like me — regard the film as one of the finest American commercial pictures of its decade. (Well, it is.) And, as is often the case with the AV Club, the comments that follow the piece are at least as relevant and interesting.
Also, yes, I’ll own up to it: In the summer of 1985 — I think it was August — I saw Huey Lewis and the News when they played Toronto. They pretty much rocked, and this was before I knew they were the backing band on Elvis Costello’s first album.
Opening act? Wang Chung.
Yes, I am old.
Before they went off the rails, Wang Chung had some cred! Did they not score “To Live and Die in L.A.”? The vinyl lurks in my basement somewhere… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Live_and_Die_In_L.A._%28soundtrack%29
Haven’t seen the movie in a while, but I’m guessing the soundtrack would now play as dated.