After spending an entire month looking back at the 80’s, I realized one thing. I need more. Luckily, a couple of fellow music fans on Twitter came up with the brilliant idea to highlight #30DaysOf80sMovieSongs during the month of April. I couldn’t resist at the opportunity to keep going, to keep listening, and to keep celebrating the decade that has meant more to me than any other from a musical standpoint. Each day I’m playing a different soundtrack favorite on the Mental Jukebox.
Movie: Beverly Hills Cop
Growing up playing piano, I studied all the legends. Bach. Beethoven. Chopin. Liszt. Mozart. The list goes on. But as a kid, all I really ever wanted was some Axel F. I played the upright piano reluctantly. But I played my Casiotone with passion and fervor. Learning how to play the main keyboard sequence from “Axel F” on this instrument was like a rite of passage. I felt like I could hang with Faltermeyer. Of course, that’s a delusion. Harold Faltermeyer is a bit of a legend himself, crafting some of the most memorable movie soundtracks like Beverly Hills Cop and Top Gun.
Together with Glenn Frey’s “The Heat Is On” and The Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance”, Harold Faltermeyer’s “Axel F” formed a formidable soundtrack triumvirate. And the latter was a rarity. Movie soundtrack instrumentals don’t normally become radio darlings, but this one was played everywhere. It hasn’t aged so gracefully. (Those keyboard riffs were 80’s to the core). But it’s a track that carries with it so much nostalgia and free spirit that it’s no wonder it got as far as it did without a single lyric.