5 Movies You Forgot Had Theme Songs
It was the “Footloose” of times, it was the “Ninja Rap” of times. We’re talking, of course, about the golden age of movie tie-in promotional singles of the ‘80s and ‘90s, a time when a well-placed theme could create the song and the movie of the summer, while a misused one probably involved MC Hammer. In between were a lot of attempts that nobody remembers, because what was the point of making a movie if you couldn’t coerce a pop star to sell their soul for a lot of money?
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
You’re gonna wanna sit down for this: Tone Loc was in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Right? Who could possibly remember both of those things enough to remember that they were related? And it’s not like you put Tone Loc in your movie if you don’t need one of his songs, so when the closing credits cue up, so does “Ace Is in the House,” which also features a rapping Jim Carrey. He swears. He should never do it again, except maybe he should do it for every movie?
Deep Blue Sea
Similarly, under Tone Loc rules, the only reason the sci-fi horror movie about genetically engineered murder sharks has a theme song is because it also has LL Cool J. It was called “Deepest Bluest,” which means they put exactly as much thought into titling it as we did into listening to it. It was hardly necessary, too, since the movie takes its name from an existing song, and a haunting remix of “Baby Beluga” would go so hard.
Pet Sematary
Of all the movies that don’t need theme songs, though, the Stephen King adaptation about zombie pets and children could have probably gone without, but there were a lot of things and places that could have gone without the Ramones. They showed up anyway, and they rocked it, even with the title track of the 1989 soundtrack. It might not be their best work, but it’s way catchier than a song about a magic graveyard has a right to be.
The Goonies
That song that plays throughout The Goonies isn’t just some random Cyndi Lauper tune. Well, technically, it is — “Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” was originally just called “Good Enough,” which makes sense because Goonies aren’t mentioned anywhere in the song and that phrase is never spoken in the movie. It was literally just a track that Steven Spielberg picked up, dusted off and slapped the movie title on, and Lauper hated it so much the entire time that she refused to change any of the words even though “Goonies Never Say Die” is exactly the same number of syllables. Frankly, it’s a crime of soundtracking.
Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives
When the brains behind Friday the 13th needed to revitalize the franchise with Jason Lives, they knew just who to turn to: Alice Cooper. The resulting track, the demonstrably forgettable synth pop number “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask),” probably can’t take much credit for the film getting the best reviews since the series veered off into Corey Feldman territory, but they could do a lot worse than Alice Cooper, even if he could do a lot better. At least it wasn’t Corey Feldman.