Movie Music Monday – Footloose – Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian

In honor of Kevin Bacon’s 66th birthday, we dip into the title track from the soundtrack of Footloose. It is interesting to note that Dean Pitchford wrote all the lyrics for all the songs found on the soundtrack (with various co-writers), and wrote the screenplay for the film.

The title song is one of two that Kenny Loggins has on the soundtrack. He has great success with I’m Alright from Caddyshack and the studio was big on having him on the soundtrack. It almost didn’t happen, though.

From songfacts.com:

Getting Loggins for the title track was huge for Pitchford, who had never written a screenplay before and was trying to sell a movie based around nine songs – not a popular concept at the time. Losing Loggins could have derailed the entire project, and when Kenny broke a rib from a fall he took at a show in Provo, Footloose almost met its doom. Loggins had to take time off to recover, and the only chance for Dean to write with him was during his engagement at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where he was performing before heading to Asia.

Pitchford says, “each day he would come to my room with a guitar and he was still taped up, with gauze and tape around his midriff while his rib was healing. He would show up with a guitar and he would ease himself into a chair, and it was obvious that sitting down was painful – if he was standing he was fine.

The movie was, of course, a big hit and so was the soundtrack and the title song! The soundtrack spent 10 weeks at #1, knocking Michael Jackson’s Thriller album out of the top spot in the US. It was a number one song for Kenny Loggins for three weeks and was his biggest hit.

One last story from the birthday boy. Kevin Bacon revealed to Conan O’Brien that he bribes DJ’s at weddings with cash so they won’t play the song. “I go to the disc jockey and hand him $20 and say, ‘Please don’t play that song,'” he told the talk show host. “Because, first off, a wedding is really not about me. It’s about the bride and groom.”