4 Smash Hits From 1984 You Might Have Forgotten Were Movie Songs

Some hit songs from the 80s are completely inextricable from the movies that contained them. For example, few will forget that Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” adorned The Breakfast Club. But that’s not always the case. We’re betting that more than a few of you have forgotten that these four hits from 1984 were movie songs.

“I Can Dream About You” by Dan Hartman

Dan Hartman was asked to write a song for the movie Streets Of Fire. Producers informed him that the song would be sung in the film by a Motown-style R&B band. Hartman obliged. And he did his job quite well on “I Can Dream About You”.  In the film, the fictional group The Sorels lip-syncs along to the song, which was performed for the movie by a singer named Winston Ford. However, Hartman wrote the song knowing that his own version would be used on the soundtrack. The whole thing was quite confusing. But nonetheless, Hartman’s song, a No. 6 hit among hits in 1984, has far outlasted the film in which it appeared in terms of cultural relevance.

“I Just Called To Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder took time out from his recording career in the early 80s. Instead, he focused on advocating for social issues. Five years passed between full-length LPs Hotter Than July (1980) and In Square Circle (1985). Wonder at least gave fans a little something in the interim with the soundtrack to the 1984 film The Woman In Red. It’s a strange little collection. Dionne Warwick sings several songs on it in addition to Wonder’s numbers. But at least Wonder proved that his pop touch hadn’t abandoned him. “I Just Called To Say I Love You” isn’t as demanding as Wonder’s incendiary work from the 70s. But it satiated the demands of his fans, many of whom never realized it was a soundtrack song.

“Love Somebody” by Rick Springfield

To the younger fans who worshipped him when he hit it big with “Jessie’s Girl”, Rick Springfield played the part of the overnight sensation. But he’d actually been making music since the early 70s, even scoring some hits back then. Once he grabbed that brass ring in the 80s, he was determined to make the most of it. In the same year that Prince starred in a hit movie musical (Purple Rain) that spawned an even bigger album, Springfield tried to do the same. Well, at least he got halfway there. The film Hard To Hold won’t go down as a classic. But at least Springfield minted three Top 40 hits from the forgotten movie, including “Love Somebody”, which hit No. 5.

“On The Dark Side” by John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band

The film Eddie And The Cruisers, a kind of rock and roll mystery, arrived in 1983 and failed to do much business. John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band, longtime staples of the New Jersey bar band scene, performed the music that was credited to the fictional Cruisers. But when the movie faded quickly, “On The Dark Side”, the first single from the soundtrack, did as well. A year later, however, the film did well as a VHS release. More importantly, Bruce Springsteen uncorked the mammoth album Born In The U.S.A. Since the sound of Cafferty and company’s song bore a resemblance to Springsteen’s output, the public belatedly sent “On The Dark Side” soaring to No. 7 when it was re-released.

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