Kenny Loggins has contributed memorable songs to many popular films, particularly during the 1980s. Those contributions led to the pop-rock singer-songwriter being nicknamed the “King of the Movie Soundtrack.” On March 31, 1984, Loggins enjoyed his biggest chart success when the theme song to the film Footloose topped the Billboard Hot 100.
Kenny co-wrote the infectious, upbeat pop-rock tune with Dean Pitchford, who wrote the Footloose screenplay. Pitchford wrote the lyrics to all of the songs on the film’s soundtrack, which included several hits by various artists.
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“Footloose” knocked Van Halen’s “Jump” from the top of the Hot 100. It spent three weeks at No. 1 before being replaced by another popular film soundtrack tune, Phil Collins’ “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now).” “Footloose” was Loggins’ only single ever to top the Hot 100.
The film Footloose told the fictional story of Ren McCormack, a teenager from Chicago portrayed by Kevin Bacon. He moves to a small religious Utah town where dancing has been banned since the 1800s. Ren attempts to overturn the ban, which is being enforced by a strict local minister played by John Lithgow.
The song celebrates the desire to cut loose and let off steam at the end of a workday or on a weekend by dancing. The tune features a rockabilly-inspired guitar riff, as well as some 1980s-style synths and electronic drum beats.
In 1985, “Footloose” was nominated for an Oscar a Best Original Song, as was another tune from the soundtrack, “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” by Deniece Williams. They lost to Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called To Say I Love You,” from The Woman In Red.
About the Writing of “Footloose”
Before “Footloose,” Pitchford had collaborated with Loggins and Journey’s Steve Perry on the 1982 song “Don’t Fight It.” That tune was recorded as a duet by Loggins and Perry and appeared on Kenny’s solo album, High Adventure. It reached No. 17 on the Hot 100.
Footloose was the first screenplay Pitchford had ever written, and the songs were a selling point for the movie. As Dean recalled in a 2012 interview with Songfacts, it was important to the movie studio, Paramount, to have Loggins recording the title song.
To make the collaboration happen, Pitchford traveled to Lake Tahoe, where Kenny had a few shows scheduled before he headed to Asia for some tour dates. Pitchford recalled that Loggins recently had broken some ribs when he fell off a stage during a show, and had been taking painkillers at time. Dean, meanwhile, was taking pain meds himself because he’d come down with a bad case of strep throat.
The two got together in Pitchford’s hotel room and were able to bang out most of the song. Pitchford kept the fact that he was sick from Loggins because he didn’t want to miss the opportunity to write with him.
“I think it was two or three days we kept up this charade with him showing up on his painkillers and me on my painkillers, and us getting the gist of the song,” Dean told Songfacts. “We wrote the verses and the chorus melodies, we wrote the first verse, and we knew what we were going to do for the chorus.”
He added, “While [Kenny] was gone [on tour], I wrote the rest of the lyric to ‘Footloose,’ except the bridge. When Loggins returned from Asia, he and Pitchford finished the song at Kenny’s house in Los Angeles.
Songfacts: Footloose | Kenny Loggins
In The Office episode “Jury Duty” (2012), Andy Bernard rocks out to this while he trashes the warehouse.
More About “Footloose”
In an interview with Adam Reader, known as the “Professor of Rock,” Loggins explained that “Footloose” was influenced by Chuck Berry as well as Mitch Ryder’s song “Devil With A Blue Dress On.” Kenny also noted that the drum groove was inspired by David Bowie’s then-recent hit “Modern Love.”
Loggins co-produced “Footloose” with Lee DeCarlo. In 1990, the song was certified Platinum by the RIAA for sales of a million copies in the U.S.
More About the ‘Footloose’ Soundtrack
Loggins also contributed another song to the Footloose soundtrack, “I’m Free (Heaven Helps The Man),” also co-written by Pitchford. The tune reached No. 22 on the Hot 100.
Like “Footloose,” the aforementioned “Let’s Hear It For The Boy” also topped the Hot 100. Other Top-40 hits from the soundtrack included “Holding Out For A Hero” by Bonnie Tyler; “Dancing In The Sheets” by Shalamar; and “Almost Paradise,” a duet featuring Heart’s Ann Wilson and Loverboy’s Mike Reno.
The Footloose soundtrack spent 10 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200, from April 21 through June 30, 1984. In December 2024, the album was certified Diamond by the RIAA.
(Photo by David Redfern/Redferns)