Shamelessly stolen from Merby’s blog.
Brrrrrr!!! Is it just me, or is it getting colder than a witchy woman’s tit outside? Well, I guess that means we’ll have to turn up muzak and throw another log on the record player! And just in time since it’s Monday, that day The Nest puts on an extra layer of ear protection and warms up with a nice hot cup of retro cocoa straight out of that polar vortex of iced over classics we like to call the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy’s thawing out this week’s frozen platter in the microwave, while the Sponkies are a bit unhappy that our winter isn’t like the one in Australia. Here’s one you probably haven’t heard since the Ice Age…
There was an underlying theme that seemed to pop up again and again in the movies of the 1980’s, and it was dancing. If your script called for young perky people wearing the maximum amount of colorful spandex allowed by law, the chances were pretty good your film was going to be greenlighted thirty-something years ago. The decade not only produced some of the most legendary dance films ever made, like Footloose, Dirty Dancing and Lambada Flashdance… but a whole host of others that flew under the radar, but nevertheless were chock full of fun, energizing music.
Shake it, Wiki!
So it’s only fitting that one of the most notorious box office bombs of the 80’s was a dance film. 1983’s Stayin’ Alive had so much going against it at the outset, that it’s incomprehensible as to why it ever got made in the first place. It was a sequel to a disco movie… four years after the dance craze not only went out of style, but became reviled by a culture that burned its leisure suits. It brought back the original film’s star John Travolta, who had already more than wasted away the youthful fame he got from Saturday Night Fever. It was directed by Sylvester Stallone, for crying out loud! What, was Chuck Norris not available?
You say that like it’s a bad thing, yo.
Sly even let his unknown brother Frank write half of the movie’s soundtrack! That kind of nepotism seemed to have disaster written all over it…. but it turned out to be the one saving grace for this turkey of a movie. Frank Stallone’s “Far From Over” became the movie’s most recognizable theme, and a #10 hit at that! It almost never gets played anymore, and that’s a shame…. but it’s one of the best disco/rock mash-ups evah!!!
And yet again, a shitty movie sequel makes its one lasting contribution to the world in the form of a forgotten hit! This is a high energy blast from the past that’s impossible not to get your blood pumping… making it one of the more popular radio hits to become the theme music to local shows.
And here’s an interesting tidbit from that very Wiki article I just linked to. “Far From Over” was the last Top 40 single ever issued on a record that featured this famous logo on the label…
Moooooooooo!!!!
RSO Records was only around for a decade, but while they existed, they were one of the most powerful independent labels of all time, and almost singlehandedly started the popular movie soundtrack craze that would take off like wildfire in the 80’s. They had blockbuster movies like Fame, Grease, Saturday Night Fever, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi on their resumes. Oh, and they also were responsible for the woefully horrific hot mess that was the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band movie. They were still reeling from that ill advised mooooooooovie when the label went cow belly up in 1983, the same year Stayin’ Alive became their last, unfortunate stand.
Just in time! Someone’s hungry…
The lost earworms are far from over…. I’ll be back with another one next Monday!
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
I liked the video it had some power, but neither the movie nor the song was a real rocket for me…dunno why ;o)
Well, the movie does look like crap. The song came out right when I was starting to pay attention to muzak, and has been in my head all these years despite never hearing it again. I was surprised when I found out who did it…
Wow! I have zero recollection of that song. That video was simultaneously enlightening and horrifying – like some producer said, “Saturday Night Fever was good, but JT had his shirt on for too much of the movie.” I’d also forgotten about the RSO logo, but sure enough, when I pulled out my vinyl copy of the Return Of The Jedi soundtrack, there it was. Fun stuff.
I’m surprised this song isn’t bigger since it’s something of a unicorn (especially given WHO did it), but bad sequels tend to bring down the really good songs from their soundtracks with them. I was surprised when I saw what RSO all did, and then saw that they still managed to go out of business (or, technically, get merged into Polydor). Their resume is practically an A-list of movie soundtracks from the era…
Never heard the song, never saw the movie – I saw Flashdance and Footlose. A year later … I lived in the backwoods and our local tiny cinema (it already had three screens, but it wasn’t a multi-screen as you know it – only one for a larger audience, this double feature went into the tiny room) … I am not sure if Sinatra would have drawn me there. Cinema was a rare event – Grandpa always had to drive me 10 miles there.
We had a crappy 2 screen theater when I was a kid, and I wasn’t much of a movie buff to begin with. I’ve seen three movies in the theater in my life… all during the 80’s.
I see a strong connection the the Eye of the Tiger band, Survivor with Frank’s vocals. P.S. Tell the Sponkies to move to Denver, it’s gonna be in the 60’s for most of the next 7-10 days and not a snowflake in sight.
Make that ‘with’ the Eye of the Tiger band, not ‘the the…’ Ugh. Sorry ’bout that.
Well, Eye of the Tiger was written for Frank’s brother, so there’s definitely a connection. That version of Survivor was still fronted by Dave Bickler, who later became famous as the “singer” in Bud Light’s Real Men of Genius ads of the previous decade…
I knew you’d know the deets about the brother and the band! 🎸
It is indeed colder than a witch’s tit. I love your skill with prose…
Colder than a witch’s tit is an old country euphemism. I have never actually touched a witch’s tit to verify that phrase’s accuracy, however…
Ass soon as I heard the song I remembered it, very un-rememberable! lol…don’t miss it one bit!
Everyone hated my song I think everyone likes last week, and despised my earworm I really love this week. What gives!?!?
You have a good “Ear” 1/2 the time…the other 1/2 is a Worm! lol..
Oh yes, oh no! I remeber this, it was so famous, and very soon worn off. Here is somethin new for you, na zaree means at the dawn, and the song tells of love, of course
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwFC626lRT4, I hope the link works, if not, it is a Russian bad Allians and the song Na Zaree.
The missing letters m, g, n.
OMG!!!!!!!!!! The music is actually pretty good in an 80’s way….. but that video!!!! The unintentional comedy is off the charts! I couldn’t stop laughing!!! I may have to feature this on my blog in the near future! I actually agree with this comment that appears below the video…
This gave me X-TREME 80’s FEELS. I had a heart attack and an orgasm at the same damn time. Russian gods, I beg you, bring back the USSR.
It is so great, and we seldom see Russian videos. You are right, the music is good, brings me memories, but that video…
ody N biskit; oh em cod…..de food servizz gurl rememburrz strongheart dawg food; her gram pawz own german shepherd used to chow down on it ….noe joke !! 🙂 ♥♥
This made my day!!!! That image was left over from a post I did on Strongheart dog food about three years ago… and nobody who followed me back then did remember it! I think it was a regional brand to the Midwest, but it was very popular as a low end alternative to the big name brands when I was a kid. There’s not much on the internet about Strongheart or what became of the company, but people still search for it occasionally and end up on my blog post!
I intentionally did NOT see that movie since I got back to the U.S. It came out during my lost decade, aka the 1980s and never showed in Israel. Too bad, eh? Avoiding it since hasn’t been hard. Not one of those movies that cable jumps on.
Check your email. I sent you some pictures for potential Unicorn babeeze!
We have a lot of stuff with the poop emoji at Mecca… though I don’t think I’d ever seen any of the stuff you sent me before. Maybe (hopefully) it’s only available online!
The snot and the fat unicorn just might make a lovely gift put together…
Well I do remember the song but it was just a tad too “frantic” for me……all the athletics/ballet moves in the video are impressive though! That’s gotta count for something right?
Pam
Even more nonstop dancing than the Hipsway guy I posted last week! I get dizzy just watching it… so I usually just let the song play do my own dancing out of Travolta’s sight!
I’m pretty sure you know what I think of this song and movie. CRAP. I must have blocked the song from my memory. I do remember when people were into Frank Stallone though. I couldn’t ever, even if I wanted to, which I didn’t, watch this movie or Saturday Night Fever. The music was/is so disgusting. I still can’t hear it today without cringing. Oh and changing whatever media it has popped up. I did like Fame. I went to the theatre with my friend to see that one.
RSO always makes me think of that symbol, Robert Stigwood and the BeeGees who stunk out loud once they did Saturday Night Fever. Anyway this song and movie really are bad. I had forgotten them both and I think I will go back to blocking them out.
If you’d have gave this song a thumbs up, I think I would have keeled over and gone to that big nest in the sky! I knew you wouldn’t like it, but was surprised at how many others seem to agree with you….
Oh, and please, tell me how you really feel about this song!
Never heard this song. Couldn’t have two actors of less interest to me in the video. Wherever did you find this song?
I was not expecting this to be so unknown (or disliked by the few who did). This is a song where I thought people would at least be familiar with some of the music, since it turns up as an instrumental theme quite a bit, but maybe not know the full song. I guess this was a bigger black hole than I imagined… which may be why I’d never heard of Frank Stallone until I looked this old earworm up…
Poor RSO, killed off by Stayin’ Alive. Kind of ironic.