'80s Movie Music Revisited

08/06/1998 3:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(8/6/98, 12 p.m. PDT) - Does the public have a never-ending appetite for '80s music in films? At least a couple of record companies hope so. Hot on the heels of the successful soundtrack to The Wedding Singer, Maverick Recordings recently issued The Wedding Singer Volume 2 featuring such '80s hits as Kajagoogoo's "Too Shy" and Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough."

Not to be outdone, Rhino recently released the compilation VH1: The Big 80's--The Big Movies, which includes such '80s film hits as the Psychedelic Furs' "Pretty In Pink," the Ramones' "Rock 'N' Roll High School" and the Bangles' version of "Hazy Shade Of Winter" (from Less Than Zero).

Rhino has also come up with an album that pays tribute to '80s movie music. On October 20, Rhino will release In Their Eyes: '90s Teen Bands Vs. '80s Teen Movies on the new Cheap Date Records imprint. As the title suggests, the album features teen bands covering songs from '80s teen flicks. The track listing includes the Gadjits covering the Simple Minds' "(Don't You) Forget About Me" (from The Breakfast Club), Ben Lee doing the Thompson Twins' "If You Were Here" (from Some Kind Of Wonderful) and the Donnas performing Alice Cooper's "School's Out," which isn't an '80s song, but was featuring in the 1979 flick Rock 'N' Roll High School.

In Their Eyes also features the debut of the English League, a group of L.A. teens who won the "Cheap Date Virtual Talent Show," which was held in June on the teen portion of America Online's Entertainment Asylum. The E.L. contributes a rap version of Oingo Boingo's "Weird Science" to the album.