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''Top Gun'' is the
soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
from the film of the same name, released in 1986 by
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
. The album reached number one in the US
charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...
for five nonconsecutive weeks in the summer and autumn of 1986. It was the best selling soundtrack of 1986 and one of the best selling of all time. The song "
Take My Breath Away "Take My Breath Away" is a song written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock for the 1986 film ''Top Gun'', performed by American new wave band Berlin. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best ...
" by
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
went on to win both the
Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...
and the
Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The award is presented to the songwriters of a ...
. According to
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, the album "remains a quintessential artifact of the mid-'80s", and the album's hits "still define the bombastic, melodramatic sound that dominated the pop charts of the era." In 1999, the album was reissued as a "Special Expanded Edition" with additional songs, and in 2006, it was reissued again as ''Music From and Inspired by Top Gun: Deluxe Edition'', containing additional songs not in the film.


Other artists considered

Toto were originally intended to perform the track " Danger Zone", but legal conflicts between the film's producers and the band's lawyers prevented this.
Bryan Adams Bryan Guy Adams (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, composer, and photographer. He has been cited as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, and is estimated to have sold between 75 million and mor ...
was approached to perform it, but refused any involvement in the film, feeling that it glorified war and, as such, not wanting any of his work linked to it. (Adams also refused to allow his song "Only the Strong Survive" to be featured in the film.)
REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Illinois. Formed in 1967, the band cultivated a following during the 1970s and achieved significant commercial success throughout the 1980s. The ...
were approached but declined, due to not being allowed to contribute any of their own compositions to the soundtrack. Corey Hart also declined, preferring to write and perform his own compositions. Eventually, the film's producers agreed that "Danger Zone" would be recorded and performed by
Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded as Loggins and Messina from 1972 to 1977. His ...
. Members of Toto also wrote and intended to perform a song called "Only You" that would have been used as the film's love theme instead of "
Take My Breath Away "Take My Breath Away" is a song written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock for the 1986 film ''Top Gun'', performed by American new wave band Berlin. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as the Golden Globe Award for Best ...
", but legal conflicts prevented doing so.
The Motels The Motels are an American new wave band from Berkeley, California, that is best known for the singles "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly Last Summer", each of which peaked at No. 9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, in 1982 and 1983, respectively. In ...
were originally considered to perform "Take My Breath Away", and a demo version exists on their 2001 compilation ''
Anthologyland ''Anthologyland'' is a compilation album containing material from the new wave band, The Motels, plus work by Warfield Foxes (an earlier incarnation), and solo work by Martha Davis, including a couple of duets with Sly Stone and Ivan Neville. ...
''.
Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...
were also approached to allow their song "Reckless" in the film but declined when the proposed contract stipulated that the filmmakers have exclusive rights to the song, which would have necessitated the band omitting the song from their forthcoming album ''
Turbo In an internal combustion engine, a turbocharger (often called a turbo) is a forced induction device that is powered by the flow of exhaust gases. It uses this energy to compress the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to pro ...
'' (1986). Former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing later called their opting out of the film "a big mistake". The band offered the producers three other songs for the soundtrack, all of which were rejected.
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
members
Martin Fry Martin David Fry (born 9 March 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, composer, musician, and record producer. Fry's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead singer of the pop band ...
and Mark White were invited to see the director's rough cut version of ''Top Gun'' in 1986. "They were looking to offer a few British bands soundtrack opportunities. Mark and I weren't impressed with the film and chose not to contribute any music to it."
Bobby Blotzer Robert John Blotzer (born October 22, 1958) is an American musician best known as the drummer for metal band Ratt. He attended Torrance High School in Torrance, California along with his Ratt bandmate Juan Croucier. Ratt Blotzer began his car ...
of
Ratt Ratt is an American glam metal band formed in San Diego, California, in the 1970s, that had significant commercial success in the 1980s, with their albums having been certified as gold, platinum, and multi-platinum by the RIAA. The group is bes ...
proposed using the song "Reach for the Sky", an outtake from Ratt's 1984 album ''
Out of the Cellar ''Out of the Cellar'' is the debut studio album by American glam metal band Ratt. Released in 1984, it was an immediate success, with wide airplay on radio and heavy rotation on MTV of its singles, especially the hit " Round and Round". The albu ...
''. Although the rest of the band seriously considered the idea, they declined under the belief that their long-time fans would not like the song and would accuse the group of
selling out "Selling out", or "sold out" in the past tense, is a common expression for the compromising of a person's integrity, morality, authenticity, or principles by forgoing the long-term benefits of the collective or group in exchange for personal gai ...
. Although the song title "Reach for the Sky" would become the title of the band's 1988 album, the track itself was never officially released.
The Cars The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), ...
' song "Stranger Eyes" (from their 1984 album '' Heartbeat City'') was featured in an early
teaser trailer A teaser (or more specifically teaser trailer) is a mini- trailer and a form of teaser campaign advertising that focuses on film and television programming. It is a videography pre-release move or television show advertisement. Short in length, te ...
for the film, though it was absent from the film's final cut.


Track listing


''Music from and Inspired by Top Gun: Deluxe Edition''

In 2006, the "Special Expanded Edition" was repackaged in the UK with five additional songs "not included in the motion picture".


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Certifications


References


Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Top Gun (Soundtrack)
Soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
1986 soundtrack albums Action film soundtracks Columbia Records soundtracks Drama film soundtracks