FEATURE:
Too Good to Be Forgotten: Songs That Are Much More Than a Guilty Pleasure
Kenny Loggins - Footloose
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IT is hard to believe that some songs…
are dismissed or seen as guilty pleasures! I am selecting Kenny Loggins’ Footloose today, as I have seen a few articles where the song has been dismissed as being cheesy; something one should not admit to loving. It is a fantastically fun and memorable track. I especially love epic and timelessly brilliant songs from film soundtracks. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song (with music and lyrics by Loggins and Dean Pitchford), there is no denying that Footloose is a great track! Starring Kevin Bacon, if you are not familiar with the plot of 1984’s Footloose, then there are plot details online that should assist. One need not be familiar with the scene in which the title track plays. You can hear the song in any context and time and feel lifted and motivated! I am not one who believes in guilty pleasures, though I do think that there are songs that are a little cheesy. That is not the case with Footloose. It is a terrific song. I am going to end up with an article that tells how Loggins performed Footloose last year to raise COVID-19 response funds. Before that, AllMusic spoke with Footloose bassist Nathan East on the thirtieth anniversary of the song to share his memories:
“AllMusic: On to "Footloose." How did you start playing with Kenny Loggins?
East: It came abruptly in the early eighties when his bass player was either sick or had to leave suddenly, and I got a call from the road saying, “Can you get out here as soon as possible, we have some shows to do,” so I jumped out there on short notice and started doing some touring with him, which led to recording a few albums with him, one of which was the Footloose soundtrack.
AllMusic: What were you doing at the time?
East: I’ll never forget that the day I left to go tour with Kenny Loggins, I had just received my first call from Quincy Jones to play on a Michael Jackson album he was doing, Thriller, and I couldn't record the Thriller album. Around that time, I was starting to get the session career going, so I was working with Julio Iglesias, Whitney Houston and all these people who were going around then. Fortunately, the second time the call came around [for Bad], I was able to make it.
AllMusic: What was going on when the call came in to do a song for Footloose?
East: We had done one record, Vox Humana, and so we had been in the studio, and I was in there recording with Lionel Richie, I did a bunch of Pointer Sisters sessions around that time. On Vox Humana, I’d co-written some songs with him, and we were becoming brothers in music. It was prior to Live Aid that we went in and he got the soundtrack for Footloose, which won Song of the Year at the Grammys in 1985. I think by summer ’83 we were running around and practicing it on the road. Every day on the road we heard, “OK, we have this movie, Footloose—Footloose, Footloose…”
He started coming up with little bits and pieces at a time, and it was really pretty tedious, because over the course of a summer tour, everywhere we went, we’d have to find a place in the hotel, like a banquet room, where we’d go and set up our gear and run the song. I remember dialing in the part a little more each day, so when we went to the studio to record it, it was only one or two takes. We were glad to get that out of the way.
AllMusic: How much direction was given about the style of the song and how much it should tie into the movie?
East: The bottom line is since it was called Footloose, it was going to be a dance film, so it had to be an uptempo, active-feeling song. There was a screening after it was all put together, but not until then did we actually see the movie. Kenny probably met with the directors prior to going on tour, so he had all the intel on what he needed and wanted. A lot of times what they’ll do is have temporary beats in the film, and you can use that. I’m sure what they had at the time was the [sings “Footloose” beat], that was the direction they wanted. On my end, and maybe it was out of boredom, but every day I was trying to add more to this bassline so it becomes this driving, forward motion that made sense, and would be something that could be identified with the song as well.
AllMusic: How much of that was to actually serve the song and how much was out of boredom?
East: I think it was about 50-50. After a couple of weeks, when you’d be in rehearsal and see his lips form the word “Footloose,” you start to get a little twitch. We definitely knew that song inside and out when we went into the studio to record it, and that made it all the more solid for the film.
AllMusic: And was it a hit immediately?
East: Pretty much. Having a motion picture as your video for a song definitely doesn't hurt. At that point, the movie came out, the single came out, and it shot to the top, it was one of those times when you couldn't turn the radio on without hearing that song.
AllMusic: Even though you were a little tired of it, was it fun to play live?
East: We played it at Live Aid, and that’s one of the first times I met Eric Clapton. He was standing at the side of the stage, listening to the band, and then he immediately approached me when I got offstage about getting together. I think when we played it live, it was one of those undeniable home run hits where everyone was responding to it, and after all that hard work, it felt good. You’d break into it at the show, and it was like a hypnotic trance people would get in and just start dancing.
One fun thing with “Footloose” was that he included the band on the little breakdown section, we each got a line. Steve [Wood, keyboards] sings, “You've got to turn me around,” and I sing, “And put your feet on the ground.” That was a big line, the first record I ever sung on was a Number One record. And I do it live, too, as well. It was on the radio the other day, and my son said, “Wait, daddy, here comes your line!” He made us all listen to my little solo singing line”.
I don’t think Footloose will age in terms of its impact. Whereas the film is not talked about much these days, the song has taken on a new life and continues to thrill people. Kenny Loggins performed Footloose last year. This article explains more:
“The artist performed Saturday night at the iconic Hollywood amphitheater and sang some of his biggest hits, including "Footloose," the single he co-wrote for the hit 1984 Kevin Bacon film of the same name.
The unique concert was part of an ongoing fundraiser, RWQuarantunes, which takes place each weekend on a private Zoom call.
Talent agent Richard Weitz and his 17-year-old daughter Demi are the brains behind the concert series, which they say has raised more than $3 million for food banks, hospitals and related Covid-19 relief efforts.
"To think that two months ago when Demi and I started the RWQuarantunes that we would go from our kitchen to the Hollywood Bowl is not only surreal but very humbling," Weitz, a partner at William Morris Endeavor, told CNN.
Saturday marked the 10th benefit concert that RWQuarantunes has done but the first to use the Hollywood Bowl. Although the venue is shuttered for the 2020 season, Weitz managed to get permission for Loggins to perform there. Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti also attended.
Much to the delight of viewers, Bacon also made an appearance on the virtual fundraiser Saturday from his home.
"When we were making the movie, we didn't have the song yet," Bacon said while introducing Loggins. "In the middle of shooting, Kenny was still writing the song. It was just Kenny on an acoustic guitar, that was the demo ... I heard the song and was like, 'Yeah, That's cool.' It just hits you. I did what I could, but I don't think the movie would have been what it was without it".
If you are one of those people who thinks Footloose is a guilty pleasure song or that you can’t bring yourself to listen to it, I would advise you to get back into it. It has such energy and verve that one is helpless to resist! Songs from film soundtracks do not always endure, though Kenny Loggins’ smash will survive and get people moving for decades more. It is a song that has the power to lift the mood…
NO matter what.