An '80s Moment: Chaz Jankel - "Number One"

When I was a kid, one of my favorite movies was the Val Kilmer vehicle Real Genius--a story of college student scientists trying to create the most powerful laser known to man.  It's funny, smart, exciting, and in my mind still easily Val Kilmer's finest hour. It's one of those movies I've watched over and over and over again, to the point that I could probably recite it in it's entirety. It also has one of the greatest soundtracks ever gathered for a film--a soundtrack that is quirky, awesome, and criminally unreleased.

Obsessive music dork that I am, I scrounged around everywhere to find all the songs from the movie to compile my own soundtrack.  Finding tracks like Carmen McRae's fantastic version of "You Took Advantage Of Me," which opened the film, and ending credits song "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" by Tears For Fears were a piece of cake. It's the obscurities that were hard to hunt down (and usually the better songs too).

Case in point: Chaz Jankel's brilliant "Number One," a song used during one of the film's "working" montage sequences. They just don't make them like this anymore--without a hint of irony, you witness the successes and setbacks of the young geniuses as they build laser after laser, while the powerful synths of Jankel's inspirational powerhouse pound in the background, pushing them to get it right. To this day, this song is an essential workout track for me, and whenever it comes on, I get that little extra boost I need to do one more lap. While this track is great for that practical purpose, it is also absolutely essential listening for any '80s fan, especially those who enjoyed the film.

I've come to find that there were a lot of great soundtracks in the decade of leg warmers and puff paint shirts. I've since become a bit of an '80s soundtrack nut, and am always on the hunt for some gem I've yet to discover. Help me out--what are some of your favorite '80s soundtracks?

~Alan Wiley