How Kenny Loggins became the king of 1980s movie soundtracks
Kenny Loggins didn’t set out to define the sound of 1980s cinema. Born in Everett, Washington, in 1948, he spent much of his childhood moving from place to place with his family, eventually settling in Alhambra, California. During his time at Gabriel Mission High School, he developed a love of music, releasing three singles following his graduation in 1966 with his band The Second Helping, one of which was a surprisingly grungy number called ‘Let Me In’.
After writing songs for The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, he joined forces with former Poco and Buffalo Springfield guitarist Jim Messina, forming Loggins and Messina, who released six albums between 1971 and 1976, helping to define the much-maligned soft rock offshoot known as yacht rock. The duo bagged three top-20 singles, including 1972’s ‘Your Mama Don’t Dance’, which was later covered by ’80s hair metal group Poison, earning them a number four smash hit.
Sadly, in 1976, the good times came to an end, and the duo parted ways, leaving Loggins to forge his own path. Success returned with his 1978 Stevie Nicks duet ‘Whenever I Call You A Friend’, which peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. A year later, his falsetto-driven groover ‘This Is It’ brushed the top ten, while he also found success with the Doobie Brother’s 1979 hit ‘What a Fool Believes’, which he co-wrote.
Loggins’ first song for the big screen was ‘I Believe In Love’, included in the soundtrack for the 1976 film version of A Star Is Born featuring Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand. The film’s producer, Jon Peters, had just started working on a sports comedy film called Caddyshack, for which he asked Loggins to provide a song. It didn’t yet feature Bill Murray’s furry nemesis, the gopher, but Loggins loved it regardless and subsequently composed ‘I’m Alright’ for the opening scene, replacing Bob Dylan’s ‘Gotta Serve Somebody’.
Caddyshack was a hit on release, and ‘I’m Alright’ rocketed to number seven on the Billboard 100, making it Loggins’ most successful solo record to date. Movie music was clearly a lucrative business, so when his friend Dean Pitchford, who was working on Footloose at the time, asked him to co-write a song for the picture, Loggins was happy to lend a hand.
The pair had already worked together once before on the 1982 duet ‘Don’t Fight It’, so they were on home turf, completing ‘Footloose’ in one night while Loggins was recovering from a broken rib in Lake Tahoe. Loggins also provided ‘I’m Free (Heaven Helps The Man)’, and both songs became huge hits when Footloose broke box office records on release. Its title song reached number one and the music video recieved near-constant airplay on MTV, then at the height of its cultural influence.
Then came Top Gun. Focusing on a group of aviator-clad US Navy Pilots with names like ‘Goose’, ‘Iceman’ and ‘Maverick’, the 1986 action drama boasted an array of extravagant montage sequences simply begging for a hit song. Loggins, however, decided to write something for the far less bombastic scene where Maverick and the other pilots play volleyball. His leftfield approach won his track ‘Playing With the Boys’ a place on the soundtrack. Giorgio Moroder, the Italian disco pioneer best known for crafting ‘I Feel Love’ with Donna Summer, was so impressed that he named Loggins as the undisputed king of ’80s movie music.
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