THEME = movie tunes: ‘Mannequin’, ‘Pretty Woman’ & ‘Reality Bites’
This week’s entry features songs from Starship, Roxette & Lisa Loeb with 9 Stories….
#1 ‘Mannequin’
For this movie, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” was written by Albert Hammond & Diane Warren & was performed by Starship as a duet featuring Mickey Thomas & Grace Slick. Released from the film’s soundtrack & Starship’s album ‘No Protection’, this song debuted 01/30/1987 & claimed #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 04/04/1987. It made Slick the oldest woman (age 47) to have a chart topper on that chart; that record was broken 12 years later by Cher (age 52) with 1999’s “Believe”. This song also topped England’s Singles Chart for 4 weeks, May 1987.
FYI: This 90-minute movie reached theaters 02/13/1987; it was primarily filmed in the greater Philadelphia PA area, using John Wanamaker’s center city department store, The Hotel Hershey & Camp Hill Shopping Center. While it was a box office success, it received mostly negative reviews. It has since become a “cult classic”. This film stars Andrew McCarthy, Kim Cattrall, Estelle Getty (“The Golden Girls”), James Spader (“The Practice” & “Boston Legal”) & Meshach Taylor (“Designing Women”).
#2 ‘Pretty Woman’
This movie featured several popular songs, including Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” (the inspiration for the movie’s title), Go West’s “King Of Wishful Thinking” (a favorite of mine) & Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Show Me Your Soul”. However, this Roxette tune, “It Must Have Been Love”, has the most-fascinating history. Written by Per Gessle, this song’s original title included the parenthetical “(Christmas For The Broken Hearted)”; that version was released in 1987 as an “intelligent Christmas single” & was a Top 10 hit in Sweden. With the success of Roxette’s album ‘Look Sharp!’, Touchstone Pictures asked the group to contribute a song to the soundtrack of this movie. This song was chosen, with some changes, & was released from the movie soundtrack; it did not appear on a Roxette album until 1995’s ‘Don’t Bore Us, Get To The Chorus!’, a greatest-hits compilation. On the charts, the song claimed #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 & the Adult Contemporary charts; internationally, it also topped charts in Australia, Poland, Switzerland & Norway.
FYI: this film was released 03/23/1990 to mixed reviews. This movie, directed by Garry Marshall, stars Richard Gere, Julia Roberts, Ralph Bellamy, Jason Alexander, John David Carson, Laura San Giacomo, Alex Hyde-White, Amy Yasbeck (“Wings”), Elinor Donahue, Hector Elizondo & Judith Baldwin. Christopher Reeve, Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington & Al Pacino were all considered for the role Gere took, while Karen Allen, Molly Ringwald, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly, Meg Ryan, Mary Steenburgen, Diane Lane, Michelle Pfeiffer, Daryl Hannah, Valeria Golino & Jennifer Jason Leigh were all considered for the role that turned Roberts into a star.
#3 ‘Reality Bites’
For this movie, Ethan Hawke submitted “Stay” to Ben Stiller for use on the film’s soundtrack. Lisa Loeb wrote the song originally in 1990 when she formed the band 9 Stories. Released 05/17/1994 as the lead single from the movie soundtrack, this song claimed #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart & reached #5 on the Adult Contemporary & #7 on the Modern Rock Tracks charts. Internationally, it topped a Canadian chart & notched in the Top 10 in Australia (#6) & England (#6).
FYI: this film was written by Helen Childress, directed by Stiller & produced by Danny DeVito & Michael Shamberg; it stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, Swoosie Kurtz, Joe Don Baker, John Mahoney & Stiller. Childress wrote & re-wrote the movie for 3 years, generating 70 different drafts. Stiller signed on to direct the movie in 1992 after the producers saw the pilot episode for “The Ben Stiller Show”. Stiller worked with Childress ~10 months developing the script. After TriStar Pictures put the script on hold, the Film Commission of Texas agreed to fund a scouting trip to Houston TX, during which Ryder decided to do the film after reading the script & Universal Pictures agreed to finance the project.