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Holding Out For A Hero: The Legacy of a Song
A somewhat popular cult movie with a very good soundtrack was the catalyst for a song that — like a bad penny — keeps turning up. Thirty-five years later, Holding Out For A Hero is still around and being used by fans and filmmakers. Updated: 2021–06–16
Origin Story
Footloose didn’t exactly take the world by storm in 1984. As the decades peeled away, the movie earned a sort of cult-like status; largely thanks to the musical soundtrack that accompanied it (many hits are still mainstay staples of adult pop music ; Almost Paradise is still played at weddings and you’ll still hear Let’s Hear It For The Boy on the radio) — and of course the staying power of Kevin Bacon.
The story of a city boy forced to move to a small town and subsequently fall in love with the hard-ass preacher’s daughter …? A town where dancing is forbidden (makes kids have sex, you know; by the way — based on a series of real events that happened in Elmore City, Oklahoma) and having a prom dance to pop dance music of the 80s is the only solution to break the town out of its spell.
Listen, it’s what we had.
The film would rack up $80m domestically which is a pretty decent score for a $8m budgeted film. The movie would get a country-music-slant edition in 2011 (guess what? Nobody ever talks about that version …)
The original film continues to be embedded in pop culture; including popular shows like Modern Family and Family Guy.
Alright, so the scene in the film featuring the song is probably one of the more memorable ones to me. I was a fifteen year old boy and having moved around a lot — once into the sticks of northern Idaho;
Ren McCormack and I had a lot in common.
But I never got into a game of “tractor chicken” to win the hand of Lori Singer.
But I have done a lot of things to the Bonnie Tyler song, Holding Out For A Hero.
Through The Years: Plugging Stuff
The song has been used for pretty much everything. I will share with you just a few highlights.
For selling cologne (Hero — 1988)
