Label: A&M
Rated: NONE
WorkNameSort: Warriors: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, The
Does anyone remember Riggs? Or Trust? No, probably not. But everyone remembers the movie Heavy Metal, a movie that definitely deserved a better soundtrack than the collection of anonymous AOR dreck like Riggs' anemic "Radar Rider," Sammy Hagar castoffs and, um, Devo and Black Sabbath. This was a fate suffered frequently by '80s movies that really should have had good soundtracks, and the three worst victims – Heavy Metal, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and The Warriors (released in '79, but still) – all have something in common: The Eagles. As if screwing up the '70s wasn't bad enough, these guys had to "express themselves" all over some great movies. Don Felder stunk up Heavy Metal, Donald Fagen and Joe Walsh did it to Fast Times, while just Walsh shows up for The Warriors. How a super-violent movie about a gang on a sort of Odyssey warranted the inclusion of Mandrill, Desmond Child and a Walsh abomination like "In The City" is beyond me, but if you think that soundtracks have only recently become corporate-driven marketing tools, don't be fooled. (Yes, this disc has just been reissued, to coincide with the recent director's cut DVD and the completely awesome video game.) Now, granted, The Warriors was no Fast Times, but it was a fairly dark movie. I don't know about most people, but "Joe Walsh" and "dark" aren't usually complementary terms. And, unsurprisingly, this soundtrack – remastered or not – still sounds as inappropriate as it sounds out-of-date.
