Fans of '80s nostalgia will want to read David Chiu's excellent piece for Forbes about the soundtrack of "Times Square," Allan Moyle's 1980 film that was billed as the punk and new wave equivalent of "Saturday Night Fever." Although it tanked at the box office, it's long been a cult classic dating back to repeated airings during the fledgling days of USA Network. (Who remembers "Night Flight"?)
The story centered around two teenage runaways named Nicky and Pamela (played by Robin Johnson and Trini Alvarado respectively) from opposite backgrounds who rebel against convention and authority to form a punk band in New York City called the Sleez Sisters, and gain notoriety and young female fans after performing on a radio station. Although the film is a lesbian love story, the version released in theaters makes it much more subtle than the original script. (The actresses were only 13 and 15 when the film was shot.)
Although "Help Me!" is an infectious gem, it did not fit with the other music on the soundtrack, and stalled at No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100. Surprisingly, the article doesn't mention that D.L. Byron had expressly written the song "Shadows of the Night" for the film, but it wasn't used having been deemed "not commercial enough." But watching the infamous closing scene now (down at the bottom), it seems obvious that the future Pat Benatar smash was the perfect song for the moment. Instead, the track was released as a single by Helen Schneider the following year, going five times platinum in Germany and the Benelux countries, and again that year with slightly different lyrics by the great Rachel Sweet (on her album "...And Then He Kissed Me"), which would have been my pick for the film.
4 comments:
I used to have the Times Square album. I forgot about it.
I had the album on vinyl and cassette. Years later I landed a German CD! Loved the movie and the soundtrack. The movie hasn't aged well... but... so many haven't.
Sweet's "Shadows of the Night" will ALWAYS be the ultimate version. Love Benatar, but her version just isn't great.
OMG I love this film and soundtrack — I saw it when I was attending Penn State in the 1980s. And ‘Help Me’ is still one of favorite songs from it! I still own the album and have it framed and hanging in my condo. Great memories 😊😊
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