Harold Faltermeyer -- Axel F

 

To all those KKP readers in the United States, Happy Fourth of July! Actually, I'm hoping that all of you are really enjoying barbeques and baseball rather than reading a middle-aged guy's writings on kayo kyoku; c'mon, it's America's birthday!

Axel Foley has returned to Beverly Hills as of yesterday via Netflix in "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley", so I figure that for this week's Reminiscings of Youth, what better way to celebrate the 4th than to bring in one of the more representative theme songs of Hollywood in the 1980s.

Harold Faltermeyer would later come up with the ultimate instrumental hymn for all naval aviators later in 1986, but here, it was all about the synthpop behind one of the most famous movie cops. "Axel F" was released as a single some months after the release of the first "Beverly Hills Cop" in December 1984. Coming out in March 1985, I remember it being a virtual heavy rotation hit on radio and TV to the point I was starting to get sick of the song. Absence does make the heart grow fonder because it was actually nice hearing it again after so many decades of not hearing it.

According to the weekly charts around the world on Wikipedia, "Axel F" reached No. 2 in Canada and then No. 3 in America, while it hit the top spot in Ireland and the Netherlands. And perhaps the song was probably cemented as Eddie Murphy's theme tune, too.

So, what else was hitting the record store shelves in March 1985?

Akina Nakamori -- Meu Amor e（ミ・アモーレ） 

Seiko Matsuda -- Train (album)

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Futari no Natsu Monogatari （ふたりの夏物語）

Because it is a holiday south of the border, I'll put up another ROY article later tonight.