Saturday, May 05, 2018

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Goon Squad

Artist:Goon Squad
Song:Eight Arms To Hold You
Album:The Goonies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack




So I remember seeing the video for this back in the 80s with the animated octopus playing the drums. It turns out Eight Arms To Hold You topped the dance charts in 1985. It appears on the soundtrack of the popular film The Goonies but good luck trying to find it in the movie. Goon Squad was a studio group led by veteran producer Arthur Baker. That's him in the video. He started out as a DJ in his home town of Boston. He moved to New York in 1981 to work for Tommy Boy Records. He produced Afrika Bambaataa's 1982 hit Planet Rock and that led to producing Hall & Oates and New Order among others. He also did a lot of remixes including the Cyndi Lauper hit Girls Just Want To Have Fun. And that brings me to The Goonies. Producer Steven Speilberg hired Cyndi to produce the soundtrack album. Dave Grusin composed the score but Speilberg wanted a hit album to promote the film. Of course Cyndi had the biggest hit from the album The Goonies "R" Good Enough with a video featuring WWF wrestlers. Eight Arms To Hold You was supposed to be in a scene in the movie. But the scene got cut. You can hear the song as background music in another scene so it could stay on the album. MTV played the video and the song topped the dance charts. Baker wrote the song with drummer Jimmy Balower and former Doors keyboard player Robbie Kreiger who of course play on the record. The singers include Baker's wife Tina B, BJ Nelson and Lottie Golden. The male singer is R&B veteran Will Downing. A second single Powerdrill charted in 1986. But there was never a Goon Squad album. The Goonies soundtrack album is available on CD. And Grusin's score is available on CD too. Here's the video for Eight Arms To Hold You by Goon Squad.

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