Even the most heavily scored films always carry a secondary
soundtrack; songs that play in the background usually as scene setters or
shameless promotions for up and coming bands or rock stars. The Friday flicks are no exception, with
numerous songs littered through the series from both well established artists
from Alice Cooper to The Hives to lesser known and never to be heard from again
starlets.
While this building track-list so far has highlighted songs
from the series that are of a lower profile and lesser discussed, today’s special
anniversary date marking the 30th birthday of franchise highlight
Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter makes it absolutely necessary that we give this record a spin. Of course, I am talking about Love Is a Lie
by Lion.
Lion was a metal ‘80s hairband that rocked out from 1983 to 1989,
and the band actually made their recording debut with this song specifically for the flick. In fact,
Lion did not release their first official EP for another two years when Power Love, a six song sampler, was released
exclusively in Japan. Interestingly, the
band’s other big moment would come from another film offering in 1986 when they
provided the title theme for the animated flick Transformers: The Movie. The
success of that led to their official signing with a label and their first
full length offering in 1987 with Dangerous
Attraction. The group disbanded in September of 1989, following a drastic
fall from a cliff from member Mark Edwards who subsequently suffered a broken
neck. However, members would go on to work
with other bands such as White Lion and Whitesnake. Here is the tune in its entirety for your listening:
Now we can’t ignore what makes this tune so memorable in the
franchise. It was of course made iconic
by the unique dancing styles of off-beat actor Crispin Glover. Glover plays Jimmy Mortimer, one of the
frisky youths who have come to Camp Crystal Lake to party despite his reputation
for being a bit of a dweeb and all around “dead fuck.” Well, much to the surprise of his friend and
tormenter Teddy Bear, Jimmy hits it off with one of the sultry twins they
encounter and gets lucky. The question remains
whether it was his slick moves to this Lion tune that sealed the deal, however,
Glover revealed in interviews that this track was not what they actually recorded
the scene to. His spastic twists and
jerks were actually made on set to the blaring aggression of an AC/DC track,
with Lion’s offering being added in post-production. Regardless, Glover’s dance improvisation
provided both comic relief and further character depth to this dorky but
loveable character…except to Jason naturally, who rewarded those slick moves
with a cleaver to the face!
So take a minute to enjoy this hair-metal ‘80s track and
feel free to celebrate the anniversary of this wicked franchise entry with a
dorky dance around your own living rooms!
Happy Anniversary Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter and to get you warmed up here is Jimbo to show you how it is done:
