Movies had soundtracks long before the Eighties. The Graduate, The Last Picture Show, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid all had memorable soundtracks, just to mention a few non-musicals.
In the 1980s, however, when movies started targeting younger audiences, the soundtrack became a bigger part of most films.
There were so many great songs featured on numerous soundtracks throughout the decade. It was very difficult to narrow down a subjective list of songs, but for different reasons, these are the most iconic in their own way.
Most iconic songs from 1980s soundtracks
No. 13: "Looking For Love in All The Wrong Places" - Johnny Lee
From Urban Cowboy, 1980
Surely you recall this movie. It was the one where John Travolta traded in his butterfly-collared silk shirts from Saturday Night Fever for a cowboy hat and some cowboy boots. Sounds unlikely, but it is true. Travolta could pull off a country line dance as easily as he could disco.
Some of the movie was filmed in the famous bar Gilley's (owned by the late country star Mickey Gilley), and it co-starred Debra Winger. It was a box office hit at the time, and much of that success was pushed by a soundtrack that spent eight weeks at number one on the country charts.
That soundtrack produced the Johnny Lee single "Looking for Love In All The Wrong Places," which was the number one country song for three weeks and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, according to Country Thang Daily. The movie, helped by the popular song, helped push country to a broader audience.
The song was also famously and hilariously parodied by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live, as his character "Buckwheat," changing the words to "Wookin' Pa Nub."
This was an impactful song musically and culturally and deserves a spot as an iconic song from a soundtrack.