Moroder is originally from Italy, but would find his first success in Germany in the early 70s. He would get introduced to the U.S. when he teamed up with Pete Bellotte to create the Donna Summer song "Love to Love You Baby" released in November 1975. It was Summer's first big hit in America, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in early 1976 and is partly credited with starting the popular disco craze around the world. Then in 1978, Moroder's score for the film Midnight Express would earn him his first Academy Award. That is the 70s, but I just wanted to give you a little background on him.

In 1983, Giorgio Moroder would take on the score for the film Flashdance. The title song "Flashdance... What a Feeling" was composed by Moroder, and the lyrics were written by Keith Forsey and Irene Cara. The song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as a Golden Globe and numerous other awards. It also reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1983. The song is used in a scene which ranks on my Top Dancing Scenes from 80s Movies list. The soundtrack album of Flashdance sold 700,000 copies during its first two weeks on sale and has gone on to sell over 6 million copies in the U.S. alone. Here's the video for "Flashdance... What a Feeling" by Irene Cara...

In 1984, Moroder worked with Philip Oakey of The Human League to make an album which included "Together in Electric Dreams," title track to the 1984 movie Electric Dreams. I actually like this song quite a bit and it ranks on my Top Songs from 80s Movies list. Here's the video for "Together in Electric Dreams" by Philip Oakey and Giorgio Moroder...

In 1986, Moroder collaborated with his protege Harold Faltermeyer (of Beverly Hills Cop "Axel F" fame) and lyricist Tom Whitlock to create the score for the film Top Gun, including "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins and the most noteworthy hit being Berlin's "Take My Breath Away." Similar to the success of Flashdance, the song would win the Oscar for Best Original Song and reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September of 1986. Here's the video for "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin...

Other 80s films that Moroder scored include American Gigolo (1980), Scarface (1983), The Never Ending Story (1984) and Over the Top (1987). Moroder's musical creativity has also touched the realms of sports and world peace. He wrote the songs "Reach Out" for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, "Hand in Hand" for the 1988 Seoul, Korea Olympics, and the world wide hit song "Un'estate Italiana" for the 1990 Soccer World Cup in Italy.

Moroder has worked with many of the most famous names in music including Barbra Streisand, Elton John, Cher, Roger Daltrey, Janet Jackson, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Pat Benatar, Kenny Loggins, Blondie, Cheap Trick, Falco, Chaka Khan, Sammy Hagar and Olivia Newton-John among many others. You might not recognize his voice, but you should now recognize his name and impact. If you want to find out more about Giorgio Moroder, you can visit his official website. I want to wish him a very happy birthday and heartfelt thank you for his contributions to the great decade of the 80s.

That's all for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". I am sending daily 80s tweets, so sign up to get those. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: In past issues, I have shared some "literal videos" for 80s songs that I thought were well done. This craze has grown over the last year and there are hundreds of them out there now. For those not familiar, the original video is used and the song is dubbed over by an imitator singing lyrics depicting what is literally happening on the screen. Some of the ones I have shared in previous issues are still my favorite, but I came across a newer one that I think is pretty solid. It is for the 1982 song "Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats...

Safety Dance- Literal Video of an 80's Band on LSD - Click here for more home videos

Quote of the day: "What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today (April 22, 2010) is the 59^th birthday of singer & musician Paul Carrack. You might not immediately recognize the name, but I expect you would recognize his voice. Carrack has sung lead vocals for several bands over his career and has even enjoyed some solo success as well. He was in the band Ace and sang their 1975 hit "How Long?" In 1981, Glenn Tilbrook recruited Carrack to join the band Squeeze and he would end up singing lead vocals on their biggest U.S. hit. This week's first Flashback Video is "Tempted" by Squeeze...

I have always really liked that song and it ranks on my Top 80s Songs with One-Word Titles list. In 1985, Mike Rutherford would recruit Carrack to join his side project band Mike + The Mechanics. He would share lead vocals along with Paul Young. Carrack would sing lead on one of my favorites from their debut self-titled album. This week's second Flashback Video is "Silent Running" by Mike + The Mechanics...

He would also later sing on the band's 1989 #1 single "The Living Years." But in 1987, Carrack would release his most successful solo album, One Good Reason which included a single that would reach #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. This week's final Flashback Video is "Don't Shed a Tear" by Paul Carrack...

Since the 80s, Carrack has maintained a career which includes solo work, collaborations and regular work as a session musician. He really is an outstanding musician and his variety of contributions to 80s music are quite impressive to me. So whether it was Squeeze, Mike + The Mechanics or solo, Paul Carrack left his mark on my favorite decade.

That'll wrap up another issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. If you want to see the past issues of Flashback Videos, just type that into the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column and it should give you a list of all of them. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use that Google Search Box to find any past issues or topics you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Even though the blog only updates a couple times a week, I try to send out daily 80s tweets. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

The 80s are often referred to as a decade of yuppie greed and materialistic excess. There happen to be quite a few songs from the 80s about money or with the word money in the title, so I decided to rank the ones I remember best. I have included a link to watch a video for each song if you are not familiar with any of them or just need a reminder. Here is OLD SCHOOL'S TOP 10 SONGS ABOUT MONEY FROM THE 80s (+ Bonus 5):

Honorable Mention. There is a song I really wanted to include on the list because I remember it from the 80s, but it was officially released in 1979. It is the cover of Barrett Strong's 1959 song "Money" done by The Flying Lizards. This would have ranked in my top 5, but since not technically an 80s song I wanted to at least give it honorable mention. Here is a link to watch the video.

15. "I Wanna Be Rich" (1989) by Calloway [link to video]

14. "Money Changes Everything" (1983) by Cyndi Lauper [link to video of live performance]

13. "How To Be a Millionaire" (1985) by ABC [link to video]

12. "9 to 5" (1980) by Dolly Parton [link to video of live performance] - Was written and originally performed in the 1980 film Nine to Five. The song reached number one on both the Billboard Country Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 in January and February of 1981, respectively.

11. "Mercedes Boy" (1988) by Pebbles [link to video] - Actually reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop chart in May 1988 where it was replaced by #7 on this list.

10. "Puttin' On the Ritz" (1983) by Taco [link to video] - Cover of the Irving Berlin song originally from the 1930 musical of the same name. Also covered other times including by Gene Wilder and Peter Boyle in Mel Brooks' 1974 film Young Frankenstein. Taco's version would reach #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and ranks #54 on VH1's list of Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.

9. "Money's Too Tight (To Mention)" (1985) by Simply Red [link to video]

8. "What People Do For Money" (1984) by Divine Sounds [link to video] - Ranks on my Top Hip Hop/Rap Songs of the 80s list

7. "Just Got Paid" (1988) by Johnny Kemp [link to video]

6. "Working for the Weekend" (1981) by Loverboy [link to video] - Actually ranks #100 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s list.

5. "She Works Hard for the Money" (1983) by Donna Summer [link to video] - This song would hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as become the first music video by a black female artist to be heavily promoted on MTV. Summer would receive a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for it.

4. "Uptown Girl" (1983) by Billy Joel [link to video] - The title character in the music video was played by Christie Brinkley who Joel would marry in 1985. They would divorce in 1994 and subsequently, the song was missing from the setlist during Joel's 1994 "River of Dreams" tour.

3. "Material Girl" (1985) by Madonna [link to video] - Ranks very highly on my Top Madonna Songs of the 80s list. It reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and Madonna would be nick-named the Material Girl despite her objections. The music video was inspired by her admiration of Marilyn Monroe and mimicked her performance of the song "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

2. "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (1984) by Pet Shop Boys [link to video] - Here's a link to my special issue on the Pet Shop Boys.

1. "Money For Nothing" (1985) by Dire Straits [link to video] - The song would hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stay there for three weeks. It includes a guest-appearance by Sting singing song's falsetto introduction and backing chorus of "I want my MTV." I will always remember that intro. It ranks on my popular Top Music Videos of the 80s list.

There's my list. Are there any 80s songs about money that you feel I have overlooked? If so, please leave them in the comments section below. You also have singer Eddie Money who has the word right in his name. I recently did a Flashback Video issue on Eddie Money which includes three of my favorite 80s songs of his. "Can't Buy Me Love" was a Beatles song from the 60s, but it was also an 80s movie, too. It relates to the topic of money and here's a link to my Preview Review issue on Can't Buy Me Love.

The 80s were definitely a decade of materialism and this was reflected in some of the music. Hope you enjoyed this reminder that money makes the world go round.

That will do it for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks so much for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. If you are interested in reading more of my Top 10 lists, please click there for a summary. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Have been sending daily 80s tweets out via Twitter, so be sure to follow me there. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: I fully support the recycling effort, but this really seems unnecessary. Bottles, cans, paper, cardboard. All this, I understand recycling. But pets??? I thought all dogs go to heaven...

Quote of the day: "A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry: but money answereth all things." -Ecclesiastes 10:19

Today (April 10, 2010) is the 50^th birthday of Katrina Leskanich. She is best known as the lead singer and namesake for the band Katrina and the Waves. The band had many international hits, but none more recognizable than "Walking On Sunshine" which was originally released in 1983, but did not gain popularity until it was re-released in 1985 on their self-titled album. The song was actually written by the band's lead guitarist Kimberly Rew and would ultimately climb all the way to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Riding the "wave" of that song's success, the band would receive a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist in 1986, but lose that award to Sade. To celebrate Katrina's birthday, this week's Flashback Video is "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves...

If that song can't get your blood pumping, nothing will. "Walking on Sunshine" was actually ranked at #91 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s countdown. The song appears in several movies. I did a list of the Top Montages from 80s Movies and Secret of My Success made the list with a scene set to "Walking on Sunshine." Click on that link to see the entire list and there is a link to watch that particular scene as well.

There is another memorable scene with John Travolta in 1989's Look Who's Talking which features the song. This is actually the first thing I remember whenever I hear the song and you can watch that scene right here...

"Walking on Sunshine" makes an appearance in High Fidelity (2000) which, though not an 80s movie, is one of my favorites. Here is the great scene featuring John Cusack and Jack Black...

Katrina and the Waves broke up in 1999, but "Walking on Sunshine" will live on in movie montages, workout mixes and retro radio stations for a long time to come. Happy Birthday Katrina Leskanich. Thank you and the Waves for a little sunshine from the 80s.

That'll do it for another issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. If you want to see the past issues of Flashback Videos, just type that into the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column and it should give you a list of all of them. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use that Google Search Box to find any past issues or topics you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Even though the blog only updates a couple times a week, I try to send out daily 80s tweets. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

The film which originally debuted in both Disneyland and Disney World's Epcot Center back in September of 1986 also included none other than George Lucas as executive producer. Talk about your heavy hitters, between Michael Jackson, Lucas and Coppola you had some major reputations associated with this 3D attraction.

The film included two new Michael Jackson songs, "We Are Here To Change the World" and "Another Part of Me" along with a score written by James Horner. "Another Part of Me" would be remixed and included on his 1987 Bad album. That song is included on my Top Michael Jackson Songs of the 80s list. "We Are Here To Change the World" was not officially released until a 2004 compilation album.

The film cost an estimated $30 million to produce which comes to $1.76 million per screen-time minute (which at the time was the most expensive film ever produced on a per-minute basis). The huge price tag was due primarily to the 3D special effects. Though it will obviously not include the 3D effects, you can watch the entire 17 minute film in two parts below. Here is Captain EO...

We went down to Disney World during the summer of 1987 and I remember seeing Captain EO several times with my brother. It was one of my favorite attractions in the entire park back then. The show's run ended at Epcot in 1994 and at Disneyland in 1997. But with all of the Michael Jackson attention after his death last June, Disney decided to bring Captain EO back. Beginning February 23, 2010, Captain EO Tribute begun a new run at Disneyland with possibility of returning to the other parks at some point in the future, too.

That's all for this issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks as always for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column to find any other issues you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on "Become a Fan". Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". I am sending daily 80s tweets, so sign up to get those. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.

Check this out: It was Billy Dee Williams' 73^rd birthday this week (April 6, 2010). Do you remember the great scene from The Empire Strikes Back when Lando sings "Let's Get It On"? Neither do I, so it must have not made the final cut. Made me crack up, so here is the video to watch yourself...

Quote of the day: "He who conquers others is strong; He who conquers himself is mighty." -Lao-Tzu