4. The Living Daylights
http://youtu.be/s1qfx2X6qaU Why anyone would ask the guys from A-Ha to take a swing at a Bond theme is beyond me. (Oh yeah, its because A-Ha is huge internationally to this day and is one of the 50 highest grossing bands of all time.) Theyre song
The Living Daylights comes at the heels of
A View To A Kill the more lauded dancy 80s bond theme. Co-written by A-Has
Paul Waaktaar-Savoy and Bond composer
John Barry, this takes all the good parts of Duran Durans
A View To A Kill and cuts out all that Dance into the Fire s**t. The trick to appreciating this or any 80s song is to embrace the cheese. Singer Morten Harket does he best Lou Reed impression in the verses while Magne Furuholmen plays his heart out on the synthesized harpsichord. The song perfectly blends a crazy up-tempo dance number with insane instrumentation and 80s fatalism. No joke, a saxophone comes in at about 3 minutes just to play one note. Element of Danger: +7 I have no idea what this song is about, but the catchy hook and wailing chorus make me feel that time is of the essence. The Ladies: +2 There are no women mentioned in this song, but I guarantee it got more than a couple people laid in 1987. Cool Factor: +8 This is everything the 80s thought was cool crammed into four minutes. Im surprised no one does any blow in the music video.
Why didnt it rank higher? The 80s were a fleeting time, and while electroharpsichords and synth leads sounded great then. 25 years later were back to our senses maybe.