10 Totally Cheesy Songs (That Are Still Awesome)

4. Cheap Trick - Mighty Wings

The first 10 seconds of this soaring '80s rocker are on-the-nose. They are on a nose the size of a nose cone on a fighter jet, in fact.

The song, written bespoke for the Top Gun soundtrack, is instantly engineered to trigger and emulate the endorphin rush of a sky fight. The opening riff is absurdly histrionic and sudden in its sense of danger - "Dun dun dun dun dun dun!" - and Robin Zander's first vocal is f*cking ridiculous, too. He lets out an "Oooooooh!" as if a jet has just flown past his wing at mach 6.70.

There are so many unnecessarily falsettos tacked onto every vocal. We get it. Zander is literally in the sky, and so he is climbing the vocal register to reflect it. The twinkling synthesisers add to this glorious OTT effect, too, creating an image of a sky machine soaring through the stars.

"There's a raging fire in my heart tonight!" he sings, and then, more ridiculously, in the chorus, "Take me on your mighty wings tonight!".

And it's all so macho and pumped full of adrenaline that it's as if Zander isn't in the cockpit, but rather stood on the wing mid-flight, belting out his wonder-cringe to the actual heavens.

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!