Bandsplain - SOUNDTRACK: 'Dirty Dancing' With Joanna Robinson

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

Joanna Robinson joins Yasi to break down one of the defining soundtracks of the ’80s: 'Dirty Dancing.' They get into the real-life tension between Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze that became undeniable on-screen chemistry, the soundtrack’s seamless blend of ’60s nostalgia and ’80s pop hits, Swayze’s surprise turn as a recording artist with the hit song ‘She’s Like the Wind,’ and how the music helped transform a modestly budgeted film into a full-blown cultural phenomenon. CREDITS:Host: Yasi Salek @yasisalekGuest: Joanna Robinson @jowrotethisProducer: Rob SundermannEditor: Adrian BridgesAdditional Production Supervision: Justin SaylesTheme Song: Bethany Cosentino Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's with this band anyway? I don't get it. Can you please explain? Wait, like, Bansplain? Hello and welcome to Bansplain. I am your host, Yossi Sallick. This is a show where I invite an expert guest on to help me explain, usually a cult band or iconic artist. Today's episode, we're doing 80s soundtracks, babe,

and we're talking about dirty dancing. Joining me today, I'm thrilled. But he puts Joanna Robinson in the corner. Welcome to the show. Oh my God. What a thrill. What an honor. What a joy. We've not podcasted together. Is that true? Did I make that up? No, I think that's true. It's just like we just like to talk to each other off microphone. And now can people see what it's like. And if only we could monetize that. It's true. Usually we do have cameras on just no microphones. Right. Exactly. We're just like to film ourselves for posterity. Absolutely. So, Joanna, before we really dive in, before we take the swan dive. to the peak of dirty dancing, I asked you one day, I said, what is your favorite 80s film soundtrack?

And I think you didn't hesitate. You didn't take a beat. You were like, it's dirty dancing. Did you say favorite? I don't know about favorite. Did I say best? Best, I think. To me, those are interchangeable because I do not believe in objective bests. This is sort of like a hill all die on. I think my brain, when someone says best, goes to sort of impactful. Right. And so is this the number one soundtrack that I personally would put on from the 80s if I needed a mood boost or something like that. Not necessarily. Does this feel like the 80s soundtrack to me? Yes, it does. Out of curiosity and perhaps for a future episode, what is your favorite? It's a great question. I need to think about it. I need to think about that a little bit more. Take your time. Take your time.

But that's why my answer was so quick because I was just sort of like, it's dirty dancing. It's dirty dancing. Yeah. I was really happy you said that. We did a thing, here's the thing. I'm ungovernable. Okay? That's a fact. And we did do an 80s soundtrack Hall of Fame with Chris Ryan and Sean Fennacy. I've heard of them. And it, yes, those two men, they work here.

And it was a wild west kind of episode where I was sort of trying to establish that I wanted soundtracks that were of their time in a way that, like, spoke to the music. music of the time. Right. And then I completely threw all that out the window and decided I just wanted to do soundtracks. So they had to suffer my bizarre set rubric that they were like trying to get around. And then now we're just doing whatever we want. But you didn't have this question where you were sort of like dirty dancing. Okay, is that really an 80s soundtrack when there are songs from multiple decades on this soundtrack and it is a heavy nostalgia playlist. I feel like, and poor Sean and Krista tried to make this point and I just bulldozed

over them, but I'll now say, I was wrong. You can go ahead and play that in your house. Make it your ringtone. You make it your ringtone, whatever you need. Kind of a hallmark of the 80s was the nostalgia for the 50s and 60s. Correct. So it does

kind of make sense to cover us out. But I would make the argument that this soundtrack also has some extremely 80s moments. It does. So can I talk about why this is? Yes. Let me just say when I think dirty dancing soundtrack, I think the two cassettes,

because my sister had the original and more dirty dancing. Well, because it's actually, we'll talk it. We'll get into it later, but it's crazy what they did leave off of the original one where I was like, why did you not put this one on there? I know. Was it a money thing? I don't know. I think it might have been a disc length thing. Sure.

Yeah. Cassette length. Yeah. cassette length, totally. But the two cassettes, dirty dancing, more dirty dancing. And like, I love listening to people talk about, you know, I was just talking people here in the studio about like their relationship with dirty dancing. And it's always like, oh, my mom, oh, my sister, oh, my, you know, or myself.

And it's the ultimate sleepover movie, right? And if people have watched jury dancing in the 80s, they watched it one million times. I've seen it 100,000 times. And it's, to me, the ultimate, like, big sister movie. Like, you know, I was definitely, like, the right age to be into dirty dancing, but it was definitely, like, my older sister was really into dirty dancing. And so then I, by proxy was. And when I think about the 80s, I do think about, like, 60s and 50s music.

Like, it was just so we listened to a ton of that growing up in my house. And so, because it's my parents' music. And that's what we listen to. So what's so mind-blowing to me. And I bring this up every, like, third band's playing because. I can't deal with it is that so that's like

30, 20 to 30 years going back. We're now in a place I don't want to talk about it. Where Nirvana is almost older than 30 years. Not almost.

Is older than 30 years. Correct. So that would be like what be my baby was in the 80s, much newer than what Nirvana is to us now. It's really depressing that back to the future. Math happens all the time where you're just sort of like,

we did Back to the Future now, and then you feel like dust in your bones or whatever. But like do you, and you're the expert, I am not on all things music, but like, don't you think our culture works a little differently than I did in the 80s in terms of like the nostalgia blur? It's a little less like, this is my parents' music and more. because of the way we find music now or stream music now. People have less of an idea of when it came from. 100%.

You know, and it's just sort of like a great song. Oh, that's an old song. I didn't even realize, you know. I have to say, I feel proud that I've Kaiser-Sosied the world into thinking that I'm an expert on music or anything. You are. But I'll take it. Yeah. Well, one of my theories is always that like the time stopped in a sense when the internet happened.

Yeah. Especially when the internet. became common usage like in every home because things stopped progressing as quickly, I think, because there's so much referencing. Yeah. Like if you think about punk coming around in like the mid-70s, that was such a leap from what had come before. Right.

And now we've kind of done so much of everything. It's so rare to be like, wow, did you hear that like complete like genre-breaking thing? And to your point, yeah, people just. just listen to music and like don't place it in context as much because they can just grab it from the internet or it's served to them in a TikTok and they don't really think to be like did that come out in 1992 or last year. Right. Exactly. Like something like, you know, running up the hill or, you know, the Cape Bush phenomenon. It's like I think a lot of young people don't know that that's an older song. I don't want to speak for the young people. Why would I dare do that? But like, I do think that,

like, if you get served a song on TikTok and you're like, this sounds great and I have no context for when it came from and then you just search it on, like, search it on Spotify and Spotify isn't, like, throwing the date in your face and then you just don't really know necessarily. Or like, in terms of studying pop culture from before, because we have access to everything, when we were growing up, we had to have like behind the music or I love the 80s or all these other things to sort of under, or a book, or a book, or a nasty book, or micro-fiche to like understand what it came before. And now it's just sort of like always there and it just becomes super. and more amorphous in positive ways

and negative ways. Yeah. No, I think that's really true. I'm interested in talking about this soundtrack as like a time capsule of the 80s and also just like I wanted an excuse to talk about the film. Why not?

Because I love it. It's not a film podcast but it's a music film. Well, you're doing soundtracks. It will be kind of a film podcast for a little bit. And I think I don't know if this is like true of all of the ones we're going to do, but it feels true of most of them. Like a lot of movies maybe have a soundtrack and you wouldn't think of it or don't care about it because that movie doesn't make music one of the main characters. But most

of the best soundtrack movies do feature music as one of the main characters. And I think that's probably the best rubric for this. Yeah. And this one obviously does. Clearly. Thank God it wasn't a musical though I would not be having this conversation with you right now. Because that I could not abide. That was the summer of 1963, Joanna, before President Kennedy was assassinated, and everybody still believed that things were good. I was 17 then.

Now, of course, everything's different. The first lines of the movie. Well, technically the first lines of the radio announcer, but... What would be wrong with I was 18? Wouldn't it be great if she just said I was 18? Listen, the legal age of consent is 17.

And it was not even really that different of a time. It's true. I'm not really sure how old Patrick Swayze's character supposed to be at 22. 23. That's so normal.

Yeah, no, no. I mean, like, it's not outrageous. I just know that now people sort of like to clutch pearls around she's a teenager and he's in his 20s and I'm like, yeah, if they just said 18, I don't know why that makes any kind of difference to me, but it slightly does.

Because she could vote. But she's about to go to college. It's definitely a coming of age story. Absolutely. And, you know, I know because you do way more research than I do that, like, this is – Eleanor Bergstein who wrote this film. It's based on her life and her experiences. Right. Either romanticized – I don't know if her dance instructor in the Catskills was as hot as Patrick Swayze. But, like, you know, I hope that as well.

I hope that for all of us. A, yeah. So I'm sure she's at the age, and that might have been her age. Yeah. Hashtag Believe Women. But I do know that she was actually, she used like her background a little bit, but she was actually a very accomplished dancer. Right. It became like a professional dancer.

Yeah. Yeah. But she never like moved her hips as awkwardly as Jennifer Gray does in the beginning of this movie when she's like, what's a shimmy? Well, she's incredible acting given that Jennifer Gray also a professional dancer. Great stuff. Amazing stuff. Winner of Dancing with the Stars is Jennifer Gray. I didn't watch that season or any of it.

Oh, any of them. Yeah, I would guess. Yeah. And nothing against it. I just found that out this morning, literally. Yeah. When you were doing a cursory brush up of Jennifer Gray. What I had to do and not to, this is not for anything, but I was like trying to remember if she did eventually get that no's job and she did. And it was like a big scandal.

I was like, I had like memory hold it, you know. Yeah, she sure did. It's a bummer because just like did not look like herself anymore. I support women. I support women, you know, and all of their choices. But it, you know, she all support women. and we didn't create the beauty standard and so we should not be punished for

you know capitulating to it but I did love her oldness it's true okay yeah so you mentioned written by Eleanor Bergstein produced by Linda Gottlieb and directed by Emil Ardilino who had never directed a feature film

did a documentary right about dancing yeah yeah it's actually this the story of this film is so fun because it's really an against all odds it's amazing how did this happen been situation. It was the 11th highest grossing film, I believe, of 1987. It just barely didn't break the top 10. Number 10 was Witches of Eastwick. Do you want to hear this list? I would love to hear the list. Three Men and a Baby was number one. Iconic. Fucking God-tier movie.

Fatal Attraction. Obviously. Beverly Hills Cop 2, a wonderful film. Okay. Axel, babe. He's hilarious. Good Morning Vietnam. Incredible. Talk about nostalgia soundtrack. Moonstruck. Maybe one of my favorite movies of all. time. You are a real Moonstruck girl. I love Moonstruck. Yeah. What's not to love? Share, Nicholas Cage's old teeth. Yeah. Like, romance, opera. Like, it's so beautiful. Yeah. Do they go to the opera? Can't remember the ballet. Baking? Baking. It's definitely the opera. Um, you know, makeovers. Too close of a family that's controlling. I lost my hand. I lost my hand. Yeah. Oh my God. It's, it's so good and weird. It's such a good and weird movie. A all-time film slap.

I once took a screenwriting class at UCLA and the teacher was like, I'm going to present you with like several perfect films to watch so you understand what a perfect film is. And he put Moon's Druck on. Obviously. And he was right. The Untouchables. I have not seen it. I've also never seen the untouchables. Don't Touch on Fantasy.

Mail is both a DVD. Lurray. The Secret of My Success. Sounds familiar. Probably have seen it. Don't remember. I've seen it, yeah. Steakout.

Mm-hmm. Emilio Estabez and Richard Dreyfus. Of course. Obviously. And then, yeah, lethal weapon in the Witches of Eastwick. Witches of Eastwick. And another incredible film. Also, were we not living in the 80s, in the 87?

What an iconic list? And during dancing being the 11th, highest grossing is insane to me. We were showered with blessings. But it was made for a piece of chewing gum and a string. Like, you know? I know. Just like literally a wish of. Yeah.

Okay, so Eleanor Burstein, just to go back to her. So she was the youngest daughter of a Jewish doctor from New York, did spend summers in the Catskills with her family in the, what do they call it, the Borsh Belt? Did those competitions, was called Baby, but then she was a Mombo champion. And she said in an interview, when my parents hit the golf course, I hit the dance floor. I was a teenage Mombo queen winning all kinds of dirty dancing competitions. Her signature step was to put her leg around the neck of the boy she was dancing with. So that's in the movie. Did you see the quote where a producer's like,

this is disgusting, take this move out of the movie. No one will ever respect a girl who does that. And they were all like, oh, that's Eleanor's signature move, actually. Awkward. This does remind you how far we've come in terms of what's considered risque. On the one hand, yes. But on the other hand, like, there are shots on this movie of just like pelvis is grinding against each other. And you're just like, yeah, baby.

Yeah. Great. Yeah. You don't watch it. you go like, yon, this is not, this, this, this dancing is not at all dirty. No, no, no, that's what I'm saying. I'm like, it's, it was, it was really considered risque back then. Yes.

But it's amazing. Oh, it's amazing. And now we have full frontal is what I'm saying. And that's, I actually, that seems fine. I never remember anyone saying dirty dancing, you cannot watch it. No one ever said that to me. Kids watched it as slumber parties. Yeah.

Like, that's what it was. When you look back at it now, it's not the dancing. It's the fact that this is like, an abortion movie that I was just like 87 and the parents were 88. The parents were just sort of like, go for it, babe. Well, I read apparently 50%, something around 50% of the audience didn't clock it. Okay. They did like a thing and they were like, what abortion subplot?

Oh, she got a root canal and I went badly. Like what? It's like so clear as the day. Yeah. They don't say the word abortion. No, but she's pregnant. They don't say the word back alley. And she needs to deal with it.

Yeah. And it's a doctor. Yeah. No, I mean, I agree with you. It's clear as day. Wow, the comprehension level. They were too distracted by the Mambo. And I get it.

That leg move. It's incredible. Baby doesn't do that. Just the blonde actress. Yes. Penny. Penny. Cynthia Rhodes.

She's kind of great. She's incredible. Yeah. Okay. So, Berkstein wrote the screenplay in 1980, not this one, a screenplay for a Michael Douglas film called It's My Turn. She had also included erotic dancing in that. Because you write what you know.

It's in her blood. It's in her blood. And they cut that right out. And then she was like, well, okay, I'm just going to make a whole story based around that because they didn't let me put it in this. It's My Turnit movie. And she pitches the idea to MGM and they're like, yeah, okay, great, let's do this. Johnny is based on a real person, Michael Terrace, who was a dance instructor that she met in the Catskills while she was researching the story. So not from her youth.

Okay. Yeah. Michael Santiago Gutierrez. changed his name to Terrace. He was a ballroom dancer and Broadway stage dancer. Sounds great. He was in West Side Story. Okay.

Yeah. Her script was repeatedly rejected by other studios because MGM basically like had personnel change and then had to go. And she brought to something called Vestron Pictures. Are you familiar with Vestron Pictures? I am only from doing research for this. Today I learned. I think it was their first film.

It's their first not direct to video to VHS film. Okay, not direct to VHS film. So they were a direct-to-video company. Great. And then they thought they almost put this direct-to-video is what I saw until they did the first screening. And like women tore their clothes off. And they were like, oh, I guess we'll put it in the theaters. Patrick Twazzy.

Yeah, like you said, made with no money, had to cut the budget in half. Vesteroon pictures, you know, not really printing money at that time. I'm assuming maybe that's part of the reason they chose Emil Ardolino as the director, because perhaps a more established director would have wanted a higher fee? Possibly. I mean, also, obviously, he had experience in filming dancing, which is important. He read the script while I was at jury duty. I don't know why.

Oh, I love that. To tell you that. I love knowing that. They made it for $5 million. Yeah, so I read that it, like, originally was $8 million. And then they had to, like, cut it down to $5 million. And I guess the average cost of a film at that time was 12. So it's, like, less than half of what a regular 80s film was.

costing to make. Not to jump the gun on the soundtrack, obviously. But do you know how much of that $5 million budget they spent on Be My Baby? No. I was going to ask, that must be so expensive. $75,000. Almost a fifth of, well, no, do I do math? Anyway, just to put it in the film or to get it on the soundtrack? To, I mean, I actually don't know the difference. Yeah. In terms of like if you, I'm sure that, yeah, I'm sure there must be a difference between buying the rights to a song to put in the movie. goes on the soundtrack, I think maybe it's, I should know this, but I think maybe it works out where they just get royalties. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's crazy. I mean, thank God. Oh, yeah. Couldn't imagine this film without it. I also read, and like, what's so interesting about doing research

to this film is this film is so popular and people have done so many interviews that, like, there's so many conflicting stories, which I love. And, and also what I love is, like, someone will tell one story and then all of a sudden someone else is telling that story. Like, I don't know if you saw it, like, one of my favorite. is, oh, when I first heard about this movie, I was like, oh, no, is this a pornography? I heard, I saw like five different people say that that was their reaction in an interview. I read the same thing about, like, it was the guy from the righteous brother. Bill Medley said that.

Like some, like, other, some other actors that were floated. I feel like they're just like, someone said it. They're like, that's a fun line. And now they, since they've been interviewed one million times, they're like recycling other people's anecdotes. I tried to put myself in their shoes, though. And I think because dirty dancing is like the word McDonald's to me at this point. Right.

had never really thought about the title of the film. And I was like, that is kind of an insane film title. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Dirty dancing does a little bit sound like a soft core pornography film. Absolutely. But one of the anecdotes that I read was that Ellen Bergstein told the New York Times, I think, in 87, that before there was the movie, there was the music, which sounds very high fidelity, what came first, the music or the misery, that she put on a bunch of records in her living room to her friends. Did you read this? And then, like, if they got up and dance, she was like, those songs are in the movie. And the songs came first. And she wrote the story sort of, like, to follow the songs. And then she's like, I would like all of these songs, please. And they're like, babe, we have.

We have no money. And so at first they were, like, for a long time, they thought they weren't going to be able to get the songs. And then I know that you know about, like, all the people who were involved in getting the soundtrack together. But finally when they got their enforcer in place, that's when they started getting like the song. songs they needed. And it's really insane to think about because if they hadn't of this movie, we would not be talking about it right now. It would have gone strange to VHS and nobody would remember it. Absolutely. Kelly Bishop, who plays Emily Gilmore herself. My fucking queen. Who plays baby's mom. Yeah. Recast at the last second. The most, I had to rewind because I read

that. I ran in the very first scene, apparently you can see the blonde hair of the original actress. Right. Who got sick or something. Who like just was tired. And they're like, go home. Kelly, Bishop. We have a queen. You know, legend of screen. So she played like Vivian the bungalow bunny. That's what they call them. The bungalow bunny. Anyway, so they're like Kelly Bishop, come on over play baby's mom.

But I was watching a Kelly Bishop interview about work. And she's like, we saw a rough cut of the movie and we're like, this is garbage. And then we saw it with the music and we were like, oh, this is really kind of rules. That's the best movie ever. It would be funny to see like a reverse director's cut or they cut all the music out so we could all see how how much it would not work without it. It's definitely like cheesy. But in the best way.

Some of Johnny's speeches, you're like, oh, boy. I like that kind of stuff. Oh, I mean, I love this movie. And I love Swayze. And I support him in all his endeavors. But, like, I wouldn't say the writing is the reason why dirty dancing is an iconic movie. It's true. I just, I'm like, he's like, you got to understand what it's like, baby, when you're from the rough streets of Philly.

Rough Streets of Philly. And these women are just throwing themselves at you, baby. You got to do what you got to do. He didn't feel he had value. And he thought for a second, they saw him and valued him. They just saw him as a piece of me. They were just pressing diamonds into his hands. Diamonds into his hands.

I was like, you shouldn't cut those diamonds. I agree. Okay, Kenneth Ortega. So Kenny Ortega has come up actually randomly a few times in my Bansplain research because he before, like, he started as an actor, he did some, like,

musical theater stuff, and then he choreographed along with, um, oh my God, what is his name? Danny Elthman. Mm-hmm.

This original iteration called the mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. What? Yeah. In the 70s. Okay. So he was like kind of in this, like,

alternative, that's not what they called it back then, but this sort of like, alternative music scene. Yeah. You know, music world with Danny Elfman, he ends up becoming a choreographer for this San Francisco sort of new wave band called The Tubes.

Oh, I know the tubes? Yeah. Santa do. Of course. Yes. And the tubes would play all the time. And they played in L.A. a bunch. And Kim Fowley saw them and was like, I need to hire Kenny Ortega to teach the runaways how to move on the stage.

And he was their choreographer. He taught the runaways how to like. Jira. Yeah, everything. Because actually the runaways, I think people don't really maybe know or think about this, but they actually had quite a theatrical set. Like they would like costume change and there was like the songs were kind of like, you know, they were acting out what the songs were.

And he like taught them all how to do that and to dance and to move. That's amazing. So cool, right? And then he was whisked off by Cher to choreograph a TV special for her. And then he also choreographed for Kiss on their diner. dynasty tour, worked on Zanadu, worked with Gene Kelly, who became his mentor. Have you heard of him, Gene Kelly? Ever know him.

He also choreographed a bunch of Oingo Boingo tours in the 80s because he was still, you know, homies. Choreographed pretty and pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The parade scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. This is a man. Icon. The legend. And then a little video by a small woman named Madonna called Material Girl. Have you heard of it?

Have you heard of it? And then this is later, but I'm obsessed with it, the high school musical movies. And also hocus pocus. Newsies. And newsies. Very important. He did Newsy's. Crutchy.

The fact that. Never forget crutchy. The fact that Kenny Ortega did dirty dancing, I mean, everything you mentioned, like, Material Girl, all of that, amazing. But dirty dancing, newsies and high school musical are just these, like, absolute tent poles of what we understood. it was like to move your body. What's so funny.

He directed Newsy's. Oh, yeah. And high school he was going to hug us. That's so great. He went for choreography to directing. Because I've watched all the behind the scenes features on Newsies. That is like where I first met Kenny Ortega. He had quite a special ponytail at the time.

But there's if you want, because I've seen News Newsie so many times and thinking about Kenny Ortega is legacy. He's so important. And like there's a move that Swayze does. when Johnny jumps off the stage and then he gets down on his knees at the end. The big scene, yeah. And gets down his knees and sort of like spins around a couple times.

That's like Kenny Ortega's signature move. Krisha Bale definitely does it in Newsy. Zach Efron definitely does it in high school musical. It's like it's his little like touch. It's a wonderful move. If a man did that for me, I'd crumble. Spin around his knees for you? Absolutely crumble.

Oh, great. Yeah, I love him. I also just, everyone knows this about me. I love when someone has a punk background. I think it's cool. I think it's very cool. Like, what an incredible career. So cool.

So, yeah, Kenny Orteco is in place. And now it's time to find some filming locations. And they actually couldn't film in the Catskills. Because all those Borschbelts resorts didn't exist anymore. Money, honey. And they couldn't build one. So they filmed in North Carolina and Pembroke, Virginia. Right.

Let's talk about the cast. I mean, I alluded to this with you over text, but we were like, save it for the pod. I had to talk about Patrick Swayzean therapy. last week have been hyper fixated on Patrick Swayze. Well, I just feel they don't make men like this anymore. Patrick Swayze, I'm going to start with Patrick Swayze, even though he wasn't the first one cast, just because I need to talk about him. He's from Houston, Texas, Houston Legend.

In high school, did ice skating, classical ballet, acting, and football to the point that he was like so good he could have gotten a college scholarship. But had a knee injury. Moved instead to New York City to pursue. do ballet. They don't make men. This is all I'm saying. It's like, where does this kind of man live? Right. So, like, his dad was this sort of like rough and tumble cowboy guy. And then his mom ran the, like, Houston dance company or whatever. And she was like, he was just like in her studio all the times where he met his wife. We were together for 34 years. I know. She's like the wind is about her. She's like the wind. Have you heard? The fact that he moved to New York, which.

his like bum knee and was like, I'm going to be a dancer anyway. And there are just all these stories about how he had to have like four different knee surgeries was constantly draining his knee because it was like blowing up with fluid because he had injured it. But he's like, I'm going to be a dancer anyway. Was Danny Zuko on Broadway? Like, not the original, but like was Danny Zuko on Broadway? Like, he loved dance so much. A man's man, but also a graceful guy. And this is like the real Genekeye, a real Gene Kelly type. Totally. Yeah, absolutely. And I just loved it. But anyways, they cast Jennifer. Why did you talk about him in therapy? I think it was just, well, I think I was just so interesting. Okay. If we're going to keep it 100, I think I was like, wow, it's really cool that he didn't, I'm completely putting thoughts and into his mind and casting that, which I don't know if he had these thoughts, but it's my therapy. So I can. Yeah, yeah. It's useful that he didn't think about like, I have to be this one kind of thing. Yeah. You know, like, I have to be this macho football. player or I have to be this artsy ballet type or like I can't make music also like I'm a pilot it

seemed I just really inspired by the idea that he didn't feel hemmed in or I didn't think that he would feel hemmed in by like how the perception of him because people don't like it when you are more than one thing they like to place you somewhere and it makes them uncomfortable if you try to be something else you and I have very similar brains and that we get like hyperfix excited on things when we do research for things. And I went down like a real Swayzy alley for this and watched like a number of like there's like an official documentary, but like a couple other like non-official. Yeah. Unificial. Homemade. What does YouTube have to say about after Swayze? But the fact,

like he got beat up like once, I think as a teen for like being a dancer. Then he just beat the shit out of everyone. And so they're like, never mind. You're too scary and huge and musley and we can't do it. That he was like desperate to please his mom but also his dad. So that's why it's like football and ballet, that he was desperate to be taken seriously as an actor. And so when he was like a sex symbol after dirty dancing and after ghost or whatever, he's like, but can I be more? Do I have depth? He studied, you know, he went to acting classes. Like he just, like, wanted to be an artistist. And like, it's interesting that he is at the forefront of all of this, you know, if you think about ghost or like roadhouse or dirty dancing or point break, a shared fave of hours,

like, he's at the forefront of these like, like, like, cornerstones of pop culture, but like it's not quite what he wanted. He did not want to be like heartthrob, you know. Action. You know, that was not his vibe. He wanted to do something more in depth, but I don't know. The world was not ready for that. It's amazing. I know. And also like, I know this is just like how far we've fallen, but I'm like, he was with the same woman for 34 years and that was like the love of his life. And that's kind of unusual. Absolutely. And they were like dance partners. And it's just like very lovely. It's just wonderful. I love. I love. And may he rest in peace.

I know. Also, I was very open about his issues with drinking and his trauma and crashed a plane drunk once. This is allegedly why Jennifer Gray did not like him because he should have drunk to Red Dawn. Yeah, and was kind of like, well, she didn't say abusive. She's like alpha. Yeah, he was like macho but also played pranks a bunch on her. And she didn't like that. We're going to get into that because Jennifer Gray is cast first.

Basically, the director, and I think so rightfully, was like, I don't want to have stand-in dancers and have the actors be actors and have then dancers dance for them. I want them to be one and the same. I want professional actors who can also dance. And so Jennifer Gray was one of those because her father is... Joel Gray. Jill Gray. Oscar-winning. Actor and dancer.

Cabaret. I've ever seen it. I have not. You've never seen it? Wait, okay. So where are you on musicals? I'm bad. No, thank you.

Well, I have like a few that are like near and dear to my heart. I feel like Cabaret could hit with you. Okay. Yeah. I'll check it out. I've seen Greece 150,000 times. Sure. Could recite it to you in my sleep. Right.

It's very important. I think Cabaret is like spooky and weird enough that you would enjoy it. Okay. I kind of like the Phantom of the Opera. Spooky and weird. Yeah. I went to a high school performance of late. of Les Mis. That was excruciating.

High schoolers should not do lay miss. They should not have been allowed. No. No one should have allowed them to that. It's incredibly difficult. Nobody was hitting their notes. No. It felt so long. Yeah. The barricade was like three pieces of furniture. I was like, you don't understand class issues. Like I just couldn't. It was... You know who understands class issues? Baby. Baby. And Patrick's crazy. Yeah. So Jennifer Gray's cast, apparently Winona Ryder, Sarah Jessica Parker and Sharon Stone were considered for the role. Roll.

Sarah Jessica Parker was like a real dance movie era in the 80s. Yeah, I think she could have, she's the closest one I could see would have made sense, you know? Winona Ryder, I don't think is a dancer. No. And Sharon Stone, too perfect of a face. Wildly incorrect. Yeah. But this is like, this is an abortion movie without saying abortion and this is a Jewish movie without saying like Jewish.

Yeah. Do you think the nose, the cast her because of her nose to say that they were Jewish? I don't know. Yeah. Like, I'm not part of that. I just, I feel like Eleanor Bergstein is like, she's Jewish. This is my movie, and I want a girl who looks like I did when I was a teenager.

And also, I think part of the, part of the characterization of baby is that she's not a classical beauty. Just a normal looking girl. Yeah. Which you buy when she's in her little dresses, but as soon as like the slutty tank top and the, and the denim shorts come out, you're like, okay. What are we talking about here? I don't know what you're saying. Although her sister, the girl who played her sister,

it was like classically beautiful, really gorgeous. Correct. Okay. So she gets $50,000. What I love is Jennifer Pry is like, the woman is never cast first. This is the thing about Elena Bergstein. She's like, she writes this movie about her life,

goes to do research at like in the Catskills and stuff like that, picks all the music, writes out like a lot of the dance stuff into the script and stuff like that, becomes a producer. And so, like, maintains that control over it. And so she's just like, Like, we're cast in the girl first. I want her to, like, look like I did.

All this sort of stuff like that. And so, yeah, Jennifer Gray's cast first. And all the guys have to figure out can I match Jennifer Gray's energy. Yeah. The first person, I guess, they considered was Billy Zane. I can see it. No. Mesa, this movie on fire.

Terrible. Can't. Well, it can't be anyone other than Swayze. Billy Zane, who I have enjoyed in multiple films, is not giving me the tender bone that I need. What else will be on the list? Val Kilmer, who I do think could have worked. Okay.

Because I love him. Benicio del Toro? Special. This is from Wikipedia and could all be completely false. Really special? Do you think Benachio del Toro can dance? I would like to find out. I feel like Val Kilmer probably could.

He was like a arts trained. Yeah. Yeah. Don't know about Billy's name. No. No. Anyways, thank God. None of those.

This is very funny. Jennifer Gets 26, playing. 17. Yeah. Patrick Swayzey 34. Yeah. He had had a whole career in New York before this. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he had been in a couple of films, including, like you mentioned, Red Dawn, 1984's Red Dawn, have not seen it. Did not watch it for this. I've never seen Red Dawn either. It's about commies? It's like a fake war. They're like teenagers and it's an invented, like, what if, you know, the communist, yeah, commies, I think. But teenage soldiers.

I'll check it out. Will you? No. Okay. Maybe. If I would have going to, I would have done it for this. I think so. But maybe won't I go on my Patrick Swayze deep dive?

A couple years ago, I was like showing, doing this podcast series where I was showing a friend of mine movies she had never seen. Yeah. And we did point break and dirty dancing and ghost. And she was just like, is Patrick Swayze the most important person who's ever been in cinema? And I was like, possibly. I think if you were our age and you grew up at that time, he kind of was one of, he was like Tom Cruise. Yeah. As far as I was concerned.

Absolutely he was. Like his legacy hasn't stretched as far. And I, well, I don't know, Roadhouse is very important to the men. And Point Brick is very important to the men. But like he was very important to women. Also, the outsiders is very important to me. And I know he doesn't play a main character in that film. Small role in that.

But it's really a huge movie for me. His resume said no dancing. Capital letters. I put the capital letters. I don't know those capital letters because of his terrible knee injury. Oh, okay. But he read the script and he liked it. And he was like, okay, I'll do it.

I'll dance anyways. I'll dance through the pain. And Jennifer Gray was like, drain that knee, buddy. Let's get that syringe out. Jennifer Gray, meanwhile, was like, she's like, not him. Anyone but him.

Bring back Billy Zane. Please, for the love of God. Get William Zane back on the horn. 20-year-old William Zane. She's 26. And again, I'm like, this is not going to work. Johnny was supposed to be Italian. I guess that makes sense of the Benicio del Toro and Billy Zane of it all. And they switched him to Irish because obviously Patrick Swayze is not giving Italian.

Right. They had a breathtaking chemistry test. Have you seen the footage of their, like, dance audition? No. That's great. I mean, it made a lot of sense to me that, like, of course, people who don't get along, that's one of the-crackling chemistry. It's one of the hallmarks.

It's one of the hallmarks. If you're indifferent to someone, you're not going to have chemistry. But if you had, like, a bad time with them, girl. And he, I guess, like, really apologized to her and was like, you know, he said, she said during the screen test, he pulled me down the hall and said to me, I love you, I love you, I'm so sorry. I know you don't want me to do the movie. And he got tears in his eyes. And she was like, and I got tears of my eyes. It's very sweet.

But then they still didn't get along on the set of this movie. I don't think so. They do. I mean, both of them speak very highly of each other. after the movie. You know, even in both of the memoirs, I think they're like very honest about what it was like. But I think after the movie, I mean, how can you not like, well, I guess, I suppose you can. But I feel like if you've done something like dirty dancing, it becomes the like biggest thing in the world. You are forever like trauma bonded, I suppose by this.

And so like, link together in time. They just, so they now speak, well, you know, posthumously, but like they did for a long time speak glowingly of each other and their work on the movie. So they're not just like shit talking and like what a piece of work. They were just sort of like, Jennifer Gray is like, I was really nervous and didn't know what I was doing. And he's like, I was a huge perfectionist and very impatient. And, you know, we tried to make it work. But we didn't always do that. Well, it worked for the film.

Because they also have to have some animosity in the film. There's a couple of fights. So great. In the rain, no less. Also, my understanding is that when they filmed this, a lot of the dance instruction scenes, they just sort of like let the camera roll. Yeah. So, like, the scene where she's, like, giggling because he's, like, tickling her arm. Famously.

Yeah. That's her actually doing it. And the fact that he is, like, pissed off and impatient, that is him actually. Yeah. And they were, like, we need to leave this in the... They were, like, I think they saw it in the dealies or something. And they were, like, put that in the film. It's one of the best parts, the most memorable parts of the film.

And so, like, all the times that she's, like, giggling and frustrated and said, you know, like, that's just Jennifer Gray doing that. And that's, like, that's the thing about this movie is, like, the authenticity of Eleanor Bergstein's experience, Jennifer Gray, as... as a performer and her nerves about sort of like, I'm not a professional dancer, can I do this, how that translates to baby and how like every, you know, I know that there are some men who enjoy this movie, but I'm just going to say, like, every young woman watching this movie feels like the authenticity of that of Eleanor Story and Jennifer's story and the universality. And that's like,

not to like skip ahead too much, but like, that's why the timey, time bending quality of the soundtrack doesn't bother me at all because it's just sort of like, this is an eternal story of girlhood into womanhood. And so the fact that, like, you not only have 80s and 60s and from the wrong years in the 60s, it's like songs in here, but like you have diagetic 80s songs in here. And it's just sort of like it's playing and they can hear it here. They're lip syncing along to like an 80s song. And I'm just sort of like, yeah. Sure.

Yeah. Because this is a forever story. It works. No one. Someone made me want to go back and watch and look at them. They were like, there was tons of like other, not just music things, but things that are completely anachronistic in this film. And I was like, her keds.

Oh, are those, those are so 80s, right? They didn't have keds in the 80s or in the 50s or 60s. Yeah, a lot of the clothes, that's the thing, a lot of clothes, I'm like, oh yeah, people did also kind of sometimes dress like this in the 80s. So it was like, yeah. Like her little dresses, like I could see someone wearing them in the 80s. Yeah. But again, by the time she gets to like, it's either a tanked up or a bathing suit.

I'm not sure with the jean shorts. I was like, that's deep. Baby is not wearing that in 1963. Yeah. Wouldn't they? And I feel like the 60 businesses were more like structural, you know? Also the like when they're dancing and they're like in like skimpy bikini underwear and like stockings. And I'm just sort of like that's flashed is.

Like that's what, you know, that's what we're doing. We're not. Subbin. Yeah. But again, not a problem. I'm for it. I love it. Also this dumb little.

that I love that Dr. Ruth was supposed to be in the film. Did you read that? No. She was supposed to play the shoplifting Mrs. Schumacher. Oh, my God, with all the wallets and all the back. But then she didn't want to be a criminal. Oh. Dr. Ruth should be in this, one of the sexiest movies of the 80s.

She really should be here. Couldn't agree more. I love. Jerry Orbach, who plays her dad, who I love. And Kelly Bishop, like, Kelly Bishop and Jerry Arbock are, like, two of the greatest, like, stage Broadway actors of all time. And I love that they're here to, like, not date. dancer saying when Kelly Bishop at the end is like she gets those moves from me and like a little wink. I don't know Jerry Orbach from the stage at all. I know him from Law & Order and I was obsessed

with him and I used to watch Law and I lived in New York. I watched Law and Order every day of my life and I, he died I think while I was living there and they did like a marathon and I cried like every day. I was like, God. Jerry Orbach. Yeah. Lenny Briscoe. The fact that he becomes a Law and Order icon and Kelly Bishop becomes a Gilmore Girl's icon. It's just sort of like these these incredible careers. Yeah. Okay, let's get into the soundtrack. That's the main event. Can I read

this one quote from her Eleanor Bergstein's 1987 New York Times interview? Please. The selections fall into three basic camps. Fairly tame Latin music for the Kellerman's dance floor. Clean, teen, pop, Frankie Valley's Big Girls Don't Cry for the Houseman cabin. And sensual

rock and soul, Otis Redding, the contours for the staff quarters. These last songs speak directly to Baby Houseman from the physical world. Worksman explained. I tried to choose the harshest music I could find the music that would be most sexually shocking to a young woman who never heard it before because I imagine then babies' bedroom at home. There'd be early Joe Baez, the weavers, maybe Harry Belafonte.

So she's like, oh, it is ready. What is this crazy. Yeah. What a time. The fourth category is, of course, 80s adult contemporary. 80s music that is amazing and you would have never heard in your life. Which I guess squarely, I've had the time of my life by Bill Medley and Jennifer Warrens falls into that category.

Parentheses I've had, close parentheses, the time of my life. I got really invested in the story of this song composed by Frank Previte, John DeNicola, and Donald Markowitz. Well, Joanna, I'll tell you. in late 1986 or early 1987, the producer and head of Millennium Records, Jimmy Iiner.

Now, this is their enforcer, Jimmy Hiner. And how did he get, like, roped up into this? It's just like, Vestron kind of was like, this is who's going to put the soundtrack out? Like, they didn't have him, and then they did.

I don't know what the connection was. But, like, he's just like, Ronnie Spector, do my bidding, and he's like, okay, you know? He was, yeah, he was a big, his brother was, I don't know about, at this exact time, but I think so, the head of Columbia Records, Don Iiner.

So they had like a powerful musical family, yeah. He man, I think he managed, managed and or produced this guy Frank Previte, Previte, who had his own band and was kind of like, I failed. I'm quitting music or whatever. And he was like, I need you to write this one song. He was like selling cars, right? Yeah, yeah. But not even like at a dealership, like just like used cars out of his driveway. in New Jersey or whatever.

Amazing. And he was like, can you please just do this? And once again, the same thing. I thought it was a pornographic film. It's like, okay. And Jimmy Iner was like, this is going to change your life. Which is funny because there's no way he could have known that because no one knew that this movie was going to...

Everyone thought this movie was going to be an absolute flop disaster. Flop disaster that no one hears. Tiny budget, nobody knows anyone in this movie, flop disaster. So he's like, can you write two songs? And he's... Because he also... this trio also writes hungry eyes. And he's like, listen, the movie's not a porn, first of all.

Secondly, here's the plot. Thirdly, this song needs to be seven minutes long and be ready in two weeks. And the guy was like, fucking what the fuck. He said, I've got to write MacArthur Park. I had to go look that up. Someone let the cake out in the rain. Music expert that I'm not. I was like, oh, yeah, this song.

I think I only know MacArthur Park because there's a BART station called MacArthur Park. in. Also, a lyric from MacArthur Park is someone left the cake out in the rain which is one of the weirdest song lyrics of all time. And so, I don't think it was a weird out. I think it was someone else wrote a Jurassic Park parody. Someone left the gates off in the rain. It's a

really guess. Insane. That's amazing. He had $100 in his bank account. Yeah. Nothing to lose. Tail is old as time. Let's do it. Calls his buddy John and he's like, can you help me compose a backtrack? Baby meets Johnny and the Catsgirls, yada yada. Let's

get this going. The chorus would begin at half speed and the verses would switch to double time. So it would become an upbeat dance tune. And then John DeNiclo was like, well, I need to call my friend because he has a drum machine. And that's how Donald Markowitz gets involved. And I guess...

And gets paid for the rest of his life. They wrote the song in 20 minutes. Just because he had a drum machine, he's like, the money. Amazing confluence of events. And he was on the exit 140 on the Garden State Parkway. in New Jersey, paid the toll, and he put the cassette in his, you know, car, and he just starts

going, nah, time of my life. And he's like, what the hell am I saying? It's just writing time of my life on an envelope. And that's it. He wrote it, sent it on in, made it a duet because he was like, okay, well, it's boy meets girl. Right. We'll make it a duet.

He wrote the lyrics. And that almost wasn't in the end of the movie. So my understanding is that they, like, listened to, it's like overreact. a hundred other options before they landed on this one. Can you believe it? It could have been another song. At their wit's end. Yeah.

Because they were like, it's not working. It's not working. Yeah. They were going to use a Lionel Richie song. Tough. That, like, Kenny Ortega was like, absolutely not. And then they wanted Donna Summer and Joe Esposito to sing it. I saw Donna Summer, Lionel Richie, Daryl, Daryl, Hall, Kim Carnes.

They all said no. We're like no fucking thank you. Thank you. Porn a movie. Yeah. During dancing, no. No. Well, I mean, how could they have no?

Yeah. And then they went to Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers. And he also said no. Porn a movie. Porno movie. And also, I'm about to have a daughter. Yeah. She's about to be born.

I need to be there with my wife. I can't be making this song for your porn movie. And he also was like, I just did a song called Loving on Borrowed Time with Gladys Night for the film, Cobra. And it was an absolute flop. and I don't really want to live through that again. Right. So, Jim Einer was like, okay, then he goes to Jennifer Warns. I'm sorry, I'm going to have to do a deep sidebar here.

Because I actually didn't know about Jennifer Warns game. I was not, I'm sorry, Jennifer Warns. I apologize, I was not familiar with your game. I didn't go down this alley. What do we know? She was a folk singer who was in a production of hair. This is how she starts her career in L.A. in the late 60s. Then she meets a young man named Leonard Cohen.

Oh, I have heard of him. They become buds. She goes ahead and tours with him in his band for seven years as a backup singer and then as a vocal arranger. She sings on five or six, maybe seven Leonard Cohen albums, like all the way through his career. She even recorded her own album of covers of Leonard Cohen songs. She did her own album. She did several albums, but her third one was produced by John Kale. No big deal.

she had a hit number one like easy listening song and this was like her beat. She had a song called It Goes Like It Goes in the film Norma Ray. I've not seen it. But it won an Academy Award. Yeah. That song kind of sucks actually. But I went not on a deep dive, but I like spent some time listening to all the songs that have won best original songs and a lot of them suck. But you know what doesn't suck.

This one. Well also. Love lift us up where we belong. Correct. Just her other song. Correct. Which I fucking love. that song from Officer and Gentleman.

Where the Eagles fly. I'm up with Joe Cocker. I love that. I love that song. Buffy St. Marie wrote that song. Anyways. She also was like, I don't want to do this. Express reluctance. Yeah. Not because of the porn movie. Just didn't like the song.

And Jim Banner was like, here's a bag of money. Will you do it now? And she was like, okay, but you have to get Bill Medley to do it with me. It's a small bag, though. It was a small bag of money. It was when we have left over. I mean, she was like, she was. She was probably doing okay with her Oscar winning song of Liffa's Up Where We Belong, but that's not the, it's just called Up Where We Belong. This is not important.

Bill Medley's like, okay, my daughter was born. Fine. Leave me alone. I'll do it. And they did it. And look what happened. It's such a good song. It's an insane song. That like, that drop of the beat, you know. His insane voice. Righteous brothers. Righteous brothers. Do you think Swayze, when he did Ghosts, was like, we got to get the righteous

brothers back in here. I've never failed with the righteous brothers hit. I hope so, because that's a great connection and he was correct. Yeah, unshamed melody, very importantly. But I love this song. I love that he lip sinks along to the song when they're dancing at the end. Like, again, I don't know if that was like, or like, if that was like an outtake or something like that. but it's just like, it's so good.

It's like, how did you know this song in 1960? Exactly. It's Matt, we're suspending disbelief. Absolutely. The song lives in the universe of this movie. The fact that they were able to, like, court, because, like, sometimes in movies, you don't have the song,

and so you, like, choreographed to something else entirely. And the fact that it works so perfectly with what they shot? No, they shot it again. Oh, they shot it after. So they, like, they had sort of started working with, with, like, other options or no options or whatever, and then they got the song. They shot with it.

He's lip singing. They shot with the demo that like these guys with the drum machine or whatever had made. And so they're dancing to the demo. And then when Jennifer Warren's and Bill Medley record this, they're recording it to the footage. So Jennifer Warren's like, I was like hitting certain things while the lift was happening. I read that. So she's like I had them wheel in the footage. So like Bill and Jennifer are singing like this, like classic, you know, Barbara Streisand like moment or whatever in the studio.

And then, like, right over here, though, is the footage of Swayze and Jennifer Gray so that they can, like, hit the, you know, emotion when they need to. It's called method and it works. It works. The song is so important. The song is just, like, everything. When he says, just remember. You're the one thing. I can't get enough.

It's an absolute stone cold banger. It's a feck and jam. There's no way you could put this on or not feel happy and good. And dance. Don't. It's just It's magical and wonderful And the people who wrote it

retain the publishing rights So they get paid forever For this song Because they should Because they were doing a big favor Apparently Berkstein Wanted the demo version

And she liked The guys with the garage machine Yeah Because he had a woman sing with him too I can't remember who it is Probably yeah yeah You can hear it's on YouTube And I think he put it out later

On one of his albums But he has like a way higher pitch voice Than Bill Medley and she just for some reason really love that. It does sound, I think she wanted, is it true that she wanted Bill Medley because she wanted someone who was like an older figure that could like kind of like be that.

Be 23-year-old Johnny Castle? No, no, like the bridge to like like someone from the 60s. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. I don't know, but that makes sense. I think so. That's what I read or not she as someone. It was like, let's at least have someone from the 60s. Yeah, that's smart.

But really actually a Frankie Previte. I can't say his name. Voice sounds more 60s and the high-pitch kind of... In the like Frankie Valley kind of way. Oh, got it. But it's, I mean, I can't. It can never not be Bill Medley. I mean...

I can't get enough of... I'll tell you one thing. This could be love. I'm not done with this song. I apologize. I really apologize. I thought I was done, but there's another small fact that I'm obsessed with. Please.

Two small facts. One is that the guy that plays. his guitar on the song is Loris Juber, who was in wings, Paul McCartney's wings. He was the second guitar player of wings. As opposed to the NBC sitcom wings? Correct, which I love. And really, I've said this on this podcast, absolutely shaped my sexuality. Shout out, Tim Daly and Stephen Weber, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Two of the hottest men to be on television. Tony Shalube, also. Love Mr. Monk. Yeah. Love. But no, the band. And then there's backing vocals here by a woman named Marcy Levy. Oh, yeah.

She went by Marcella Detroit. She co-wrote the 1977 Eric Clapton hit, Laydown Sally. And she was in the band Shakespeare's Sister, which is named after the Smith's song, which, by the way itself, I hope you'll like, is a reference to Virginia Woolf's arm of one's own.

I do like that. Speculates about if Shakespeare had a sister. She certainly would not have been given, you know, the education and the, yeah. Guess what? I did like that fact. Yeah, a lot. I thought you would. Thank you. I thought you would. Shakespeare's Sister is awesome.

It's Marcella Detroit and and Chavon Fahue, who's in Banana, and they have one of the best album titles that's ever existed called Hormonally Yours. Incredible. They had a banger on it called Stay in 1982. And also in 1980, pertinent to my interest, but also potentially a future episode of this show, she sang a duet with Robin Gibb called Help Me, which is featured on the official soundtrack for the film Times Square, which is one of my all-time favorite soundtrack.

You mentioned this as like your favorite. We will, yeah. I don't know that's my number one favorite, but I think it's really high up on your list. And you're like, it's underrated. It's underrated. It's so interesting. It really captures, like, a time and, like, there's so much cool music on it. Sean tried to say that it's more of a 70s soundtrack because it was 1980.

I was like, okay, well, Fantasy's not the boss of you. It's okay. A-Cab, Sean Fantasy, you know? You know, Robert Criscoe gave this soundtrack AD, and he hated the song and said it had technocratic ardors. Okay. Just saying. He's wrong. He's wrong.

This album sold one gillian copies. That's true. That's true. No one cared what he said. This won an Oscar, a Grammy, this song, and a Golden Globe. So this. And top the billboard hot 100. This is the best original song at the Oscars where Cher won her Oscar for Moonstruck.

Can you believe that? We were living. Can you believe it? We were alive. So the next song, I had to Google this where I was like, oh, Joanna will know better. Because I was like, in my mind, B-My Baby's been in 175. films and TV shows. And that's actually not true. But it has been in quite a few, probably because it keeps getting more expensive that it's not. But I have imagined that it's in so many.

But I guess it's maybe most famously in Mean Streets. And it's in Quadrophenia. It's in Baby Mama. I don't remember that film. I do. And Barbarian, which is a more recent film, which I've not seen. Horrifying movie. Yeah. And loads of TV shows. People love it. this song. I love this song. It's an iconic song. It's a perfect song. Ronnie Bennett was 18 year old, 18 when she recorded this, which is, and I love this song because, like, the Phil Spector, what a piece of shit, but like wall of sound aspect of the song, incredible. Her teenage voice, incredible. And then just like, and plenty of people have written this about it, but like this idea that like, it's a song that sounds like it's written from the point of

you the man, but it's the point of view of the girl, right? Be my baby. Totally. Like, that's, you know, in the, in the 1960s, that was not a lyric often that a girl got to sing. It's so cool. I mean, I really, I'm quite obsessed with girl groups of the 60s and particularly, like, teenage death songs. Do you know what I'm talking about? It's like a leader of the pack. Like, leader of the pack. There's a whole, there's like a whole slew of them. It was like a big, leader of the pack is probably the most famous one. Tell her, I love her. I love her. her. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm so obsessed with this.

Where, oh, where can my baby be? It's a lot of car crashes and a lot of motorcycle crashes. They didn't wear seatbelts back then and they drove drunk a lot, I think. The best is when those songs, because leader of the pack definitely has this, is when you can, like, hear the crash in the song.

Yeah. Skit. Yeah. I just like, it's so goth, but also it's so Lannadal Ray. It's so like, and they're literal, like, I mean, the ShangriLas, they were like 15, 16 years old. These are like, it's real teenagers and you can feel the real teenage emotion in it. I just love this kind of music. Obviously, you might be one of the pinnacles of this genre.

And it's so good in the movie. It is incredibly good. This is the opening, right? Like, you've got black and white images of people. It's just like, thigh, thigh, thigh, thigh. And this song. How many of the songs on the soundtrack do you think were picked because the word baby is so prominently used in them?

I thought about it. I wonder of, like, particularly. particularly be my baby. She was like, I have to have it. The girl's name is baby. It's so good. I think you could throw a stone and hit a song that Baby is prominently used in. That's very true. It's a big... But having Hey Baby also on the... Yeah. I think there was a little winking going on. You know, like, yes, Baby is one of the top, like, especially in the 60s, like, one of the top words that show...

Like, if you do the word cloud of all the lyrics, like, it is very large. Huge. Yeah, but still. I think you're right. I'd love to know more, but I think they were like, let's really drive this home. Her name is baby. Her name is baby. And all the songs will reflect that. Well, it's time to get to my fucking favorite Mount Rushmore best song of this entire soundtrack as far as I'm concerned. And that is, she's like the win by my man, Patrick Swayze. Mr. Patrick Swayze. The thing that I love about this song is I feel like it has half as many lyrics as a normal song has. It's just repeating. It's just refrain, refrain, refrain. Yeah. And I shouldn't change one thing about it.

Then I went to the top of the charts. To me, you are perfect. To me, you are perfect. Patrick Swayze wrote this song in 1984. Right. With Stacey Whittalitz. Yeah, I did go to Stacey Whittlitz's website. I watched an interview with St. So we did our due diligence.

He had gone to an acting class with a friend and performed piano because he was a musician, Stacey Willits, for this musical scene. It was the Beverly Hills Playhouse. And they had a big discussion about music. in the theater or whatever. And afterwards, a guy called Buddy came up and was like, I really loved your playing man. And he was at the time living with his girlfriend, Wendy Frazier, a great singer on the song.

On this song. They started hanging out. And he got his first movie buddy. I guess he went by Buddy. Does that come up in the documentary? In all the documentaries. His dad was Big Buddy and he was Little Buddy. It's a very Texan thing, I think.

Yeah. Maybe I need to go to Texas. maybe. Yeah. Maybe all your, like. All my exes. Future exes are going to be living in Texas.

All your men. All your big hunky, graceful men. I am going to a rodeo in Kansas City. Well, outside of two hours outside of Kansas City. And I'm like, maybe that's where my husband is. Maybe. Yeah. If you're listening, I'll be there.

I'll check me out. So back to Patrick Swayze. Gets this movie Grandview, USA. What happened to see Thomas Hall? I don't know. But he's in like, story that you hear around the 80s. He was one of the big, I mean, he's Pony Boy.

He's an outsider, he's in Red Dawn. Yeah. He was a huge actor. Was it Soulman? Do you think that ended his career? Possibly. He was like a very scary serial killer in criminal minds. That was like kind of the last time I saw him, but I'm sure he's done stuff sounds.

Anyways, he gets to Stacy and he's like, he told me he had a bunch of lyrics and some music, but couldn't get anywhere with it. would I work on it with him? And they wrote it together. They wrote it together. He played guitar really well, and he brought it in, and he only had two chords, and he had his first two lines, she's like the wind through my trees. She rides the night next to me. And they're like, that's just the song.

It's the name of the song, and we'll say it 20 times in the song, and that'll be great. I love that you love this song. I love it so much. It's one of the cheesiest things I've ever heard in my entire life. Also, how many times you've seen the music video? So many times. Which is just like slow-mo black and white footage from dirty dancing and then Swayze singing. It's wonderful.

Yeah, okay. I love him so much. I think it's a gorgeous and beautiful song of yearning. And I, you know, he wrote it about his wife. Apparently there was a Rob Lowe went on the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020 and said that he had also brought the song to Youngblood, and they said no. Yeah. And thank God.

Imagine this in Youngblood. Thank God they were too stupid. Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't quite fit as well. But fits in here is so perfect. Thematically, lyrically, she's out of my league. She's out of my league. Just a fool to believe.

She's like the wind. Yeah, I'm sorry. I love this song. I support you. I support you. I would never see you. Lawrence Juber of Wings also plays on this song. Wow.

This one, maybe not any awards, but I think it did some chart top. Oh, it went right to the top of the charts. It was huge. And the thing that I love about these songs is that, like, you know, this is still in a time when they put out, like, singles. Singles. Yeah. And the B-side to this is stay. June is one of my favorite songs of all-time.

Stay? Yeah. It's a great song. But, like, it goes up the charts because it's the B-side issues like the wind. And the B-side on I've had the time of my life is Love is Love is Strange, Mickey and Sylvia, which is also one of that. An incredible song time. I had this, like. But I just love that.

they were like putting out these contemporary songs, the B-side's going to be this like jam from the 60s on the other side. We used to be a proper. We used to live in a society. We still live in a piece of proper country. Hungry Eyes is next. I love how they front-loaded the shit out of this. Oh, yeah.

Because you're right. It was cassette. So they're like, side A is going to blow your socks off. We're putting everything. Eric fucking Carmen, babe. Yeah. I love the way that this is used in the movie. So this is like there's, oh, this movie is like 80% dance montage.

Yeah. Great. Love it. This is when it's Penny and Baby are dancing. Such an amazing visual. Yeah. And Johnny's just like on the floor watching them. And, you know, the cameras just like, pelvis, pelvis, pelvis is like happening.

And then the three of them are dancing together. And right when the song first hits, Hungry Eyes, Baby looks up from her feet at Johnny, like at that. It's, like, so on the nose and it's perfect. I love it. The visual of the three of them dancing together, they're not, they're not grinding on each other. No. They're doing, like, proper, like, ballroom dancing, but it is so sexual. It's also just, like, so, there's something, like, really, like, metaphorically striking about it.

Like, it's, like, I don't know. It's, like, she's got, like, divine feminine on one side. I love that. You know, divine master on the other. And she's sort of, like, being guided in both directions. Like, I just, I love that scene. Very good. And then you got fucking Aaron Carlin.

and crooning in the background. I love the raspberries. Power Pop pioneers, if you guys don't know, that's where Carmen came from. Jimmy Iiner had worked with them. He was their producer, hence him tapping on... Again, that muscle. Eric Carmen's window.

Hello, please roll down your window. I need you to... Illegal maneuver, tapping on someone's car window. I need you to come and saying hungry eyes. Yeah. It's kind of crazy that these three people who had been with love and respect, absolute failures in the musical industry,

wrote these two world-class bangers. Back to back. Back to back. Carmen also, we talked about it. He didn't want to do it. He didn't say anything about pornography. He said that he thought soundtrack music died horrible death. Wow.

He was wrong. He was wrong. Well, I guess is it kind of like an 80s thing? This is something I guess would be worth talking about. Is like the original song and the sales of a soundtrack being like a major thing kind of like a more new thing of the 80s. I know in the 70s there was Saturday Night Fever, which was a really big one,

and like Shaft was a big one. Sure. I think there's a handful, but it feels like maybe with the advent of cassettes and... MTV. MTV. Yeah, like being able to watch a music video that is clips from the movie that you loved.

So major. Very important. Yeah. Obviously, the peak of this is the 90s where like soundtracks are like blowing out and you could like make tons of money on soundtrack. but like, yeah, I could see, like, with the exception of those, like, handful of 70s ones, like a lot of 70s soundtracks probably, like, don't exist to anyone.

Yeah. When you look back on even some 80s soundtracks, but a lot of 70s soundtracks, they really would kind of kind of focus around one original song maybe, and the rest is kind of filler or the closing credit song or something like that. But, yeah, 87 is kind of late to have that point of view, though, because I think at that point, like, there's been a plenty of absolute bangor 80 soundtracks. you're going to discuss. Thank God. Thank God your boy Jimmy dragged you out here. It was Carmen's biggest hit since All By Myself, which was obviously his, I think, big thing. The next song on here is Stay by Maurice Williams. Why is this one of your favorite songs? I don't know. It's incredible song. I love, I think it's one of the sexiest songs of all time because of the pacing of the music. Please, please, please. It's just like a really like, it's like very, it's like very,

And your daddy won't mind. And your daddy won't mind. I had a, when I was like 11 or 12, I had a turntable in my room and I had a garage cell got this like awesome like four disc vinyl like doop classics. And this was on here. And I would just, I would listen to that all the time because I love them. But this song in just particular like I was just obsessed with it. I love that. Yeah, I just find it really sexy and cool.

And it's so vibe like. Yeah. This is. And yearnie. I like yearney songs. Absolutely. This is sexually yearney. I think not. Well, this is very much like stay out, stay later than you're supposed to. Your parents will be okay with it, baby, if you fuck me in my cabin. That's kind of, yeah. I wrote little like notes next to the track of like what's happening in the movie when this song is playing. And this I wrote pelvic grinding part two. A lot of pelvic grinding in this song. They need a good pelvic grinding music and this is good pelvic grinding. And like when baby comes back with the cash to the cabin. And Penny is feeling better about the fact that she's knocked up. And she and Johnny are just like grinding it out to stay, even though they're not dating or fucking.

But they love to grind on each other. They love to grind on each other. And they do it well. They do it very well. She's conservatively like seven feet tall and six of those feet are her legs. She's incredible. Incredible. This song is written by Maurice Williams.

I didn't know that. And it was, this is like the original song. original writer, original recording. What do you make of Yes by Mary Clayton? It's like barely in the movie and like a really stupid part of the movie. So it doesn't really feel like I know it just because I listened to this cassette so many times. But it doesn't, I don't associate it with this movie the way. I wonder why they included this.

I don't know. I feel like they put all of the contemporary songs on the cassette. Right. Versus like paying Ronnie Spector, et cetera, et cetera, you know. I mean, Mary Clayton's a fucking legend. Absolutely. You know, for those you don't know, she is an American soul and gospel singer. But she did tons of singing on tons of people's music.

But I think maybe most famously to this day is Gimmie Shelter with the Rolling Stones. She's the singer on there. And also the most insane story around that where she was pregnant. And like they called her in the middle of the night? Called her in the middle of the night. She was pregnant while she recorded it. And the intense singing resulted in a miscarriage. I don't think I knew that part.

Yeah. Wow. Shit. she also sang with Neil Young on his debut album on a couple of songs which is absolute legend and this song is like fun it's so 80s it's so like

to me like the end of a movie where like everything's like I was thinking like the beginning of the opening credits and like she's running to work and she's got her like high heels in her bag and she's got sneakers she's wearing sneakers one million versus skirt suit yeah nylon's she's doing it she leaning in funny you that because then it goes into you don't own me

but the most bizarre version by the blow monkeys. And once again, barely in this movie. Like, I had to go back and find where in the movie it is. It's like Johnny and Baby are having a fight. And then he punches the shit out of, like, Robbie, who has an annotated copy of the fountainhead. Like, the most villain-coded thing you possibly do. What an amazing little detail.

It's, like, so good. Whoever, like, whoever put that in, kudos to you. He's like, baby, here's my copy of the fountain. Did you know that he is a soulless capitalist capitalist? Do you know he's evil? He has an annotated copy of the fountainhead. Here's his Ein Rind book or whatever. But yeah, you don't know me which, of course, like a lot of people our age know best from

the First Wives Club, you know, et cetera. But like, yeah, this is, is this the original. I don't know if this is the original. No. Leslie Gore's is the original version. Right, right. Okay. Yeah, yeah. She's 17 years old.

Right. So this is like a guy singing it, isn't it? Yeah, it's a British pop band, like an early 80s British pop band called The Blow Monkeys. So, like, so weird because Leslie Gore singing in is like such a cool. like feminine anthem and then you've got these like well I think they were like kind of a thing the blow monkeys for a second I've I do not know them I will admit I think that's a sick name for a band it's great yeah they did have um another soundtrack hit which was it doesn't have to be this way which oh it's an 80 okay sorry because yeah so of course it's the 80s version of yeah

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was in Police Academy 4. Okay. So, but yeah, I had never heard of, I had never heard of this band and I love British rock bands, but I didn't know about them. I don't, this is not my favorite version of you don't own me. No, of course not. But Leslie. I would rather hear Leslie Gore sing it.

Yeah. What about Hey, exclamation point baby by cousin Brucey? I want to know Bruce Channel If you'll be my girl That's not cousin Bruce I've conflated to people But Bruce Channel

Yeah This is a fucking banger It rules How do you feel about So this isn't a The opening of this movie is so weird Because we get a baby voiceover Right at the beginning

Which you read the script of Right is 19603 Etcetera etc And then there's no voiceover For the rest of the movie And then you get like over the PA You're like hey it's cousin Brucey Like blah blah

And I was like expecting that You expect that to be like Throughout the whole the way that like if Reservoir Dog's soundtrack has like radio interstitial radio and stuff like that it's just sort of like

if Cousin Bucie had been like throughout the whole movie you could have had like Cousin Bursie interstitials like through the whole soundtrack I don't know that they thought that far

maybe they should have they should have gotten more out of Cousin Bursie Cousin Bucie was like her friend who was like a comedian Oh okay Is that right? I don't know

I think that's what I read this song rules This song rules, not because of Bruce Channel, a different person. Here's a fun fact, though. He wrote this song, co-wrote this song. He toured Europe and played a gig with the Beatles, who were at that time unknown. And John Lennon loved Hey Baby and was really obsessed with the harmonica on the song. And according to popular legend, this guy, uh,

taught him how to play harmonica. And he was inspired to put that into Love Me Do Harmonica. I love that. So that's the guys, Love Me Do is an all-time harmonica song. Yeah. Hey, baby, incredible song. This is the log dance montage. That is, I'll say it, my favorite scene in the movie.

Really? The log dance? I think so. Okay. I think so. They're doing the twist. Bare feet. It's so beautiful. black jeans, she's in white jeans.

Yeah. There's a lot of like footloose-esque. We're just filming the feet. Yeah. You know, if we're not on pelvises, we're on feet in this movie. And this is like a really good. They're both barefoot twisting on the log. I think I also love, I feel like you guys have a word for it when you talk about film and TV.

Like it's like expertise porn or something. Like when like, like I. Competency porn. Competency porn. Yeah. And I love this part where he's like, here's the, here's how you learn how to balance. Like, let's like, and like shifting the energy. to a different space and being like,

if you can do it on this, you know, tree log or we can do it in the water. Yeah. I just really like it. And it's so beautiful. It looks cool. Apparently, because they were on such a short schedule. Yeah.

Do you read about like the weather stuff that they endured in this movie, right? So apparently Jennifer Gray got hypothermia for the... They had to paint the leaves because they turned the color and they had to paint them green so it still looks like summer. Well, they're all out there in their like summer gear and it's like it's deep into fall in the on the East Coast. And so they're in the lake doing this lift. And everyone, Jennifer Gray in her memoir was like, everyone's on the shore in like puffy coast with like warm coffee. And I'm in this like see-through white tank top like nips out in the lake during this lift. And she got hypothermia. Also Apollonia in purple rain. Same thing happened. When they threw in the fucking one prince throws her in the lake. It was like very cold October time in Minnesota. Listen, we suffer for our art, I guess. And by we, I mean they. Because I would not do that. It does, it does sound like that constantly only happens to women. True. It's like only women who have to be like scantily clad.

Yeah, and with zero percent body fat. And they're just like, oh no. It's to hypothermia. Okay. The next song is absolutely perplexing to me. Overloom. To me it sounds like sledgehammer. Exactly.

When I was, so I watched this a couple of times to prep for this because I care about you and I care about preparing for your podcast. But the first time when the start, I was like, Is Sledgehammer in this movie? And I just forgot? Is that you? And it's just such a knockoff sledgehammer moment. How did we not get a lawsuit from the Peter Gabriel estate?

I have no idea. This is when Johnny is breaking into his own car. And she's like, you're wild. He's a man's man. He doesn't care. He doesn't care about things like car windows. Don't have much information about this. I just wanted to say that.

It's a bizarre inclusion. It's very weird. It's very 80s and it sounds exactly like sledgehammer, except a little bit worse. Yeah. Love is strange. This is my favorite. This is like so prominently. This song is so prominently featured in the film.

Like they are singing it to each other. They're singing it to each other. It's just the cutest fucking scene because they've like, they've already had sex. And so they're just like playing with each other. They're dancing. She's like mocking him and she's like, this is MySpace. This is your, you know, she's like using all of his lines back at him. The crawling around on the floor.

It's so iconic what she's wearing the like knotted up white blouse. but he's in the black tank top and it's just like this and then the time of your life dance I think are like the two most iconic moments in the movie and just their like playfulness and the lip syncing along and like we just like as kids

we just love you know oh love a boy like it's so fun I also feel like it's such a good song because is it because they go baby a little warm baby I think you know you were talking about being a coming of age, but like, there's such a, this is such a shift moment, right? Because she's

really, like, you know, she's lost her virginity. Yeah. But you can see, like, her timidness is gone. She's like, now she owns the space. And she's playing with him, you know? And, like, this song has that dynamic as well between Mickey and Sylvia. And so it's like, it's such a perfect thing to, like, soundtrack what's going on with the character. He plays guitar. It's very important. So great. I mean, this is a feminist movie. Like, this is a... Yeah, we have the abortion storyline.

The abortion storyline. But, like, nobody puts baby in a corner. Nobody puts baby in a corner. You know, like, this is, like, I just love this movie. And I love dance movies in general. And dancing as, like, teenage rebellion, I think, is such a fun. Like, Footloose is absolutely iconic. Yeah. It's not really a thing anymore.

I don't think that. No. But at the time or when, you know, like, Or like Saturday, like, fever is its own, like, version of that. Or say the last dance, if you prefer, but like, which I don't. But, like, one might. But, like, I love what this captured about. The one thing that they could have done with she was, like, the wind that they did nail

in footloose is the angsty solo dance. You know what you mean Kevin Bacon? You want Patrick Swayze to do a solo dance to do that. She's like the wind. You would have loved that. And a little bit of gymnastics, which is what Kevin Bacon does in footloose. would have been very important, I think. Yeah, okay, so he's thinking about her and he's doing a little dance.

Just a fool to believe. She's out of my link. I'll do it. I would take it. Okay. Let's go back in time. I already know what you're going to say. I was like, should we ask AI to make it for us?

Can you imagine what thing about me? The cursed video that AI would produce of Patrick Swayze dancing to the song. Just one last note about Love is strange. It is technically based on a. Bo Didley song. So Bo Didley is like the predated... Yeah. He wrote...

It's a guitar riff. Yeah. And he... He wrote it under his wife's name. Oh. So it was... Feminism under Ethel Smith. Buddy Holly also did a recording of this.

I thought that was cool. It's sick. The harmonies are really good. It's a great song. Nobody puts a baby in the corner. Feminist... Feminism. Well, it's also...

This is like, I'm so corny, but I don't care. I love movies that are about being a better person. About striving to be good and to do the right thing. I know that's so corny, but like a big throughline of this movie is that. Like one of the best scenes in this film and it doesn't have any to do with music or the soundtrack is when she confronts her father. I agree. And she's like, I know I let you down, but you let me down too. Like you told me everyone was.

I lied, but you lied, but you like. You told me everyone was equal. but you meant only people like you. And I mean, okay. So does this movie have flaws around that? Right. And you just because it's a move. This movie has flaws around that, obviously,

because, like, it features all this music by black artists. And there are, like, no, there's, like, one speaking role for a black person in this movie. I mean, I do think that's, like, realistic to the story. There wouldn't have been. Well, there are, like, black teenagers dancing in the barn, but, like, none of them have a line. Yeah, yeah. Or, like, any sort of characterization. All that.

But I do think Eleanor Bergstein being, like, What if I wrote a version of my own teenage experience? But first of all, I get to fuck Patrick Swayze. And secondly, I get to be a really, like, maybe she was a great person. Right. But, like, this is the dream of the privileged white person that, like, if it were me, I would get money for that woman's abortion. And I would, like, clear my working class boyfriend's name of, like, a wrongdoing. You know, petty larceny and, like, all this so I want to be.

But I do like that the film kind of makes fun of it, too, like, when she means. meets that other kid played by Lonnie Price and he's like, I'm going to be with the freedom writers. And, you know, it's just like, it's very like, yeah, it's self-aware. It's self-aware. Even him pushing back in her and being like, yeah, anyone can run to their dad and get their money. Yeah.

You know, like, there are like some self-aware checking moments of it. And I, I mean, fucking to her credit, bad bitch, like, they, they were asked to pull the abortion self-ploid. Oh, yeah. And she's like, no. Because they had like a sponsorship like Nogzima or something. And Nogzima was like. No abortion, no way.

Yeah. And like, it's kind of a pretty early. I mean, there's been obviously abortion in film, but like not in like I, you know, as such a plot point. Yeah. What year did Fast Times come out? 82. Yeah. Fast Times has a very good storyline.

Yeah. It's not. It's, I think it's surprising. And like you talk to some people and they're like. Both these films were made women. Yeah. But they're like, I had no idea. You talked to some of people and they're like, I had no idea there was abort.

As you said, it was like 50% or something like that. They're like, I had no idea that that's what this storyline was. And it's just like, what did you think was happening? Did you think what's happening? I won't lie to you. I don't have any thoughts about Where Are You Tonight by Tom Johnston, who was in the Doobie Brothers? Nor do I, really. No shade, no, no.

Okay, this is what I'll say. Okay. So it's 87. It's one of the 87 songs. Yeah. But it's, this is the most anachronistic. I think, well, because like, it's, I think where are you tonight? sounds like it could be from the 60s in a way that time of your life does not.

No. And it's the siren song that like lures baby to the staff quarters is what she hears in the first place before she carries a watermelon. She's just like walking around in the dark and she hears this song playing from the staff quarters and she's like, what is that? But that's a 1987 song that does like I'd look up when it came out because it sounds like it could be from somewhere in the 60s. The production is really 80s.

Yeah. Yeah. Really 80s. Yeah. But yeah, why wouldn't they just use a 60s song for that moment? I just think that's so funny. Because, like, time of your life, you're like, we're in, like, we're bending time and space. It's fine.

We've left the confines. But, like, very early, you know, because, like, once she gets inside there, it's 60, you know, it's 60 songs, not 63 songs, like, later 60 songs, but, like, still we're in the 60s. But that song that, like, calls to her from the dark is this weird 1987 song, yeah. And then we bring it the fuck home, which is in within the still. of the night by the Five Satins, which was also on my duop vinyl, and they'll love it so much, and it's so beautiful. It's so good. In The Still of the Night sold over 10 million coffees as part of the Dirty Dancing soundtrack in the 80s, right? So fabulous. Do you think that Fred Paris and

the Five Satins cashed out on that? Or the Fred Paris Estate, the Five Satins Estate? Sure, I don't know. This is Baby and Johnny Post Coital. RISE are about to be spotted by Vivian, as they tenderly say goodbye. But yeah. This song rules. I mean, to your point about like doo-wop classics, like, show-oop, do-d-d-do-d-d-d-do. Like, this is it, yeah. Well, okay, here's one song that I associate so strongly with this film that is probably my biggest, why did they leave this out. And it's the contour song. Because it's about dancing.

Yeah. I can mash potato. Oh, yeah. I can do the twist. I can do the twist. I feel like, I was like. Tell me who? Baby.

Tell me, baby. You know, again, throw a rock. Do you like it like this? But that's a song that I, to me, I've always associated with dirty dancing, but I was kind of surprised now looking back to be like, oh, it's not an actual sound draft. I also think that these arms of mine and cry to me, which are like the two, you know, cry to me is the... The big seduction. The big seduction. These arms of mine, the seduction.

Like, those aren't on there, which is wild to me. And then, like, love man is not on there. Well, you still love me tomorrow. Great. Great song. Really good. And big girls don't cry. Big girls don't cry.

But like I think it's, I think it's really weird that like the Otis Redding really, like, love man. Maybe it was really expensive. Yeah. I'll believe it. I carried a watermelon, she said. Baby and Johnny's first dance, love man, Otis Redding, not on the soundtrack. Very weird. But that's why they put out more dirty dancing.

And, and then there was a third one. It was like the full thing in chronological order. They were like, we're going to squeeze every last dollar. We're going to put join hands and hearts and hands on there, like, as well. The Kellerman. Yeah, the Kellerman song. And then they did a live concert tour of the soundtrack. This is like glee in concert.

They did a live concert tour of the dirty dancing soundtrack. Why didn't I get to go to that? It's on YouTube apparently. I haven't watched it. But apparently we can, maybe we should put it on and watch it together. I would love that. Well, this film did amazing in no small part, I think, to the same. soundtrack. We talked about a little bit how it exceeded expectations, but it was the first film

to sell over a million copies on home video. I think it was the number one VHS sale of 1988. Once again, every single slumber party, people are watching this movie. And their parents are like, oh, this is fine. Yeah. And I want to ask you, like, before we close it out, like, how do you feel, I mean, we talked about just the success of the film working, resting so much on the music. But do you feel that the soundtrack itself, like as an entity in the world, kind of

fed back into the popularity of the film? Absolutely, I do. Yeah. Like, hearing those, like, maybe people started hearing those songs on the radio or sing them on MTV and was like, what's this about? Yeah, I mean, so certainly this movie comes out, and it just like finds its first weekend, but then it goes

up the box office charge, which is such like a rare thing to do. So, like, a bona fide word of mouth hit. Yeah. which is incredible. And I think, yeah, in no small part due to the soundtrack. The soundtrack came out as they always do before the movie.

Flop orroo because no one gives a shit about this. And they're like, I've had the time of my what? Who cares? Yeah. She's like the whew? I don't know. And then the movie comes out. If you hear those songs divorced from the film,

they're not going to hit the same way. People are like, Patrick Swayze made a song called She's Like the Wind. The guy from Red Dawn? To go back to our earlier conversation about like sort of post-interested. internet, sort of like, we all live in the soup together now. There's this, there were various things that kept movies alive in your thoughts, in your

heart. And, like, a soundtrack is part of it. A DVD commentary later is part of it. Let's rewatch it, but, like, listen to the filmmakers talk about it. Rewatchability. Like, it's just running on cable all the time. Dirty Dancing was, I feel, like, on all the time. They might have cut some of the abortion stuff.

I do not recall. But, like, it was definitely just, like, it was just, like, it was just, like, it's definitely just like on TNT all the time or TBS or whatever. So like running on cable all the time, you have the VHS, let's put it on every single, like if you open up someone's cabinet. I had it. We had it. They had a bunch of white Disney clamshell VHSs.

And then they definitely had the like a very battered like just one little cardboard sleeve, dirty dancing that they had watched one million times. Like for sure that was in the collection. And it was just sort of like, let's. And it's a perfect rewax. watchable. Like this is, the runtime's not that long. It just feels great to, to watch it. And I was literally like, like, 12 years old again when I watched, even though it came out way before that. But like, I was like, like, oh my God, love is real. Love is possible. This is going to happen

to me. I'm going to be swept away. I feel like we don't, you know, and, and MTV, like, let's watch the music video that has clips from the movie and remember how much we love it, which is like, you know, what I did when like the bodyguard came out or, you know, all those sort of things. It's just sort of like, oh my god, it's the music video that has clips from this movie that I love. And so like that all keeps it alive and we're quoting it back and forth to each other or stuff like that and we just like don't often do that with movies anymore.

It's true. Yeah. I love that we're talking about this dirty dancing success story in the year of something like obsession or backrooms when like these little movies that come from nowhere and just like climb the box office charts and absolutely dominate. Do you know my feelings about this? What's that? Which I actually haven't

the obsession which I need to. I love backrooms. I think it's so interesting that the films that are like dominating that are like these like little, you know, things that could are all horror movies. Yeah. It's like so reflective of a society in pain. On the one hand, yes, and I agree with you. But on the other hand, I've always, I mean, I'm not the first person to say this, but like, you want to see a horror movie and a comedy in a theater with a bunch of people. Totally. It's a shared. It's a shared experience. It's a communal experience. It's kind of like, I mean, honestly, it is kind of like dancing and music, right? Like, you want to see, like, big music things in the theater, too. Or, like, you know, I've been thinking a lot about dancing, not just because of dirty dancing, but, like, the new Madonna album is all about coming back to the dance floor and stuff.

And it's like, it's physicality. It's being in your body. It's not being on your phone. It's not being at a computer. It's not being in front of a screen. It's being with other people. It's like moving in, moving to a thing that other people are moving. moving to it's like a community space like there's so much and you talked about it as rebellion like

there's something about it that's like so lost now that I think people are so hungry for so hungry eyes for and I wonder if we will start to get some like dancing films or like you know something that's like well you know what I haven't seen it yet but I heard club kid by Jordan Firstman is a massively amazing movie it was about being you know in the nightclub scene And like that is like, I, you know, I can see it coming because we're all so fucking sick of being at home and looking at our phones alone. Absolutely. And I think especially with Dirty. I love that.

And let's go see Club Kids together. But like, and talk about how it's the same as Dirty Dancing. Exactly the same. It's the exact same movie. But I think like when you, if you go back to your guy Patrick Swayze and his like a classic training as a ballet dancer. Yeah. And he talks about, he talks about, and Jennifer Gray talks about how like he really knew how to connect. this is how he fell in love with his wife.

How he knew how to connect. Through physicality. Through dance specifically. And then also Swayzey, this is like his version of like, I thought it was a porno. The quote that he gives all the time about dirty dancing is like it's the man's job to not draw focus to make the woman look like beautiful and like she's flowing and all this sort of stuff like that. So like Johnny is like constantly like dressed in black, solid black. Except when he comes in in that in the first like dirty dancing scene when he's like, in his, like, tucks, like the high-wasted pants and the open tucks shirt and he's just, like, grinding.

That's, like, sort of the most show-boaty. And then at the end, when he does, like, solo dancing, that's a bit show-boaty. But mostly he's, like, there to support Jennifer Gray. And there's just, like, something about that that is very, like, so powerful for young women to watch. I think it's so incredible. Can I tell you, I show this movie to my best friend only a couple years ago. She had never seen it for some reason. And the way she described Patrick Swayzey in this movie, she was like, he's like a ship sharp little pony.

And I just think it's a perfect description of him. A ship sharp, for sure. The main, but then like the high-waisted tight pants. He's just like, he's just like clopping around and just like, yeah. His movement. Yeah. Honestly reminds me what is the name of the Greek mythological creature that is like. Oh, a centaur.

Yeah. He's like a centaur. He's got like those like clombie legs with them broad chest and the hair. Absolutely. Yeah. God bless. We did it. What a film. What a soundtrack.

Like, you know, we said it's, it's so 80s by, by dint of being so looking back towards the 60s. And being like, and there's this like nostalgia moment at the end of the movie when like the Max Kellerman is that his name. Yeah. Who's like, this is all leaving now. It's not going to be like this anymore. The kids don't want to come to the Catskills anymore. It's slipping through our fingers. but like that nostalgia is really interesting.

I'm so excited for this series that you're doing. I think I'm the first year recording with. I don't know if it's the first. Well, we did Purple Rain. Oh, you did Purple Rain. Yeah. Of course. Yeah.

Okay. But I'm so excited for this series. Purple Rain is hard to beat in terms of like impact. But Purple Rain is more of like an album. I think you could, I mean, you can't even place Purple Rain in the canon because it's like anything Prince is going to do. But also like it's not only the best 80s soundtrack, it's the best. best soundtrack and it's maybe one of the best albums of all time without being a soundtrack.

It's all original music. It's all by prints. Like it's kind of stands on its own animal, right? Okay. Okay. This isn't a competition. Okay. And I've heard some of the selections that some of our other colleagues have made and they are like quite good. Yeah. But in terms of like impact, like this is the thing about dirty dancing is it's like it's so people think of it. It's so easily dismissed. It's so girly, it's so whatever it is. Yeah. But in terms of like the impact... Women's issue is not important, I guess. Yeah. Fuck the Erez tour. But like this is

the ERIS tour of the 80s is the dirty dancing soundtrack. It's so bizarrely impactful. So feed that, anyone else. You think yours is, what do you think Bill Simmons's favorite soundtrack is that he's won't tell us.

He wants us to guess and we keep getting it wrong. What do you think it is? No clue. I've been throwing guesses out left and right. I know. I'm like, maybe he's right that I'll never, ever guess it. We're on a text thread with Bill about this very subject. He's made a different, the different selection for what he will be talking to you about. It is not, so he's doing best instead of favor. And his favorite is something else. It's got to be something like really out of left field, but like, do you have any guesses right now? No. Do you think it's something like really like, quote

unquote girly? Oh, you think it's obscure? Well, like, what, it'd be so cool if it was like less than zero. Ooh. Amazing soundtrack. That's an interesting. Bill choice. A lot of Rick Rubin worked on the soundtrack and it's Def Jam so it's like a lot of like L. Cole J and Danzig and stuff. I don't know if that's very Bill. That's not Bill. I don't think. But I'll happily be wrong. We're going to find out. He said he'll reveal it. He said on your. That's a great teaser. But I do think he should ask every single guest to guess what they think. Yeah. And see Phil's favorite is. And see if we get any of us. Who gets closest? We'll do a betting poll. Yeah. Well, Joanna Robinson.

This has been an absolute, I'll say at the time of my life. Thank you. Never felt this way before. You know what? You're like the wind to me. God. Yeah. Through the trees.

Thank you for doing this. Thank you guys for listening. Come back next week for a new, presumably soundtrack episode of Vansplain. If you liked what you heard today, subscribe for more episodes of Bansplain. Our guest today was Joanna Robinson. find her on the Prestige TV podcast and House of R and many other places. This episode was produced by Rob Sunderman and edited by Adrian Bridges with help from Justin Sales, video production by Jacob Cornett. Executive producers for Bansplain are Gina Dalvak and me, Yossi Salon. Our gorgeous and catchy

theme song was composed and performed by Bethany Costantino and Jennifer Clavin and graciously recorded by Carlos Delagher in Los Angeles, California. Special thanks to our producer emeritus, producer Dylan, aka Dylan Tupper Rupert, and also Sean Fennacy and Sully. And Salon. C.S. Which I should stop drinking, but I will not. Come back every Thursday for a new episode of Bansplain on Spotify or wherever you listen to your podcasts. It's your show. I get distracted and I'll look

at myself too much, so. I like it. Yeah. I will be narcissists. I know. I'll be like to the pond.