FAINT WAVES

Happy 4th of July, on America’s 250th, we’re up there with the best of the best. This is Song Of The Week: “Top Gun Anthem” by Harold Faltermeyer & Steve Stevens from the original motion picture soundtrack for ‘Top Gun’.

On this day two years ago, I wrote something like this on this very website: I’ll be the first to tell you, I’m not exactly a nationalist, our country is rife with problems. That said, it’s the 4th of July, and I do think there is value in celebrating the optimism that Independence Day represents. If anything, it’s more about the positives and what we’ve accomplished, the hope for something more. If there’s one thing I (and we) need more of, it’s hope. That sentiment still holds true now, two years later. Furthermore, it’s the 250th anniversary of this country, and that’s not nothing.

As has become tradition for me the last few years, I like to play the “Top Gun Anthem” by Harold Faltermeyer & Steve Stevens as loud as possible. It’s not the Pledge Of Allegiance, The Star-Spangled Banner, or anything like that; it just fucking rocks. It’s a keyboard, drum machine, and electric guitar driven piece that is virtually untouchable in the movie music canon; Faltermeyer never wrote a more soaring and heartfelt piece and Steve, only his work with Billy Idol truly eclipses this gem. Even so, Steve gets to do this little diddy almost every night with Billy live, I’ve seen it twice myself and it’s damn near enough to bring a tear to your eye.

The theme is hopeful, optimistic, and inspiring. For just a moment, you’re looking ahead at a clear sky, an infinite blue. All things are possible and through perseverance, you will find the power to believe, and that will set you free.

I can’t think of anything more “American” than that.

Happy 4th Of July.

~ FW.

Up there with the best of the best.