The Soundtrack

Music was a vital part of both the original Karate Kid and Karate Kid Part II. Of course I can't say enough good things about Bill Conti's stirring, pan-flute-laden scores, but the two movies also put pop songs to good use.

While the first film didn't have any true hits outside of Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" its songs set the mood, especially "Bop Bop (at the Beach)" by The Flirts and Jan & Dean featuring Mike Love, "No Shelter" by Broken Edge, and the immortal "You're the Best" by Joe "Bean" Esposito. Part II's soundtrack isn't quite as iconic, but it has great tunes by The Moody Blues ("Rock and Roll Over You"), Mancrab ("Fish for Life"), and New Edition ("Earth Angel"). Both movies knocked it out of the park in terms of their theme songs. The first movie had Survivor's "The Moment of Truth" and the second one had Peter Cetera's wonderfully sappy number one hit "The Glory of Love."

It's hard to say whether The Karate Kid Part III's soundtrack would be easier to like if its accompanying film had been better, but as it stands it feels underwhelming. And its theme was the middle-of-the-road "Listen To Your Heart" by Little River Band, a group ten years past their hitmaking days. So I decided to start from scratch with the soundtrack for my reimagined version of the story. First I made the decision to go almost exclusively with artists who came from New Jersey. I also decided to limit to songs they would have released around the time the original film was released (1987-1990).

For the theme, I decided to go back to Survivor - not a New Jersey band, I know - and their 1988 album Too Hot To Sleep. The song "Didn't Know It Was Love" jumped out right away. It was released as a single and scrapped its way into the bottom of the charts, but it deserved more.