Keep track of the songs thru the week and then on Friday call in to name the 5 songs and their common theme to win a $25 Jersey Mike’s gift card
Thanks to its memorable use in movies and TV, beginning with Tom Cruise’s memorable lip-sync in Risky Business, this song is the best-remembered track on this singer’s blockbuster 1978 album, Stranger In Town, and it’s practically the official theme song of classic-rock radio.
That album had a handful of obvious hits, but this song wasn’t one of them. Radio went instead with the ballad “Still The Same” and “Hollywood Nights,” both of which showed this singer’s flair for storytelling.
Then came “We’ve Got Tonight,” the first straight forward love ballad hit for this Detroit rock legend. All three songs were released as singles and hit the Top 20, meaning he’d now bettered his previous hit, ‘Night Moves’.
Only then, after Stranger In Town had been in the stores for nearly a year, did “Old Time Rock & Roll” get taken off the shelf.
This is one of the few songs today’s singer didn't technically write. Although he worked on the lyrics, he didn't take any songwriting credit. This means that he doesn't own the publishing rights to the song.
According to him, he was feeling generous that day, and he says not seeking composer credit was "the dumbest thing I ever did." He claims he changed all the original lyrics except for the hook because he wanted to take a dig at disco music, which was fading in popularity.
This song was used in a commercial for Friskies cat food, with the lyrics changed to: "Just take the Friskies off the shelf, your cat can eat them all by himself." (CLIP)
It was later used in popular commercials for the video game Guitar Hero, which parodied the Risky Business scene where Tom Cruise dances to the song in his underwear. This scene quickly led to parodies, tributes, even Halloween costumes. Today’s singer is OK with having his song closely associated with an underwear-clad Cruise - he says he gets a kick out of it.
He had no comment on the Frisky Business jingle though.
Bob Seger...Old Time Rock and Roll...I Know That Song!!