ST. LOUIS — Pop-rocker Kenny Loggins has done well for himself as the king of movie soundtracks, giving us “I’m Alright” from “Caddyshack,” “Nobody’s Fool” from “Caddyshack II,” “Danger Zone” from “Top Gun” and “Footloose” from the movie of the same name.
“It doesn’t hurt to have a title like that, I suppose,” he said.
Loggins said he’s grateful to have “Footloose” as part of his repertoire. And so are his fans.
“It always gets people up and dancing and gives me a climax to my show,” he said.
But Loggins, who regrouped with Jim Messina as Loggins and Messina in 2005 and 2009, has formed a new band, Blue Sky Riders, with Nashville, Tenn., singer-songwriters Gary Burr (who was with Pure Prairie League) and Georgia Middleman (who has written for Keith Urban and Kenny Chesney).
“I hit a place where I didn’t know what I wanted to do as Kenny Loggins,” the singer said.
Loggins initially joined up with Messina in 1971 and gave America hits including “Your Mama Don’t Dance” and “Danny’s Song.” The duo amicably split as solo careers called.
“It was very rewarding to me, and I wasn’t ready to share the reins,” Loggins said of working solo.
So when he met Burr, he knew he wanted to be part of a group again.
“I really enjoyed writing with Gary, and I was tired of being alone. I wanted to do something with a friend and make something new,” Loggins said. “I wanted that challenge of building a new beast and the adrenaline that comes with that.”
The movie or the song?
Loggins was never sure whether the songs were big because of the movies or the movies were big because of the songs.“I think it was the movie — and the songs didn’t hurt,” he said. “I’m fortunate in that I was associated with movies that have become such cult classics.”
They certainly aren’t making soundtrack songs like they used to. When he was recording songs for movies, it was a new idea — viewing rock ’n’ roll as a valid form of music for movies, instead of just using “traditional Henry Mancini songs,” he said.
“The hipper the music, the hipper the movie,” Loggins said. “Hollywood jumped on it.”
But it went wrong after random songs from artists’ albums wound up on soundtracks. He said that dilutes the power of music written for movies.
“There’s a craft to it,” Loggins said. “You have to get a hold of the emotional content that is being conveyed, and they don’t do much of that anymore.”
Kenny Loggins, with his band Blue Sky Riders, will perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 1 at the State Theatre. Visit www.thestatetheatre.org for more information.
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