35 years ago Huey Lewis & The News ruled the charts with ‘Power of Love’

Huey almost passed on the opportunity to write for the film

On July 3, 1985 the film Back to the Future opened on over a thousand movies screens throughout the country. Of course, the movie staring Michael J. Fox, became iconic and gains new fans with every passing generation.

The music from the film has also become iconic, due in large part by the contributions of Huey Lewis & The News. But it almost didn’t happen.

In 2015, Lewis told USA Today, “I had a meeting with Bob Gale (screenwriter of Back to the Future) and Steven Spielberg, and Zemeckis says, ‘We’ve just written this movie and the lead character Marty McFly’s favorite band would be Huey Lewis & The News. Would you write a song for the film?’ Lewis said he was “flattered,” but wasn’t sure if he could write for a film. He also didn’t care to write a song called “Back to the Future.”

But later, Zemeckis assured Lewis he could title the song anything he wanted to. Lewis got to work. Not only did he pen “Power of Love,” but also “Back in Time,” which appears in the film after Marty McFly wakes up back in 1985 and during the end credits.

In writing the “Power of Love,” Lewis says he wrote it without even reading the script or seeing the film. He added, “they used it perfectly. I didn’t even think it was going to work, so to their credit, it did.”

“Power of Love” became the band’s first international hit and on this date in 1985, Huey Lewis & The News topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 1; a spot they held for two weeks.




Todd Hollst

Todd Hollst

Listen to Todd weekdays from 4 PM to 7 PM on The Eagle.

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