Breakin’ – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Various – Released May 1984, Polydor Records
Breakin’ is the soundtrack album for the 1984 movie of the same name (also known as Breakdance).
The movie was directed by Joel Silberg, who also directed another dance-related cash-in, Lambada, both released by Cannon Pictures.
Breakin’ was the brainchild of infamous Hollywood Shlockenheimer Menahem Golan, who ran Cannon Pictures along with his cousin Yoram Globus.
Cannon Pictures was an iconic and idiosyncratic assembly line of mostly-straight-to-video 80s action flicks where the video covers rarely matched the content but you pretty much guaranteed you’d see some tits and ninjas.
Which was all a growing boy ever needed in the pre-internet era.
Though Cannon’s genre output was much broader than they’re given credit for, it’s best known for 80s hits like the Stallone’s Cobra, the Van Damme classic Bloodsport, plus a shit ton of Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson movies.
And if you love movies and cinema history like I do, I highly recommend watching this documentary on the studio.
Anyways, back to Breakin’.
Ever on the lookout for the next fad to jump on, Golan was introduced to breakdancing by his daughter and was quick to recognise it as a growing trend ripe for exploitation.
And exploit it he did.
Only problem was he wasn’t the only one with the idea and so suddenly the race was on to get the first breakdancing movie to studios.
Breakin’ won the race, beating rival Beat Street to the screens by one month, resulting in two breakdance movies released the same summer, one set in California, the other in the Bronx. Is this perhaps the true genesis of the east-west coast beef?
In any event, neither can lay claim to being the first breakdance movie since there’s a strong case that Wildstyle beat them both by two years. And Wildstyle’s a far better and more authentic movie to boot.
Breakin’ It Down
Having said that, Breakin’ does feature some decent tunes not to mention some occasional moments of actual breakdancing.
That’s if you can sit though the various me-2 moments with sleazy 80s guys, sundry 80s fashion atrocities and accessories like legwarmers, sweatbands, studded leather gloves, leather sleeveless vests (the ultimate street cred attire) and truly diabolical dialogue.
It’s a trudge, for sure, but your patience is rewarded with some nuggets, like this killer sequence right here.
The above sequence is set to Kraftwerk’s Tour de France, just one example of music in the movie that doesn’t appear in the soundtrack itself.
It’s much the same with the track Beat Box by Art Of Noise, one of the biggest breakdance anthems from back in the day later sampled by everyone from Coldcut to Nine In Nails. It features prominently in the movie but, once again, doesn’t appear in the soundtrack album.
The talented dancer is in the broom sequence is Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers and he’s joined onscreen by Adolfo “Shabba Doo” Quiñones.
It’s fair to say they’re the true stars of the movie though the spotlight stays firmly on Kelly, played by Lucinda Dickey, a dancer turned actress who Cannon had hoped with be their next breakout star.
Dickey’s lack of breakdancing experience was obvious, however, and her co-stars weren’t shy telling her either. This became a recurring theme in her short-lived career, a point we’ll return to in a moment.
Cuz you know who else made their screen debut in this flick? Ice motherfuckin’ T!
Yep. Forget New Jack City, this was his true big screen debut.
And, unlike Dickey, Ice T’s showbiz career’s still going strong, with an enviable filmography topped only by his musical back catalogue.
In the movie he plays a club MC, joined by DJ Chris “the Glove” Taylor on one of the movie’s most memorable scenes featuring the classic 303-infused classic, Reckless.
The main track from the soundtrack, however, is the movie’s theme tune Breakin’… There’s No Stoppin’ Us, one of two songs on the soundtrack by Ollie And Jerry.
It’s a massive stinky slice of 80s American cheese, but warrants a mention as it was a top ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
Breakin’… There’s No Stoppin’ Us – Ollie And Jerry.
Also worth mentioning are funk band The Bar-Kays of Stax Records fame with Freak Show, a big fat ass-slapping p-funk workout complete with sleazy synths and vocoder robot voices.
And finally, we get to another personal all-time favourite song of mine, Ain’t Nobody by Rufus and Chaka Khan. Hardly a breakdancing anthem this one but definitely one of the best hits of the 1980s and hands down the best track on the album for me.
For sure you know this track, if you’re above a certain age it was unmissable, below that age threshold you’ve likely heard dozens of shittier versions by now, but nothing beats the original.
Bad Breaks
Breakin’ is very much an 80s movie. The plot, such as it is, involves Kelly discovering the world of “street dancing” and wanting to get involved in it because, y’know, white people.
Some scenes echo her real life conflict with her co-stars, “she ain’t no street dancer.”
But, as with everything in the 80s, from karate to the Cold War, this conflict was resolved through the power of montage.
Having established her “street” credentials, Kelly turns to her attention to her main goal of legitimising breakdancing as an acceptable artform because, again, white people.
The movie culminates in a big dance off – because of course it does – where the crew need to prove their worth to a team of stuffy judges.
Said line-up includes a mutton-chopped old guy with a stuffy British accent and big bushy eyebrows – because of course it does – who uses phrases like, “now listen here young man” and bristles at the idea of having to view so-called “street dancing.”
Well I never…
But even this harumphing heffalump is stunned into silence by the crew’s display and what follows is a standing ovation and big happy ending.
Because of course it does.
Despite the moving being less breakdance, more Flashdance, with more spinning and kicking than popping and locking and waaay too much spandex, the movie was still a huge success and helped to further popularise breakdance culture around the world.
I didn’t see it at the time but I do remember it being a thing, especially that one summer where we all tried to bust moves on a streaky sliver of lino in a nearby cul-de-sac while the grown-ups stared at us wondering what the fuck we were doing.
Despite not having a whole lot of breakdance music (ironically the two biggest b-boy anthems from the movie weren’t on the album) it done its bit in helping to spark global interest in breakdance culture. And it had that Chaka Khan classic, so I’m marking it up as a win.
Breakin’ also prompted a quickly-rushed sequel that same year, the hysterically titled Breakin’ Two: Electric Boogaloo, surely the greatest sequel title of all time.
In between, Lucinda Dickey played an electrical repairwoman and part time fitness instructor who becomes possessed by the spirit of an evil ninja – no, seriously – in Ninja III: The Domination.
Which, no prizes for guessing, was also released by Cannon.
Once again poor Dickey was miscast and, despite trying her best, once again drew ire from a co-star, this time from martial arts star Sho Kosugi (you’ll never out-show Sho Kosugi).
It’s fair to say Dickey was an even worse ninja than she was a breakdancer but does her best with the material she was given.
With its terrible dialogue, bewildering character development, nonsensical plot and ham-fisted beverage-related product placement, Ninja III: The Domination was the Madame Web of the 1980s.
Bad Movie Bible has a great video about it which can’t help but pique your curiosity.
If you’re looking for a fun viewing experience I highly recommend skipping Breakin’ and watching this instead, it’s classic so-bad-it’s-good 80’s crap. Especially since all the best bits of Breakin’ are available in chopped down YouTube format anyway.
That said, I do kinda feel as though my generation was robbed. If only Menahem Golan had let those two ideas percolate a little bit longer in the noggin, I’m sure he would have finally concluded that the best thing to do was to combine the two and create “ninjitsu boogaloo”.
Alas, we must learn to live with the gaping, Ice T-starring, Cannon-produced, breakdancing ninja movie-shaped hole in our collective souls.
Oh what could have been!