In 1986, long before Transformers was a live action blockbuster franchise from Michael Bay, there was an animated movie about Optimus Prime and his fellow morphing robot vehicles based on the popular cartoon TV series. This summer, Reigning Phoenix Music and toy company Hasbro are celebrating 40 years of The Transformers: The Movie with a re-recorded version of the soundtrack. As if taking a page from High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, they're calling it The Transformers: The Movie: The Soundtrack: The Reformatted Edition.
The original soundtrack included "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Dare To Be Stupid," a score from synth-based composer Vince DiCola (Staying Alive, Rocky IV), and metal bands Lion, NRG, and Kick Axe, here performing under the name Spectre General. Perhaps the most noteworthy performer on the list besides Weird Al is Stan Bush, who contributed his iconic, extremely '80s signature song "The Touch" (also famously recorded by Dirk Diggler) as well as a second song called "Dare."
Bush is back for the 40th anniversary soundtrack with re-recorded versions of "The Touch" and "Dare." He'll be backed by Knights Of Unicron, the trio of Matt Harvey, Gus Rios, and Ross Sewage, who have re-created all 10 songs from the original soundtrack. Metal icon Sebastian Bach pops up on the re-recording of Spectre General's "Nothin’s Gonna Stand in Our Way." Other participants include Death Angel's Mark Osegueda, Wind Rose's Francesco Cavalieri, Unleash The Archers' Brittney Slayes, and Torch (not Torche).
Below, hear Bush's "reformatted" version of "The Touch," along with the original and the Boogie Nights version.
The Transformers: The Movie: The Soundtrack: The Reformatted Edition is out 7/24. Pre-order it here or here.
