Mighty Wings

Background

The "Top Gun" soundtrack peaked at #1 in America, with the first "Top Gun" single "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins being a big success, peaking at #2 on the American Billboard Hot 100 while the following single "Take My Breath Away" by Berlin peaked at #1 and the third single "Heaven in Your Eyes" by Loverboy peaked at #12. As the next release, "Mighty Wings" was chosen to continue the soundtrack's commercial success.

The single failed to make a national impact, failing to chart at all. No further singles were released from the album.

No music video was created for the single, unlike the previous "Top Gun" singles.

The band never performed the song live, and neither has the song appeared on any Cheap Trick release other than the single.

In August 2009, the song was unofficially uploaded to YouTube where it has gained over 800,000 views since.

As indicated by the title, the song's lyrics are related to the film's theme.

During an interview by MTV's Alan Hunter with guitarist Rick Nielsen and vocalist Robin Zander, from Spring Break in Daytona, Nielsen mentioned "Mighty Wings", stating "We just finished a song in the studio last night with Harold Faltermeyer, recording a song for his movie called "Top Gun" which has Tom Cruise in it, and so the song we did was called "Mighty Wings". We didn't write it but we did it, and it sounds pretty cool. That's coming out this summer."

Production

Both tracks were produced by Harold Faltermeyer. Mark Spiro, who co-wrote "Mighty Wings" with Faltermeyer, would later work with Cheap Trick vocalist Robin Zander in writing two tracks; one titled "Walkin' Shoes" which appeared on Zander's 1993 solo album "Robin Zander", whilst the other "Ride the Pony" was written for the solo album but never used, later being recorded by Cheap Trick for their 1994 album "Woke up with a Monster". The song "Walkin' Shoes" was later re-recorded for Zander's unreleased 2010 solo album Countryside Blvd.

The single's cover uses the same film-related background as the other Top Gun singles, with a picture of Cheap Trick as the main image.

In the film Top Gun, the music (without the lyrics) is played in the first training session at Miramar, while the full version with the lyrics played as the credits rolled over the sunset at the end of the film.

Release

The single was released on 7" and 12" vinyl while a promotional 7" and 12" vinyl also exists. The song was not edited for the 7" and 12" vinyl releases, staying as the original edit from the film's soundtrack, lasting a duration of 3:50. The single was released in America and Japan only. It was not given a European release, unlike the three previous songs from the film soundtrack. The Japanese 7" featured different artwork and was only one-sided, with no b-side. The American promotional 7" vinyl was also one-sided, with no b-side.

The b-side "Dog Fight #3" was credited to Faltermeyer as both writer and performer, with the song being an instrumental track, taken from the movie.

Early reports in the Billboard magazine had stated that "Mighty Wings" was due to be the second single from the soundtrack, being pushed back to the third single and finally the fourth.

Popular culture

Although unconfirmed by official sources, "Mighty Wings" beginning riff and guitar arrangement served as base for the composition of Ken's stage theme in the video-game Street Fighter II.

Track listing

1. "Mighty Wings": 3:50
2. "Dog Fight #3": 2:39

1. "Mighty Wings": 3:50

1. "Mighty Wings": 3:50
2. "Dog Fight #3": 2:39

1. "Mighty Wings": 3:50
2. "Dog Fight #3": 2:39

Personnel