Yes, you read that correctly. Van Halen’s 1991 mega-hit Right Now was originally featured in the 1984 Cameron Crowe movie The Wild Life. The Wild Life is unofficially a sequel to Fast Times At Ridgemont High, since it was also written by Crowe, and follow high school teens in Southern California. It even stars Sean Penn’s brother, Chris Penn, along with Eric Stoltz, Lea Thompson, Rick Moranis, and more.
While I’d never heard of this movie before today, the most astounding thing I’ve learned is that Eddie Van Halen did the soundtrack. He wrote all the music you hear behind the scenes while actors are talking etc. He also has an instrumental song on there called Donut City, which has a very similar bass line to Loverboy’s Turn Me Loose, but that’s not what we’re hear to talk about. (Listen to Donut City in the video posted below and check the bass line.)
What blew my mind is that the iconic piano intro from Right Now, released in 1991 on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, is part of the soundtrack for The Wild Life!
Check out the Right Now intro first:
Now check out some of the background music from the movie, even including character dialogue from whatever scene they were doing:
I’m sure this is just one of hundreds of times Eddie’s music has shown up in different forms in different media. For instance, as I’ve pointed out before the outro guitar riff from Jump, became the intro riff to Top Of The World. Time for me to start digging around for more EVH easter eggs!
Now dig the bass lick on Eddie’s Donut City: