How Ben Affleck’s 1984 Playlist Inspired ‘Air’ Movie’s Soundtrack

Air music supervisor Andrea von Foerster received a music playlist from Ben Affleck titled 1984. It was literally my childhood, she says of the song collection that featured classic 80s hits including Africa by Toto, Candy Girl by New Edition and Jump by Van Halen.

The Affleck-helmed film, set in that same year, navigates Nikes bid to land NBA player Michael Jordan and explores his groundbreaking sponsorship deal with the company.

That playlist from the director and star of the film was the springboard for the 23 needle drops and 18 score cues Air features. In curating the films needle drops, von Foerster wasnt just using music to play against what was on screen the music was used as a showcase to tell a story, she says.

Her goal was to use music from the year authentically, visually and musically where the lyrics would often match what was being seen on-screen. Dire Straits to Bruce Springsteen were some of the artists whose songs von Foerster secured to thread the story together. Cyndi Laupers ballad Time After Time is featured as Matt Damons character Sonny is waiting to learn whether Jordan will sign is played.

von Foerster explains the film didnt have a big budget for its music, so much of compiling the soundtrack was asking artists and music publishers to trust the film and its story. She says, Time After Time was in the script, so we went for it, but we did not have the money that people think we had. It really was about trust and telling people this would be a great film. von Foerster adds, Apparently, Cyndi Lauper is a fan of Viola Davis. So she said, Yes.'

von Foerster walks through how Air landed its iconic tunes, and shares insight into what didnt make the cut.

Money for Nothing Dire Straits Originally, we had Dirty Water by Don Henley, and then we tried for Boys of Summer for the first main title. It did clear, but we didnt get it in time.

Money for Nothing came up right after that, and you cant do better than that. The fact that it plays under the logos and hits guitar when we start picture was perfect. But, its not from 1984, its from 85, but its such an iconic song we felt it was too strong to let it go.

Beverly Hills Cop Theme Axel F Harold Faltermeyer That was the heavy lift on this film. It was really hard, because most of the score from the 80s has been sold. So, it was about trying to track down who owns what. Sometimes its owned by a company in France and sometimes its one person. But we got it. The big credit for this goes to William Goldenberg, our editor, and Cory Milano our music editor for sourcing a lot of those score cues.

You cant set a time better than using a cue from a movie that everybody remembers. Harolds score from Beverly Hills Cop is so well known. We use Axel Fs theme for such a short time, but its excellent and it does its job so quickly.

Shop Territory Tangerine Dream We didnt have a composer so we licensed seven cues by Tangerine Dream, the German electronic music band. We had two spots that we needed to figure out, so we hired Paul Haslinger, a former member of the band, to compose music for those moments.

Born in the USA Bruce Springsteen We didnt have Born in the USA playing in the film. The scene where Jason Batemans Rob Strasser explains the songs misconstrued meaning to Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) character was in there, but the song wasnt scripted as a needle drop.

Since that and Run DMCs My Adidas are name-checked, we had to get them. Bruce Springsteen had sold his catalog two years ago. So, I dealt with Sony Publishing and the label. They saw the film and said, This is something that we want to be a part of they also put out our soundtrack. But thank goodness to Sony. I dont know if its Bruce who actually approves the use or if its just managementall I know is I worked a lot with Sony and it worked out.

I dont know what we would have done if it didnt work out because we didnt have a backup. There was no plan b.

Jump (For My Love) The Pointer Sisters The Pointer Sisters Jump (For my Love) is what was actually played at Nikes HQ in the scene when Michael Jordan visits. Its whats playing on the screen. Instead, we ended up using Dan Hartmans I Can Dream About You, and that was a last-minute change. That change was more about why a song like that just wouldnt appeal to a sports figure. Dans song is a little mellow and it worked out better.

Jump by Van Halen was a great fit, but we couldnt get an answer back on that. In my script, we had Nobody Told Me by John Lennon. We didnt license Lennon. We knew it would be too expensive so we didnt go for it..

Listen to the soundtrack below.