Revisiting the Music of "A Goofy Movie"
Because let’s be honest, that soundtrack had no business slapping so hard.
If you’re like me, a late 90s baby, you got the VHS tape or watched it at 5am on Disney Channel. Whatever the case may be, I think most of us Millennial and Gen Z kids can agree, “A Goofy Movie” was nothing short of iconic. And the film brought us some incredible music. So today, I’m bringing you some history and fun facts from the film.
Ready? Let’s go!
There were three different opening songs written before "After Today"
“Jack Feldman (NEWSIES) and Tom Snow (FOOTLOOSE) wrote at least three different opening songs in order to get to 'After Today'.” I was pretty demanding that the opening not only melodically pop, but the lyrics deliver a lot of plot information.” Director Kevin Lima tweeted. Is it just me or does the opening song sound like 'The Jellicle Song' from "Cats"? Just me? Cause I’m the only person on Earth who actually likes "Cats"? That’s a different article Rio…MOVING ON!
Pete had a song that was cut
“In an early version of the story reels, Goofy had a Pete induced nightmare told in a song called 'Born to Be Bad'.” Lima shared on Twitter. Who else wants to hear this cut track?
I wonder if it sounded anything like this:
Powerline was inspired by a few real musicians
"Powerline [(the fictional popstar from the film)] was conceived as a combination of Prince, Michael Jackson and...Bobby Brown.” Tweeted Lima “There's been a rumor for a long time that he's based on Bobby Brown and that Bobby Brown actually recorded some of the tracks for the film. It's not true at all. He never recorded anything as far as I know.” He told Slash Film. The title 'I2I' is compared to Prince’s 'I Would Die 4 U'. In fact…
Some of Prince’s producers and musical collaborators were involved in the creation of the Powerline songs
“I was at Capitol Records at a session for another project, and I heard this singer singing in another studio. The singer was Tevin Campbell. I said, ‘Oh my God.’ Nobody really knew who Tevin Campbell was – some people, but he certainly wasn't as popular as he became. I loved the voice...he was Prince's protege and he was discovered by Quincy Jones. So I knew that in order to get Tevin Campbell to say yes to sing the songs, the tracks themselves had to be at that level. So who's in the Prince camp? Maybe if I can get ahold of Prince's producer, that would do the trick...sure enough, that was David Z” Bambi Moe (Music Associate Producer) told Slash Film.
David Z (Producer, Recorder, and Mixer) told Slash Film “I worked with Prince from the beginning. I did 'Purple Rain', I did 'Kiss,' I did a lot of his biggest things. I think [the filmmakers] trusted me, and they wanted me to give it a treatment, and that's what we did.” and the rest is history! He and Paul Peterson (collaborator) wrote 'I2I' and 'Stand Out'.
Rosie Gaine’s who was in Prince’s group, provided the female voice on the track
Gaine provided the female vocals on 'I2I'!
One animator was so obsessed with Paula Abdul he was booted off the project
“I had this one animator, he kept pulling out Paula Abdul videos [as reference]…I finally had to boot him off the crew because I couldn't get any work out of him. He was so obsessed with Paula Abdul.” - Steve More (Storyboard Artist and Sequence Director). Luckily, More brought the unnamed gentleman on for another Goofy themed project, “Goof Troop”, and a few others.
I2I was featured on American Idol
Uché from American Idol sang 'I2I' on Disney Night back in 2019 and none of the judges knew the song. The audacity! Here’s his stellar performance that I still think about daily:
And lastly, this past year, Donald Glover’s hit FX series “Atlanta” dedicated an entire episode to the making of “A Goofy Movie”
"A complete one-off that can be enjoyed without any knowledge of the show or its characters, 'The Goof Who Sat by the Door' is a 35-minute mocumentary about Thomas Washington, a fictitious Black animator who is mistakenly made CEO of The Walt Disney Company and uses his newfound authority to make 'the Blackest movie of all time,' Disney’s 1995 fan favorite A Goofy Movie". - (Jamie Lang, Cartoon Brew).
It’s hard to believe that “A Goofy Movie” turns 28 this year and yet, I haven’t aged a day…
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