"Dare" by Stan Bush

      Hello Radio Dial fans! I’m gonna have to geek out here (more than usual) over the Dial’s latest selection. As you all should know, I'm passionate about several things – top 40 music of the 70s and 80s (obviously), classic video games, amateur astronomy, and my favorite toy line from my childhood, the Transformers. Something about those shape-shifting warring mechanoids from Cybertron ignited my imagination more than any other science fiction franchise, and they continue to interest me today.

As this month marks the 30th anniversary of the theatrical release of 1986’s Transformers: the Movie, The Dial is bringing you one of our favorite cuts from the soundtrack of that film, a tune played throughout the movie to punctuate action and add to the uplifting feel of the scenes it was featured in. Let us proudly introduce “Dare”, by Orlando, Florida’s own Stan Bush.

“Sometimes when your hopes have all been shattered, there’s nowhere to turn. You wonder how you keep going…”

An inspiring song about digging deep and finding the power within yourself, “Dare” belongs to a similar wheelhouse as Survivor's two “Rocky” themes (“Eye of the Tiger” and “Burning Heart”), John Parr’s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)”, Irene Cara’s “Flashdance (What A Feeling)”, and the Karate Kid extract “You're the Best” by Joe Esposito, every last one of which were pulled from movie soundtracks.

Unlike these other songs, however, Dare was recorded by a lower profile artist, and was attached to a movie which appealed to a niche market audience , so not many music fans outside of ‘80s kids and sci-fi fans know of the track. Additionally, “Dare” never had an official music video, nor was it ever released to radio, and as such, never charted on the hot 100.

However, Bush’s other contribution to the soundtrack, the unofficial theme song “The Touch”, has gone on to become a much referenced pop culture artifact, appearing in multiple TV shows, video games, and movies, even those outside of the Transformers franchise, including a version sung purposely off-key by Mark Wahlberg in the very different film “Boogie Nights”.

“Think of all the things that really matter, and the chances you’ve earned… the fire in your heart is growing.”

While I recognize that “Dare” sounds rather dated with its power pop/rock sound, and guitar and keyboard heavy arrangement, Stan’s tune still gets us going here at the home office. Especially the Radio Dial kids, both of whom were raised on old school Transformers and know their Starscream from their Skywarp, if you know what I’m sayin’.

Personally, whenever I hear “Dare”, I am reminded of the fact that the Transformers movie came out when I was very ill in the hospital. I recall watching the movie trailers on the TV in my hospital room, and I couldn’t wait to get better so I could go to the theatre and see it. Finally seeing Optimus Prime and Megatron on the big screen about 2 weeks later was the ultimate prize for getting better and it was well worth the wait. It was also the first movie I saw in the theater by myself, which was a huge deal for me. This of course, was back when you could let your 12 year old go to a movie alone and NOT be paranoid that something would happen to him. Those were simpler times, indeed.

“You can fly, if you try, leaving the past behind… heaven only knows what you might find.”

So, I invite you to step back three decades to when heroic Autobots battled evil Decepticons on the big screen (before all this modern day Michael Bay nonsense), and Stan Bush’s “Dare” spoke to the hearts of similar ‘80s kids like myself. The “video” below is a fan made accompaniment of various clips from the original ‘84-‘87 animated series and from the movie itself. (Normally I don’t care for fan made videos, but if you’re a Transformers fan, this one is great fun for the sheer number of characters featured. You’re welcome.)

Kyle’s Radio Dial… the more you listen, the MORE you remember!

“Dare! Dare to believe you can survive… you hold the future in your hand.

Dare! Dare to keep all your dreams alive. It’s time to take a stand. You can win if you DARE!”