ABC could have been featured in the movie soundtrack for 1986’s ‘Top Gun’ with Tom Cruise, but lead singer Martin Fry shot down the idea -- because he thought the movie was a bomb.
Fry, the voice behind ABC’s 80’s classics like “The Look of Love” and “When Smokey Sings" told Britain's Mirror that producers approached him to write the theme, and also showed him an early cut. He recalled," We were invited to see a movie in LA that they were looking for music for. I remember saying, ‘It’s a film about planes, it’s so jingoistic, it’s never going to take off...”
He added, "Six months later the film was out and I was sitting in the cinema thinking, ' [Bleep], this is that film.’ It was Top Gun. Rank stupidity is a big part of being in a band.”
But instead, the glory went to Berlin's "Take My Breath Away," which went on to earn an Oscar for Best Original Song.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]