1984 Hit Single Ranked 'Best Motivational Song' of All Time Was Originally Written for a No. 1 Movie

In 1984, Glenn Frey was already one of the most famous musicians in the world...as a member of the Eagles. As a solo artist, on the other hand, Frey was yet to have a breakout hit. Thankfully, the year's most popular movie (and an Academy Award-winning songwriter) changed all that.

The producers of the 1984 comedy blockbuster Beverly Hills Cop made a smart choice when they called on Keith Forsey to conjure up a hit song for their movie, which famously starred Eddie Murphy. Former drummer Forsey had already co-written "Flashdance...What a Feeling" for the movie Flashdance, which won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1984.

With Forsey and fellow songwriter Harold Faltermeyer in place, the producers just needed a singer. According to American Songwriter, after inviting Frey to an advance screening of Beverly Hills Cop, they sent him a demo of "The Heat Is On." The rest is music history.

"The Heat Is On" became the breakout hit from The Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Decades later, it's still considered one of the biggest hits of Frey's solo career. The bestselling track was even ranked the #1 "Best Motivational Song" by Time Out New York.

Indeed, the lyrics - along with that "blaring saxophone riff" - definitely get the "adrenaline going," as Time Out put it:

"The heat is on, on the street / Inside your head, on every beat / And the beat's alive deep inside / The pressure's high just to stay alive / 'Cause the heat is on"

Beverly Hills Cop, meanwhile, was the highest-grossing movie of 1984 in the U.S.

Glenn Frey didn't think he would get a song in 'Beverly Hills Cop'

As Frey explained during a 2012 interview with Tavis Smiley, while he was definitely in need of a hit when "The Heat Is On" came along, the caliber of talented individuals who showed up to the advance screening of Beverly Hills Cop was so intimidating he didn't think he had a chance.

"The Eagles are broke up and it's in the middle '80s, and Irving Azoff, my manager, calls me up and said, 'Glenn, you got to come to a screening. We're going to show this movie, this Eddie Murphy movie. It's going to be huge. You've got to get a song in it. Come on,'" Frey recalled.

"So I went to the screening and I'm sitting there...and we're waiting for the movie to start, and I look over my shoulder - Quincy Jones. Okay. I look over my shoulder - Stevie Wonder. Look back over here, it's the Pointer Sisters. I'm sitting there going, 'I'm dead. There's no way I'm getting a song in Beverly Hills Cop.'"

According to Frey, everybody at the screening knew the movie was "going to be huge."

"But I never thought I'd get a song in it," he admitted. "So a month or two goes by and then all of a sudden somebody says, 'Hey, we're going to send you a song. See if you maybe want to sing it. It's written by these guys, Keith Forsey and Harold Faltermeyer, the guys in Munich that do the Donna Summer records are going to send you something. See if you want to sing it."

When Frey heard the demo, he thought it sounded like a "Huey Lewis thing, the saxophone in it. Kind of sounded like something I might do. So I said, 'Okay, I'll do it.'"

"So I met the guys, I came in, I sang it one day, I played guitar and did background vocals the next day and I got a small check, I think 15 grand. I had a little Christmas money, and I was happy."

Not a bad Christmas present, to be sure.

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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 6:47 PM.