"Remo's Theme (What If)" by Tommy Shaw

Song#:  2484
Date:  10/05/1985
Debut:  90
Peak:  81
Weeks:  5
Genre:  Rock, Soundtrack



Pop Bits:  Shaw's first post-Styx solo outing Girl with Guns did fairly well. It got to #50 thanks to the title track getting to #6 at Rock (#33 Pop). As he was readying his follow-up album, Shaw got the opportunity to contribute a song to the soundtrack for the action film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. He wrote "Remo's Theme (What If)" and the song's subtitle became the name of his second album. It was issued out as a single prior to the release of the film and Shaw's album. It made a small dent in the Rock chart getting to #18, but it couldn't dig itself out of the Pop chart basement. It probably didn't help that the film was a box office dud and that there was no official soundtrack album issued at the time. Shaw's second single from the album, "Jealousy," couldn't get on any chart and with that the album came-n-went peaking at a low #87.

ReduxReview:  This song starts off with a good riff and an energetic "hey!" from Shaw and I like how the bridge sounds a little anxious like it is going to lead to something big, bold, and hooky. Yet the chorus ends up being a letdown. It doesn't match the intensity of the rest of the song and the main melody starts high and sinks to low note and it feels like it just drifts off to nowhere like an unfinished thought. It weakens what is otherwise a pretty peppy track.  

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Actor Fred Ward took on the lead role in Remo Williams, which was based on paperback book series The Destroyer. The film was supposed to be the first of several based on the books, but plans were quickly scrapped when the movie tanked at the box office. The movie cost a reported $40 million to make and it could only manage to recoup a mere $14 million in ticket sales. The books, however, continued to be consistent sellers over the years. The original book, Created, The Destroyer, was first published in 1971. Since then there have been over 150 books written for the series. As of this posting date, they are still going with Continental Divide being issued in January, 2018.

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