"Mighty Wings" is a song by American rock band

Cheap Trick Cheap Trick is an American rock band formed in Rockford, Illinois in 1970 by guitarist Rick Nielsen, bassist Tom Petersson, lead vocalist Robin Zander and drummer Bun E. Carlos. Their work bridged elements of '60s pop rock, guitar pop, '70s har ...

, which was released in 1986 as the third single from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

of the film ''

Top Gun ''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired ...

''. It was written by

Harold Faltermeyer Hans Hugo Harold Faltermeyer (born 5 October 1952) is a German musician, composer and record producer. Faltermeyer is best known for composing the " Axel F" theme for the feature film '' Beverly Hills Cop'', an influential synth-pop hit in the ...

and Mark Spiro, and produced by Faltermeyer. Despite the commercial success of the ''Top Gun'' soundtrack, and unlike the four other singles culled from the album, "Mighty Wings" failed to make an appearance in the ''Billboard'' chart. It was the third of five singles to be released from the soundtrack, following " Danger Zone" by

Kenny Loggins Kenneth Clark "Kenny" Loggins (born January 7, 1948) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His early songs were recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in 1970, which led to seven albums recorded with Jim Messina (musician), Jim Mess ...

and " Take My Breath Away" by

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. In the film ''

'', the music (without vocals) is played in the first training session at Miramar, while the full version with vocals is played in the end credits.

Background

Shortly prior to the song's release, guitarist Rick Nielsen said in an interview with MTV's Alan Hunter: "We just finished a song in the studio last night with Harold Faltermeyer, recording a song for his movie called "Top Gun" which has

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...

in it, and so the song we did was called "Mighty Wings". We didn't write it but we did it, and it sounds pretty cool. That's coming out this summer."

Release

"Mighty Wings" was originally due to be released as the second single from ''Top Gun''. However, it was announced in ''

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'' that it had been pushed back in favour of "Take My Breath Away". "Mighty Wings" was released by Columbia in late June and issued on 7" vinyl in the US, Canada, Japan and South Africa. The B-side, "Dog Fight #3", is an instrumental written and performed by Faltermeyer. The instrumental version of the song, titled "Jester Flying", was made available when Faltermeyer's complete score for the film was finally released in 2024.

Critical reception

Upon release, ''

'' listed the song as a pop pick and stated: "Feverish fast-pulse rock from ''Top Gun''; inclusion in the smash soundtrack should push the band towards its strongest chart bid in years." In his 2017 book ''Still Competition: The Listener's Guide to Cheap Trick'', Robert Lawson described the song as "a piece of soulless, synth-driven corporate rock". In a 2022 retrospective, Brian Truitt of ''

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'' ranked "Mighty Wings" as the sixth best song on the ''Top Gun'' soundtrack. He described the song as a "synth-rocker" which, despite providing a "very different outing" for Cheap Trick, still "manages to showcase some of the band's signature sound even with lyrics about fighter jets".

In popular culture

The song has been credited as an influence on Ken's theme music from the ''

Street Fighter II is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcade game, arcades. It is the second installment in the ''Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's ''Street Fighter (video game), Street Fighter''. Designed by Yoshiki O ...

'' video game. Composer Yoko Shimomura stated: "I watched the movie before I composed the song, so I can't deny I may have been inspired subconsciously. But I didn't go into it thinking, 'OK I'm gonna make this song sound like 'Mighty Wings'."

Track listing

;7" single #"Mighty Wings" – 3:50 #"Dog Fight #3" – 2:39 ;7" single (Japanese one-sided release) #"Mighty Wings" – 3:50 ;7" single (US promo) #"Mighty Wings" – 3:50 #"Mighty Wings" – 3:50 ;12" single (US promo) #"Mighty Wings" – 3:50 #"Mighty Wings" – 3:50

Personnel

;Cheap Trick *

Robin Zander Robin Wayne Zander (born January 23, 1953) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Cheap Trick, but is also a solo artist. Zander was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 as a ...

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar *

Rick Nielsen Richard Alan Nielsen (born December 22, 1948) is an American musician who is the lead guitarist, primary songwriter, and leader of the rock band Cheap Trick. He is well-known for his numerous custom-made guitars from Hamer Guitars, including hi ...

– lead guitar, backing vocals *

Jon Brant Jonathan Edward "Jon" Brant (born February 20, 1955, in Chicago) is an American musician and business owner, best known as the bass player for the band Cheap Trick from 1982 to 1987. Brant was a founding member of the Chicago band D'Thumbs with ...

– bass, backing vocals *

Bun E. Carlos Brad M. Carlson (born June 12, 1950), better known by the stage name Bun E. Carlos, is the original drummer for American rock band Cheap Trick. He recorded and performed with the band from 1973 to 2010. Carlos was inducted into the Rock and Roll ...

– drums, percussion ;Additional personnel *

– producer * Brian Reeves – engineer * Michael Dilbeck – executive producer

References

{{authority control 1986 songs 1986 singles Cheap Trick songs Songs from Top Gun Columbia Records singles Songs written by Harold Faltermeyer Songs written by Mark Spiro Song recordings produced by Harold Faltermeyer Synth rock songs