The Heat Is On (Glenn Frey song)


"The Heat Is On" is a song written by Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Forsey, and recorded by Glenn Frey for the American film Beverly Hills Cop. The song was published as a single and as the sixth track of the album Beverly Hills Cop: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack.

History

According to Frey, he was invited to an early screening of the film, and about two months later was sent a demo of a song written by Keith Forsey and Harold Faltermeyer to be used in the film to see if he was interested in singing the song. Frey agreed, and recorded the vocal part in one day. The following day he played the guitar and recorded the background vocals, and was paid $15,000 for the work.
The mid-to-up-tempo recording featured a steady drumbeat, synthesizer, and guitar, with a repeated saxophone riff framing the lyrical message. The guitar solo is played by Frey himself.
The song became a major hit single, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1985, behind "Can't Fight This Feeling" by REO Speedwagon. It was also popular internationally, reaching No. 2 on the Australian Singles Chart in 1985 and gaining peaks of No. 8 on the Canadian Singles Chart and No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart. In the United States, it is the highest charting solo single by any member of the Eagles.
The music video for the song received heavy MTV airplay. It showed a film editor assembling scenes for Beverly Hills Cop while Frey and a band played the song in the adjacent room, with action scenes from the movie then directly interspersed. Among the musicians shown in the video is saxophone player Beverly Dahlke-Smith and Frey's long-time drummer, Michael Huey.
The recording subsequently appeared on Frey's albums Glenn Frey Live and Solo Collection as well as on some various-artists "top hits" collections.

Track listings

Personnel

Weekly chart Peak
position
Australia 2

Year-end chart Rank
Australia22
Canada65
US Top Pop Singles 19