When Steven Spielberg and Bob Zemeckis approached Huey Lewis and the News with a request for a song for their film Back to the Future, they weren't exactly over the moon about it. In fact, the band initially thought that writing a song for a movie would be a daunting task, and Lewis himself wasn't keen on writing something called "Back to the Future". The offer was eventually accepted, with the caveat that if they didn't have anything new ready, they'd just send over their next creation.
Chris Hayes, the band's guitarist, had already started working on a chord progression for what would become "The Power of Love", and Lewis was running through his jogging routine when the lyrics came to him. The demo sent to Spielberg wasn't quite upbeat enough, however, prompting Lewis to revisit the song with the rest of the band.
Johnny Colla's input proved invaluable in shaping the arrangement, particularly in simplifying the bridge chords and coming up with a memorable three-chord intro that set the tone for the entire track. Lewis himself delivered his lead vocals in just a couple of takes.
When "The Power of Love" was released, it became the most added song to radio stations in its first week, and was playing non-stop on heavy rotation. What's interesting is that the film itself came out relatively quickly – just nine weeks after principal photography wrapped up. As a result, the studio was eager for the movie to hit theaters as soon as possible.
At the time of its release, Huey Lewis and the News were already a well-established band with a string of hits under their belt. This new song gave them an even bigger boost, especially in Europe where the film's success allowed them to tour extensively. The biggest advantage to this whole situation was that "The Power of Love" became the band's first No 1 hit – and it ended up being a huge integral part of the Back to the Future franchise.
In retrospect, though, there's no connection between the song and the film. Lewis remembers reading through the screenplay and thinking it wouldn't be good – little did he know! The end result was that "The Power of Love" went on to become one of Huey Lewis and the News' most iconic songs, with a lasting impact not only on their own career but also on popular culture as a whole.
Chris Hayes, the band's guitarist, had already started working on a chord progression for what would become "The Power of Love", and Lewis was running through his jogging routine when the lyrics came to him. The demo sent to Spielberg wasn't quite upbeat enough, however, prompting Lewis to revisit the song with the rest of the band.
Johnny Colla's input proved invaluable in shaping the arrangement, particularly in simplifying the bridge chords and coming up with a memorable three-chord intro that set the tone for the entire track. Lewis himself delivered his lead vocals in just a couple of takes.
When "The Power of Love" was released, it became the most added song to radio stations in its first week, and was playing non-stop on heavy rotation. What's interesting is that the film itself came out relatively quickly – just nine weeks after principal photography wrapped up. As a result, the studio was eager for the movie to hit theaters as soon as possible.
At the time of its release, Huey Lewis and the News were already a well-established band with a string of hits under their belt. This new song gave them an even bigger boost, especially in Europe where the film's success allowed them to tour extensively. The biggest advantage to this whole situation was that "The Power of Love" became the band's first No 1 hit – and it ended up being a huge integral part of the Back to the Future franchise.
In retrospect, though, there's no connection between the song and the film. Lewis remembers reading through the screenplay and thinking it wouldn't be good – little did he know! The end result was that "The Power of Love" went on to become one of Huey Lewis and the News' most iconic songs, with a lasting impact not only on their own career but also on popular culture as a whole.
Meanwhile, Huey Lewis is out jogging thinking he's gonna write some deep lyrics... and we get "The Power of Love". I mean, it's a solid song, but it's not exactly like they wrote it for the movies 
What if they had just sent over that chord progression as is? Would the film have been worse off? Maybe they should've gone with the original demo... who knows? Anyway, at least we got an iconic song out of it 
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. And can we talk about Johnny Colla's input? He totally helped shape the arrangement into what it is today! 
. I mean, they were all over the moon (not literally, but you feel me) when that final product came out and it became a No 1 hit 
. It's crazy to think that "The Power of Love" was like, this random song they wrote for a movie, but now it's iconic! 
. But Chris Hayes had that chord progression locked down and Johnny Colla's input on the arrangement is everything 
. It's wild to think that song was released like 9 weeks after filming wrapped up, it's no wonder it was playing heavy rotation radio 
. And can you believe 'The Power of Love' became their first No 1 hit 
? I guess Spielberg and Zemeckis knew what they were doing with this collaboration 
and I was listening to "The Power of Love" on repeat, thinking about how it's still my favorite song in Back to the Future 
. And speaking of roads, have you seen those new self-driving cars they're testing out in Silicon Valley? Crazy tech stuff 
. Anyway, back to "The Power of Love"... it's amazing how it came together, isn't it? 
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The Power of Love is still fire after all these years 
The song is still so catchy and upbeat today, it's amazing how much impact it had back then. And can you believe it was originally rejected by the band because they thought writing a movie song would be too daunting? 
I think that just shows how open they were to new experiences and opportunities.
And it's so cool that "The Power of Love" became their first No 1 hit – I'm sure they're still beaming with pride over that one! 
steven spielberg & bob zemeckis must have known what they were doing bringing huey lewis and the news on board i mean who wouldn't want that iconic guitar riff from johnny colla 
anyway, it's amazing to think about how much of an impact that song had on not just the band but pop culture as a whole 
!!! Chris Hayes' guitar riff is EVERYTHING 
Lewis himself is a total rockstar for killin' that vocal part in just 2 takes 
It's amazing how it all came together and ended up becoming one of their biggest hits - "The Power of Love" is literally iconic now 