Out of Print Gems: The Flowerpot Men - "Beat City"

The soundtrack to John Hughes' classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off is nearly as iconic as the film itself: Yello's "Oh Yeah" as leitmotif; Ferris' ebullient "performances" of "Danke Schoen" and "Twist and Shout" during a massive parade through downtown Chicago; and Dream Academy's hypnotic instrumental cover of the Smith's "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" helping Cameron mind meld with a pointillated child in Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on La Grande Jatte are but a few of the greatest musical moments in the movie. What's ironic is that perhaps the greatest motion picture soundtrack of the 1980s was never released, due to Hughes' concern that the eclectic mix of music offered in the movie wouldn't appeal to anyone as an album.

Prior to the advent of the internet, this meant that many of the songs were nearly impossible to find in any format. The only exception Hughes made was a limited release - 100,000 copies - of a 7" single featuring two songs from the movie that he owned the rights to, a "labor of love" that cost $30 apiece to produce. The A-side, "Beat City," is one of the more memorable songs of the movie, synced up to the high-octane escape in the 1961 Ferarri GT California. It pefectly captures the undescribable elation that comes with freedom from responsibilities, and it's easy to see why Hughes wanted it to be purchasable somewhere. The only other release of the song by the short-lived outfit Flowerpot Men came on a live EP called the Janice Long Session - it's unclear whether this is the same version heard in the movie, or whether the circulating track came from an otherwise forgotten studio session. The "soundtrack" version can be heard below and interested parties can download it here.