Who Doesn’t Love the ’80s? A band who didn’t get their big break does decades later.

GUEST POST by Lily Clayton Hansen

What if you were scrolling through the Internet one day and realized a song you wrote and recorded in 1987 was now on the soundtrack of a Hollywood film?

That is exactly what happened to composer, producer, and Professor Craig Brandwein whose eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he stumbled across the Dennis Quaid flick “Sovereign” on IMDb.

Craig Brandwein | Photo: Center Sound Productions

“I was surfing the internet and literally came across the film, featuring one of my favorite actors by the way, with the song ‘But Not Alone’ by my ’80s band Coda on the soundtrack,” recalls Brandwein. “It was just so crazy to see that the producers, who had been searching for authentic ’80s rock music, were engaged enough to put it in a pivotal scene.”

It wasn’t the first time the Emmy-nominated producer and composer had touched the film world as he has worked on twelve independent projects over the years. However, it was mind boggling to see that a song he co-wrote with his band, vocalist Mary Brandwein, bassist Jeff Parrett, and drummer Jeff Pope on drums had made it back into the mainstream after being shelved. How the fun, energetic, and danceable track, compared to the likes of Heart, made it into a serious film about anti-government extremists is still beyond Brandwein. Although he sure is glad for serendipity.

"As I've told my students, you are beyond lucky to have myriad platforms to put your music on because you never known if a song you wrote a million years ago that got passed on by major labels could get some traction because the 80’s are back again,” says the professor of Music Technology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Coda was a 1980s mood-boosting rock band replete with mile-high hair, hailing from Long Island, New York. Though the group never quite made it, they did record ten songs at A&R Recording Studios in NYC. While they were in talks with major labels at this time, a deal never panned out, and the tracks were smartly put aside for other projects. "These were the days of cassettes and burned CDs, which was big-time tech in the ’80s,” laughs Brandwein, “because once a label passed on you, there wasn't the Internet to put your indie music out there.”

Brandwein sees the experience as ammo to dive further into the film industry. Since his unexpected success he offered his catalogue for the Douglas Ray Jaffe Project, a collaboration with an intellectual Alabama-based songwriter, philosopher, and poet, royalty-free to film students. The catalogue spans multiple genres which the pair see as a potential silver bullet. Similar to how “Sovereign” gave Coda fresh steam, Brandwein believes the sky is the limit if they can convince student filmmakers to use the catalogue in their work. “While I can assure you that Coda won’t be touring any time soon, I am just thrilled that it will live on in people’s memories through movies,” says Brandwein. “This whole experience is a great excuse for guys like me to start throwing songs out there and see what happens."

Did you know about Coda? Have you seen them perform? Do you have an ’80s Cinderella story to share? We want to know!

Thanks much to Lily of PLA Media for this guest post and blessings to all,
Tami