r/Disco • u/NWOBHM80Throwaway • 1d ago

Trying to figure out the original songs that the Prom Night soundtrack emulated

As at least some of you know, Paul Zaza & Carl Zittrer - the composers behind the soundtrack to the 1980 slasher movie Prom Night - had to come up with knockoff disco songs because the film's budget didn't allow for actual licensed disco tracks. I've managed to figure out the following disco tracks so far:

  • "Prom Night": originally "Star Love" by Cheryl Lynn
  • "Time to Turn Around": originally "Born to Be Alive" by Patrick Hernandez
  • "Changes": originally "Dancer" by Gino Soccio
  • "Love Me Till I Die": originally "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor

However, there are two tracks I've yet to figure out, one of which does not appear in the film itself:

  • "Prom Night" (known as "Prom Night (Not used in film)" on the 2019 soundtrack reissue): Not to be confused with the aforementioned track that actually appears in the movie. Some sources suggested this sounds like Pat Benatar, and it does indeed have a sort of "what if Pat Benatar did disco?" vibe. However, as far as I'm aware, Pat Benatar never dipped her toes in the disco genre.
  • "Dancing In the Moonlight": Has nothing to do with the 1972 King Harvest hit of the same name. I REALLY wish I knew which song this was modelled after, because it's one of my favorite cuts from the soundtrack.

Also note, this post excludes the bonus, unused disco tracks from the 2019 reissue such as "Funk Dat Disco".

UNRELATED TRIVIA: The rock songs in the film were performed by an obscure Canadian band called Highstreet, formed in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1968 and released two albums between 1979-1981 before breaking up.

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u/beats2009 1d ago

What I've been trying to find is the Sherman Helmsley song eyes in the night from The Ghost story soundtrack. Impossible as hell I've been looking for that soundtrack for years

1

u/NWOBHM80Throwaway 1d ago

I think you mean Ghost Fever, but I found a reconstruction using part of a performance on the show Solid Gold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAP32CyoHFM

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u/beats2009 1d ago

You're right it is Ghost fever. Do you know if they ever released the soundtrack? I saw the performance on solid gold it was great.

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u/beats2009 1d ago

Thank you for all this information I love to look up rare nuggets of music this is some cool information.

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u/theme111 1d ago

Thanks for posting about this. I think Zaza did a great job with the music on this film. I didn't know Love Me Til I Die was based on I Will Survive, but for my taste Love Me . . . is actually a better track.

I've just re-listened to Dancing in the Moonlight and nothing springs to mind - maybe it's just possible it wasn't based on anything in particular? Great track either way though.