The 40 Year-Old Virgin [Soundtrack]

The 40 Year-Old Virigin Soundtrack is one of the best combinations of B-Side hits from the 70s and early 80s Pop and Broadway. The sountrack is all the better for not having the standard 70s hits that we've already heard in a dozen movies and commercials. It's brilliant, fun and totally enjoyable.

The Good

If you haven't seen the movie, that's okay. Just looking at the titles of some of the songs included on the soundtrack is sure to elicit a snicker out of you. You can just imagine where songs like "Virgin Man" (Robinson), "Just Got Lucky" (JoBoxers), "Score" (Workman), and "I Got Ants in My Pants" (Brown) fit into the movie. Although, if you're forty years old (or so) today, a lot of these songs may just remind you of your first time. "Heat of the Moment" (Asia) is one of those songs that really defined the early eighties with its synthesizers and harmonious vocals melodies. "I Ran" (Seagulls) is another one of those songs that you'll never shake from that era.

I'm sure that at a lot of proms and weddings circa 1985 people were slow dancing (and possibly getting lucky) to "Never Surrender" (Hart). Thanks to a Starburst commercial, "Hello" (Richie) seems to be making a comeback. For all the parody it gets, it's a great ballad. If you only get this soundtrack for just one song, get it for "Theme From Greatest American Hero (Believe It Or Not)" (Scarbury). There's just something about the cheesy, over-the-top, `I'm on top of the world' anthem that stays with you for years (though you're afraid to admit it).

The Bad

You can live without the cast recordings of "Aquarius" and "The First Time". As with most soundtracks, you really need to see the movie first.

The Verdict

The 40 Year Old Virgin Soundtrack scores (couldn't resist) with a diverse sampling of music that will recall your younger and more awkward years.

The soundtrack is a good mix of familiar and forgotton late-seventies and early-eighties music. For those who remember those days, this is a nice trip down memory lane. For others who don't, probably not. But if you see the movie first, then the cd becomes a lot better (even funnier, as you remember the scenes in the movie they were playing during). Well worth looking for.

ps- The song Andy kareokes to in his house is called "Word Up" and it was by the r&b band Cameo, and it was a Top 10 hit for them in 1986.