And how did he earn this title (which he totally embraces), exactly?
Well, let's go back for a bit.
Soundtrack albums had been a part of the pop culture landscape since at least 1938, when Walt Disney, ever the ingenious businessman, put out an album accompanying his first feature-length animated film, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Since then, albums have risen in the ranks, and in the 1970s and 1980s sometimes eclipsed the films that they were connected to, with breakout collections to "Saturday Night Fever," "Dirty Dancing," "Grease," and "The Big Chill." Some of these were collections of preexisting songs, others featured all new music, and some, like the work a singularly visionary Prince did for "Purple Rain" and "Batman," expertly blurred the line between album and soundtrack.
And, as the 1980s came to a close, Loggins found himself perched atop the soundtrack landscape like he did at the beginning of the decade: singing a really catchy song for a movie that involved an animatronic gopher. This would ultimately be the close of his soundtrack domination, although he has returned to the fold periodically, penning a song for the sugary George Clooney-Michelle Pfeiffer romantic comedy "One Fine Day" ("For the First Time") and working with the legendary Sherman Brothers for "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" from "The Tigger Movie."
Also, in 2016, he wrote and recorded a satirical anti-Trump song called "The Art of the Deal" for Funny or Die. Unsurprisingly, it's amazing and gleefully taps into the sound of his 1980s soundtrack hits. Even after all this time, the highway to the Danger Zone is leading him home.
