Kevin Cronin on Turning Down ‘Top Gun’ Anthem ‘Danger Zone’
Kevin Cronin — and apparently a bunch of other people — were offered the classic tune “Danger Zone” before Kenny Loggins recorded it for the 1986 blockbuster Top Gun.
Cronin touched on how he was offered to record the track in a new interview with WCSX’s Big Jim’s House saying, “First I told my side of the story, and Kenny [Loggins] looked at me like he’d never heard any of that before. Then he told his side of the story, and I’d never heard any of that…I think [the producers of ‘Top Gun’] pitched it to [Jefferson Starship/Starship singer] Mickey Thomas. I keep hearing other singers who go, ‘Oh, yeah, they pitched that to me, too.'”
Obviously, “Danger Zone” was offered to a number of singers before Loggins was tapped to sing the hit. So, why did the REO Speedwagon singer turn it down?
“I heard the demo, and it just didn’t do it for me,” recalls Cronin. “It sounded like a disco song to me, and it didn’t have any of the jangly guitars and vocal harmonies that I kind of like. And I also, honestly, I didn’t think that I could do the song justice, and the fact that Kenny got it…Kenny took a song that if you really strip it down, there’s not a whole lot going on there song-wise. But Kenny took it and just made magic with it, and so it turned out as it should have been. And it’s one of Kenny’s biggest songs. I think he closes his show with it at this point. So I’m glad it worked out that way.”
“Danger Zone” will feel the need for speed once again and is featured in the highly anticipated sequel Top Gun: Maverick, which hits theaters nationwide tomorrow (May 27.)
Top Gun: Maverick – Stills from the Film
