Songoftheday 6/18/15 - It's a given L.A law someone's faster on the draw, no matter where you hide I'm comin' after you...

"Shakedown" - Bob Seger
from the album Beverly Hills Cop II (Original Soundtrack) (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's SOTD comes from Detroit rock veteran Bob Seger, who had picked up a pair of top-20 pop hits in 1986 from his American Storm album with the title track and truck-shilling ballad "Like A Rock". A year later, for the Eddie Murphy flick Beverly Hills Cop II, Seger filled in for Glenn Frey (who had a #2 hit with "The Heat Is On" from the first in the series) who had voice issues for the single "Shakedown". Co-written with Harold Faltemeyer (who scored a top-5 pop hit from BHC with "Axel F") and producer Keith Forsey, "Shakedown" was clearly a Frey-intended vehicle with its flashy synth runs and drum machines, though Seger's growl gave the song a different edge in the result...

"Shakedown", while totally the most un-Segeresque of Seger singles, became his sole #1 pop hit in August of 1987, while topping the Mainstream Rock radio chart in Billboard for four weeks. The single was nominated for an Oscar for best song (losing to Dirty Dancing's "I've Had The Time Of My Life"). Internationally, while the song went to the top in Canada, and went top-10 in Australia, the single didn't even place on the British top-75.

Up tomorrow: Virginia piano man counts his smooches.