Jackson Browne - "Somebody's Baby"

(Debuted July 31, 1982, Peaked #7, 19 Weeks on the Chart)

Earlier this year, I mentioned that it was the 30th anniversary of the film The Last American Virgin, but I would be ashamed to forget that it's also the 30th anniversary of the film that has set the standard for the era's high school-based films: Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Given a bigger budget, the film launched several careers and had some memorable scenes. In some cases, the scenes were given new life in the future; in one familiar case, the Phoebe Cates swimsuit scene was appropriated to the video for Fountains of Wayne's 2003 hit "Stacy's Mom."

The biggest single from the soundtrack was also the highest-charting single of Jackson Browne's career. That might be a surprise to many, considering "Somebody's Baby" isn't usually the first song fans think of when hearing his name. However, the fact that the song was on the soundtrack (an not a Browne LP at the time) mixed with the fact that it was featured twice in the film to make it a big hit late in the summer.