Maniac (Michael Sembello song)

"Maniac"
Song

"Maniac" is a synthpop song performed by Michael Sembello. The song was used in the 1983 film Flashdance.

"Maniac" appears during an early scene in Flashdance and is used as the backing track of a montage sequence showing Alex (Jennifer Beals) training strenuously in her converted warehouse.

The song was included in Flashdance after Sembello's wife accidentally included it on a tape sent to executives at Paramount Pictures who were looking for music to use in the film.

Charts and awards

"Maniac" reached number one in the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks beginning on September 10, 1983 and is one of the highest-grossing songs ever written for a film. In addition to producing "Maniac", Phil Ramone produced the song that would dethrone it from the top spot, Billy Joel's "Tell Her About It". The Original Soundtrack of Flashdance won the 1984 Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score Written for A Motion Picture or a Television Special.

The song was nominated for an Academy Award. Another song from the film, "Flashdance... What a Feeling" performed by Irene Cara, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1984.

Other appearances

In film, the song is featured in Tommy Boy (1995), when Chris Farley gets hosed at a gas station; it also features in American Wedding (2003), when Stifler dances to it in a dance-off competition in a gay nightclub. In TV, it appears in the The Simpsons episode "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" when, during a walk in the park, Groundskeeper Willie is seen performing a version of the song and dance routine. In the first episode of Punky Brewster, Punky herself dances to and sings the song. In music, the band Evergreen Terrace covered the song for their 2004 cover album Writer's Block. Greek power metal band Firewind covered the song for their album The Premonition.