A wise man once said, "The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long," which can certainly apply to Vince DiCola's career as a film composer. DiCola only worked on three movies, yet they were all reasonably high-profile. He also performed his scores solely on the synthesizer and simultaneously became another pioneer in electronic film music.
Born in the former Pennsylvania capitol of Lancaster, DiCola moved to Los Angeles in 1981, where fortune would smile upon him. And by fortune, I mean Frank Stallone, who saw him playing keyboards in a club and asked him to audition for his band. The pair hit it off, and soon after, the other Stallone brother - Sylvester - called, asking him to submit songs for a film he was directing.
The film was "Staying Alive," the sequel to John Badham's 1977 smash-hit "Saturday Night Fever." Of course, that film was full of songs by the Bee Gees, and while the follow-up would be too, there was still an opportunity for more music to appear. DiCola initially wrote five songs that were all rejected by Sylvester. However, they were re-inserted when the composer wrote what would become one of the film's signature tracks: 'Far From Over.'
With an evident Hi-NRG influence, 'Far From Over,' sung by Frank Stallone, is a crystal clear template for DiCola's subsequent film work, particularly his first score, and brought him a Golden Globe nomination. The relentless tempo and bright arpeggios, in particular, are like genetic markers and were perfect for the next project Sylvester was directing. Once again, he was going home to Philadelphia.
"Rocky IV" pitted the heroic boxer Rocky Balboa against the Russian machine and symbol of Anti-US, Ivan Drago, but this time he would be without the music of storied composer Bill Conti. Stallone and Conti had supposedly had a lovers tiff, and while Conti would return for V, the director recruited DiCola to help America beat the Russkies. DiCola's talent in songwriting came in handy once again. As well as writing the score, he also co-wrote the John Cafferty cut 'Heart's on Fire,' along with Ed Frugé and Joe "Bean" Esposito, the latter having sung another sports movie anthem the previous summer in the guise of 'You're the Best,' from "The Karate Kid."
DiCola's energetic score for "Rocky IV" was the perfect fit. Being the middle of the '80s and not long after Harold Faltermeyer's 'Axel F' from "Beverly Hills Cop" smashed the charts like a punch from Drago, Stallone went against the grain of the previous orchestral scores in the serious and went full synth, and it was beautiful. Of course, DiCola integrated some of Conti's franchise music, namely 'The Final Bell," that iconic cue that has ended every Rocky picture. But his own material worked gangbusters as well, especially the terrifying robotic music for Dolph Lundgren's Drago and the wacky score for the actual robot belonging to Paulie.
But it's the final third of the picture where DiCola truly makes the film and score his own, first with the training montage to end all training montages and then the final battle. The montage juxtaposes Rocky's training in the Siberian mountains, lifting logs and horse cars, against Drago's high-tech computer-programmed routine, and DiCola introduces a driving melody that feels like a natural progression from 'Gonna Fly Now.' It's the perfect thing to get the audience behind Rocky. The cue for the final fight is appropriately titled 'War,' and it's another anthemic piece that leads Rocky to the hard-won but inevitable victory. The film made more cash than Don King despite poor reviews, but the stupidest thing is that DiCola received a Golden Raspberry award for the worst score, proving once again that the Razzies are garbage.
DiCola's next project also featured machine-like characters, albeit this time actual robots. Hasbro's iconic Transformers toys made it to the big screen with 1986's "Transformers: The Movie," which was animated just like the original cartoon/toy commercial. Like "Rocky IV," DiCola shared musical space with several songs, one of which he would co-write.
"Transformers: The Movie" was and is still famous for featuring Stan Bush's 'The Touch,' a sweeping rock anthem that eventually ended up being performed by porn actor Dirk Diggler in Paul Thomas Anderson's "Boogie Nights." But it was another Bush track that DiCola wrote along with guitarist Scott Shelly, 'Dare,' which appears several times in the film. It also went on to make further pop culture appearances like its sibling, such as in the first season of Netflix's women's wrestling show "Glow."
DiCola's score is a true synth opus. The first thing you hear is a mysterious and ominous theme for villain Unicron (aka Orson Welles). The driving chords and the alien breathing effects efficiently help establish the character as an immediate threat. Along with him, well, eating a planet. Then the Autobot and Decepticon material is set, with a brighter and more melodic soundscape for the heroes. At the same time, the villains' music is much more dissonant, with a gnarly metal motif for the big opening battle.
DiCola also gets to score the death of the franchise's main character, Optimus Prime, and he does so with great aplomb. It's as melancholy as this kind of film gets, and DiCola's music successfully underpins that while including a smidgen of hope with the integration of a sparkling motif for the matrix, the particular gizmo only the Autobot leader carries. It's a much more expansive score than his previous one, and surprisingly that he didn't do any more movies.
Saying that, he did submit demo material to Michael Bay for his 2007 film, but they said they didn't want any association with the previous picture. He's stayed with composing and arranging, instead working on video games such as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan" and "Gran Turismo 5 Prologue." And, of course, he's been hired for Transformers video games, with a particular favourite being "Angry Birds Transformers."
There is still interest in his music, with music from “Rocky IV” and “Transformers: The Movie” having been performed live at the 13th Tenerife International Film Music Festival (Fimucité), having been arranged for orchestra by Leigh Phillips. The “Rocky IV” performances were subsequently released as an album, “Rocky IV: The Symphonic Rock Suite.”
Vince DiCola is still at large today, and with a new "Transformers" picture hitting in 2023, there isn't a better candidate.