The Touch

2011-01-12T14:38:15Z

75.91.88.196: /* Notes */

{{song
|title=The Touch
|image=Tftm1986e.jpg
|caption=If you don't know this song by heart, what the hell are you doing on this wiki?
|series=[[The Transformers: The Movie]]
|position=insert song
|performer=[[Stan Bush]]
|written by=Stan Bush and [[Lenny Macaluso]]
|production=[[Richie Wise]]
|arrangement=
}}

"'''The Touch'''" is a song by [[Stan Bush]], featured on the 1986 album ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]]''. <strike>It is possibly the pinnacle of human achievement.</strike> It is fondly remembered by many fans for being featured in two climactic battles in ''[[The Transformers: The Movie]]''.

"The Touch" is first featured in ''The Transformers: The Movie'' when [[Optimus Prime (G1)|Optimus Prime]], having just arrived to [[Autobot City]], takes on several of the Decepticon forces by himself. It plays again, near the end of the feature, as [[Hot Rod (G1)|Hot Rod]] opens the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]. The song was used again during the climactic scene of the cartoon episode "[[The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2]]".
{{TOCclear}}

==Fiction==
===Generation 1 cartoon===
At an undetermined time period following the creation of the [[Headmaster (technology)|Headmasters]] and [[Targetmaster|Targetmasters]] and the seeming defeat of [[Galvatron (G1)|Galvatron]] and [[Scorponok (G1)|Scorponok]], [[Powermaster]] Optimus Prime spent a good deal of time relating Transformers stories to the human schoolboy [[Tommy Kennedy]].

After a series of stories wherein he described the events of the battle with [[Unicron]], Optimus Prime had to depart to attend an interstellar peace conference in the midst of a barrage of questions from Tommy. As he was blasting off, Prime declared "But until I return, I leave you with 'The Touch'!"

Following this, the music video for "The Touch" began, although how Tommy was able to view it in the barren wasteland where his meetings with Prime typically took place is unknown. {{storylink|The Transformers (cartoon)#Season 5|Season 5}}

{{note|As Stan Bush could not have written the song for the 1986 theatrical ''The Transformers: The Movie'' within the context of the cartoon timeline (as the events of the movie had not happened at that point in continuity), it is possible that the song was simply a general release that Prime was personally fond of.

Another possibility is that a fictionalized film account of the events surrounding the battle with Unicron was created sometime after the year 2005, and that Stan Bush's music video was produced to accompany that feature. This theory is not out of the realm of plausibility; in the UK comics, resident letter answerer [[Grimlock (G1)|Grimlock]] reviewed a Transformers film in an article entitled ''[[Letters page (Marvel UK)|Film 2006 With Grimlock]]''. The movie was also mentioned as being a product of the Autobots in the [[S.T.A.R.S. continuity]] flyer ''[[The Autobots Have a Special Mission for:]]''.}}

===''War for Cybertron===
Before the war spread to [[Earth]], and seemingly millions of years before Stan Bush would have even been born, the Decepticons were fighting the Autobots on Cybertron. [[Shockwave (G1)|Shockwave]] asked [[Soundwave (G1)|Soundwave]] to transform into his stationary music-playing mode and play a recording of "The Touch." The inspirational anthem emboldened Shockwave in battle, but annoyed [[Starscream (G1)|Starscream]]. Shockwave informed Starscream that the Air Commander could select the music when his hit percentage exceeded Shockwave's. {{storylink|Commercial#War for Cybertron|GameStop's commercial for their Shockwave multiplayer exclusive}} {{-}}

==Single releases==
[[Image:The Touch single.jpg|thumb|150px|]]
;7" single
#"The Touch"
#"[[Dare to Be Stupid]]"

'''Release date:''' August, [[1986]] 
'''Labels:''' [[Scotti Bros. Records]] (US/Canada), [[Epic Records]] (UK) 
'''Prod. codes:''' 7464-06207-7 (US), ZS4-06207 (Canada), A-7318 (UK)
{{-}}

----
[[Image:The Touch picture disc.jpg|thumb|150px|]]
;12" picture disc
#"The Touch"
#"Dare to Be Stupid"
#"[[The Transformers (Theme)]]"

'''Release date:''' 
'''Labels:''' [[Scotti Bros. Records]] (Germany), [[Epic Records]] (UK) 
'''Prod. codes:''' Int127.311 (Germany), WA-7318 (UK)
{{-}}

===Album releases===
*1986 — ''[[The Transformers: The Movie - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack|The Transformers: The Movie — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]]'' ([[Scotti Bros. Records]])
*1987 — Stan Bush: ''Stan Bush & Barrage'' (Scotti Bros. Records)
*1997 — Stan Bush: ''[['Til All Are One (CD)|Call to Action]]'' (LA Records/[[3H Productions]]) — 1997 Remix version.
*1998 — ''[[BotCon '97: The Concert]]'' (3H Productions) — Live with [[Vince DiCola]].
*2007 — Stan Bush: ''In This Life'' (Frontiers Records) — New recording.
*2007 — ''The Transformers: The Movie — Original Motion Picture Soundtrack: 20th Anniversary Edition'' ([[Legacy Recordings]])

===Merchandise===
*2009 — ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' — Bumblebee Plasma Cannon
:A role-playing toy based on [[Movie (franchise)|live-action movie]] [[Bumblebee (Movie)|Bumblebee]]'s fist, transforming into a plasma cannon. When the Autobot insignia on the side of the cannon is pressed while the blaster is in its "Try Me" setting, the toy plays various sounds, including short clips from "The Touch".

==Notes==
{{quote|As [Prime] battles his way through the Decepticons, we HEAR an inspiring anthem of courage, strength and triumph, like "Eye of the Tiger". This theme will reprise during the film when the Autobots are battling at impossible odds.|The original movie script's request for the song that would be "The Touch".}}
*"The Touch" was originally written for the 1986 Sylvester Stallone movie ''[[Wikipedia:Cobra (film)|Cobra]]'', but the record company decided to switch it to the Transformers movie instead.<ref>http://totalscifionline.com/interviews/4062-stan-bush-still-got-the-touch</ref>
*In 2007, Bush recorded a new, updated version of "The Touch" together with "[[Till All Are One (Transformers Theme)]]" in a bid to get them onto the [[Transformers (2007)|live-action movie's]] soundtrack. [[Transformers: The Album|It didn't work]], but Bush released them both as bonus tracks on his own album ''In This Life''.
*In 2008, Bush launched a campaign to have the song included on one of the ''Guitar Hero'' or ''Rock Band'' games.<ref>http://kotaku.com/5059337/stan-bush-wants-the-touch-in-guitar-hero-rock-band</ref> It wasn't long before he announced the campaign's success, with the 2007 version of "The Touch" hitting ''[[Wikipedia:Guitar Hero: World Tour a|Guitar Hero: World Tour]]'' as free downloadable content.<ref>http://kotaku.com/5173693/stan-bush-thanks-kotaku-readers-for-their-support</ref>
*As part of the media hype building up to the release of ''[[Revenge of the Fallen (film)|Revenge of the Fallen]]'', Bush released another reworked version of the song, this time with a more contemporary [[Linkin Park]]-inspired sound, renamed "The Touch: Sam's Theme". This is notable because, while completely unsanctioned or unrequested by Hasbro or Dreamworks, it is [[Holger Fath|totally hilarious]].
*In 2010, Bush released his 11th album, 'Dream the Dream', which featured the song "Sam's Theme (The Touch)", a rap-less version of "The Touch: Sam's Theme".
*"The Touch" has reappeared in numerous non-Transformers productions over the years, including the film ''[[Wikipedia:Boogie Nights|Boogie Nights]]'', the television series ''[[wikia:c:chuck-nbc:Episode 205: Chuck vs. Tom Sawyer|Chuck]]'' and even ''[[Wikipedia:American Dad!|American Dad!]]''.
*It is [[Slag (slang)|slaging]] awesome!

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZKpByV5764 Video for "The Touch"]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3_EXxwDpq0 Video for the 2009 remake of "The Touch"]
*[http://video.yahoo.com/watch/7580334/20101050 Gamestop's ''WFC'' ad that includes "The Touch"]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Touch, The}}
[[Category:Songs]]

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The Touch