Chase (instrumental)

"Chase"
Single by Giorgio Moroder
from the album Midnight Express
B-side	"(Theme From) Midnight Express"
Released	1978
Format	7" 12"
Recorded	1978
Genre	Italo disco space disco
Length	13:06 (maxi single) 8:26 (LP version) 3:38 (single version)
Label	Casablanca
Writer(s)	Giorgio Moroder
Producer(s)	Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder singles chronology
"Let The Music Play" (1977) "Chase" (1978) "E=MC2" (1979)

"Chase" or "The Chase" is an instrumental by Giorgio Moroder from his Academy Award-winning soundtrack album Midnight Express^[1] (1978). It was an electronic instrumental that was subsequently extended and released as maxi single^[2] and made the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1979, listing as high as #33. In Canada, the song reached #41 on the RPM Magazine Top Singles Chart.

Alan Parker, the director of Midnight Express, explicitly asked Moroder for a song in the style of "I Feel Love", which Moroder composed for Donna Summer. It was Moroder's first time composing a movie soundtrack.^[3]

Although a disco piece, "Chase", along with "I Feel Love", is more specifically considered the pioneering introduction of the hi-NRG genre, which came to prominence in the early 1980s.

The music was arranged by Harold Faltermeyer under the leadership of Giorgio Moroder.

In 2000, a remix of "Chase" credited to Giorgio Moroder vs. Jam & Spoon, went to number one on the US Dance Charts.^[4]

Legacy

• The Shaker Heights High School varsity hockey team uses "Chase" in their warmup before every home game.
• During the 1978–1979 NBA basketball season, TV broadcaster CBS used "Chase" as an intro to the highlights program.
• "Chase" was the background music used by NBC during the pregame show highlights before Game 1 of the 1980 World Series.
• "Chase" is used as the background music of the introduction video of Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway in 1979.^[5]
• "Chase" was the sonic signature for the MISL's Kansas City Comets during the late 1980s and 1990s. It was played during live match play when the Comets would move the ball up the field.
• It is the opening theme music for Coast to Coast AM, a syndicated late-night radio show.
• "Chase" was partially covered by Daft Punk in their "Daftendirektour" performances in 1997, as well as being used in many of their late-nineties live performances. The duo would later collaborate with Moroder on a track in Random Access Memories.
• "Chase" is used as a reoccurring music motif in the Hong Kong neo-noir The Longest Nite.
• Vitalic made a remix of "Chase" in 2003.
• The song also appeared in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories.
• "Chase" was sampled more than once in the 2007 movie Hot Rod.
• A "Chase" remix was made by Umek in 2008.
• It served as the theme music for independent professional wrestler Trent Acid before his death in 2010.
• "Chase" was sampled in episode 15 ("Stealing First Base") of the 21st season of The Simpsons.
• "Chase" is sampled in Dutch DJ, Jesselyn's, track "Flora".
• Professional wrestling on-air talent and manager Jim Cornette uses "Chase" as his entrance music while on the independent circuit. Occasionally, the song has also been linked with the tag teams he managed, most notably the greatly successful Midnight Express. It is also used by British wrestling tag team Full Pack (Micky Long and Iain Robinson).
• The Missouri Comets, play off with the Kansas City Comets using "Chase" as their entrance theme and during games.
• The group DuOuD performed a cover of "Chase" with Arab luths.

See also

• List of number-one dance singles of 2000 (U.S.)

References

1. Giorgio Moroder: Midnight Express at Discogs (list of releases)
2. Giorgio Moroder: Chase (single) at Discogs (list of releases)
3. "Giorgio Moroder: 'Sylvester Stallone wanted Bob Dylan to sing on a Rambo movie'", The Guardian, 31 October 2013. [Interviewer] "You survived the disco backlash remarkably well." [Moroder] "Well, I was lucky to have that song, I Feel Love. Alan Parker, the director of Midnight Express, loved it. There's a thing in Midnight Express where the kid is running away from the police, and Parker just said: 'Giorgio, give me a song in the style of I Feel Love, like with the bassline and things, and make it work for that scene. The rest, you use the synthesiser, just do whatever you want.' That was scary, because I had never done soundtracks before, but it went well and I got my first Oscar, and that opened up a new life in the film business."
4. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 183.
5. Introduction video of MTR (1979) on YouTube