"Playing with the Boys" is a song by American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins for the film Top Gun, featured in the beach volleyball scene toward the middle of the film prior to Maverick's (Tom Cruise) dinner date with Charlie (Kelly McGillis). It is available on both the original 1986 Top Gun soundtrack album and the 2000 expanded edition. The song peaked at No. 60 on the Billboard hot 100. Loggins re-recorded the song in 2021 featuring Butterfly Boucher.[2]

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"Playing with the Boys"
Single by Kenny Loggins
from the album Top Gun
Released	August 1986 [1]
Genre	Pop rock dance-rock
Length	3:59 (album version) 6:41 (12" version)
Label	Columbia
Songwriter(s)	Kenny Loggins Peter Wolf Ina Wolf
Producer(s)	Peter Wolf
Kenny Loggins singles chronology
"Danger Zone" (1986) "Playing with the Boys" (1986) "Meet Me Half Way" (1987)
Music video
Kenny Loggins – Playing with the Boys on YouTube

Reception

Per Loggins's memoir, the song was a hit among gay nightclubs.[3] Spin magazine's interviewer Jonathan Cohen called it "a sort of gay anthem".[4]

Music video

Loggins performs the song in the middle of the men vs. women indoor volleyball game. In the end, the women won by 15–13.

In other media

This song was used for scenes in the 1990 beach volleyball film Side Out, starring C. Thomas Howell, Peter Horton and Courtney Thorne-Smith.

The song was later used in the season 5 American Dad! episode "Phantom of the Telethon", in which Greg and Terry stage a recreation of the volleyball scene from Top Gun, their favorite movie. The song was also used in the season 7 Hawaii Five-0 episode "Poniu I Ke Aloha (Crazy in Love)", where Steve, Danny and their girlfriends play volleyball, also in a similar manner to the Top Gun beach volleyball scene.[5]

In the season nine episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, "The Gang Makes Lethal Weapon 6", the song is featured in a parody of the Top Gun scene in which Dennis and Mac, playing Martin Riggs and Roger Murtagh, play volleyball against two shirtless bodybuilders. In 2018, the song was used in the Family Guy episode "Veteran Guy." In 2019, the song was used as title music for Rocket League for its 1980s-themed "Radical Summer" update, but was shortly replaced by a remix of the song by Monstercat production duo Half an Orange that fit the game's existing soundtrack.

In the season four episode of Cobra Kai, called “Party Time”, the song is briefly sung by character Johnny Lawrence whilst he is drunk and being assisted into bed by his protege Miguel. In the series, Johnny is regularly outspoken about his love of 1980s popular culture, particularly its music. In an earlier episode in the season, he had also referenced the movie Top Gun. The song is then used in season five episode "Downward Spiral" during a dream sequence during which Lawrence plays a game of beach volleyball in a salute to the Top Gun sequence.

Personnel

• Kenny Loggins – vocals, acoustic guitar, guitar solo
• Nathan East – bass
• Steve Wood – synthesizer

References

External links

• Kenny Loggins – Playing with the Boys on YouTube