Album release: Labyrinth

The soundtrack album for the film Labyrinth was released on 23 June 1986. The film was directed by Jim Henson, and starred David Bowie as Jareth the Goblin King.

The album was released four days before the film. It was issued on vinyl, cassette and compact disc. Although not a great seller, it reached the top 40 in the UK, USA, Netherlands, Germany, and New Zealand.

David Bowie appeared in two music videos as Jareth, for the songs ‘Underground’ and ‘As The World Falls Down’. Both were made available on The Bowie Video Collection and the later set Best Of Bowie.

‘Underground’ was remixed and released as a single, with an instrumental on the b-side. Steve Barron directed the single’s video, which featuring various characters from the film, including Hoggle and the Junk Lady.

I’ve found that the videos I put into other people’s hands have always been a mistake. Because of my lack of interest, I didn’t get that involved with things like ‘Underground’ which I did for Labyrinth. I just left it up, and the result is just not my kind of video. I was a bit lax there. I didn’t feel involved.

Barron also directed a video for ‘As The World Falls Down’, which included clips from the film as well as black and white footage of Bowie performing the song.

‘Magic Dance’ was released as a 12″ single in the USA in January 1987. The tracks were ‘Magic Dance (A Dance Mix)’, ‘Magic Dance (Dub)’, and ‘Within You’.