"The Power of Love" was written for Back to the Future (1985) after Robert Zemeckis, Steven Spielberg and Bob Gale approached Huey Lewis about providing a song for the film. Lewis initially resisted because he did not want to write a song called "Back to the Future," so the filmmakers told him that he could simply submit the next song he and the band wrote. That song became "The Power of Love", Lewis also made a cameo in the film as the audition judge who rejects Marty McFly's band, telling them they are "just too darn loud."
The track became Huey Lewis and the News' biggest hit and their first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985. It also earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. The version Marty performs during the school audition is actually an early demo of the song rather than the finished single, making the scene an unusual piece of music history.