Derringer worked with his neighbor Todd Rundgren during this time, playing on four of Rundgren's solo albums. He was also a regular in Andy Warhol's circle, and he frequented Warhol's studio The Factory. Of the period, Derringer has said, "Liz [his wife at the time] and I were always on the scene. We were the consummate partiers." Derringer played guitar on "My Rival" on Steely Dan's "Gaucho" (1980) and also Fagen's first solo album, "The Nightfly" (1982). In 1983, he played guitar on two songs written and produced by Jim Steinman: Air Supply's hit power ballad "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" and Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart". He has said that his guitar solo in "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" is his favorite guitar solo of the many he has recorded. The same year, he recorded guitar parts for Meat Loaf's poorly received album "Midnight at the Lost and Found". Both "Making Love Out of Nothing at All" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" were originally offered to Meat Loaf by Steinman for that album, but Meat Loaf's record company refused to pay Steinman for the compositions. In 1983, Derringer wrote "Shake Me" from his "Good Dirty Fun" solo album. A video followed which was produced by Jake Hooker (the husband of Lorna Luft), singer Lourett Russell Grant modeled in the video production with Derringer. In 1984, Derringer played guitar on Barbra Streisand's cover version of Steinman's "Left in the Dark", which was released as the lead single of "Emotion". In 1985, Derringer's friendship with Cyndi Lauper led him and Steinman to collaborate again, Derringer producing "The Wrestling Album" (1985) for the World Wrestling Federation, an album consisting mostly of wrestlers' theme songs. He wrote a couple of songs on it, including Hulk Hogan's theme song "Real American", with Bernard Kenny. That song was also used by US President Barack Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner, where he played the song while unveiling his birth certificate. It was also used as a campaign song by Hillary Clinton, a victory song by Newt Gingrich, and in four videos during the campaign of Donald Trump. In 1986, he returned to the Meat Loaf fold for "Blind Before I Stop".