Bangles “Eternal Flame” hit #1

Eternal Flame Bangles

Writer(s): Susanna Hoffs, Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg (see lyrics here) Released: January 23, 1989 First Charted: February 3, 1989 Peak: 11 BB, 11 BA, 11 CB, 12 GR, 12 RR, 12 AC, 1 CO, 14 UK, 2 CN, 13 AU, 4 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.6 UK, 1.31 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 255.00 video, 467.38 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The Bangles carved out a sound with their first two albums that was “jangly and garage-y and [a] consistently upbeat take on harmony-heavy '60s folk-rock.” SG They broke through with major chart success in 1986 with “Manic Monday” (#2) and “Walk Like an Egyptian” (#1) from their sophomore album, Different Light. When they came back in 1988 with their third album, Everything, it sported a couple of songs (“In Your Room,” “Eternal Flame”) written by band member Susanna Hoffs alongside the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steiinberg. They’d built an impressive resume churning out #1 hits for female acts in the ‘80, including Madonna (“Like a Virgin”), Cyndi Lauper (“True Colors”), Heart (“Alone”), and Whitney Houston (“So Emotional”). “The lightly psychedelic rocker” SG “In Your Room,” the album’s lead single, was a top 5 hit. The Bangles followed it up with “Eternal Flame,” a ballad “that completely diverged from their established sound.” SG It is “a devastating four-minute prom ballad” SG that is “a monument to grand, operatic feelings.” SG Hoffs is “head over heels for somebody, but she can’t luxuriate in her own happiness because she’s too consumed with the idea that this love is a fleeting thing.” SG “Her voice cracks and quavers. She’s in anguish.” SG “The other Bangles, harmonizing behind Hoffs, sound dispassionate and ethereal, like ghosts.” SG The song grew out of the Bangles visiting Graceland and seeing an Elvis shrine that featured an eternal flame. The only problem was it was raining that day and the flame had gone out. FB When Hoffs relayed the story to Steinberg, he thought it would be a great song title. He’d also had his own experience with an eternal flame via the synagogue he went to as a kid. He said, “I remember thinking that there was this flame that could burn forever. It seemed very mysterious. It was like thinking about how far the universe goes, those little things that kids think about that blow their minds.” FB Initially the other band members rejected the song until producer Davitt Sigerson worked up a new keyboard arrangement for the song. Even then, the band’s manager, Miles Copeland, didn’t think the song was a hit. He said it would never get any play because it had no drums. SG Resources: FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 724. SG Stereogum (7/2/2021). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan Related Links: First posted 1/22/2026.

Madonna performed “Like a Virgin” at the MTV Video Awards

Like a Virgin Madonna

Writer(s): Billy Steinberg/Tom Kelly (see lyrics here) Released: October 31, 1984 First Charted: November 16, 1984 Peak: 16 US, 15 CB, 15 GR, 13 RR, 29 AC, 9 RB, 3 UK, 11 CN, 15 AU, 4 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.14 US, 0.93 UK, 6.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 136.85 video, 276.59 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: One could potentially mark September 14, 1984 as the date when Madonna became a superstar. Over the last year, she’d had three top twenty Billboard pop hits with “Holiday,” “Borderline,” and “Lucky Star.” However, the title track from her sophomore album launched her into the stratosphere. She premiered the song on the aforementioned date at the first MTV Video Music Awards. When she writhed on the floor in a wedding dress, the world took notice of her no-holds-barred sexuality. It was “one of the seminal moment in the history of MTV” SF and “one of the most iconic pop performances of all time.” WK The song wasn’t originally written for Madonna, or even a female singer. Lyricist Billy Steinberg wrote the song from personal experience. He said it wasn’t about truly being a virgin, but about the positive feeling that came with a new relationship. Madonna also denied that the song was about sex, saying, “It means a woman who has obviously been mistreated and kind of looked over and not treated well.” SJ Steinberg also said the song started as a “sensitive ballad” RC but it didn’t work when Tom Kelly, the song’s co-writer, tried to put it to music. The pair also found success with “So Emotional” by Whitney Houston, “Alone” by Heart, “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles, and “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper. Kelly started playing the bass line and sang with “a falsetto, almost Motown inspired vocal” RC and Steinberg said, “Yeah, that’s it.” RC At a meeting with Warner Brothers Record’s Michael Ostin, Steinberg and Tom Kelly, the song’s co-writer, played a demo of the song and told him they weren’t sure who it would fit. Ostin happened to have a meeting with Madonna the next day and thought it would be perfect for her. FB Ostin said, she “went crazy, and knew instantly it was a song for her.” WK Madonna said, “I certainly wasn’t a virgin, and, by the way, how can you be like a virgin? I liked the play on words; I thought they were clever.” WK She said she never realized it would become one of her signature songs. WK Producer Nile Rodgers gave the song “a masterful pop sheen,” TC bring in bassist Bernard Edwards and drummer Tony Thompson, his bandmates from Chic (“Le Freak,” “Good Times”). Rodgers didn’t want Madonna to record the song initially. He didn’t think the title was, as he told the Los Angeles Times, “the all-time catch phrase. But after about four days I couldn’t get the song out of my head.” FB Audiences couldn’t get it out of their heads either. “Like a Virgin” became her first of twelve #1 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 and the biggest song of 1984. CPM Madonna became “an icon to a generation of emancipated women.” TC Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Madonna FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 524. RC Rod Couch (2015). The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era: 1955-2015. Pages 152-3. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 63. SJ Bob Shannon and John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Warner Brothers, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 244. SF Songfacts CPM Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Record Research, Inc.: Menomonee Falls, WI. Page 113. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/14/2019; last updated 5/1/2024.

Pat Benatar “Anxiety (Get Nervous)” released this month as a single

Anxiety (Get Nervous) Pat Benatar

Writer(s): Neil Giraldo, Billy Steinberg (see lyrics here) Released: July 1983 First Charted: -- Peak: 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.83 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Singer/songwriter Pat Benatar was born in 1953 in Brooklyn, New York. She started taking voice lessons in grade school and got involved in musical theater in high school. She aborted plans to attend Julliard in favor of Stony Brook University, but dropped out there after a year to marry her first husband, Dennis Benatar. She started working as a bank teller, but quit to pursue singing. She released her first single, “Day Gig,” in 1974 and her first album, In the Heat of the Night, in 1979. The album featured “Heartbreaker,” which became her first chart hit, reaching #23 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was followed by the 1980 album Crimes of Passion, which sold four million copies. Its follow-up, 1981’s Precious Time, hit #1 on the Billboard album chart. She became a favorite at album radio with “Heartbreaker,” “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” “Treat Me Right,” and “Fire and Ice,” all of which became top 40 hits at pop radio. Next up was 1982’s Get Nervous, her fourth of six consecutive platinum sellers and third consecutive top-5 album. It generated three more top-40 hits in “Shadows of the Night,” “Little Too Late,” and “Looking for a Stranger.” A fourth single, “Anxiety (Get Nervous),” was released in Europe and failed to chart but was accompanied by an entertaining video in which Benatar goes insane from a trip to a psychotic dentist’s office. In a review of the album, All Music Guide’s Alex Henderson noted that the album was an effort on Benatar’s part to embrace new wave and put a strong emphasis on melody. She was determined not be pigeon-holed as a hard rock artist. He said that “Anxiety (Get Nervous)” and other songs were “intense, forceful jewels that rock aggressively.” AMG Resources: AMG All Music Guide review by Alex Henderson of Get Nervous Related Links: First posted 10/27/2022.

Pat Benatar's Precious Time released

First posted 9/20/2020.

Precious Time Pat Benatar

Released: July 6, 1981 Peak: 11 US, 30 UK, 2 CN, 8 AU Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, -- UK, 2.3 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Promises in the Dark (Neil Giraldo, Benatar) [4:48] (9/25/81, 38 US, 16 AR, 6 CL, 31 CN) Fire and Ice (Tom Kelly, Scott St. Clair Sheets, Benatar) [3:19] (7/6/81, 17 US, 2 AR, 4 CN, 30 AU) Just Like Me (Rick Dey, Roger Hart, Terry Melcher) [3:30] (7/18/81, 15 AR) Precious Time (Billy Steinberg) [6:03] (44 CL) It’s a Tuff Life (Giraldo) [3:17] Take It Anyway You Want It (Martin Briley, Giraldo) [2:49] (7/25/81, 32 AR) Evil Genius (Giraldo, Benatar) [4:34] Hard to Believe (Giraldo, Myron Grombacher) [3:26] Helter Skelter (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) [3:50] (46 CL) Total Running Time: 35:30

Rating: 3.490 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)

About the Album: After the success of her second album, Crimes of Passion, it was hard to imagine her doing better on the next outing. While she didn’t match the 5 million in sales of that album, Precious Time still sold 2 million copies and accomplished one feat its predecessor didn’t – it reached #1. The album didn’t produce as big a hit as “Hit Me with Your Best Shot,” Benatar’s top-10 hit from Passion, but she did notch another top-20 hit with Fire and Ice. The song also landed her a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, a prize she took home the year before for the Passion album. The follow-up single, Promises in the Dark, was a top-40 hit. The song was written by Benatar with Neil Giraldo, her guitarist and future husband. The album also produced a couple of covers which garnered minor airplay on album rock radio. Just Like Me was originally a #11 hit for Paul Revere & the Raiders in 1965 and Helter Skelter was originally a cut from the Beatles’ self-titled 1968 album commonly known as The White Album. The title cut was written by Billy Steinberg, who formed a songwriting partnership with Tom Kelly (who’d co-written “Fire and Ice”) in the ‘80s and helmed #1 hits for Madonna (“Like a Virgin,” 1984), Cyndi Lauper (“True Colors,” 1986), Whitney Houston (“So Emotional,” 1987), Heart (“Alone,” 1987), and the Bangles (“Eternal Flame,” 1989).

Resources and Related Links: Pat Benatar’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry WK Wikipedia