Bonny Tyler's Total Eclipse Of The Heart: classic or dud?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

I had an epiphany on Saturday night. I was at a party, it was three o'clock in the morning when a luscious drag queen staged a dramatic entry down the stairs into the lounge. On the stereo was Total Eclipse Of The Heart, a song that has always made my skin crawl and my stomach heave. And yet suddenly I realised that it was, in fact, nothing but the purest of genius...

― Fred Zed, Monday, 27 October 2003 14:32 (twenty-two years ago)

― Alan (Alan), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Fuckin' classic, of course. Anyone who says otherwise is a humorless enemy of joy.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:38 (twenty-two years ago)

TOTAL CLASSIC. Biggest ballad ever to stalk the Earth, surely! You can hear them really pushing the available limits to make the most colossal pop possible, plus it's a great vocal performance.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Synchronicity or what?

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

This is one of the few songs I really detested when I was 10 which I love now. "Pass The Dutchie" is another.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:41 (twenty-two years ago)

But is the latter only because of Missy Elliott?

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 14:45 (twenty-two years ago)

No, it's because it's great (unlike "Pass That Dutch" alas)! I didn't like reggae much at all until quite recently and then like a lot of other dabblers I was converted by Soul Jazz.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:47 (twenty-two years ago)

That new Britfunk comp from Soul Jazz is quite magnificent.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 14:53 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm with Tom here, except i can't help but love 'Pass That Dutch' (it's Missy, it's 'Work it' with drug refs, duh)

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:54 (twenty-two years ago)

stevem blueski OTM. I am beginning to suspect we share a brain.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

It's "Work It" without a good hook :(

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Best "Work It" sequel around at the moment = Blazing Squad's "Flip Reverse"

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:55 (twenty-two years ago)

It's "Work It" with a De La Soul quote and even more extreme booty shaking!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Work It > Pass That Dutch obv. but i like the latter cos it feels a bit heavier than the former and is also a little faster.

back to Bonnie though, isn't 'turn around bright eyes' an interesting line?

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Sadly I don't think much of Miss E or "Work It," nor indeed of the new Sugababes or new Kylie or new Ellix-Bextor or new Holly Valance or new Rachel S Club records either, and my most played CDs at home, apart from the aforementioned Britfunk comp, are currently Camera Obscura and Belle & Sebastian. No doubt I have finally turned into Nick Hornby, and even less doubt that this is the prelude to the chap in the white coat in ten years' time asking me if I know the name of the Prime Minister.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

oh but Scooter are genius ;)

no-one mention Nikki French (oh shit)

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)

pointless perhaps but Work It > Total Eclipse Of The Heart > Pass That Dutch > Sweet Dreams My La Ex > Slow > Mixed Up World > Hole In The Head (which i think is just OKAY)

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Nikki French was one of my college crushes, despite the fact that I had no idea what she looked like.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

To vaguely drag the thread back on topic - where did megaballads like Total Eclipse vanish to? Who now does them?

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Xtina! (See the song she put on the "Honey" soundtrack.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah I was thinking Xtina, "Beautiful" is certainly fairly large.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm getting to the point where I think I would rather have had Liam Watson producing the new Sugababes album down at Toerag instead of handing them over to Diane bloody Warren or the 4 Friggin Non-Blondes.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

I hear Busted use guitars!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

People should re-evaluate Xtina's _Stripped_ album because it is secretly fantastic.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:17 (twenty-two years ago)

No they shouldn't; it is publicly rubbish, first single notwithstanding.

Julio to thread on how Busted should be using D Bailey and K Rowe's guitars.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 15:20 (twenty-two years ago)

i think Celine Dion killed off the epic windswept ballad. I usually hate them so am not bothered - quite glad even, she had her uses after all.

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Sorry Marcello, but I disagree (aka NYAH NYAH NYAH YOU ARE WRONG OMG!!!!11!!!).

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Any album with "Make-Over" and "Dirrty" on it must by definition be fantastic.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:23 (twenty-two years ago)

The cover makes me vomit.

Diane Warren killed off the windswept epic ballad - definitely the Michael Ray to Jim Steinman's Howard Hawks.

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 15:24 (twenty-two years ago)

but epic ballads were still popular and common up to the late 90s.

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:27 (twenty-two years ago)

This was the first time I ever had a "favorite song." My dad had built a bonfire in the back yard for New Year's eve and my folks had let me bring out the radio for the Casey Kasem Top 40 Songs of the Year, and I was crushed when it didn't make #1. ("Every Breath You Take" beat it.)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:32 (twenty-two years ago)

i...meant...artistically...

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 15:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Diane Warren killed off the windswept epic ballad

OTfuckingM (and Marcello's right about Stripped as well though Dan is correct that "Make Over" is genius, very demented genius. Alas, there is nothing else on the album quite so good or gone, though "Beautiful" is sure as hell trying to be Jim Steinman, which takes us back to the subject of the thread, and said Bonnie Tyler song is great and the video is weird as hell).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:41 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, celine dion AND bryan adams have really taken the wind out of the epic ballads' sails by churning out such drivel. goddamn canadians.

TEOTH is an abolute classic. i second ned's comment about the video...

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:46 (twenty-two years ago)

classic. i loved this song so much as a kid. my dad and i would sit around making mix tapes off of mtv when we got a stereo hookup for the television, and i remember being so excited when it came on.
about the video, am i crazy or was there some fellow with glowing eyes in it?

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

but WHYYY 'bright eyes'? i mean i guess that's part of the reason why he wants her to turn around, and 'turn around, sweet cheeks' would never have worked as well

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Heh, I like the way on your list Marcello you exhort us to admit TEOTH is a classic - everybody in the universe likes it and needs little prompting to say so! (NB I would have taken "They Don't Know" over "Breakaway" Ullman-wise though both are v.good)

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

But I wonder how many people who've posted on this thread actually own a recording of TEOTH or have have given it a spin any time in the last 15 years. The enjoyment of songs such as this is essentially passive. Yes, I can get a little something out of it in a camp, ironic way, the way it might be played as a party entrance for a drag queen as per the original post, but essentially I don't have any time for power ballads. It may be uncool to say it, but say it I will: DUD

― H., Monday, 27 October 2003 15:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I last listened to it yesterday evening H!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

There's an Air Supply song (also by Steinman?) which sounds just like TEOTH, but I can't remember what it is now.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 27 October 2003 15:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Fair enough, Tico! And yet I still say it's one big overripe absurd dud!

― H., Monday, 27 October 2003 15:57 (twenty-two years ago)

tracer, i think you're thinking of "making love out of nothing at all," which is even more over the top than "teoth" if that's possible. at one point, the singer declares that he can "make all the stadiums rock."

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:00 (twenty-two years ago)

speaking of over the top, let's not forget REO Speedwagon's 'Keep On Loving You', or anything by Toto, Asia... it's as if producers in the early 80s suddenly discovered multitrack recording and a magical effect called 'echo'.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)

Is anyone going to stand up for 'Keep On Loving You'?

― H., Monday, 27 October 2003 16:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Don't know it!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

And I meant, every word I said
When I said that I love you, I meant that I'd love you forever
And I'm gonna keep on loving you
Cause it's the only thing I wanna do
I don't wanna sleep
I just wanna keep on loving you

strangest punctuation ever: they put a comma in the pause in the firt line, but then fail to put one after 'keep' in the last.

Another vote for TEOTH being stone cold classic.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:14 (twenty-two years ago)

i can't remember when i last heard TEOTH and i don't intend to listen to it now or in the near future either.

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I can remember when you last hear it Stevem.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

But I wonder how many people who've posted on this thread actually own a recording of TEOTH or have have given it a spin any time in the last 15 years.

A friend of mine gave me the disc, Faster than the Speed of Night as a housewarming present in 1996. It gets an annual airing at least.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drd800/d809/d80967c3i9w.jpg

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Agree about Toto, from a certain angle can see the point of Asia, but never got into the Speedwagon.

Now, "Wishing You Were Here" by Chicago...

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 16:19 (twenty-two years ago)

not so into "keep on loving you," but i have a secret gushy love for "i can't fight this feeling anymore."

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

for some reason I always got this confused with 'There's Something Going On' by Frida. Maybe it was the huge production job.

― lawrence kansas (lawrence kansas), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

The Beta Band sampled this once, and it was all very snide: like hurhur, the pop pap, you see, we've chained it to a bass sludge and done some 'singing' on it and now NME readers can dig it.

Bollocks to that and bollocks to anyone who like TEOTH and *not* 'Beautiful'.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

This was the first video I ever saw, and have loved the song ever since.

― Jonathan (Jonathan), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the Beta Band genuinely loved Total Eclipse Of The Heart, as all right-thinking people do, surely?

I am anticipating a ludicrous powerballad for The Darkness Christmas single.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Re: "Keep On Loving You" -- funny this one should come up. I was a high school kid in '82 - '83, when REO Speedwagon and Journey ruled the earth. I actively detested both bands -- the merest syllable from Kevin Cronin or Steve Perry would cause me to sprain my wrist changing the radio station, and the inescapability of both bands meant my wrists were pretty damned sore all the time. (That, and the fact that I was a teenaged boy...)

I recently gained an appreciation for "Keep On Loving You" based on its appearance in, of all things, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, where (if memory serves) it's in rotation on the "Emotion FM" station. I'd never really listened to it in detail before, and it struck me how weird, airless, and alien the production is. Sonically, its as synthetic as anything Kraftwerk ever released: it's got this total untouched-by-human-hands vibe. The vocals and guitars have been run through a million different delays, harmonizers, and compressers, until everything becomes this huge, reverbing whooooosh. Of course there's zero low-end (perfect for AM radio.) In short, it's a work of genius. I still hate the fuck out of Journey, though.

― d.w., Monday, 27 October 2003 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I think they'll go more for a Slade effect.

A good way to work out how TEOTH is great is to listen to it next to Jennifer Rush's "The Power Of Love".

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

FUCK! "I Know There's Something Going On" by Frida! More evidence for Phil Collins' occasional greatness.

Oh, Enrique, the Beta Band were not being sardonic or ironic in appropriating the TEOTH quote, and Steinman himself approved it. And "Beautiful" is a stinking assortment of Clinton Card cliches sung nasally by a pretend anorexic, so bollocks to you too, sir.

(so much for the Oxford FAP then!)

Re. J Rush "Power Of Love"; influenced very clearly by Ultravox's "Vienna" which itself was influenced very clearly by Scott Walker's "The Electrician." Is there a theory here somewhere about the gradual dilution of "difficult" music before people will buy it?

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Do we all agree that Tom has to download REO Speedwagon's "Keep on Loving You" right now?

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

destroy.

x-post: sorry for not being a 'right-thinking person'.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't much like "total eclipse of the heart", I'm afraid. "keep on lovin' you" is great, but this whole genre is owned for me by asia's "sole survivor" and boston's "more than a feeling". The best bit in the latter is where the singer (brad delpy?) hits this impossibly high not, holds it for a seemingly impossible length of time, then goes even higher!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Do we all agree that Tom has to download REO Speedwagon's "Keep on Loving You" right now?

yes!!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Oi! "Baby Come Back" by Player! "Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash!

and we all know about the More Than A Feeling/Smells Like Teen Spirit interface (via Debaser?).

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

>I think they'll go more for a Slade effect
'My Oh My' was a KILLER power ballad and trumps the lot.

I have to say I re-discovered 'Keep On Loving You' by REO Speedwagon when Mark Kozelek & his merry Red House Painters covered it. Like all his covers, it is twisted and lovely.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Journey completely wins these stakes, BTW.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

(so much for the Oxford FAP then!)

Ow, fuck, yeah probably, then -- NME readers I knew (=me) didn't know that. I still think their versh stinks; as for Xtina, oh come now we can't be slagging power ballads for their lyrical infelicities! + I know nothing of singing technique, so point conceded, but I quite like the idea of being a 'pretend anorexic' -- wearing baggy clothes in a kind of double-bluff, that's quite good.

I'm a miss the FAP anyway cos I'm in the big smoke watching some old new bollox about the red brigade and/or robbing all yourn houses. Might send a ringer.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

the bassline from "carry on wayward son" which is better than almost any other record ever made, fits really well under the guitar choirds from "smells like teen spirit".

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Snarling hate for "Beautiful" is evidence that your ears are wonky.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Soulseek is oddly reluctant to give me a copy of Keep On Loving You.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Dan: Well said!

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Journey completely wins these stakes, BTW.

Quite right. Listening to "Any Way You Want It" on my iPod recently gave me the sudden realization that said song trumps (in retrospect) both the Electric Six and Andrew WK at their own game, all at once.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Soulseek is oddly reluctant to give me a copy of Keep On Loving You.

Soulseek must have a conscience after all, electing to spare you from the sonic blight that is the Speedwagon's excretion.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:39 (twenty-two years ago)

hurrah for my unrepentantly wonky ears!

― Marcello Carlin, Monday, 27 October 2003 16:41 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.themusicindex.com/rockahead/reviews/foreigner4.jpg

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

heh heh heh heh heh heh heh

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:42 (twenty-two years ago)

hey - even though its a bit old now, i think the last grand larger than life ballad like this that truly rocked was surely ms. braxton's UNBREAK MY HEART

― Vic (Vic), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:46 (twenty-two years ago)

i couldn't give you any evidence beyond, uh, Creed, but the Powar Ballad is alive and well in nu-metal surely? though it seems de-sexed; it's all vague homo-social 'struggle' rather than Love. 'beautiful' is like this too, i guess.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 27 October 2003 16:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I got the magnificent 'Keep On Loving You' on a free 'ROCK' CD given away w/ the Evening Standard last week. The CD also had 'More Than A Feeling' by Boston on it, another winner.

Didn't Bryan Adams spending 16 weeks at no. 1 help to (temporarily?) kill off the power-ballad?

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:02 (twenty-two years ago)

How long ago did Don't Wanna Miss A Thing by Aerosmith come out?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Can I reiterate that That particular Aerosmith song makes me want to go all Michael Myers on humanity?

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Dan's ears are right on the money. Pas de wonky. He sees why 'Beautiful'>>>>>>>'Don't Want to Miss A Thing'.

― Enrique (Enrique), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

'Don't Want To Miss A Thing' not helped by awful 'Bruce Willis vs the comet' affiliation

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Stevem, you said "awful" when I think you meant "excruciatingly, nut-twistingly horrendous in a manner that will scar children and the elderly alike".

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:15 (twenty-two years ago)

i couldn't give you any evidence beyond, uh, Creed, but the Powar Ballad is alive and well in nu-metal surely?

that reminds me.....EYES WIDE OPEN *ducks*

― Michael B, Monday, 27 October 2003 17:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I dunno why every American here starts foaming at the moment once someones mention Creed (ok i have an idea why, the rest of their stuff is shitty)...it's a great song

― Michael B, Monday, 27 October 2003 17:21 (twenty-two years ago)

It's because Scott Stapp is a gigantic cockfarmer and his band is deeply, deeply mediocre at best.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:23 (twenty-two years ago)

How long does it take for TEOTH to repeat? 1:30? 2:00? I love songs like that. Anyway, excellent song that is probably hard to screw up.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:23 (twenty-two years ago)

are none of you feelin' ms braxton ? wtf

― Vic (Vic), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh, any love for Ms. Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero"? Same urgency but with the weirdest drum solo ever!

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I need to download "Holding Out.." - oddly enough I loved that one when I was 10 despite hating Eclipse.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:29 (twenty-two years ago)

me too!

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:31 (twenty-two years ago)

sweet jesus, is that song good. it's on the footloose soundtrack. i wore out like three copies of it when i was little.

"where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods/where's the streetwise hercules to fight the rising odds"

― lauren (laurenp), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:35 (twenty-two years ago)

I think my feelings on Toni Braxton are abundantly clear (ie TONI I LUV U COME SNUGGLE WITH ME).

"Unbreak My Heart" was one of the best singles of its year.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:36 (twenty-two years ago)

where is Toni Braxton? not bankrupt again i hope

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

song: classic / video: extraclassic

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:41 (twenty-two years ago)

but the Powar Ballad is alive and well in nu-metal surely
WAKE ME UP! Wake me up inside
etc

― Alan (Alan), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:44 (twenty-two years ago)

If you put tape over the tabs of the Footloose tape and erase "Footloose" it becomes the best soundtrack of all time. "Let's Hear It For the Boy"!!! Good God!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:47 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't like either beautiful or unbreak my heart,i hate dont want to miss a thing,and love total eclipse and pass the dutch...
does this mean i love or hate fun?

― robin (robin), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:49 (twenty-two years ago)

also whatever about dizzee rascal there's a fair bit of gabber in pass the dutch
(if i remember right,i only heard it once)

― robin (robin), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:49 (twenty-two years ago)

where does Daniel Bedingfield's "If You're Not the One" fit in all this?

― Michael B, Monday, 27 October 2003 17:57 (twenty-two years ago)

right in my heart.

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 27 October 2003 17:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I think http://www.jimsteinman.com/wwwboard/fantasy.htm says everything that needs to be said.

No, really. Go look right now.

― Douglas (Douglas), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:06 (twenty-two years ago)

!!!

...I cry now.

― cis (cis), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:11 (twenty-two years ago)

"We take a bath together in Strawberries and Creme and drown in ecstasy. Oh-la-la!"

Dude, that's not cool.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:23 (twenty-two years ago)

"Jim comes to my door when I'm not even expecting him. He says that he knows how big a fan I am because he lives next door even though I never knew. He says he's watched me through the window many times when I've been masturbating to his music and that he is really turned on by the way I move my body and that I'm very much in harmony with the music. He then asks me if I'm willing to come to his place and help him work out some of the kinks he's having with some of the new songs he's been writing. I tell him I'd be happy to help but I don't know how I could. He says that I could let him watch me masturbate myself and that would be his inspiration because he would tell by the way my body responds if he's making the right adjustments. I'm more than happy to oblige and off we go. (For some reason this is a reoccurring fantasy I have whenever I do myself - that he asks to watch and I let him.)"

Well, Jim certainly looks pleased.

http://www.jimsteinman.com/wwwboard/jim198.gif

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

"Beautiful" is vile and, in Michael Parkinson's words I'll punch any man who says otherwise (except Enrique, perhaps, cos he's a good egg). the question is: what do we think of "We Don't Need Another Hero"? I can think of some contexts where that song Makes More Sense than almost anything else, and other contexts where it is just absurd.

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm amazed that this thread has gotten this far without anyone mentioning the wedding scene in "Old School".

"And I need you now tonight / I fuckin need you more than ever"

"Beautiful" is ass.

― Tom Breihan (Tom Breihan), Monday, 27 October 2003 19:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Does anyone else remember the '84 David Copperfield special where Bonnie Tyler sang "I Need A Hero" to him from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon while Mr. Copperfield levitated over the thing? The split screen image of Copperfield in a full lotus, arms crossed, eyes closed, hovering 1,000 feet above the canyon floor while Bonnie called him home in song is one of those things that makes childhood seem like an endless acid trip.

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 27 October 2003 22:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Taking sides: "Total Eclipse..." original version vs. "Total Eclipse..." house/trance/etc remix?

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 27 October 2003 23:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm still upset that Limp Bizkit covered "Behind Blue Eyes" instead of this. I dunno if it's classic or not (I only hear like parts of it on the radio, like most Jim Steinman songs) but it's better than "Behind Blue Eyes."

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 27 October 2003 23:18 (twenty-two years ago)

trance remixes of eighties songs are the worst thing ever...

― robin (robin), Monday, 27 October 2003 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Was "Total Eclipse..." in the running for a limpbizkit cover, Anthony?

― Mark (MarkR), Monday, 27 October 2003 23:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Yup, along some Love And Rockets song I never heard of. THE MIND BOGGLES.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 27 October 2003 23:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I repeat, NIKKI FRENCH = ROWR

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 27 October 2003 23:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I suspect the secret of the original "Total Eclipse of the Heart" is how it wants "Power of Love" to be "Wuthering Heights", or vice versa.

If there's a problem with Diane Warren/Celine Dion effect it's that it has tended to iron out all eccentricity in the power ballad. That's partly why Bedingfield's "If You're Not The One" is so great, and why "Never Gonna Leave Your Side" or whatever it was is so drab.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 27 October 2003 23:58 (twenty-two years ago)

it has tended to iron out all eccentricity in the power ballad

Ah, bless you Mr. Finney. Again you are a genius. :-) But yeah, this sums it up. There is also very little sense of...well, 'camp' is such a loaded word, but the lack of same in favor of sheer pointless formalism in so many of these ballads is wearying. I was thinking of this in particular when watching an episode or two of Pop Idol with Martin during my UK trip, the sheer dullness of one soundalike ballad after another -- more than a few selections coming from Ms. Warren's pen in particular, I seem to recall -- made the whole exercise pure pain. There was nothing to get excited about, no reason to care.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 00:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha ha Australian Idol has been *much* better in this regard!

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 01:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I misread the thread title and thought that Bonnie "Prince" Billy had covered "Total Eclipse of the Heart". Now *that* would be fucking awesome.

― Nick Mirov (nick), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 05:42 (twenty-two years ago)

it's overblown, camp, manipulative tosh and humanity is poorer for liking it!

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 08:58 (twenty-two years ago)

c'mon julio, tell us what you REALLY think!

the song is indeed camp, overproduced, manipulative tosh - and i LOVE it. although maybe it's because i remember asking this cute girl maria to slow dance in grade 7 to this song and she said yes, so i guess it has some sort of significance on a personal level only...

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 09:40 (twenty-two years ago)

jim steinman is THE MAN, and if anyone says otherwise i will beat them up.

― The Lady Ms Lurex (lucylurex), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 22:10 (twenty-two years ago)

it's overblown, camp, manipulative tosh and humanity is poorer for liking it!

Like Rob says, it's great BECAUSE it's so overblown, camp and manipulative.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

no, that's too obvious. not all that's *really* bad becomes good.

that just reeks of some stuck-in-1992 gen-X cliche

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 03:34 (twenty-two years ago)

"it's great BECAUSE it's so overblown, camp and manipulative" <> "all that's *really* bad becomes good"

HTH

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 03:36 (twenty-two years ago)

come on...is it such a stretch?

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 03:39 (twenty-two years ago)

"it" (singular) <> "all" (plural)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 03:41 (twenty-two years ago)

(*yawns*)

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 03:45 (twenty-two years ago)

ImImpressedOrEvenCare = False

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 03:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Just last week I was thinking how it's totally an airsupply song but with way more testosteronesupply.

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 04:00 (twenty-two years ago)

(CLASSIC.)

― brian nemtusak (sanlazaro), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 04:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Why are overblown-ness, campness and manipulation bad things? In a novel perhaps they would be - in a movie possibly - but in a pop single??

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 10:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Exactly! PS is Tico Tico the silent recently but presumably with good reason Tom Ewing? I'm not sure about the concept of manipulation in general. The world doesn't work like that, you can't avoid what gets termed 'manipulation'.

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 11:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Tico Tico is Tom Ewing when he's not being a moderator, which at the moment is indefinitely.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 11:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Why are overblown-ness, campness and manipulation bad things? In a novel perhaps they would be - in a movie possibly - but in a pop single??

they are not as long as there's an element of 'smarts' to it - not necessarily irony. also if you apply these to other genres (rock, dance) you will surely then have a pop single anyway?

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

In a pop single it is actually worse bcz its concentrated in 3 minutes.

In a 500 page novel if the overblowness etc isn't there all the way through it could be tolerable. Same with a movie: certain awful scenes but its a two hour thing.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 11:54 (twenty-two years ago)

But why is the grandiose bad Julio?

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 11:55 (twenty-two years ago)

hmm...The thing abt these ballads is that its designed to make you feel certain things. I guess the emotional spectrum is limited (sorry, I know that kind of reasoning sounds awful but I'm trying to think this one through: I'll just throw this one in...).

I think there is space for grandiose but it is precisely bcz its all concentrated in a 3 minute pop single that it makes it 'bad' to me. Maybe if you played this in a disco it would be fine but I just don't understand how anyone could listen to this kind of thing at home.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 12:05 (twenty-two years ago)

i sort of agree - i have realised that TEOTH is quite a well made song, but the only way i would listen to it is just to contemplate that craft aspect, or to appreciate it as a story/scenario from someone else's (Bonnie Tyler's i suppose) view. i certainly wouldn't listen to something like that looking for emotional comfort, re-assurance or to relate. it is hard to take seriously the idea that anyone would.

― stevem (blueski), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 12:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Try to imagine the most nauseous, vomit-inducing song you've ever heard in your life and multiply it by a thousand and you're still nowhere near how much I detest that song. WORST HIT SINGLE BY ANYBODY ANYWHERE INCLUDING WHITNEY HOUSTON!!!

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 13:36 (twenty-two years ago)

To me "Total Eclipse..." contains the whole range of human experience -- joy, pain, sadness, anger, wonder -- although the "positive" emotions come more from how it makes me rather than the content of the song itself. It reminds me of the best of the first Andrew WK album in how it goes so far over the top it attains a kind of grace. If you like it and feel it only a little, you're doing so w/ a hint of irony, but if you give yourself over to it completely it becomes pure.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Basically it seems that liking this song or not is completely dependent upon how willing you are to let your emotions be artificcially manipulated by a pop single.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 14:47 (twenty-two years ago)

As opposed to you generating yr own emotions authentically, without any awful pop stars involved, because you, TEOTH-hataz are independent of all that shit...

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 14:49 (twenty-two years ago)

(My argument only applies to Miccio.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 15:09 (twenty-two years ago)

''because you, TEOTH-hataz are independent of all that shit...''

yes, 'we' are better than you.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 15:13 (twenty-two years ago)

no, that's too obvious. not all that's *really* bad becomes good. that just reeks of some stuck-in-1992 gen-X cliche

Hey, I didn't say that everything that's bloated and camp and manipulative is great. In this case, however, I just relish the it's a big, melodramatic wedding cake of a song. Is it entirely ridiculous? Of course, but it's crafted with so much loving care that I find it hard not to appreciate.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 15:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I LOVE this song.

― Barima (Barima), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Why are overblown-ness, campness and manipulation bad things?

They aren't. Not neccessarily. Not when done by the likes of Genesis or Yes, that is, in a tastefull and sophisticated fashion.

Hair metal ballads don't fit into that positive category though

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Tastefully-done overblown camp?

This is an oxymoron.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, forget about "camp" then, as good 70s prog was never _meant_ to be bad (and rarely was either)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

as i said upthread,i really like this song,although i don't own it or anything,but whenever i hear it in a chipper or whatever its always a good laugh...

however,i was curious whether more people would be sympathetic to julio's arguement/reasons if we were talking about my heart will go on or something...

also,i was only a kid,but what did people think of this song when it was first released?

― robin (robin), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 18:57 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess I was about 13 when it came out -- I loved it then but I wouldn't have admitted it, no way. Like many adolescents I was a coward & was afraid that liking this song made me a pussy.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Taking sides: Light in your life vs. Love in the dark

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 19:04 (twenty-two years ago)

As I admitted on the other thread I like "Think Twice" a bit but "My Life Will Go On" is too restrained, it's enormous in a "this is expensive and huge and sensible" sense rather than a "my god how can they get away with THAT" sense - in TEOTH there's a real strain to get the record sounding that enormous, whereas MHWGO can do it with no seeming effort and is thus more boring.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 19:25 (twenty-two years ago)

You can belt Total Eclipse Of The Heart (as you can Think Twice, and as you can't My Heart Will Go On - wrong register, too wussy, and strangely forgettable in the sense that I can remember the fluty bit and the way she sings the title, but the rest? nah). That's why it's classic. Oh, and "we're living in a powderkeg and GIVING OFF SPARKS!"

― cis (cis), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Is that the line? I just always heard it as "weererreqdadasagakeg giveareaeagasAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHs."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:15 (twenty-two years ago)

...well, yeah, it could be that, too.

― cis (cis), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:20 (twenty-two years ago)

hey Dan your last thing confused me. Are you saying I don't let pop manipulate me or that I do? Cuz I'm SERIOUSLY pop's bitch.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 30 October 2003 00:35 (twenty-two years ago)

another reason for classic status: the inclusion of the video on tv carnage, volume one.

more classic clip on that video: the kid with no legs on the skateboard being chased by the rabid dog

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Thursday, 30 October 2003 00:38 (twenty-two years ago)

My only problem with Jim Steinman is that his songs all manipulate in the same exact way - that whole rise and fall thing. I once bummed my mom out by revealing that so many songs she liked were written by the Meat Loaf dude and basically WERE Meat Loaf songs (she doesn't dig the Loaf - she likes the women bombastic and the men mellow if I can overgeneralize). Personally my fave Steinman is "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)," mainly for the part about sometimes praying for silence, for soul and to god of Sex and Drugs and rock and roll. It's so true.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 30 October 2003 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Several years ago, I used to share a flat with two-sevenths of a Meatloaf tribute band, and have retained a sneaking admiration for the work of Jim Steinmann. Epic overblown theatrical story-telling pop songs just aren't around enough these days.

Oh, and to answer the thread question, unutterably classic. And I was listening to it last week at my mum and dad's.

― ailsa (ailsa), Thursday, 30 October 2003 00:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Absolute Classic. Recently dumped, I'm karaoke-ing it tomorrow when my ex shows up at the bar. I was in NY last year at a piano bar off 42nd, and this girl got up to sing it, and the place went mad of course. The best thing was that the bartender was singing the falsetto "turn around bright eyes" into a wireless headset and mixing flashy cocktails at the same time!!!

― David Potts, Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe that no-one has yet mentioned that militant Muslim groups allegedly love Bonnie Tyler and TEOFTH and listen to it while getting revved up for battle.

Total classic.

― Sarah Pedal (call mr. lee), Thursday, 30 October 2003 03:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't believe that no-one has yet mentioned that militant Muslim groups allegedly love Bonnie Tyler and TEOFTH and listen to it while getting revved up for battle.

Source?

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 30 October 2003 05:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, according to this, Mohammed died on the same day Bonnie Tyler was born hundreds of years later. Uh, yeah.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 October 2003 05:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Popbitch claimed that TEOTH was the number one choice listening for bosnian snipers or chechen rebels or something...

― Jacob (Jacob), Thursday, 30 October 2003 09:17 (twenty-two years ago)

"Basically it seems that liking this song or not is completely dependent upon how willing you are to let your emotions be artificcially manipulated by a pop single." - Dan

This should be in the FAQ!!!

I figure the reason I can't stomach power ballads like this one is that they're embarassing, though I don't mean that as a pejorative. Bonnie Tyler sounds so exposed, so naked when she sings TEOTH that I feel embarassed for her when I listen to it. It's the same feeling I get when hanging out with singers who frequently burst into song in public. In one sense I envy them for being so free and unrestrained, but I also know I'm not like that. When I want ballads, I listen to singers who sound timid or beaten down but still composed enough to sing their song with their head held high (Billie Holliday, Nick Drake, Robert Johnson, etc).

― Dave M. (rotten03), Thursday, 30 October 2003 10:25 (twenty-two years ago)

hey Dan your last thing confused me. Are you saying I don't let pop manipulate me or that I do? Cuz I'm SERIOUSLY pop's bitch.

Look at how I originally spelled "artificially".

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 30 October 2003 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

REVIVE! Been listening to this a lot in the last week, the full-length album version (which I'm not sure I'd heard before). Six and a half minutes of bliss.

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 5 October 2006 13:16 (nineteen years ago)

C L A S S I C !

― mister the guanoman (mister the guanoman), Thursday, 5 October 2006 13:25 (nineteen years ago)

Is this the original Guilty Pleasures thread?

Actually, come to think about it "Make Over" is pretty out there...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 5 October 2006 13:29 (nineteen years ago)

That Steinman fantasy upthread!

W T F

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 5 October 2006 14:09 (nineteen years ago)

i don't like it, sorry

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Thursday, 5 October 2006 14:29 (nineteen years ago)

bye then.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 5 October 2006 14:30 (nineteen years ago)

the most absurd part of this song might be the 40-something second fadeout

― Jimmy Mod is like a child who walks into the middle of a movie (The Famous Jimmy, Thursday, 5 October 2006 15:44 (nineteen years ago)

to this day, I still comb the pages of every X-Men comic that comes out, in the hopes that this will finally be the issue where someone sneaks up behind Cyclops, holds a gun (or claw, or whatever) to his head, and says "Don't turn around, bright eyes."

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Thursday, 5 October 2006 15:48 (nineteen years ago)

I was SURE this thread was revived because of this:

Total Eclipse of the Lawsuit
He was a retiring co-pilot. She was an aging 80's rocker flying first class. No one expected her multi-platinum hit to "fall apart" but when Air France flight attendants awoke Bonnie Tyler and asked her to sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in honor of a pilot making his final flight, passengers did more than just "turn around", they up and sued the airline. According to reports, a group of disgruntled travelers, believed to be Belgian, first lodged a complaint claiming they were traumatized by the experience, and are now alleging in a lawsuit, that Tyler's 1983 hit incited a celebration so raucous they feared for their safety. Good thing she didn't try "Holding Out For a Hero" or things might have really turned ugly.

By Emil Steiner | September 6, 2006; 2:29 PM ET

― chaki (chaki), Thursday, 5 October 2006 16:14 (nineteen years ago)

Personally my fave Steinman is "I Would Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That),"

You're a sick man. I see your broader point about JS though. As with Bat Out of Hell, I played the hell out of it for a while after buying it (the 7" in this case) but I don't know if I'll ever put it on again. Classic with a shelf life?

― Sundar (sundar), Thursday, 5 October 2006 19:56 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

I don't understand why anyone in their right mind would like this song now, despite the fact that I loved it when it came out.

― Bimble, Friday, 23 May 2008 10:46 (seventeen years ago)

Thank fuck I'm not in my right mind.

― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 23 May 2008 10:48 (seventeen years ago)

total classic. awesome beyond belief. age shall not wither her.

― m the g, Friday, 23 May 2008 10:52 (seventeen years ago)

I'm not sure I "like" it, in the traditional sense - it's not a song I'm going to go home and put on and soak in because I want to, ever - but one has t6o admire the sheer fucking structural power of it. It's a phenomenon.

― Scik Mouthy, Friday, 23 May 2008 10:56 (seventeen years ago)

Tyler's duet with Todd Rundgren on "Loving You Is a Dirty Job (But Somebody's Got To Do It)" is IMO Tyler and Steinman's best moment. Great title too.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 23 May 2008 11:15 (seventeen years ago)

Great song, and I guess everyone's already seen awesome cover of it.

― Tuomas, Friday, 23 May 2008 11:26 (seventeen years ago)

I liked the Eurodance cover version of this song too. Actually, I think there were two Eurodance covers of it back in the nineties, but the first one was better.

― Tuomas, Friday, 23 May 2008 11:29 (seventeen years ago)

The Hurra Torpedo version is of course classic.

They actually did this as part of a project where they would "slaughter" various not-too-credible songs, mostly Norwegian language ones. But it's this cover version that has stuck and gotten international attention.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 23 May 2008 11:32 (seventeen years ago)

oulseek must have a conscience after all, electing to spare you from the sonic blight that is the Speedwagon's excretion.

I suppose it's statements like this that get me in trouble.

― Alex in NYC, Friday, 23 May 2008 11:33 (seventeen years ago)

"It's a Heartache" is so much of a better song than this wanna-be Meatloaf song.

― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 23 May 2008 14:32 (seventeen years ago)

Just because Ronnie Scott co-wrote it doesn't make it so.

― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 23 May 2008 14:38 (seventeen years ago)

two years pass...

*yadadadadadadah!IREALLYNEEDYOUTONIGHT!*

It occurs to me that one day Kanye will fully remake the video if not the song. And maybe both.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=840B27zYfOk

Then again, Flight of the Conchords has already been there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vQuf49Ya30

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 4 May 2011 14:43 (fourteen years ago)

I'm concerned of what this says about me, but I fell semi-in love with a girl while slow dancing to TEOTH the other night. Jeez.. I've always liked the song, but only in the usaual ironic, waxing 80s nostalgia kind of way. But for a moment that night, all of that was gone, and what was left was the sheer power of that gigantic ballad. I may have been fooled, manipulated, whatever, but it felt pretty fucking great.

Classic.

― Mule, Monday, 16 May 2011 23:36 (fourteen years ago)

so you're trying to say that forever's gonna start tonight

― 2010 = the year of (exactly) 500 Rogers! (La Lechera), Monday, 16 May 2011 23:41 (fourteen years ago)

this song reminds me of my mom

― 2010 = the year of (exactly) 500 Rogers! (La Lechera), Monday, 16 May 2011 23:42 (fourteen years ago)

At this second someone is singing this in a karaoke bar.

― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 16 May 2011 23:42 (fourteen years ago)

xpost

Well, it depends on the girl, I suppose

― Mule, Monday, 16 May 2011 23:47 (fourteen years ago)

"the sheer power of that gigantic ballad"

That why this song is freaking awesome and will rule forever. I hear it's out on Rock Band. Must investigate. Classic classic classic.

― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 02:04 (fourteen years ago)

wow, don't know what drugs i was on 7 years ago as i re-read my posts and was shocked at how sounded snotty and dismissing i sounded,

love the song,

turn around bright eyes is brilliant and will feed into another post

― H in Addis, Wednesday, 18 May 2011 19:46 (fourteen years ago)

eleven years pass...

Hero

39 years on and I still can't explain this pic.twitter.com/y3RY9Z51bz
— Bonnie Tyler (@BonnieTOfficial) September 20, 2022

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 21:52 (three years ago)

dud atp

― dyl, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 21:59 (three years ago)

Madness

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 20 September 2022 22:06 (three years ago)

It is one of the most perfectly overwrought songs ever written and performed. Total classic.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Tuesday, 20 September 2022 22:12 (three years ago)

I love Total Eclipse of the Heart. I had never paid it any attention, until this one time I was trying to get over a rough breakup and it came on the radio in the IHOP I was working at. I had to conceal actual tears while slinging pancakes. Very overwrought and cheesy, but it hit me like a missile.

Haven't knowingly listened to the rest of her music, except in the course of doing research for the Givin' It All You Got thread, when I came across this 1990 song of hers from German action sports film Fire, Ice, and Dynamite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nlWeTL4dtk

― peace, man, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 16:35 (three years ago)

<3 lovely post

absolute classic btw, especially for drunk karaoke

― nxd, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 17:33 (three years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsgWUq0fdKk

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 17:40 (three years ago)

When I was in high school a dance troupe came through to perform for the entire school. The lead dancer gracefully danced until one by one, her skills faltered as she shared a dance with different partners. Each partner was dressed completely in black and had a different word written on their back. ALCOHOL. MARIJUANA. COCAINE. HEROIN.

She eventually fell to the ground, at which point the blacked-out dancers lifted her up and placed in a Jesus Christ crucifix pose to the audience.

This entire performance was done to “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 17:45 (three years ago)

Wish I'd been there!

― bendy, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 18:08 (three years ago)

lol, that's amazing.

― peace, man, Wednesday, 21 September 2022 18:14 (three years ago)

one month passes...

xxp this isn't the one i witnessed but holy moly they were doing this bit in front of 5 year olds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoRL-xzdlVI

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Thursday, 17 November 2022 05:43 (three years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl5PLKr-Zcc

― Josefa, Thursday, 17 November 2022 06:06 (three years ago)

two years pass...

i have no idea why the year 2025 grabbed me and demanded that i obsess on this song right now but it did and i am not mad. unbearably classic.

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 19 May 2025 14:53 (ten months ago)

Strong Songs podcast did an episode on it last week that was pretty fun.

https://strongsongspodcast.com/blogs/episodes/s07e06-total-eclipse-of-the-heart-by-jim-steinman-and-bonnie-tyler

If you don't feel up to listening to the whole episode, his suggestion to listen to the vocal stems on their own still holds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhnSw4CXb6o

― peace, man, Monday, 19 May 2025 15:02 (ten months ago)

ooh, nice

― fact checking cuz, Monday, 19 May 2025 15:09 (ten months ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.