STEVE HARNELL
Eternal Flame THE BANGLES (CBS)
Two ‘eternal fiames’ inspired what remains The Bangles’ last major hit single. Firstly, the band had seen one at the grave of Elvis Presley during a visit to Graceland. When frontwoman Susanna Hoffs relayed the story to the song’s co-writer Billy Steinberg it sparked memories of another fiame he saw while attending synagogue in Palm Springs as a child. Steinberg later dubbed the track “The Beatles meets The Byrds”. In the BBC documentary I’m In A Girl Group, Hoffs revealed she recorded her vocals in the studio completely naked after being pranked by producer Davitt Sigerson who told the singer that Olivia Newton-John had once done so to achieve a better performance. He later admitted to Hoffs that he’d made the whole thing up. That’s not weird is it?