Last year, I caught up on episodes of Slate’s Hit Parade. While the series can bring a single artist’s story alive, my favorite episodes of the series show broad connections in music. One of my favorites has to be “Turn Around, Bright Eyes,” the story of producer Jim Steinman. Casual music listeners don’t think about the song’s producer or the techniques and inspiration that go into recording a song, but I would like to think that my readers have started as casual listeners and are thinking more deeply about music. And this is the story of a musical hero.
HE’S GOTTA BE FRESH FROM THE FIGHT. Gaynor Hopkins was the daughter of a Welsh coal miner. After finishing school, Hopkins began her musical career, changing her name to Sherene Davis because a Welsh folk singer, Mary Hopkin, had a similar name. After singing in Wales, she was scouted by RCA Records in London, which offered her a record contract and recommended that Davis change her name. This time the singer settled on Bonnie Tyler. The first singles from Tyler’s 1977 debut record, The World Starts Tonight, took time to impact the charts in Europe, but her first single from her sophomore record, “It’s a Heartache,” reached number 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Tyler released more records, fulfilling her contract with RCA Records, and in 1982 she signed with CBS/Columbia Records and began a new era. With this era came a collaboration with maximalist producer Jim Steinman, who was at the time most famous for producing Meat Loaf’s albums. Besides the famed Bat Out of Hell record, Steinman wrote and produced his own rock music, inspired by German opera composer Richard Wagner with melodramatic scenes and over-the-top vocal performances, all accompanied by a blaring rock band. Steinman brought all of this to singer Bonnie Tyler’s fifth record, Faster than the Speed of Night, encapsulated in the album’s lead single, “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
IT’S GONNA TAKE A SUPERMAN TO SWEEP ME OFF MY FEET. Today’s song is Bonnie Tyler’s other big hit. “Holding Out for a Hero” was recorded for the 1984’s Footloose. In the single, Steinman brings even more theatrics to Tyler’s vocals. In 1986, the single was included on the follow-up to Faster than the Speed of Night, Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire. The nine-track record builds on the template laid by Faster, but whereas the previous album relies heavily on pianos and balladry, Dreams fills out the production with more guitars and synthesizers. The star of the song, though, is Bonnie Tyler’s gravelly delivery. The song is, well, ridiculous. It seems to take itself quite seriously, but that’s the campy charm of it. It’s been played to death and covered by everyone from Emery to most recently Adam Lambert. It’s heard on every classic rock station and played in movies. Songs that have permeated culture this much often lose their meaning for me. But listening to Hit Parade and learning about the vision of producer Jim Steinman and learning about a girl from a small town in Wales who wanted to become a singer brings a more authentic experience with the song than I’ve ever had before.
Music video:
Adam Lambert version:
Scene from Footloose:
Scene from Shrek 2:
Mixtapemotions 