The Bangles' 1989 single Eternal Flame is one of the best-known, best-loved and most successful power ballads ever, giving the Los Angeles-based group a number one single in the US, UK, Australia, Ireland and a number of other European countries. But the band's former vocalist/guitarist Susanna Hoffs has revealed that her three bandmates originally didn't even want the song recorded as an album track for their third studio album, Everything.
In a new interview with Vulture, Hoffs explains, "With every album, we would show our wares to the others and be like, 'Here’s my five songs',” or 'I wrote ten songs, but these are the ones I think are the best.' I was convinced Eternal Flame was one of the best songs I had ever co-written in my life, and I was very, very proud of it. So [ahead of the recording of Everything] I presented In Your Room, Eternal Flame, and a few other songs to the band. In Your Room made the cut, but the other girls voted out Eternal Flame. I was like … what?"
"I should never liken myself to Bruce Springsteen," Hoffs continues, "but there was this lore about how he recorded Nebraska and would go around with a cassette of it in his pocket because he was so proud. I had that feeling about Eternal Flame. I would carry that cassette in my purse and to anyone who wanted to hear it, I’d be like, This is the song of my life. The only people who weren’t so into it were the other three girls in the band."
Hoffs goes on to reveal that it was only at the insistence of producer Davitt Sigerson that the song was included on the group's 1988 album.
"Our producer said, 'You know what, Sue? I really love that song too, and I want to find a way to make it work for the Bangles album.' I asked what he had in mind. And he said, 'I think it should be piano-driven in a way.' It’s funny because [co-writers] Billy [Steinberg] and Tom [Kelly] knew the Bangles weren’t a piano band, so that’s why we did the Eternal Flame demo on a guitar. Of course, that worked and it ended up going on Everything and it became our biggest song."
Hoffs also reveals in the Vulture interview that she is putting together a documentary about The Bangles, whose most recent album, Sweetheart of the Sun, was released back in 2011.
