In 1983 Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart entered October as the #1 song in America. It stayed on the number 1 through most of the month of October. It did not make it to Halloween, which is a shame. The song is about vampires hooking up. The song was meant to convey something sensual and Gothic with the tension of a victim/vampire duet.
In an interview with Playbill, songwriter Jim Steinman confirmed more than a decade of speculation in 2002. “I actually wrote [“Total Eclipse of the Heart”] to be a vampire love song. Its original title was ‘Vampires in Love’ because I was working on a musical of ‘Nosferatu,’ the other great vampire story. If anyone listens to the lyrics, they’re really like vampire lines. It’s all about the darkness, the power of darkness and love’s place in dark.”
Why was it not more obvious? In 1983, music in America was under attack. Sexual content, including gay content, was at the beginning of government overreach and censorship. By 1985 we would see Tipper Gore’s (wife of former Vice President Al Gore) PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center), bring forth a senate hearing with the intention of banning and censoring “filthy” “Porn rock”.
It is bizarre to write this, but if not for Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister the music industry may have faced a more dire consequence than parental warning labels. To this day Tipper still stands behind all her actions in that time. A time where she and other elected officials’ wives tried to destroy the first amendment.
Dee Snyder may have helped prevent the banning of Cyndi Lauper, Sheena Easton, Madonna and others on the PMRC’s filthy fifteen list. But the RIAA still caved to the stickers. Our First Amendment constitutional right to freedom of speech had been eroded and the average consumer did not understand the dire consequences these labels had on the arts.
Most of the songs on the filthy fifteen list were because of content about sex and masturbation, but 2 were there because of “Occult content”. Even an elected democrat’s spouse can fall victim to satanic panic. With that in mind, a song that was overtly about vampires hooking up with mortals may not have survived the 80’s puritanical dark underbelly beneath all the pastels and neon.
So this month, light a candle, dress in black, and play “Total Eclipse of the Heart” through the lens of a vampire/mortal affair. But be careful! You might get turned on and want to become a vampire because that is how some people think it works. I mean if songs and books about queer sex will turn you queer, imagine what songs and books about vampire sex will do???
Come to think about it, since reading Anne Rice I have had a penchant for sunglasses and biting in foreplay. Is it too late for me?
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