Artist:Bangles
Song:Hazy Shade of Winter
Album:We Are the '80s
Of course most fans are familiar with the 80s girl group Bangles and hits like Walk Like an Egyptian. This rock cover of the Simon and Garfunkel classic Hazy Shade of Winter was a top five hit in 1987. It appeared on the soundtrack of the 1987 film Less Than Zero. It was not released on any of Bangles albums. So that means it's a discography orphan. As far as I can tell, this is the only time Bangles recorded a song for a movie. The soundtrack album was on DefJam and was produced by Rick Rubin. The film was being shot around the time Walk Like an Egyptian topped the charts. So Bangles were hot at the time. And they were asked to record a song for Less Than Zero. They were asked which song they wanted to cover. This particular soundtrack had quite a few covers including Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu by Aerosmith, Rock and Roll All Nite by Poison and In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Slayer. Bangles lead singer Susanna Hoffs says that she was listening to an oldies radio station one day. After Hazy Shade of Winter played, she realized that she had never heard that song before. And she thought she was a really big Simon and Garfunkel fan. So she told the rest of the band that she wanted to cover the song. They decided to record a hard rock cover. And to help with that, Rubin removed the bridge. They sang as a group and were very happy with the record. But the big surprise is that when it was released as a single, it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. That helped sell the film soundtrack which was certified Gold. Hazy Shade of Winter never appeared on a Bangles album. But it does appear on most Bangles comps including this budget CD. Bangles would have one big hit after that with Eternal Flame in 1989. Then they split up. Bangles reunited in 1998 and they still tour. Here's the video for Hazy Shade of Winter by Bangles.
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