...As far as Kim Carnes' image)radio format went, I seem to recall that she got AOR/FM rock play a bit? during the " Eyes " period but not after - I seem to recall WNEW-FM playing ' Voyeur " or another of her Rod Steeart-esque sides a little.
Bette Davis Eyes I totally believe this was the #1 song of 1981; it was absolutely everywhere that spring and summer. It's an interesting song; I like the echoing percussion that sounds like someone whipping a couch, and the song has an unique lyrical idea that it runs with very effectively. So, there certainly could have been worse songs to top the year end charts. On the other hand, they played it SOOO much that I began to get well and truly tired of it by month two. It was good, but not that good! And it really seems to have evaporated from the airwaves since then. I almost never hear it nowadays, and considering how HUGE it was, that's kinda odd. It didn't help Kim Carnes' career much, either. I'm a classic film fan, but at that point in my life I didn't know much about Bette Davis. My experience with her was in that Witch Mountain Movie and as a perennial guest on Carson, where she seemed older than Methuselah and constantly cranky about something or other. As a result, she seemed like a peculiar subject for a song about a deadly sexy woman. Of course, Jackie and her co-writer were imagining the Jezebel Bette Davis, not the seventies model. Still, even in her day, I don't think Davis was considered gorgeous so much as a sexy b**ch type. She got her first big break in Of Human Bondage, playing one of the worst, nastiest female characters of the thirties, and a lot of her work from then on played at least a little with that same vibe. See also Jezebel, All About Eve for more examples ('fasten your seat belts! It's going to be a bumpy night!') The lyrics are good, although I have a hard time understanding everything Carnes is saying. Hilariously, I heard one of the lyrics for years as 'she knows just what it takes to make a problish'. What's a problish? I assumed it was some kind of deli sandwich! Nothing sexier than a woman who can make a good problish, yes sirree! Kim Carnes I'm on the fence about. I'm not a fan of her voice or way of singing, at least based on the two songs of hers I've actually heard (the other being the Kenny Rogers duet). People compare her to Rod Stewart, but are ignoring the more obvious clone: Bonnie Tyler. I used to occasionally confuse the two. Anyway, I'm not convinced she was the best choice to do this song, but you can't argue with success, can you? And this marked a second 'long time singer, first time success' story we heard recently, following REO Speedwagon. Does it say something about the bankruptcy of the charts at this time that old warhorses were getting big hits? Probably. I do recall Casey Kasem loved talking about Carnes almost as much as talking about REO. He sure got a lot of chances to do it, too!
Maybe she was just a journeyman who got lucky with the right song at the right time, and it just wouldn't have mattered what they followed it with, she was never going to be a big star? That's my take, anyways.
I agree to a point. As others have pointed out "Bette Davis Eyes" was something of an anomaly. Carnes had spent the 70s pursuing a sound that was closer to what Linda Ronstadt and Rita Coolidge were doing at the same time. Even on Mistaken Identity, most of the songs still had a late 70s SoCal feel to them. She did try to update her sound with Voyeur and Cafe Racers but by then she was in her late 30s and she was facing competition from younger singers such as Madonna. Nonetheless, she did have some top forty hits as late as 1985.
...I recall a People Magazine pic of Carnes' and Bette facing each other, toasting. Was Bette's " rivalling+Joan-C., all time drag queen's fave rave " status that widely known then? I suppose not.
...Which reminds me...this is not the last time we'll hear a reference to Ms. Margo come up in this thread!!!!!!!!!!!
...It was Eric Carmen, and no, it didn't go toppermost/poppermost. GREAT, thiugh!!!!!!!!!!! (They did share...not to spoil...a connection.)
I remember when Kim Carne's was so hot, just having her do backup vocals made a hit song. Just ask Randy Meisner.
...I:ll have something to say about Yarbourogh and Peeples and 38. Special later. I was just thinking about the Taylor)Southern " Her Town..." t'other day and looked it back up...Even with my then being traditionally a mellow-hater - of Lester Bangs' nemisis J.T. and Eagles-pal J.D...." Her Town Too " is quite a nice piece of songwriting, rather a literary short story in Tin Pan Alley form, perhaps...Comment was made here about " Mathis/Williams' " Too Much, Too Little, Too Late " reflecting the soaring 70s divorce rate. Taylor/Souther's might reflect onsaid date now reaching the younger, " hip ' set, with...surface?...less dramatic " Hey, nobody's to blame, man " put-on reactions befitting their cohort.
...The very next Number One to be brought up, I will advance-shill for it here, be a real oolarizer...A lot of people here will HATR it- I luv it - FAB-ulous by moi. It will leave some weird lyrical, affect on another charter, and cross-Atlantic title, mix & even artist designation accomplishments, too! Stay tuned...........
Haven't been on here in a while (got very busy at work and also in the non-virtural world) -- last time I was on here was when John Lennon was #1. And now I see we are at Kim Carnes. So I know what song we are at. I'll have to go back and read the intervening posts. WRT to Kim Carnes, I like"More Love" (which I think was from 1980) best of all of her songs, when all was said and done. I heard "Bette Davis Eyes" too much at the time. I do remember hearing "Draw of the Cards" in 1981, but as others have said -- only in 1981. It had too much start/stop in it, as I recall -- not very catchy.
Hate to agree with you but I think you’re right. It was a great song and as someone else said, who sang it may not have mattered, though her version of More Love did all right. I like her voice but I’m agreeing with you because I doubt most do.
Sandwiched in the middle of Kim Carnes' juggernaut is our next #1, "Stars on 45" by Stars on 45, #1 from June 14- June 20, 1981.
Awful...simply awful. I remember it well. A medley of mostly Beatle tunes, sung by a bunch of sound-a-likes; it was the worst Number 1 song since “Disco Duck.” The funny thing is that the success of this “inspired” Capitol Records to release an actual “Beatles Movies Medley” in 1982. Apparently, radio audiences preferred the fake Beatles as the “Beatles Movie Medley” topped out at #12.
Stars on 45 Who needs the Beatles when you've got Stars on 45? 1981 decides not enough people are noticing how bad it's number ones are, so it puts a lampshade on it's head and dances around.
I never heard this piece of utter crap until about 1991 when a friend, who had it on vinyl played it for me. In fact, it's kind of weirdly enjoyable piece of kitsch nowadays...worth hearing once every thirty years or so. "Stars on 45", I'll be seeing you again in 2050.
This reminds me of something I was thinking about on my way into work Thursday - "Bette Davis Eyes" was written in '73 or '74, during the peak of the whole revival house era, where glammed out college kids would spend their evenings watching old films from the '30s, '40s and '50s in little old dying movie houses. I can't help but wonder if Jackie DeShannon wasn't inspired by that whole movement in some way, perhaps having recently seen Davis in a classic flick played at a revival house. During that period, television stations also upped the frequency at which they screened some of these ancient flicks in the late night hours and on weekend afternoons, I assume driven in part by the attention some of these old classics were receiving from the revival house circuit. Maybe DeShannon caught an old Bette Davis flick because of that and the song was born. Either way, Davis was certainly better-known by early-'80s pop music audiences than might have otherwise been the case thanks to many of them having been exposed to her work during the whole revival house boom of the early '70s. It also gave the song a certain cachet with an artsier audience than Carnes might have otherwise reached. In all, it's a fascinating example of how a countercultural trend of a prior decade can suddenly land some artifact of itself smack dab in the middle of the next decade's pop culture.
Maybe. But then you have "More Love", which she managed to take to #10 on her own in 1980, and which sonically is a clear precursor to "Bette Davis Eyes". Like I said up above, I think if she'd gotten Smokey's "Being With You" as originally intended, produced a similar-sounding version and released it as the follow up to "Bette Davis Eyes", it would have also been a #1 hit (it got to #2 as it was) and Carnes might have had a much lengthier career, even in spite of her age. There was clearly an audience for those raspy vocals. In addition to Rod Stewart you had Bonnie Tyler as someone mentioned up above, and I've always though Bryan Adams and Stevie Nicks (when she cut loose) were part of the same crowd of gravel-voiced, Platinum-selling pop/rock rock singers.
In the UK, this record was credited to "Starsound." To show how things were in the industry at that time, as time goes on we will see what followed in its immediate wake.
