At the time of the huge success of Total Eclipse of the Heart, Jim Steinman was at his peak as a song writer of truly epic musical pieces, all of which started with the Bat Out Of Hell album he wrote for Meat Loaf. There is no denying the signature song writing here could only be from Jim Steinman.
However, the standout feature of this 1983 classic, is the excessive use of reverb, which was popular at the time (this was the eighties after all) but this record took things to a whole new level! There is however no denying the brilliant result either.
Every single fader during mix down (with the exception of kick and bass) were being pushed into the reverb sends, which consisted of multiple EMT-140 reverb plates as well as bathrooms being used as reverb chambers during mixdown!
The song became Bonnie Tyler’s biggest hit, topping the UK Singles Chart, and becoming the fifth-best-selling single in 1983 in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the single spent four weeks at the top of the charts, keeping another Steinman penned song Making Love Out of Nothing at All by Air Supply from reaching the top spot, and it was Billboard’s number-six song of the year for 1983. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
