When Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler passed on several weeks ago, there was the usual spate of condolences even from people who did not personally know her. Boomer and Gen X fans, mostly, who were already young adults or in their teens when Total Eclipse of the Heart hit the airwaves in 1983. Yes, airwaves. As in radio. Music streaming was still in the future.

I was among those people. I was captured by the power and energy of the song. Tyler’s husky voice and her gritty performance went perfectly with the sheer intensity of the haunting music in the background. Beautiful song performed by an extraordinary singer. Too bad that, these days, the song gets mercilessly mangled by every drunk with a karaoke microphone. Murderous, really.

Total Eclipse of the Heart was composed by Jim Steinman. But I didn’t know his name in 1983. I wouldn’t until my brother and I saw Streets of Fire the following year. Dubbed a “A Rock & Roll Fable”, the cast included a teenaged Diane Lane as the damsel in distress and a 20-something Willem Dafoe as the villain. The setting was a cross between the 1950s and a dystopian future. The soundtrack of ten songs was magnificent. The two I loved best, Tonight is What it Means to be Young and Nowhere Fast were written by Jim Steinman.

What do all of that have to do with vampires?

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