THE #1 SONG 25 YEARS AGO TODAY WAS.....

.....Eternal Flame by The Bangles. The Bangles had already reached the top of the Hot 100 once with Walk Like An Egyptian in 1986, but Eternal Flame was little less of a surprise hit and eventually broke up the band. Susanna Hoffs, who most people consider the "lead" singer (the band disputes that label) wrote the song with hit-makers Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and released it as the second single from their 1988 album Everything. While members of the band all agreed that the song was perfectly lovely, they didn't feel that Eternal Flame sounded like their music. Guitarist Michael Steele said on their episode of VH1's Behind the Music it was more of a Whitney Houston ballad than a song by The Bangles. The record label backed Hoffs and released the song, which hit #1 on the Hot 100 on April 1, 1989. April's Fool's indeed! Eternal Flame also topped the charts in Australia, the UK, Sweden, Norway, The Netherlands and Ireland as well as the US Adult Contemporary chart.  It is definitely one of their signature hits. The band eventually mended fences in the late 90s and put our another album and toured. Eternal Flame lives on.