Eternal Flame
The Bangles
1989

The year is 1989.  The Dodgers, sadly, have just won the World Series fueled by this bit of sorcery.  Within the year the Berlin Wall will come down.  And, most importantly, I'm in Sixth Grade at Calle Mayor Middle School.  Setting the stage a bit for our less informed readers, I was pretty hot stuff back in 1989.  A medium-coiffed set of curls perched on top of an huge noggin with the perfect accessory to complete the look, a lopsided pair of ridiculously oversized glasses as a result of too many basketballs that clanged right off the face.  Some of you have seen the photos; you know what I'm talking about.  Some of you lived through it; you really know what I'm talking about and haven't been able to sleep since.

Anyways, also in 1989 The Bangles released their overly-sappy, overly-awesome power ballad "Eternal Flame."  This was right around the time that I really started getting into music, and I launched my huge noggin fully into this one.  Some readers may remember Mrs. McDonald's math class, where I would just belt this one out, largely to try and flatter a couple of girls who would giggle every time I sang it (to protect the innocent, let's just call said girls Jenny K. and Charlene D.).  In my mind, it always sounded like this (one of the most criminally underrated movies, btw), but in reality, it probably came out sounding like this.

But enough with reminiscing about the good ol' days.  When I was compiling the list, I kept coming back to this song saying, no way I can justify keeping this song on here.  No way can I rank it so highly.  But I just couldn't take it out.  It's a beautifully-crafted, beautiful song.  It deserved to be on this list.  And I'll sing it for you anytime.

Other Songs Considered:
They had other hits, but nothing Top 100 worthy for me.