Anyone who was a kid in the ’80s can’t help but remember Eyes Without a Face by Billy Idol, one of the iconic songs of the era.
So, let’s do a quick summary to refresh our GenXers’ memories and to tell the song (and a slightly disquieting curiosity 😱, which you can find in the “Interesting facts” paragraph 👇) to today’s young people… provided they’re interested!
History of Eyes Without a Face
Eyes Without a Face is a power ballad with a powerful guitar riff. It was written by Billy Idol and his guitarist Steve Stevens, the performer of the aforementioned riff. The song is part of the English singer’s second album, Rebel Yell, released in 1983.
How was it born? It’s easy to say.
In his 2014 book, Dancing With Myself, Idol talked about his fondness for old black-and-white horror films.
Among these was Les Yeux Sans Visage, which in English means “Eyes Without a Face“.
The film, dated 1960, is by the French director Georges Franju, and there’s also a bit of Italy in it, because the protagonist is the actress Alida Valli (forgive this Italian blogger a touch of pride😉).
In the early ’80s, the film’s title inspired Idol, who wrote down a tune to fit that phrase. The entire film also made the artist reflect on the path his life as a rock star was taking. Those reflections led to the writing of the lyrics for Eyes Without a Face.
The single was released in the spring of 1984, as the second song from the album. As the first, the one that gave the title to the entire album, Rebel Yell, had been chosen a few months earlier.
Video and Covers
Eyes Without a Face was accompanied by an official video which enjoyed excellent rotation on music channels.
The direction was entrusted to David Mallet, an English director specializing in music videos and live concerts who had already worked with Idol for the song White Wedding.
At the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, the video for Eyes Without a Face was nominated for Best Editing in a Video and Best Cinematography in a Video categories.
In 2017, the Italian band Baustelle released a cover of Eyes Without a Face, recorded for the Gucci eyewear advertising campaign.
Interesting Facts
- During the chorus of Eyes Without a Face, a female voice repeats “Les Yeux Sans Visage“. The voice is that of Perri Lister, English singer, dancer and actress, who was engaged to Billy Idol at the time. Perri also appeared in the video for Foolin’ by Def Leppard, released in late summer 1983.
- And here’s the slightly disquieting curiosity I was talking about above 👉: the video for the song was shot in just over two days, with the help of special effects equipment to obtain smoke and fire. In his biography, Billy Idol wrote that in those two days of intense work, he did not sleep and never took off his hard contact lenses. Upon completion of the work, he immediately left for Arizona, where he discovered that the lenses had fused to his eyeballs. Obviously, the episode ended in a local hospital.
Success of the Song
In 1984, Eyes Without a Face performed best in the United States and New Zealand, where it reached number four on the weekly singles chart. In Canada it reached sixth place and tenth in Germany.
Even without making the top ten, the song also sold well in Australia, Italy, Ireland, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and, of course, the United Kingdom.
An excellent result, which also contributed to the success of the album.
Isn’t that why singles are released?
