"Eyes Without a Face"
Cover of 12" vinyl single
Single by Billy Idol
from the album Rebel Yell
B-side"The Dead Next Door"
ReleasedJune 1984
Studio
Genre
Length4:58 (album/video version)
4:08 (single version)
LabelChrysalis
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Keith Forsey
Billy Idol singles chronology
"Rebel Yell"
(1983)		 "Eyes Without a Face"
(1984)		 "Flesh for Fantasy"
(1984)
Audio sample
  • file
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Music video
"Eyes Without a Face" on YouTube

"Eyes Without a Face" is a song by English rock musician Billy Idol, from his second album Rebel Yell (1983). It was released in June 1984 as the second single from the album. The song is softer and more ballad-like than most of the album's other singles. It reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Idol's first top-10 hit in the US.[4] The recording features the voice of Perri Lister—she appeared in the banned video for "Hot in the City"—who sings "Les yeux sans visage" (French for "Eyes without a face") as a background chorus. The title of the song refers to the English title of French director Georges Franju's 1960 film Les yeux sans visage.

In a retrospective review of the single, AllMusic journalist Donald A. Guarisco praised the song and wrote: "The music plays against the dark tone of the lyrics with a ballad-styled melody comprised of yearning verses that slowly build emotion and a quietly wrenching chorus that relieves the emotional tension in a cathartic manner."[5]

Background

In his memoir, Dancing with Myself, Idol explained he had always been fascinated with the titles of horror films, including the 1960 French movie Les Yeux Sans Visage (Eyes Without a Face). The movie concerns a plastic surgeon who vowed to restore the face of his daughter who had been disfigured in a car accident, and this quest led him to murder victims and graft their facial features onto his daughter in an attempt to restore her beauty. By the end, all that remained of her original face was her eyes, thus making her "eyes without a face". Idol saw some parallel between the movie and the moral decay he experienced living in New York in the 1980s.[6] He said,

I started to use "Eyes Without a Face" as a possible title/lyric/chorus for the song. I began to write words that, in some disguised form, spoke about my life in New York and a relationship gone wrong, on the edge of disintegrating into madness. Perhaps I was reflecting on my own touring infidelities. In a way, those can leave you feeling soulless, especially if you're already in a relationship that you value but are degrading by looking elsewhere for additional sexual kicks.[6]

In the studio, Idol told guitarist Steve Stevens about the tune he had, and Stevens fleshed it out with a revolving four-chord pattern (Emaj7-C#m-G#m-B).[7] Stevens then came up with a hard rock guitar riff in the middle of the song. Idol said he improvised some rap verses over the riff because "rap was everywhere in New York at the time, in all the discos and clubs, so it made sense after my croon to start talking streetwise over Steve's supersonic barrage of sound."[6]

Critical reception

Cash Box said that the song is "more subdued" and "more sensitive" than Idol's previous single "Rebel Yell" and features "a silky acoustic guitar backdrop and a probing melodic bass line" by Puerto Rican session bassist Sal Cuevas.[8]

Music video

The video was released in June 1984 and subsequently nominated for MTV Video Music Awards for "Best Editing" and "Best Cinematography". It was shot over an exhausting three-day period on a set with fog machines, lighting, and fire sources. Immediately after the shoot, Idol flew to perform in Arizona, where he discovered that his contact lenses had fused to his eyeballs, attributing it to the harsh video shoot and dry plane air. He was taken to a hospital where the lenses were removed and his eyes bandaged for three days, until his scraped corneas grew back.[9]

Personnel

Formats and track listings

  • UK 7" vinyl single
  1. "Eyes Without a Face"
  2. "The Dead Next Door"
  • UK 12" vinyl single
  1. "Eyes Without a Face"
  2. "The Dead Next Door"
  3. "Dancing With Myself"
  4. "Rebel Yell"

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[31] Silver 200,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. ↑ Reesman, Bryan (15 November 2017). "Classic Tracks: Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell"". Mix. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  2. ↑ Schneider, Steven Jay (2007). 100 European Horror Films. British Film Institute. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-84457-164-2.
  3. ↑ Heller, Jason (19 August 2013). "New wave in the front, heavy metal in the back". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  4. ↑ "Billy Idol – Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  5. ↑ Guarisco, Donald A. "Eyes Without a Face – Song Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 Idol, Billy (2014). "23: Rebell Yell with a Cause". Dancing with Myself. Touchstone (Simon & Schuster). pp. 179–180. ISBN 978-1-4516-2850-0.
  7. ↑ Moore, Rick (29 June 2020). "Behind the Song : Billy Idol, "Eyes Without a Face"". American Songwriter. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  8. ↑ "Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 5 May 1984. p. 7. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  9. ↑ Tannenbaum, Rob; Marks, Craig (2011). I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution. Penguin Books. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-1015-2641-5.
  10. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (Illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 147. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. ↑ "Billy Idol – Eyes Without A Face" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  12. ↑ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6758." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  13. ↑ "European Top 50 Singles – compiled by Europarade – Week Ending 25.08.84". World Charts. Archived from the original on 16 August 2014.
  14. ↑ "Billy Idol – Eyes Without A Face" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  15. ↑ "Billy Idol – Eyes Without A Face" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  16. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Eyes Without A Face". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  17. ↑ "Classifiche". Musica e dischi (in Italian). Retrieved 31 May 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Billy Idol".
  18. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 33, 1984" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  19. ↑ "Billy Idol – Eyes Without A Face" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  20. ↑ "Billy Idol – Eyes Without A Face". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  21. ↑ "Billy Idol – Eyes Without A Face". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  22. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  23. ↑ "Billy Idol Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  24. ↑ "Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending June 30, 1984". Cash Box. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012.
  25. ↑ "National Top 100 Singles for 1984". Kent Music Report. 31 December 1984. Retrieved 12 January 2022 – via Imgur.
  26. ↑ "Top 100 Singles of 1984". RPM. Vol. 41, no. 17. 5 January 1985. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  27. ↑ "Top Selling Singles of 1984". Official NZ Music Charts.com. Recorded Music New Zealand Limited. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  28. ↑ "Top 100 Hits for 1984". The Longbored Surfer. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
  29. ↑ "The Cash Box Year-End Charts: 1984". Cash Box. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012.
  30. ↑ "Jahrescharts – 1984" (in German). Offiziellecharts.de. GfK Entertainment. Archived from the original on 9 May 2015.
  31. ↑ "British single certifications – Billy Idol – Eyes Without a Face". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
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