(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
Frankie Valli - "My Eyes Adored You"
Hit Number 1: March 22, 1975
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
Ever since his school days, this guy had a wicked crush on a girl he went to school with. Problem for him is that this girl didn't return the favor. Sure, okay. That's relatable. I'm sure every boy and girl has gone through that at some point. What most people haven't done, though, is carry on with their life and never getting over that one crush. Well, "My Eyes Adored You" by Frankie Valli is about a guy who just could never get over that grade school crush, and honestly, it's kind of hard to not look at this guy and think "Seriously, dude? You gotta let it go." But clearly people in 1975 saw past that and thought it was sweet, and they ate it up. Of course, it also could've been because Frankie Valli was another one of those pre-Beatles stars, and everyone was having this sudden nostalgia for that time period. "My Eyes Adored You" helped Valli become another one of those random reemerging stars.
For a while I've wondered why the hell that wave of nostalgia even happened, but I think I've finally figured it out: American Graffiti. For those who may not know, American Graffiti is a kickass coming-of-age movie that takes place in the good old days of the early '60s, when the '50s hangover of rock and roll, doo-wop, drive-ins and cruising in fancy cars ruled the nation. The movie's soundtrack featured all those old songs from that era of course, and it was a chance for the boomers that loved American Graffiti to be exposed to that music. Musically, it seems like a million years ago when Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons were popular, but it wasn't that long ago that artists like them were on the charts, and it was still very possible that they could make a comeback. And they did, and I believe that movie, which was released in 1973, was a big part of it. I just don't know why else names like Frankie Valli could make these comebacks, especially since "My Eyes Adored You" is a real snooze fest of a song.
Really, "My Eyes Adored You" is a Four Seasons song, not a Valli song, and it was written by the songwriting team of Kenny Nolan and Bob Crewe. The group was seeing some bad decline, but they recorded the song for the Motown label, however the label didn't want to release it as a single, eventually leading to the band leaving that label. Valli then purchased the song's rights for $4,000, and he was allowed to put his own name as the artist of the song. An obscure label named Private Stock agreed to sign Valli and his band and release the song as a single. And because of this sudden wave of nostalgia, Valli's song took off, and he was suddenly a star again. There's actually some similarities between Valli and "My Eyes Adored You," and Olivia Newton-John and "Have You Never Been Mellow." These are two highly-respected musicians that gave us mediocre #1 hits in 1975, but they'll both give us something better in the future, and they owe some thanks to a particular movie for that. We'll get there eventually.
Today though, we talk about "My Eyes Adored You," and there's really not much to write home about. It's also like "Have You Never Been Mellow" in the sense that it's full of sap, and maybe even more so in this song. They try to make the song sound so sweet, but it's just easy to mock instead. Valli's character is cringe, and you have to wonder why in the hell this guy can't move on in his life, especially since him and this girl were never in a serious relationship to begin with. There's gloopy guitars and strings, and the whole product is underwhelming. It's a severe drop off from Valli's best song, "Can't Take My Eyes Off You," which peaked at #2 in 1967. (It's a 10) But yeah, that's pretty much all I've got for "My Eyes Adored You." There's nothing special about this thing. But Valli and the Four Seasons both will give us better music in the future, and they'll both appear in this blog again.
GRADE: 4/10
IN POP CULTURE:
Here's a scene in the 2014 movie Jersey Boys where "My Eyes Adored You" plays a pretty prominent scene. This scene seems like it's supposed to be pretty dramatic and sad but I've never seen the movie so I couldn't tell you what was going on here. But yeah, here's that clip:
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