In 'Old School,' Finnerty's Dan Band tried to 'bump this up one notch when they've already nailed it.”
Dan Finnerty of The Dan Band performs at a fundraiser concert benefiting the victims of Hurricane Katrina at Avalon on Sept. 12, 2005, in Los Angeles.
For a certain swath of millennials, Dan Finnerty’s rendition of Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of The Heart” in the frat comedy “Old School” is its definitive performance. In the 2003 film, The Dan Band’s sweaty, inappropriately exuberant version of the ‘80s power ballad upstages Will Ferrell’s wedding. The scene forever changed the lyrics of Tyler’s hit to something much more profane, but no less yearning.
After Tyler’s death at 75, Finnerty reflected on his sideways journey into Tyler’s career, and how one quick scene on a two-decade-old comedy still endures. You’ve had a pretty unique relationship to Bonnie Tyler’s music, how are you feeling after she passed? It’s definitely sad. Everybody is texting me.
I never met her, but what an impact she had on me. I grew up right when “Total Eclipse” came out in the ‘80s, and it was such a huge song at the time. It had never left my head. I was always just belting that song out because it’s so epic, from Jim Steinman’s writing to Bonnie’s performance.
Why does that moment from “Old School” still endure? It arrived at the last cusp of the DVD era before culture transitioned into the internet and streaming video. Without YouTube and the internet, you really had to grab pop culture moments from your memory. That’s definitely one of the reasons why pulling it out seemed obscure when we did “Old School.
” People were like, “Oh my God, yes, I love this f— song. ” Which is so different now because everything’s at your fingertips, so you can’t really rely on like pulling back some nostalgia moment because it’s always around anyway now with the internet. But people were reacting as much to me dropping the f-bombs as the nostalgia of the song, and rediscovering it and realizing that the song kicks ass and never stop kicking it.
Was the song already in your repertoire when you filmed “Old School? ” I was doing my show with The Dan Band in Los Angeles, and Todd Phillips ended up coming to one of the performances. I met him afterwards, and he was like, “There’s actually a wedding scene in this movie. What song would you sing at a wedding?
” I had just started working on a medley of “Total Eclipse,” and I think at the time I was going to do “Holding Out for a Hero,” but then I just merged it with “Private Dancer,” and he was like, “Oh my god, I love it. ” The following Monday, he called and he’s like, “Can you put that together?
” The bit works because you totally commit to the song’s hugeness, and the profanity slips by like it’s spontaneous. You can tell you love the song on the merits. I had never done it before. But Todd had seen my show, and when we went to do the first take, I didn’t think I was allowed to swear.
But I obviously was swearing during my live show in all my little medleys. He came running up and he’s like, “Are you gonna swear like you do in the show? ” I’m like, “Am I allowed to? ” And he’s like, “Yeah.
” So I’m like, “Buckle the f— up. ” But basically, what I was doing was honestly trying to match Bonnie’s commitment at the level she did with her voice, which is what I loved about all of her performances and Jim Steinman’s music. It’s just over the top commitment and drama. The swearing was just me being like, “How can I bump this up one notch when they’ve already just nailed it?
”I’d tried to get Bonnie to do a duet of “Total Eclipse,” and I reached her management. He was like, “Well, Bonnie’s willing to do the song as long as there’s no profanity because she’s not a profane person. ” I was like, “Well, neither the f— am I. I was an altar boy. ” It didn’t end up working out, because I knew if I did the song without the swearing, people would be like, “What the f—?
“ But later, met Jim Steinman. I mentioned it to Steinman, and he was like, “Oh, I wish they called me because I can make Bonnie do anything, she’d love the swearing,” which killed me. Bonnie Tyler, the husky-voiced powerhouse vocalist who delivered memorable and dramatic pop-rock songs including ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ in the 1980s, has died. I was just picturing them both hating how I bastardized their song.
So when I finally met Steinman, he was like, “No, no, no! I f—ing loved it. In fact, I’ve always thought of all those epic booms, the Kurzweil, all the big hits in ‘Total Eclipse,’ those were musical f—s. ” Mostly I wanted to just find Bonnie and apologize to her for all the drunk guys I have pictured over the years at her concert screaming ‘F—“ ever since that movie.
It got funnier the older we got. When I would do “Total Eclipse” right after “Old School” came out, it would get the biggest reaction. There was one set early on at the Playboy Mansion, we were hired to play some party there. There were just a bunch of drunk guys at the mansion and a couple Playboy bunnies that were contractually hired to walk around and wave.
They’re like, “Play ‘Total Eclipse,’” and so I did. Then they’re like, “Play it again. ” I’m like, “OK. ” Then “Play it again.
” I was like, “Here we go, give them what they want. ” It was the least amount of work I had to do for a song that was pre-loved from a moment in a movie. God, I hope she knew how much I loved her and apologize for all the drunk guys that had probably f-bombed the hell out of her concerts. Before that song, people were like, “Do you have a flier for your next show?
” I’m like, “For what? ” But once “Old School” happened, suddenly a record label was like, “We want to do a live album. ” I’m like, “Who’s gonna buy it? ” But my manager is like, “Don’t say s— like that.
There’s a record label that wants to make an album with you, dumbass. ” The whole thing has just been a surprise, but it’s been a good one. We’re playing this festival in Canada next weekend, and God, that song’s going to be such a big moment. Don Was produced the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Ozzy.
At 73, he found his voice in Detroit -- and the Dead
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