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Valentine's is over and like Eric Carmen, 'I'm Through with Love'

 
Published Feb. 16, 2015

We might have pushed the limits of romance last week on Lost and Found with a whole week of positive love songs, so let's turn the tide and do one last ballad - this time from the perspective of those who have been kicked in the butt by love (according to the philosopher Buckwheat aka Eddie Murphy) and declare I'm Through With Love.

The past week I've been listening to last year's release of The Essential Eric Carmen and it has been a fantastic delight. I grew up listening to my brother's 45s with Eric Carmen songs like Go All The Way with his group The Raspberries, which has enjoyed a renaissance since being part of the blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack in 2014. While it would be foolish to say that '80s Eric Carmen is better than '70s Eric Carmen, the man was still churning out decent ballads like I'm Through With Love that peaked at No. 87 on the pop charts in 1985.

The video for I'm Through With Love finds mid-80s Eric Carmen with outstanding poofy hair and lamenting his breakup from video vixen "Christine." Just when Carmen seemed to be out of touch with pop music, he struck gold when his song Hungry Eyes was part of the Dirty Dancing soundtrack (the seventh best-selling album of all-time) and made it to No. 4 on the singles chart in 1987.

In total Carmen had four Top 40 hits with The Raspberries and eight as a solo artist, including the classic All By Myself. Also a prolific songwriter, some of Carmen's songs that you also know are two '70s hits for Shaun Cassidy with Hey Deanie and That's Rock N Roll and for our '80s Nation, Carmen wrote the prom megahit Almost Paradise that Mike Reno and Ann Wilson paired up for in Footloose.

With the royalties of his songwriting prowess, Carmen retired from recording music and moved back to his native Ohio to become a family man. During a power outage in late 2013, he sat down at the piano and wrote his first song in 18 years entitled Brand New Year, which is included on The Essential Eric Carmen.