"It Hurts Too Much" by Eric Carmen

Song#:  0253
Date:  07/12/1980
Debut:  77
Peak:  75
Weeks:  2
Genre:  Pop



Pop Bits:  As leader of the power-pop group Raspberries, Carmen had some chart success with "Go All the Way" in 1972 (#5). But the band called it quits in 1975 leaving Carmen as a solo act. He had a major hit right off the bat with the #2 "All By Myself," but besides its follow up "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (#11), it was a steady decline in popularity through to this first single from his "Tonight You're Mine" album. After this album, Carmen basically dropped out of the business for a few years. But his chart fortunes would change later in the decade when he found himself back in the Top 10 with a couple of songs.

ReduxReview:  The beginning sounds like Billy Joel's "An Innocent Man," but it moves into a standard pop/rock song with an early-60s flare. Like a lot of Carmen's songs, it is pretty solid, but nothing I'd play on a regular basis.

Side Note:  I've seen my share of bad album covers and even have a couple of books devoted to them. I'm kind of shocked I've never seen the cover of Carmen's "Tonight You're Mine" album among the bunch. I mean, really. Look at it, think of the title, AND the title of this single. This was really an approved image? And more importantly, those pants were approved? Yeeesh....

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Maybe you have heard Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Piano Concerto No. 2" at some point - at a symphony concert or someplace - and thought "that piano theme sounds familiar..." If so, then you also might be thinking of Carmen's "All By Myself." The concerto provided inspiration and is easily recognizable in the pop song's melody. Carmen also used another Rachmaninoff theme, a portion of "Symphony No. 2," as inspiration for "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again." It is far from the first time a pop star has used classical music as a basis for writing songs. Barry Manilow's 1975 "Could It Be Magic" (#6) was inspired by Chopin's "Prelude in C-Minor."

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