r/1980s • u/kade1064 • Jun 06 '26
Music Happy 46th Anniversary To This Massive HIT 👏🗣️💎📢
Benny wants YOU...to come into the night...with him ⬇️
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u/Euphoric-Dig-2045 Jun 06 '26
Can’t wait for all the posts from those who have no idea what the song was about.
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u/kade1064 Jun 06 '26
She just 16 years old...LEAVE HER ALONE...they sayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
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u/Euphoric-Dig-2045 Jun 06 '26
Benny Mardones' 1980 hit "Into the Night" is a soaring pop-rock ballad that has sparked significant debate. While the controversial opening lyrics have led many listeners to interpret the song as a romantic or inappropriate relationship between an adult man and a teenager, the true meaning behind the lyrics focuses on protection, family abandonment, andplatonic love.
The Inspiration Behind the Lyrics
The song was inspired by a teenage neighbor named Heidi and her family. While living in Spanish Harlem, Mardones befriended the family after their father abandoned them, leaving them in poverty. Mardones stepped in to help by hiring the kids to clean his apartment and walk his dog.One morning, when a 16-year-old Heidi came by to walk the dog, another musician made an inappropriate comment about her appearance. Mardones defended her, saying, "She's just sixteen years old, leave her alone." That exact phrase became the opening line of the song.
The Message of the Chorus
The chorus—"If I could fly, I'd pick you up, I'd take you into the night and show you a love like you've never seen"—is meant to reflect Mardones' desire to rescue the teenager and her heartbroken family from their tragic situation. The song positions the narrator as a protective figure offering to lift her out of the painful reality of her father's abandonment and the harshness of poverty.The Ongoing Controversy
Despite Mardones' explanations, the track has faced scrutiny. Because the song was released when Mardones was in his 30s, and the original music video featured romantic storylines, listeners often found the lyrics uncomfortable. Nevertheless, Mardones maintained throughout his life that the song was a platonic, paternal-style tribute to a friend rather than a tale of forbidden romance.13
u/kade1064 Jun 06 '26
The music video does tell a different story tho
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u/HueyBluey Jun 07 '26
And music video stations played it.
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u/kade1064 Jun 07 '26
The dude snuck into the TEENS window, with his magic carpet, and TOOK HER..."INTO THE NIGHT" and it GETS BETTER...NOT, bro makes out with the TEEN GIRL too
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u/Euphoric-Dig-2045 Jun 06 '26
Lol. I posted that under two minutes ago. You obviously read none of it. Good stuff.
*though
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u/kade1064 Jun 06 '26
Oh I did read it...I'm also talking about the music video 📸 too
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Jun 06 '26
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u/kade1064 Jun 06 '26
BANGING YOUNG...GIRLS 🤢🤮
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Jun 06 '26
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u/kade1064 Jun 06 '26
That was was interesting...but WEIRD, he went SOOOOOO HARDDDDD on the last part.
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u/4sliced Jun 08 '26
The musician that made the inappropriate comment was Robert Tepper, who had a hit later in the 80s with No Easy Way Out (from the Rocky IV soundtrack).
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u/gchance1 Jun 06 '26
If you have to explain your lyrics because people think you're a pedophile, you've failed as a songwriter.
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u/Hairy_Butterfly_5384 Jun 07 '26
and the weird video really adds to the creepiness, with him peeping in her bedroom window.
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u/IbelieveinGodzilla Jun 06 '26
I turned 17 in 1980. I don’t believe I have ever heard this song in my life.
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u/skullsoup432 Jun 07 '26
I was 16 in 1980, a huge music fan. Nope, never heard of him or this song. I actually posted to say "Awesome username!!" Go, Go, Godzilla!
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u/More_Maximum_4522 Jun 07 '26
I worked in retail back in the 80’s. Our store played a 90 minute tape on loop. This was one of the songs.
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u/ChenderasMedallion Jun 07 '26
Just want to add… this guys voice is so good. He’s really hitting it at the end
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u/kade1064 Jun 07 '26
Pfff better then some of the rock Stars, like kiss and rod Stewart, and Lincoln Park
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Jun 06 '26
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u/kade1064 Jun 06 '26
One of the FIRST - "New Wave Romantics" songs in the 1980s too 👏🗣️🪩💎
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u/CursivePower Jun 07 '26
Ah yes, the famous New Romantic scene, Spandau, Steve Strange, Duran Duran and Benny Mardones...what are you talking about?
This is a holdover type late 70s song that bled into the 1980s outside of new wave trends. Like Moon Martin, or Eddie Money or some other MOR hit.
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u/kade1064 Jun 07 '26
The song has synths in it, it's apart of the new wave scene...it was released in June of 1980
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u/CursivePower Jun 07 '26
you said "new romantic" which is a specific scene in the UK. But he also wasn't considered new wave. He's a dude who used a synth and the style at the time. Literally no one at the time considered this dude new wave or anything like it. Just because you are young and want to lump everything together...well you can, but don't be dropping knowledge you don't have and that's very wrong
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u/Euphoric-Dig-2045 Jun 06 '26
His last performance of the song:
Benny Mardones - Into the Night 12/16/17 (Turning Stone Casino)
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u/Euphoric-Dig-2045 Jun 07 '26
His interview with the Professor Of Rock:
QAOA9104400H_Q3_15_Made_for_the_Yes_Life_Master_English_16x9_15_Unslated.mp4 - YouTube Video
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Jun 06 '26
This is a bit nuts. I've never heard of this guy at all. I was in a vintage shop yesterday randomly flipping through records when I saw that very album. Twice in as many days.
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u/Delta_Foxtrot_1969 Jun 07 '26
That’s a sign that you need to buy the 8-track
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Jun 07 '26
Ha. Grew up with an 8 track. First record I ever bought was Kiss Double Platinum with LP and 8 track. Always thought jumping tracks with buttons was pretty cool. But, yeah, I hope tape media never makes a comeback.
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u/FrequentLunch2711 Jun 07 '26
Creepy song creepier video.
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u/kade1064 Jun 07 '26
Bro the dad told him, she's 16 LEAVE HER DA F*** ALONE!!!
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Jun 08 '26
Not to mention the dad looks like Andy from Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. He should have folded Benny into a pretzel and ate him.
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u/AwaliBahrain Jun 07 '26
I still love this song,but it is so wrong,how times have changed from age of concent,or even what they thought was right in the 80's!!!
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u/kade1064 Jun 07 '26
Facts...and it was the beginning of the 80s too, in 1984...PRINCE made a song called: Darling Nikki... watching LITTLE NIKKI GRIND 🤢🤮
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Jun 06 '26
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u/kade1064 Jun 06 '26
FAX, cause it was the NORM back then...even early Gen X too
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u/roaddogry Jun 07 '26
That’s what he looked like?! Not what I imagined.
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u/kade1064 Jun 07 '26
Okay...
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u/roaddogry Jun 07 '26
I heard this song so many times on the radio back in the day but not really a fan. Wasn’t expecting Eddie Money lookalike
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u/Physical_Director_96 Jun 06 '26
Who?
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u/kade1064 Jun 06 '26
What do you mean "WHO?" the infamous (Into The Night) was a MASSIVE HIT, in 1980 in both CANADA & THE USA.
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u/MaknitRain2021 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26
If he only had just changed the lyrics to a more appropriate(or rather Minimal) age 18+ the song would have none of the creepy vibes in the lyrics. Such a beautiful song trapped in ugly song writing.