The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles through much of the decade. It was a ballad, unlike the rest of the garage-band pop songs on their album Everything. Co-writer Billy Steinberg describes it as "The Beatles meet The Byrds".
The song was inspired by two eternal flames: one for Elvis Presley that Michael Steele saw when the band was at Graceland, and one at a local synagogue in Palm Springs which Steinberg attended as a child.
It spent one week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, preceded by "The Living Years" by Mike + The Mechanics and followed by "The Look" by Roxette; spent four weeks at number one on the UK singles chart, preceded by "Like a Prayer" by Madonna and followed by "Hand on Your Heart" by Kylie Minogue; and spent seven weeks at the #1 position in the Dutch Top 40. It also topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart for two weeks.
The song was Australia's biggest selling single of '89 and was sent-up on the Australian TV show Fast Forward.
Eternal Flame was featured in an episode of True Blood on HBO and Pushing Daisies on ABC, where it was sung by.