A Hazy Shade of Winter song as "one of [Simon and Garfunkel's] best songs, and certainly one of the toughest and more rock-oriented". In 1987, the Bangles were approached to record a song for the soundtrack of the film "Less Than Zero". They chose to record a cover of "A Hazy Shade of Winter", which they had been performing live since at least as far back as March 1983. Their cover, simply titled "Hazy Shade of Winter", was a harder-edged rock song that removed most of the bridge section. The record, like the rest of the soundtrack album, was produced by Rick Rubin. After a
Hot in the Shade budget, the band elected to use the demos they recorded and polish them up via overdubs instead of re-recording the song over again. Some portions of "Hot in the Shade", such as "Love's A Slap In The Face" were recorded using a drum machine to further reduce recording costs. For the parts that Eric Carr and Kevin Valentine played drums on, electronic drum pads that triggered samples were used rather than a true drum kit, as The Fortress did not have one on hand. Tommy Thayer, who co-wrote "Betrayed" and "The Street Giveth And The Street Taketh Away", became Kiss'