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
A Hazy Shade of Winter fruitful but disappointing experience with David Kahne, the producer of their "Different Light" album (they were given little input in the production of the songs) the group decided to take more control for the recording of this song, and they were given an additional producer credit. Michael Steele later commented that "we sounded the most on this record the way we actually sound live" and, "If we hadn't been so messed up as a band, it could have been a turning point for us." Lead vocals were performed jointly by all four members of the group, with a short solo