The Bangles

The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), "Hazy Shade of Winter" (1987), "In Your Room" (1988), and "Eternal Flame" (1989). The band's classic lineup consisted of founding members Susanna Hoffs (guitar and vocals), Vicki Peterson (guitar and vocals), Debbi Peterson (drums and vocals), with Michael Steele (bass and vocals). As of June 2018, the band consisted of sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson, Hoffs, and founding bassist Annette Zilinskas. Formation and early years (1981–1983) Susanna Hoffs and sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson had each been in bands before coming together in Los Angeles, California, in December 1980. The impetus was two classified advertisements in the weekly paper The Recycler. One had been placed by Hoffs, and the only person to respond was Annette Zilinskas, and the other was by Lynn Elkind, the Petersons' housemate and a departing member of their then band Those Girls. When Hoffs called in response to Elkind's ad, Vicki Peterson answered the phone, and in their conversation, they discovered a great deal of common interests; when Hoffs spoke to Elkind after Peterson gave her the message, they did not have the same common interests and Hoffs then formed a new band with the Petersons. The Those Girls bass guitarist, Vicki Peterson's lifelong best friend Amanda Hills, had also left the band (now a history professor, Amanda Hills Podany has performed as a guest with the Bangles on a few rare occasions) and this left an opening for Zilinskas. The resulting (and also current as of 2019) lineup first performed as The Colours in 1981. Shortly afterward, the group renamed themselves The Bangs. The band was part of the Los Angeles Paisley Underground scene, which featured groups that played a mixture of 1960s-influenced rock. In 1981, Hoffs and the Petersons recorded and released a single ("Getting Out of Hand" with "Call on Me" on the B side) on DownKiddie Records (their own label). The Bangs were signed to Faulty Products, a label formed by Miles Copeland. The early Bangles lineup of Susanna Hoffs (vocals/guitars), Vicki Peterson (guitars/vocals), Debbi Peterson (vocals/drums) and Annette Zilinskas (vocals/bass) recorded an EP in 1982 and released the single "The Real World". At the last minute, they discovered another band had registered the Bangs name and would not let them use it without payment, so they dropped "The" and added the letters "les" to the end to become Bangles.[12] Their first EP was retitled Bangles and released. In 1983, Faulty Products issued a 12-inch "remix" single of "The Real World" to radio and media, but another setback came as the label folded. I.R.S. Records picked up distribution and reissued the EP. After Zilinskas left the band to focus on her own project, Blood on the Saddle, she was replaced by Michael Steele, formerly of the all-female band The Runaways, Toni & The Movers, Slow Children and Elton Duck. Career peak (1984–1989) The Bangles' full-length debut album on Columbia Records, All Over the Place (1984), captured their power pop roots, featuring the singles "Hero Takes a Fall" and the Kimberley Rew-penned Beatlesque "Going Down to Liverpool" (originally recorded by Rew's band Katrina and the Waves). The record received good reviews and the video for "Liverpool" featured Leonard Nimoy, which helped to generate further publicity.[15] This came about through a friendship between the Hoffs and Nimoy families. They received a much wider audience serving as the opening act for Cyndi Lauper on her Fun Tour. All this went some way to attracting the attention of Prince, who gave them "Manic Monday" originally written for his group Apollonia 6. "Manic Monday" went on to become a number-two hit in the US, the UK and Germany, outsold at the time only by another Prince composition, his own "Kiss". The band's second album, Different Light (January 1986), was more polished than its predecessor, and with the help of the worldwide number-one hit "Walk Like an Egyptian" (written by Liam Sternberg), put the band firmly in the mainstream. The song was sent to them in midsession and the group was divided about whether it would be a failure or a success. When the song was released, the group was amazed to discover that it brought them a new audience of female fans, most of them very young. Breakup (1989) Friction arose among band members after music industry media began singling out Hoffs as the lead singer of the group. In fact, singing duties on the band's albums were divided among the band's members, each of whom wrote or co-wrote songs. The band broke up in 1989. Hoffs began a solo career and Vicki Peterson toured as a member of the Continental Drifters and as a fill-in member of The Go-Go's.