Friday Nite Retro

Good evening and welcome to this week's edition of Friday Nite Retro. Tonight I'm featuring some lovely ladies from Los Angeles - Susanna Hoffs, Debbi Peterson, Vicki Peterson,Annette Zilinskas, and Michael Steele. Better known as: The Supersonic Bangs The Bangs The Bangles! Seems that the ladies had some legal troubles with their original name. . .namely from a Jersey band with the same original name.

The Bangles' full-length debut album on Columbia, All Over the Place (1984), captured their power-pop roots, featuring the singles "Hero Takes a Fall" and the Kimberley Rew-penned "Going Down To Liverpool" (originally recorded by Rew's band Katrina and the Waves). The record attracted good critical notices, and the video for "Liverpool" featured Leonard Nimoy, which helped to generate further publicity.

Hero Takes a Fall


Going Down to Liverpool


All this went some way to attracting the attention of Prince, who later wrote "Manic Monday" for the group."Manic Monday" went on to become a #2 hit in the US, the UK and Germany, outsold at the time only by another Prince composition, his own "Kiss". The accompanying album Different Light (1986) was more polished than its predecessor and, with the help of the worldwide #1 hit "Walk Like an Egyptian", saw the band firmly in the mainstream as radio and MTV stalwarts.

Manic Monday


Walk Like an Egyptian


There was friction among band members after the media began singling out Hoffs as the lead singer of the group, due to Columbia Records practice of releasing only singles on which Hoffs sang lead vocal. In fact, the group's albums were fairly evenly divided among all of the band's members, all of whom wrote or co-wrote their songs. In 1987, Hoffs starred in a film, The Allnighter, which was directed by her mother, Tamar Simon-Hoffs, and was critically panned. That, and the firing of their manager Miles Copeland, further exacerbated the dissent among the band members. But they soon had another US #2 hit with a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade Of Winter" from the soundtrack of the film Less Than Zero, whereas on the other side of the Atlantic the melancholic "If She Knew What She Wants" reached the German Top 20.

Walking Down Your Street


Hazy Shade of Winter


If She Knew What She Wants


In Your Room


1988's Everything was another multi-platinum smash and included their biggest selling single in the soft ballad "Eternal Flame" which was inspired by Elvis Presley's eternal flames and one at a local synagogue in Palm Springs which co-writer Billy Steinberg attended. The single became another worldwide No.1 hit.

Eternal Flame


The working relationships within the band had broken down, however, and they split shortly after, with Hoffs embarking on a solo career.Hoffs solo album, When You're a Boy, spawned a minor hit "My Side of the Bed",and a Cyndi Lauper penned "Unconditional Love", but it stalled, and Hoffs was dropped from Columbia during the recording of her second solo album.

My Side of the Bed


Unconditional Love


In 2000, the Bangles re-formed to tour. The group was also inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2001–2002 they recorded a new album, Doll Revolution. A cover version of "Eternal Flame" was a 2001 UK #1 for Atomic Kitten. Doll Revolution, featuring such songs as "Stealing Rosemary", "Ride the Ride", "Nickel Romeo", and the single "Something That You Said", was released in early 2003. The title track was written by Elvis Costello, who initially recorded it for his 2002 album When I Was Cruel. Doll Revolution was a solid comeback success in Germany after the Bangles had performed in Germany's biggest TV show Wetten dass, but failed to make any impact in other important markets such as the UK, the U.S. and Australia.

Tear Off Your Own Head (Doll Revolution)


Something That You Said


In 2005, the Bangles announced the departure of Michael Steele. Steele was replaced by Abby Travis for live appearances. On December 31, 2005, they reunited to perform "Hazy Shade of Winter" in front of Times Square and later performed "Eternal Flame" as part of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve 2006. Their third holiday single, "Light My Way", is available as a download via iTunes. August 2007 saw the release of their first official live DVD, Return to Bangleonia - Live in Concert.

Like many other modern music groups, the Bangles have contributed to many other artists' works and to compilations. They provided the song "I Got Nothing" for the soundtrack album for the 1985 film The Goonies, and made a cameo appearance in Cyndi Lauper's music video for "Goonies 'R' Good Enough". Lauper later enlisted them for backup vocals in her 1986 song "Change of Heart". In February 2001, the first-season Gilmore Girls episode "Concert Interruptus" involved a trip to see a Bangles concert, and featured cameos and music by the band. They also covered the Beatles hit "Good Day Sunshine" for the 2006 album All Together Now: Beatles Stuff for Kids of All Ages.

Several artists have honored the Bangles, more or less, in their own songs. The Saw Doctors include an irreverant tribute to them, "I'd Love to Kiss the Bangles", on their 2003 album Play It Again Sham!. Alternative-country artist Robbie Fulks sings a wistful ode to "That Bangle Girl", a song identified as one of his "personal favorites", on his 2000 Very Best album.

Wanna learn more about the lovely lasses? Visit their official website!

Goodnight, and have an excellent weekend!!