The Bangles: Difference between revisions

[[File:BangleTrope_8363.gif|frame|Micki, Susanna, Vicki, and Debbi]]

 

The Bangles are an all-female band started in the [[The Eighties|early 1980s]]. Their genre can be summed up as a combination of rock, pop, [[Power Pop]] and jangle pop, with a pronounced influence from [[The Byrds]] and [[The Sixties]] rock that lumped them in with the [[wikipedia:Paisley Underground|Paisley Underground]] movement. The band consists of Debbi Peterson (vocals, drums), Vicki Peterson (vocals, guitar) and Susanna Hoffs (vocals, guitar), with former members Annette Zilinksas (vocals, bass) and [[Gender Blender Name|Michael Steele]] (vocals, bass). Their first album, the Beatlesque [[Power Pop|Power Poppy]] ''All Over the Place'' earned them some good reviews but most importantly the attention of [[Prince]], who wrote "Manic Monday" for them. The song and its accompanying album ''Different Light'' departed from the band's sixties rock sound in favour of state-of-the-art [[New Wave]] pop and more outside songwriters, to great commercial success and another hit single ("Walk Like an Egyptian"). Then, intra-band tensions worsened, and after releasing one more album, ''Everything'', they split in 1989.

 

Several of their songs have appeared on movie soundtracks, including "I Got Nothing," which they wrote for ''[[The Goonies]]'', and their hit cover of "Hazy Shade of Winter", which appeared on the soundtrack for ''[[Less Than Zero]]''. They have also provided backup vocals for [[Cyndi Lauper]] and [[Tom Petty]].

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* ''[[Self-Titled Album|The Bangles]]'' EP (1982)

* ''All Over the Place'' (1984)

* ''Doll Revolution'' (2003)

* ''Sweetheart of the Sun'' (2011)

 

* [[Anti-Love Song]]: "James" ("I must have been a masochist/to ever take up with you, James")

* [[Black Sheep Hit]]: Darn near all of them, actually. The Bangles write the vast majority of their own songs, but of their 4 best-charting singles, "Manic Monday" was written by Prince, and as noted below, sounds like it. "Walk Like An Egyptian" was a novelty song. "Hazy Shade of Winter" was a cover, and "Eternal Flame" was the only ballad on ''Everything''. None of these hits are really "typical" Bangles songs.

* [[Blonde, Brunette, Redhead]]: Vicki (medium blonde, though brunette before ''Different Light''), Debbi (pale blonde), Susanna (brunette), and Michael (redhead).

* [[Brown Eyes]]: Susanna Hoffs. Along with her musical ability, she was well known for her enormous brown eyes and the way she glanced around her audience during performances.

* [[Composite Character]]: Anna Lee in "Anna Lee (Sweetheart of the Sun)":

* [[The Cover Changes the Gender]]:

** Their cover of Jules Shear's "If She Knew What She Wants" changes the perspective from first person ("I'd be giving it to her") to third person.

* [[Cover Version]]: "Live" by Emmitt Rhodes, "September Gurls" by [[Big Star (band)|Big Star]], "Hazy Shade of Winter" by [[Simon and Garfunkel]]. "Going Down to Liverpool" doesn't really count since it was written for them by Kimberley Rew from [[Katrina and the Waves]].

* [[Days of the Week Song]]: "Manic Monday"

''see also'' Annette Zilinskas: [[The Pete Best]] }}

* [[Donut Mess with a Cop]]: "Walk Like an Egyptian"

** When Vicki Peterson wrote "Single By Choice," it was a pretty personal song for her. After getting married to John Cowsill in 2003, she jokes about doing a "Married By Choice" version.

** Vicki's songs seem especially prone to this trope. She wrote "Lay Yourself Down" (which appears on ''Sweetheart of the Sun'') for her fiancé Bobby in 1990, as he was struggling to find his place in the music business. The song and its lyrics like those below became even more personal and poignant when Bobby began a battle with leukemia (to which he eventually succumbed in 1991):

''Don’t you lay yourself down'' }}

** "Walk Like An Egyptian" has a different evolution. Debbi Peterson's drumming was replaced by a drum machine on the hit single, and in a particularly egregious case of [[Executive Meddling]], she was even left out of the vocals. Now, when performing the song live, Debbi's drumming still gives way to the drum machine, but she sings and plays acoustic guitar.

* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: [[Leonard Nimoy]] is the band's driver in the video for "Going Down to Liverpool".

* [[Mondegreen]]: The cover of "Sweet and Tender Romance" on ''Sweetheart of the Sun''.

* [[Neologism]]: Like [[John Lennon]], the Bangles will wish you "Happy Krimble" in late December.

* [[New Wave]]

[[Category:Music]]

[[Category:New Wave]]