In 1986, The Bangles had a massive hit with “Walk Like An Egyptian”. The odd song, written by Liam Sternberg, is on the group’s sophomore Different Light record. “Walk Like An Egyptian” spent four weeks in the No. 1 spot, something that would be a dream come true for most acts. But for the Bangles, made up of Susanna Hoffs, Debbi Peterson, Vicki Peterson, and Annette Zilinskas, it was the beginning of the end for them.
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Used to a certain level of recognition, one that the four members were comfortable with, “Walk Like An Egyptian” suddenly made them a household name. The overwhelming fame became more than they wanted, later splitting up just when they were hitting their stride.
With “Walk Like An Egyptian”, everyone but Zilinskas sang a verse, which was not common for the Bangles at the time. As their fame reached its peak, so did friction among the band members. Although the Bangles remained together for three more years, they split in 1989 due to the pressure of their notoriety, which began with “Walk Like An Egyptian”.
“These days I feel very differently about it than I did in the ’90s, because to me it was such an odd moment,” Peterson tells Songfacts. “Although I actually loved doing it. I thought the song was brilliant, in the strangest way. I had fun recording it, minus a few hiccups here and there, because it wasn’t a great time for us. But, the song itself, I thought, ‘OK, we will never write anything like this. This takes the record to another level, so let’s absolutely do this.’”
The Story Behind “Walk Like An Egyptian” by The Bangles
The Bangles wrote a lot, but not all, of their music. With “Walk Like An Egyptian”, Sternberg reportedly had the idea for the song while crossing the English Channel, thinking the passengers looked like Egyptians by the way they bobbed up and down with the moving water.
“Walk Like An Egyptian” says, “All the bazaar men by the Nile / They got the money on a bet / Gold crocodiles they snap their teeth / On your cigarette / Foreign types with their hookah pipes say / Walk like an Egyptian.” Quirky as the song might be, Sternberg knew early on that “Walk Like An Egyptian” would be a hit.
“When that demo was done, I thought, ‘Well, if this isn’t a hit record, I’ll never write one,’” he recalls to the Akron Beacon Journal. “It’s not an arrogance. The song had all the ingredients that a hit should have. And indeed, a hit it would become.”
After “Walk Like An Egyptian”, the Bangles had one more No. 1 hit, with “Eternal Flame”. The song came out in 1989, the same year the Bangles split.
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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