The Bangles made such an impact on the 80s music scene that it’s hard to believe they only released three albums in that decade. It might be even harder to grasp that their recorded output stayed frozen at those three albums for another 15 years after a sudden breakup.
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Their time at the top of the pop music heap might have been short. But they made the most of it. You might not remember their last hit, however, as it made a relatively small dent compared to some of their biggest smashes.
Manic Egyptians and Much More
The rise of The Bangles turned out to be almost as sudden as their disappearance from the scene. After releasing a single in 1981, the band finally delivered their debut album in 1984. Based in Los Angeles, the quartet secured a major label deal with Columbia. Still, that first album (All Over The Place) remained more of an underground success.
In terms of commercial prospects, things started to change for the band once Prince took a shine to them. He wrote a song called “Manic Monday” and delivered a demo that was pretty much ready-made for the radio. It needed only vocals. With Susanna Hoffs on lead vocals, the song soared to the Top 10 in 1985.
That kicked off the massive success of the band’s album Different Light. Each successive song brought the band even more exposure. It peaked when “Walk Like An Egyptian” went all the way to No. 1. While everything seemed rosy for the band at that time, they weren’t all that happy.
Doing It Themselves
The big singles that came from Different Light were all written by others. That bugged the members of The Bangles, who were interested in controlling their own artistic direction more than they were being allowed. They also expressed frustration at being replaced as instrumentalists by studio musicians on some tracks.
For their next album, titled Everything and released in 1988, the band took more of an active role. Every one of the songs on the record was at least partially written by one or more of the band members. They also handled the instrumentation on the album.
Any concerns about a letdown with these changes taking place were quickly squashed. Lead single “In Your Room” soared to No. 5 on the charts. The follow-up ballad did even better. “Eternal Flame” gave The Bangles their second No. 1.
The third single released from Everything was a hard-driving rocker with a baroque middle eight called “Be With You”. It featured drummer Debbi Peterson as both the co-writer and lead singer. While it only made it to no. 30 on the charts, that result wasn’t altogether unexpected, considering that two other hits had preceded it from the album. But what did turn out to be unexpected was the fact that it would be the last ever Top 40 hit for the band in America.
The Aftermath
The Bangles broke up in 1989. This news came as somewhat of a shock to the music community, considering how well they had done on their previous two records. After the fact, reasons emerged that helped explain the band’s decision.
The group split writing and lead singing duties somewhat evenly throughout their first three albums. But Susanna Hoffs, as the main vocalist on their biggest hits, received the bulk of the attention from the media. That rankled the other group members. In addition, frustrations arose over a planned tour that was scheduled despite the band’s fatigue at the time.
As a result, The Bangles called it a day, at least until reuniting about a decade later for soundtrack work, tours, and finally a new album in 2003. No other Top 40 hits were forthcoming, however, meaning “Be With You” provided the sudden stop to a wildly successful chart ride.
Photo by J. P. Aussenard/WireImage
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