From the Vaults: The Bangles
The Bangles had a lot going for them when they broke into the big time in the 1980s. One burden they did not have to carry was that of being the first all female rock band (see Vixen, The Runaways, The Go-Gos, etc). Earlier all-female rock bands were viewed as a novelty and most had a short shelf life. The Bangles followed a succession of popular bands and were viewed as ‘the next one to make it big’. There was some ‘baggage’ they had to tote when they began to get noticed, but we will get to that later. With three albums released in the four year span from 1984-1988, they got a lot of exposure on MTV and moved a lot of records. Then came Walk Like an Egyption. There isn’t a band out there that doesn’t make a misstep in their career and I may be the only person who, at the time, thought it was a mistake. The video was quirky and fun, but it seemed to be a step back for a band that was trying to show everyone that they were, indeed, a serious rock band. It just goes to show what I knew. I had to amend my thinking when the song went No. 1 and The Bangles became a worldwide sensation.
The band came together in the usual Los Angeles way. In 1980, the Peterson sisters were in a band called Those Girls (Vicki on guitar and vocals, Debbie supplying vocals and drums). When Lynn Elkind departed their band, she placed an ad in a weekly local newspaper (The Recycler) seeking members for her new band. Susanna Hoffs (who ironically had placed her own ad in the same paper) called to talk to her but ended up on the line with Vicki instead. They found they had much in common. Hoffs and Elkind did finally connect but their musical connections were not at all in sync. In 1981, the Petersons, Hoffs and Those Girls bass player Amanda Hills played together until Hills left. Annette Zilinskas had answered Hoffs’ ad before Susanna joined Those Girls. When Hills departed, Zilinskas got the call to replace her and the band renamed themselves Colours. Another name change (to The Bangs) soon followed.
They were a perfect fit in a collection of bands that were playing a mixture of 1960s influenced rock. The movement became known as L.A. ‘s ‘Paisley Underground’. When The Bangs recorded an E.P. and released the single The Real World in 1982, they discovered there was another band out there also called The Bangs. The other group would not give up the name without compensation so the E.P. was issued as The Bangles. When their label folded in 1983, I.R.S. Records picked up their distribution. About the same time as the band was picked up by I.R.S., Zilinskas left to work on her own projects. Former Runaways bass player Michael Steele joined The Bangles in time to take part in their first full length L.P. on Columbia Records (All Over the Place – released in 1984).
The Bangles’ power-pop sound got them noticed, particularly for the tracks Hero Takes a Fall and Going Down to Liverpool. The latter song had been written by Kimberley Rew and had been previously released by her band Katrina and The Waves (best known for their one big hit Walking on Sunshine). The video for Liverpool got quite a bit of attention partly because Star Trek’s Leonard Nimoy made an appearance in it. The Hoffs and Nimoy families were close which led to him appearing in the video for the song. Opening for Cindy Lauper on her Fun Tour gained an even larger audience leading into their second album. One of their new fans turned out to be a fellow musician from Minnesota named Prince Rogers Nelson who just happened to name his Chanhassen, MN estate and studio ‘Paisley Park’.
Prince offered them a song he had originally written for a band he was mentoring called Apollonia 6. The Bangles took one listen to a cassette tape of the song and knew they had to record it, but it had to be done their way. Talking to USA Today, Debbi Peterson said, “It was such a thrill to learn that Prince was a fan of ours.” Vicki agreed and described his involvement beyond writing the song: “I put my foot down that we’re making our own record. When Prince came to one rehearsal, he listened to me playing the keyboard riff on my guitar. He gave a thumbs up and walked out of the studio.” Apparently he agreed with how they rearranged his song to suit their style and the success of Manic Monday added an exclamation point to his confidence in The Bangles.
Prince was known for giving songs to bands he felt a connection with. Manic Monday came to The Bangles because he liked their first album. In 2023, Hoffs told Sam Delaney, “The Bangles were very lucky to meet Prince. He’s been watching the video on MTV for our early single Hero Takes a Fall and he loved our song. We all played different roles in the video and I happened to be dressed like a French maid, which he apparently liked, too. So he started showing up at our gigs and getting on stage with us to perform these supernatural guitar solos.
When he invited us to record Manic Monday and had left a note with the cassette saying he thought it would be perfect for us.”
Prince knew what he was talking about as the single went to No. 2 worldwide. Manic Monday was only kept out of the No. 1 spot by Prince’s own song, Kiss. Manic Monday came off their 1986 release Different Light, the album that would prove to be their big commercial breakthrough. The LP was more polished than their previous record and when Walk Like an Egyptian went to No. 1, it pulled Different Light to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart. Hoffs admits that there were plenty of rumors about them (meaning her relationship with Prince) but she has never tried to cash in on any of the speculation beyond saying, “He was good to The Bangles.”
The one thing Hoffs claims she wasn’t aware of at the time was the divide that began to open in the band when their next hit, Eternal Flame, reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (where it remained for 10 weeks in 1989). Co-written by Hoffs, the power ballad didn’t capture the Peterson sister’s attention at first. Debbi told USA Today, “At that point, we were starting to break apart and we didn’t feel like we were getting respect from each other. Don’t get me wrong – it’s a beautiful song. But to me it sounded like Susanna solo; it didn’t sound like a band song.” Vicki added, “[I] Recognized the beauty and craft of the song, and knew it was a hit – just not for The Bangles. I can be a little bit stubborn and I sort of chafed because it felt like it wasn’t us. Ultimately we made it ‘us’, and I am grateful my stubbornness didn’t get in the way of it being produced.” After hearing Peterson’s thoughts about Eternal Flame, it sounds like I can also forgive my initial doubts about Walk Like an Egyptian.
It is amazing how resentment can override success and derail a band. The more the focus seemed to fall on Hoffs, the faster the interband relationships disintegrated. In her book, Eternal Flame (Grand Central Publishing, 2025), author Jennifer Otter Bickerdike notes their break up came after the 1989 Everything Everywhere Tour. Bickerdike says, “There was a harsh band meeting – set up with Hoffs, Steele, managers and press agents – that cemented their demise . . . it seemed to be more of an ambush of the Petersons [than a band meeting].” One can sense that if the sisters were already feeling pushed aside by Hoffs’ growing stature, a meeting like this would have been more than enough to underscore their growing disenchantment with how things were going.
Vicki confided to Bickerdike, “I knew there was a lot of distress in the band and that last tour was quite rough. There was a storm that chased us all across the U.S. and metaphorically it was like the cloud was following us.” Debbi added her two cents worth: “Maybe Vicki and I were in denial of things getting really that bad. It really was a shocker . . . I remember there being a big box of tissues and crying so much. It [the last band meeting] was so emotionally upsetting and devastating.” When they went their separate ways, Hoffs began a solo career. Vicki Peterson toured as a member of the Continental Drifters and as a fill-in member of The Go-Go’s. Steele formed a short lived band called Crash Wisdom while The Bangles catalog would become new additions to the Classic Rock Radio format.
It would take ten years and the recording of a song for the soundtrack of one of Mike Myers’ Austin Powers movies to get them together again. Hoffs’ husband Jay Roach directed the film and had chosen a song from 1999 for them to record (Get The Girl). This led to The Bangles touring again in 2000 and their induction into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. A new album, Doll Revolution, was recorded at Icon Recording Studios between 2001 and 2002. The title track had been written and recorded by Elvis Costello in 2002. Doll was a solid album but failed to make much headway in big markets like the U.K, U.S., and Australia. In July of 2004, none other than Sir Paul (McCartney) himself presented the band with ‘honorary rock’n’roll diplomas’ from his LIverpool Institute for Performing Arts. The Bangles were back.
Michael Steele left in 2005 after disputes with her bandmates over touring and recording. Steele’s touring replacement was Abby Travis. Sessions for Sweetheart of the Sun began in 2009 and the album was released in September of 2011 (followed by tour dates from coast to coast). A small reunion of Paisley Underground bands in December 2013 found them sharing a bill with The Dream Syndicate, Three O’Clock, and Rain Parade. Two shows were held – one at the Fillmore in San Francisco and another at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles (the second being a benefit show). A celebration of the Whisky a Go Go’s fiftieth anniversary put them on that venerable stage in West Hollywood, CA in January of 2014. Original bassist Annette Zilinskas joined the band for several live shows in 2014 and came back as a full time member in 2018. This marked the first time all the original members played together since 1983.
Writing The Bangles story was no minor undertaking for Bickerdike. She had previously written a biography about Velvet Underground singer Nico and had studied the fandom of Britney Spears. Her Bangles research included hundreds of hours of interviews with Hoffs and the Petersons that stretched over a five year period (Steele declined to participate). Obviously, the core band members felt it was time to revisit their story but as Peterson noted, “We do stay in touch [with Steele], but she’s been able to compartmentalize and move on in her life.”
An interesting side story in the book was introduced when Bickerdike wrote, “ the book was about]…the quartet’s evolution from The Bangs to musicians balancing their role as video vamps with serious artistry.” The previously mentioned ‘baggage’ was uncovered during her exhaustive research. The author was struck by, “the rampant sexism applied to The Bangles which is now shrugged off as ‘a product of the era’. The way they were treated by the music world was appalling, That was a massive revelation. They got signed for songwriting, harmonizing, and playing instruments, but from the first time their demo was brought into an A&R meeting, there is the perception that they can’t sing or play because they’re women.”
The Peterson’s admitted finding out what was being said about the band back in the day was news to them now. Even though it was decades old news, it still stung them to find out how they were perceived. Debbi responded, “We didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes with management. Sneaky meetings . . . and then there were these quotes from people I thought were our friends.” Vicki added she understands everyone has their own recollections of past events but she was curious to read about, “People from the label and management and how they saw our operation. I was so focused on making everything OK that I didn’t see what was going on.” Knowing all of this back then would only have hastened the band’s demise, but who knows for sure. The negative atmosphere may also have pulled them together to fight against a common foe.
Speculation about what might have happened in the past is moot at this juncture. The Bangles evolved, broke up for a decade, and then came back with a vengeance. Not very many groups get that second chance and The Bangles are smart enough to know this. Their website (thebangles.com) is currently promoting Bickerdike’s book and hocking the usual band related gear. While they do not have any shows listed for 2025 as of this writing, the website endnote says, “2025 finds The Bangles continuing their legacy of delighting and inspiring old and new generations of fans worldwide.”
Top Piece Video: The Bangles live on Letterman in 1984 – Hero Takes A Fall & Going Down to Livwepool