Walk Like an Egyptian on a Manic Monday

The American pop-rock band The Bangles formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. They quickly became popular and came out with many memorable hits. The band members are Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson, Debbi Peterson, and Annette Zilinskas.

Their first album All Over the Place came out in 1984. Two singles from this album were “Hero Takes a Fall” and “Going Down to Liverpool”. Even though this album did not produce any hits it did bring the band into the limelight and they got to perform as the opening act for American singer and songwriter Cyndi Lauper and for American pop-rock band Huey Lewis and the News. The video for “Going Down to Liverpool” features American actor Leonard Nimoy in the part of the band’s chauffeur.

Different Light the second album was released in 1986. It quickly became their most successful album charting on the Billboard 200. It featured five singles among them two Billboard hits “Manic Monday” and “Walk Like an Egyptian”. This was the first album to feature bassist Michael Steels singing lead vocals on some tracks. The other singles were “If She Knew What She Wants”, “Walking Down Your Street”, and “Following”.

Their most memorable hit “Manic Monday” was written by American singer and songwriter Prince.

“If She Knew What She Wants” was written and first recorded by American singer and songwriter Jules Shear.

The Bangles scored another hit when they recorded a cover of “A Hazy Shade of Winter” in 1987 originally with a Simon and Garfunkel song.

The third album Everything came out in 1988. It featured the number one single “Eternal Flame”. The inspiration for the song came from a trip to Graceland and the eternal flame by the grave of Elvis Presley.

From this album, another Top Five hit was “In Your Room”.

This was The Bangles' last album before taking their nine-year hiatus from 1989 to 1998.

In 2003 they released their fourth album Doll Revolutions. It included the song “Get the Girl” which is featured on the soundtrack of the film “Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me”. A single released from this album was “Getting Out of Hand”. The album has 15 songs and is the group’s lengthiest album, All of the tracks were composed or co-written by band members except for “Tear Off Your Own Head” which was written by English singer and songwriter Elvis Costello. The album had three singles “Something You Said”, “Tear Off Your Own Head”, and “I Will Take Care of You”.

In 2009 they came out with Sweetheart of the Sun and the band went on tour with performances on the East Coast, in the Midwest, and on the West Coast. The album featured twelve songs of which ten were original compositions. It also includes two cover songs “Sweet and Tender Romance” a reworking of a 1964 single from the girl group The McKinley’s and “Open My Eyes” from The Nazz Todd Rundgren’s early psychedelic band. Bonus tracks included are “Through Your Eyes” and “What a Life”. The lead single was “I’ll Never Be Through with You”.

In 2014 The Bangles released a compilation album of early material Ladies and Gentlemen…The Bangles! The album includes four previously unreleased songs that come from The Bangles' first demo cassette from 1981. These are early versions of “The Real World” and “Call on Me” as well as covers of The Turtles' song “Outside Chance” and “Steppin’ Out” by Paul Revere and The Raiders.

The Bangles played two nights with three other reunited Paisley Underground bands at the Filmore in San Francisco, California, and the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, California. In 2014 the band performed at the Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood, California celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Whisky.

In 2018 The Bangles released three new recordings as part of a compilation album that also included The Dream Syndicate, The Three O’ Clock, and Rain Parade with each of the four bands covering songs by the other bands. All of these bands got together to perform at the Grammy Museum in May 2019.