Cure Your 'Manic Monday' and Take a Listen to These Songs by The Bangles
The perfect cure to your manic moment might just be listening to “Manic Monday.” So many of the Bangles songs are just what you need to turn your day around or get you through a long week.
Formed in 1981, the band consists of Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson, Debbi Peterson and eventually Michael Steele. This girl group ruled the 1980s with their massive hits and earned their status as one of the greatest female bands of all time.
The band rose to mainstream success after the Bangles songs, among them “Walk Like an Egyptian,” were released. If you recognize any of these classics, you might want to listen to all our favorite tunes by the group below.
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1. “Eternal Flame” (1988)
Susanna Hoffs teamed up with pop songwriter Billy Steinberg to pen this hit. Although it was one of the last of the Bangles songs to be released during their career, it was also a number one hit upon its release. This song also made the Bangles the third female group to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart, coming in behind the Shirelles and the Supremes.
The song was written after Hoffs shared with Steinberg that she and the other Bangles visited Graceland. “She said there was some type of shrine to Elvis that included some kind of eternal flame,” he said.
2. “Walk Like an Egyptian” (1986): The Bangles songs
The wildly popular single ended up selling millions and it became Billboard’s number one song of 1987. But despite its success, it was also the one to cause major tension within the group. While the song was supposed to be sung by Debbi Peterson, it ended up being recorded in three parts by the other members of the band, leaving Peterson out. She also didn’t get to play the drums on the track, as drum machines were the cool sound of the time.
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3. “Manic Monday” (1986)
Surprisingly, this hit was written by Prince, who offered the group two songs to choose from to record. He became a fan of the group after hearing their “Hero Takes a Fall,” and thus gave them that opportunity. Debbi Peterson shared in a 1989 MTV interview, “He contacted us, and said, ‘I’ve got a couple of songs for you. I’d like to know if you’re interested,’ and of course, we were. One of the songs Prince brought to the group was ‘Manic Monday’, written under the pseudonym of Christopher.”
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The Bangles released "Manic Monday" on their sophomore album, Different Light. “Manic Monday” became an international hit, rising to number two in the US, UK, Germany and Austria. Prince’s version of this song was released in 2019 as part of a compilation album, which was full of songs he wrote but other artists recorded.
4. “Hazy Shade of Winter” (1987): The Bangles songs
“Hazy Shade of Winter” is yet another one of the Bangles songs that wasn’t written by the group. But their version nonetheless made some waves, rising to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was originally written by Paul Simon, then recorded and released by Simon & Garfunkel in 1966.
The Bangles were recruited to record the song in 1987 for the film Less Than Zero, which starred Robert Downey Jr., Andrew McCarthy and James Spader. The girl group, however, switched out the acoustic guitars for electric ones, opting for more of a hard rock style song.
5. “In Your Room” (1988)
“In Your Room” was co-written by Susanna Hoffs, Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly in 1988. The writers drew from Hoffs’ love for 1960s rock bands, pulling in new and old musical styles. “[The Bangles] liked everything from Petula Clark to The Beatles and all the Sixties music they loved,” Steinberg shared. “So when we got together to write with Susanna, it was right up our alley because, of course, Tom and I grew up in the Sixties, and that was what we loved.”
