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All Over the Place–The Bangles’ Debut Album Is 40!
All Over the Place–The Bangles’ Debut Album Is 40!
And Still Inspring New Generations
All-female rock band, The Bangles, first made their entrance back in the 1980s. With their second album, Different Light (1986), they had huge commercial success with hits such as “Manic Monday” (penned by Prince). In 1986, you couldn’t move without hearing the whistle intro to “Walk Like An Egyptian” coming out of radios everywhere. Banglemania had taken over the world!
With their style of garage rock and 60s jangly guitar hooks, their sheer hard work eventually won through. All Over The Place, their debut album was released in May 1984, making it, incredibly, 40 years of age.
They formed in late 1980 with Susannah Hoffs placing an ad in a weekly paper in Los Angeles. The original line-up included Hoffs on guitar/vocals, the Peterson sisters Debbi and Vicki on drums/vocals and lead guitar/vocals, and Annette Zilinskas on bass. They were first known as The Colours, The Supersonic Bangs, and eventually The Bangs (a 60s term for a fringe).
From the beginning, they had a strong DIY ethos, with Hoffs famously stating she Xeroxed (photocopied) flyers for the band’s shows and posted them around town.
Shervin Lainez
The Byrds, The Beatles, and The Bangles!
Having grown up with The Beatles, The Bangles loved 60s guitar groups. They released their first single “Getting Out of Hand”, a gorgeously catchy track, in 1981. In 1982, with another band known as the Bangs threatening legal action, they changed their name to The Bangles, a bright moment in pop history!
From here they were signed to Faulty Records and released their Bangles EP after which Zilinskas left in 1983. Michael Steele, who had been in The Runaways (another all-female band) with Joan Jett, replaced her just as they signed their first major deal with Columbia Records and released All Over the Place.
Although not huge commercially, the album gave them good coverage. The single “Going Down To Liverpool” with a video starring Leonard Nimoy of Star Trek fame, was written by Kimberley Rew (formerly of The Soft Boys) for his band Katrina and the Waves. With their love of three-part harmonies and Rickenbacker guitar chords, their version brought to mind The Beatles.
I asked Susanna Hoffs how she felt about the 40th anniversary.
“I feel old! But also immensely grateful. It’s wonderful to reflect on that time now. The Bangles were a scrappy garage-rock band, 60s-obsessed and part of what was known as the Paisley Underground scene, so getting signed to Columbia Records (home of Bob Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel) and recording our first studio album was momentous for us”.
The album’s second single, “Hero Takes A Fall”, is lyrically incisive and ranked outside the Top 40, but is still a favourite today. Hoffs commented, “I love “Hero Takes a Fall”. I recall writing it in the garage of my parents’ house (which was my home then) with my bandmate Vicki. I’d pulled a thick volume called the Oxford Encyclopedia of Theater from the shelf and found a random passage that described the concept of the hero’s fall in Greek Tragedy. That became the starting point!”
Other tracks included “Live”, written by Emitt Rhodes for his band The Merry Go Round in the 1960s. This is a gentle, personal call-to-arms track with further Byrds-like harmonies. Then there was the beautiful “Dover Beach”. This contained understated potency and to me, were The Bangles at their effortless best.
self-portrait by Susanna Hoffs
Hoffs: “Poetry was a huge influence in the songwriting then. Matthew Arnold’s poem Dover Beach, and T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” were major inspirations for our song “Dover Beach”.”
Having made their mark The Bangles inspire current generations today. Alexandra Rose, a young performer in her own 60s-inspired band, The Crystal Teardrop, commented. ‘The Bangles are key role models to me. Growing up I wanted to be a Beatle, but when I discovered The Bangles I suddenly had female idols to admire too. “Hero Takes A Fall” is one of my favourite songs of all time, and I find the song very empowering. Our music reflects that passion for the 60s.”
I asked Hoffs about her current reissue of the single “They Don’t Know”, originally written and released by Kirsty MacColl in 1979 and covered by Tracey Ullman in the 80s. “It’s such kismet that you bring up “They Don’t Know” in a conversation about All Over the Place. I had discovered Kirsty’s recording of “They Don’t Know” when I was a student at UC Berkeley and wore out the vinyl! Cut to several years later, the Bangles are recording All Over The Place. I pull our producer David Kahne aside and pitch recording “They Don’t Know”. He too loved the song, but we were a little too late; the wonderful Tracey Ullman beat us to the punch! I love her version too!”
The Bangles created music they loved, and continue to influence 40 years on.
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