Did you know that sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson got together with Susanna Hoffs in 1981 and they started out as The Bangs?

Michael Steele joined in 1984.

The song Manic Monday was written for the band by Prince, who was rumored to have a crush on Susanna.

They had to change their band name from The Bangs to The Bangles because a New Jersey Band with the same name threatened to sue over it's use.

What d'ya know about The Bangles? :)

In the beginning, The Bangles played original, 60's-based guitar-rock, and were fond of covering Big Star, the Merry Go Round and Love.

Susanna Hoffs appeared in a B-movie called The Allnighter in 1987.

Michael Steele's past experience was playing Bass in the girl band rock band The Runaways with Lita Ford and Joan Jett.

Michael once was quoted as saying Joan Jett had the most talent of any of them

One small correction: The group actually were originally called "Supersonic Bangs", named after a hairstyle. It was when they later shortened it to "Bangs" that they discovered that another group had already claimed that name and were forced to change it again to "Bangles".

Another interesting piece of trivia: This rule didn't seem to affect Belinda Carlisle's group, "Go-Go's". That same name was previously used by a British jazz group in the 60's.

RockBoy83

Originally posted by Iluvthe80s
Susanna Hoffs appeared in a B-movie called The Allnighter in 1987.

Cowritten, directed and produced by.... her mother, Tamar Hoffs!

Originally posted by RockBoy83
Another interesting piece of trivia: This rule didn't seem to affect Belinda Carlisle's group, "Go-Go's". That same name was previously used by a British jazz group in the 60's.


I guess the difference is the group "Bang" decided to sue, although, there were two different groups to chart under the name "Bang". One charted in 1972 at #90 with "Questions" and another in 1990 at #93 with "Holding my heart".

Prince wroth "Manic Monday" under the name Christopher, the demo version was performed by Vanity. Prince's "Kiss" kept "Manic Monday" from going to #1.

Simon and Garfunkle did the original version of "Hazy Shade of Winter".

Atomic Kitten recently had a hit in the UK with a remake of "Eternal flame".

US charts:

#2 Manic Monday 1986
#29 If she knew what she wants 1986
#1 Walk like an Egyptian 1986
#11 Walking down your street 1987
#2 Hazy shade of winter 1988
#5 In your room 1989
#1 Eternal flame 1989
#30 Be with you 1989
Susanna Hoffs:
#30 My side of the bed 1991
#77 All I want 1997

UK charts:
#2 Manic Monday 1986
#31 If shhe knew what she wants 1986
#56 Going down to Liverpool 1986
#3 Walk like an Egyptian 1986
#16 Walking down your street 1987
#55 Following 1987
#11 Hazy shade of winter 1988
#35 In your room 1988
#1 Eternal flame 1989
#23 Be with you 1989
#74 I'll set you free 1989
#73 Walk like an Egyptian (re-issue) 1990
Susanna Hoffs:
#44 My side of the bed 1991
#65 Unconditional love 1991
#32 All I want 1996

album rock charts:
#59 Hero takes a fall 1984
#43 Manic Monday 1986
#41 Hazy shade of winter 1987

Modern rock charts:
#5 In your room 1988

Adult contemporary charts:
#10 Manic Monday 1986
#24 If she knew what she wants 1986
#33 Walking down your street 1987
#1 Eternal flame 1989
Susanna Hoffs:
#27 My side of the bed 1991

Leonard Nimoy, a family friend, directed one of their videos, I believe it was "Hero takes the fall".

Susanna Hoffs became a sponsor for Rickenbacker guitars and they featured her on a lot of their literature.

Debi Peterson joined "The Continental Drifters" for several years. She played Carvin guitars while with the Bangles mostly,think she had a deal with them.

I met Susanna Hoffs in San Diego in 1990, blew me away. She is tiny!