If She POLLED What She Wants: The Bangles "Greatest Hits" Poll

This is the first record ever I bought as CD! Lot's of great tunes, but I'll have to go for "Going Down to Liverpool", it has a lovely breezy sound, and I love the idea of "doing nothing all the days of my life". Their version of "Hazy Shade of Winter" is brilliant too, better than the original.

"Going Down to Liverpool" vs "Walk Like An Egyptian". I like "Hazy Shade", but prefer the original, though I agree it does seem not to make the most of its good points.

At one point I would have been happy never to hear "Eternal Flame" or "Manic Monday" ever again, but I never hear them out and about any more, so I'd probably think fondly of them if I did.

Damn, I just realized that I don't know enough of these.

This is a tough choice.

Yeah, ditto, I could happily pass on every hearing Eternal Flame or Manic Monday ever again, but so much of the other stuff is such gold.

Tempted to go with "In Your Room" but I will need to go and listen to the rest first.

Listened to this on the way to work today. It took these turns where it would go from sounding like Jellyfish to sounding like a beer commercial. Anyway, I really liked three songs that I hadn't heard before: "Hero Takes a Fall," "Be With You" and "Everything I Wanted." I'll probably end up going with "Hazy Shade of Winter" or "In Your Room" though.

Eternal Flame is a jam too. Don't understand the hate.

^^^ yes.

but voted "In your Room" because I'd forgotten how great it is.

Saw them about 10 years ago lol. They were awesome and S Hoffs is still smoking hot.

http://cdn.mademan.com/chickipedia/images/7/78/Susanna_Hoffs0_455.jpg

"in your room" is so sexy. i saw susanna with matthew sweet last fall, doing their covers thing, which was nice, but then in the encore they each did a few of their own songs and susanna did a medley of "manic monday" and "in your room" -- it was great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLzrRAs8fdc

(love the key change in that too, just puts it over the top)

Aw, any chance to listen to all these songs again. And I'm going to just go and vote for In Your Room again, partly for the Indian strings, partly for the KEY CHANGE but most of all because I want my fucking life to be just like that video.

yeah yeah we loved In Your Room so much we ripped it off and then we got to support the Bangles on tour and it was all so awesome that I never ever get tired of telling that story so sorry you're all sick of it.

Wow! That video brought back memories. I used to go over to my neighbor's house to watch MTV every day before school. Great idea, right? When "In Your Room" came on though, he would turn it off every time. I think that was one of the reasons why I used to get so ashamed for liking music by female musicians.

Love all these songs unequivocally, but voting for "If She Knew What She Wants" narrowly beating all the others. Just the way it's constructed as a song, with the dramatic pauses, the dense harmonies and maybe Vicki Peterson's best guitar solo, gives it that little something extra. (Second place for me is "Walking Down Your Street," although I think "Angels Don't Fall In Love" would have been a better single from that album.)

voting for "If She Knew What She Wants" narrowly beating all the others. Just the way it's constructed as a song, with the dramatic pauses, the dense harmonies and maybe Vicki Peterson's best guitar solo, gives it that little something extra.

Exactly why I voted for it – love her solo. Also: in a few verses I don't think I've figured out what the hell Hoffs is singing.

does it even have a verse? it sounds like all chorus to me (which is, in a way, another plus point)

I think I'll go with Hero cause it's about the hunk I once interviewed, namely STEVE WYNN. YUMMY. lol

The first album has so many good songs, most of which approach boys and relationships from novel angles. It's probably worth polling.

does it even have a verse? it sounds like all chorus to me (which is, in a way, another plus point)

there's a middle 8, or a biridge, that gets repeated and is veh purty

did Jules Shear ever perform it, and if so, how does it compare?

I've got a different greatest hits CD (We Are The '80s on VH1 Classic Records), and it's real good, but the Bangles are one of those groups who I basically think peaked at the beginning and went downhill from there. Going with "Going Down To Liverpool"; second choice might be "Hero Takes A Fall." Of their actual hits, I like "Egyptian" best.

Jules's version is on YouTube. The backing vocals are a little more girl-groupy (ironically), and the male pronouns are all first-person rather than third-person. Arrangement is the same, but the Bangles version is really a lot better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YecRaF8922k

Listening to that, now I understand why people hate 80s production so much.

Actually quite a bit of the Bangles production sounds a bit wincey to me, but then again, I love the songs so much that it doesn't bother me that much.

Re the Jules Shear version: ew, gross.

I mean, no wonder he doesn't know what he wants.

jules shear's original version of "all through the night" is even worse:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gXSJ8LGwrM

dude was not a good interpreter of his own songs. he greatly improved on both of those, and several others, however, on a cd called unplug this that he released shortly after he lost his mtv unplugged gig.

Voted In Your Room, but only narrowly over Hazy Shade oF Winter.

dude was not a good interpreter of his own songs

He was actually pretty good on the first two (maybe only two?) Jules and the Polar Bears albums, and maybe the Funky Kings one before that. But yeah, his '80s solo stuff always sounded like mush to me.

A lot of great songwriters in the 80s were ill-served by terrible trendy production. He actually acquitted himself quite nicely on the album The Great Puzzle, which dispensed with all the tech whackeroo that pretty much did in his previous few albums. (Also Jules was kind enough to send me back a postcard when I wrote to him once. Nice guy!)

That said, voted "Hazy Shade of Winter" again here.

Impossible vote.

When they toured in 2003, they all stood in a row at the front of the stage and performed a stripped-down (possibly even a cappella iirc) Eternal Flame in four-part harmony. It was amazing. Significant too - the label's decision to foreground Hoffs on the original single and video led to them breaking up first time around. I like seeing albatross-like big hits being reclaimed like that.

I love pretty much all these songs but Hazy takes it.

how familiar were you guys with the S&G original? I was in the car with my mom when she frowned at the radio tuned to the Top 40 station and said, witheringly, "THAT'S supposed to be a Simon and Garfunkel song?" She did like The Bangles though.

He was actually pretty good on the first two (maybe only two?) Jules and the Polar Bears albums

There was a third, but it was only released long after the fact (and it's not on par with the first two).

if no one else is voting eternal flame i sure am

I sure did.

how familiar were you guys with the S&G original?

Reasonably so - was never a S&G fanatic so when I heard the Bangles version there was no sense of betrayal or heresy or anything like that for me. At that point I only knew the Bangles as being a very sweet-sounding pop group (with a touch of novelty thrown in of course) so my first listen on this was less about how they had changed it from the way S&G had done it and more about confounding my preconceived notions of what a BANGLES song should sound like. Either way, I liked it!

I didn't know the S&G original at the time. I still prefer this cover.

During their infamous "Behind the Music" episode, Michael Steele and Vicki said that "Hazy Shade of Winter" came closest to representing how they sounded live – even with George Drakoulias on guitar.

I've been listening to Hazy Shade of Winter obsessively lately but I'll have to listen to all these songs again to decide

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

LOOK AROUND

Gotta be "If She Knew What She Wants", even if "In Your Room" and "Following" are also really great songs.

Voted "In Your Room" because it is everything in the world, but so many great things here. My favorite NYC subway moment: two teenage girls, who I'm assuming were on their way to LaGuardia High School on the 1 train, busting out with a gospel version of "Eternal Flame" at 7:30 in the morning.

10 hours left and I still can't decide between "Liverpool" (which will get some votes, judging by this thread, but not enough) vs "Egyptian" (which has nobody repping for it as first choice on this thread, but maybe it will get the lurker vote)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

"Walking Down Your Street" deserved a vote, esp. for its video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NjGAaQtRjc

Voted for "Egyptian" here -- didn't meant to lurk, just forgot to post. If you plotted every #1 hit of the 80s on the plane there would be giant clusters and then some small strands and then there would be "Walk Like an Egyptian," this sonic singularity, way off along the abcissa. An essentially perfect record.

But "Hazy Shade of Winter" would have been my second choice and I'm surprised and happy to see so many people are into it. I knew the S&G version first but the Bangles' cover is so much better that in my opinion it should now be considered the original.

My all-time fave now is the Todd Terje "Dub Like an Egyptian" deal.

winner deserves a video embed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zG9PVucS9aw

hoffs is all-time smash material (still!) but i always had a thing for m. steele

That was really good, thanks. Things I never knew include:

Its foundation was an Alesis drum machine, a garbage can lid, a Peruvian shaker, a gong, and an Emulator-generated bongo sample, the latter via Mitchell Froom, who was recording at the Sunset Sound Factory at the same time (the “Egyptian” rhythm tracks are a kooky ancestor of the Latin Playboys album that Froom and Different Light‘s engineer Tchad Blake did a decade later).

I'm partway through and it is very excellent indeed

Missed this - would have chosen "If She Knew What She Wants".

Didn't know Bangles had covered Grass Roots' "Where Were You" - first heard it from the Adult Net version.

"Manic Monday" or "If She Knew What She Wants"...I actually never heard the original for the latter until now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAHKJy2LlHU

Sounds like the same exact arrangement, but changing vocalists (especially a she rather than a he - could be singing about herself now) makes a huge difference, and much better for it.

I'm not a fan of their third album and I have a real soft spot for their early recordings so I made my own Bangles compilation awhile back:

1. Bitchen Summer/Speedway
2. Getting Out of Hand
3. Call on Me
4. The Real World
5. I'm in Line
6. Want You
7. Mary Street
8. How Is the Air Up There?
9. Outside Chance (demo)
10. Steppin' Out (demo)
11. Tell Me (live, 1984)
12. 7 & 7 Is (live, 1984)
13. Hero Takes a Fall (single mix)
14. Live
15. James
16. Dover Beach
17. Tell Me
18. Going Down to Liverpool
19. Where Were You When I Needed You?
20. I Got Nothing
21. Manic Monday
22. If She Knew What She Wants
23. Walk Like an Egyptian
24. Walking Down Your Street (single mix)
25. September Gurls
26. Following
27. Hazy Shade of Winter
28. In Your Room
29. "No Mag" commercial

"Return Post" on Different Light is a nice, well-crafted song that isn't mentioned here or in the 64 Quartets piece.
Of the songs on this compilation, "Hero Takes a Fall". The videos from the first album were on MuchMusic all the time, it made them seem more successful than perhaps they were at the time.

It's also interesting how demure a band of women could be in the 80s, yet still be accused of selling sex appeal by critics.

probably would've voted for "liverpool" or "hazy"

I love Different Light's title track.

They had such a good instinct for picking covers, never going for the low-hanging fruit and always putting their own stamp on them. Now, teaming with tried and true hitmakers for "Eternal Flame," that seems more like going for the low-hanging fruit, but like Cheap Trick and "The Flame" - same year! - the ostensible sell-out move suits their strengths pretty well.

"The Flame" was '88, but, yeah, I agree, though "Eternal Flame" has more of an identity, i.e. those harmonies in the last third

Wasn't "Eternal Flame" also '88? Or just the album?

Just the album (late '88). "Eternal Flame" hit the top in spring '89.

Great thread still, will have to read that new epic piece, thanks.
Oh, just remembered this, from my P&J comments re 2016 releases:
Speaking of Bangles, their Omnivore round-up, Ladies and Gentlemen----The Bangles! is good from first listen, after first thin Bangs tracks, and a clunky cover of "7 & 7 Is." Earns its exclamation point, as gurl rockers had to do.

Eternal Flame is fantastic.

At the time, I saw it as a throwback to something like "Dedicated to the One I Love" by the Mamas and the Papas, not so much a power ballad.

At the time I *hated* Eternal Flame. It was around the peak glossy DX7-preset ballad era, opening the door for all those subsequent schlocky Disney ballads to dominate the airwaves. It was ubiquitous, and I'm sure part of the reason I more or less turned off the radio for a couple of years. Iirc I definitely liked the Bangles stuff I'd heard on the radio, but did not like this one, which, tbh, is not all that different from a Disney song, even if I've sort of come to terms with it (and particularly its bridge).

This was interesting:

In 2004, Billy spoke with us about many of his hit songs. The stories reveal a depth and authenticity that might explain their enduring popularity. Below is the transcript from that interview.

Songfacts: "Eternal Flame," that you wrote for The Bangles, can you tell me about that song?

Billy: Tom Kelly and I met Susanna Hoffs and we set out to write several songs for the Bangles’ next recording. When we got together with Susanna, she admired a song that Tom and I had written for Cyndi Lauper called "Unconditional Love." I think she liked the song because it was highly melodic and resembled a ballad that would not have been out of place on The Beatles' Revolver album. She was sort of envious of that song, she said she wished we could come up with something as good as that song. And I remember confidently I told her, "Susanna, we're going to write something better than that song."

She was talking about The Bangles having visited Graceland, and she said there was some type of shrine to Elvis that included some kind of eternal flame. As soon as those words were mentioned, I immediately thought of the synagogue in the town of Palm Springs, California where I grew up. I remember during our Sunday school class they would walk us through the sanctuary and there was one little red light and they told us it was called the eternal flame. When I was a child I remembered thinking it never burned out, that it was something like the sun or something beyond our capacity to even contemplate. It seemed like a very profound thought when I was a child. I thought, "Well that's a great title for a song," so very quickly I wrote the rest of the lyrics for the song based on that title.

Tom and I and Susanna were at my house in Los Angeles. I believe Tom started to write the chords and the melodies on an acoustic guitar at my house. The bridge to the song, or the middle eight as the British would say, the part that starts, "Say my name, sun shines through the rain," that part in particular is very Beatlesque and Tom, who's a great lover of harmonies, worked with Susanna to create almost a tribute to The Beatles and Beach Boys background harmonies in our demo and The Bangles recreated them on their record.

One of the main differences between our demo and what was to become The Bangles record was, we based our demo on the acoustic guitar while The Bangles record, which was produced by Davitt Sigerson, was based on a simple piano. I think we based our demo on the acoustic guitar because there was no keyboard player in The Bangles. When you're a songwriter and you're trying to write something for a particular project, you very self-consciously do whatever you can do to see that it gets on the record and to ensure getting it on the record you want to make it sound like something the band could play. For that reason we tried to leave keyboards off our demo, but then we were very pleased with Davitt Sigerson's production and the way it featured the piano. I know Tom and I both loved Davitt's production, we both loved Susanna's lead vocal and all The Bangles harmonies and were very pleased with the way the song turned out.

One of the unusual things about that song, which is also attributable to its Beatlesque roots, is the fact that it really doesn't have a chorus. The part that starts, "Close your eyes, give me your hand, do you feel my heart beating, do you understand," that part sets out to be the verse of the song and then the title is incorporated in the last line of the verse when it says, "Am I only dreaming, or is this burning an eternal flame." By the end of the song when all The Bangles chime in and re-sing the first verse at the end of the song, the whole verse feels like a chorus. The Beatles used to write in that way, for example, "We Can Work It Out." The line, "We can work it out," is sort of a tag in the verse. The verse ends with, "We can work it out, we can work it out." It isn't a chorus, it doesn't begin with the line, "We can work it out," which would be more traditional pop hit structure. The whole song 'Eternal Flame' is so melodic that it doesn't really miss a traditional chorus, it just works the way it is. In one more Beatle type arrangement decision we do the bridge after two verses and then there's a guitar solo and then we do the bridge again. Again, The Beatles would often do that. In the song "We Can Work Out," the bit that begins, "Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend" - I think that happens twice in the song. Sometimes if you have a bridge that's really good, it's nice to repeat it, and also if a song doesn't have a traditional pop chorus you almost need to repeat the bridge so that the song is long enough and that's what we did in "Eternal Flame." And that's what occurred in a lot of Beatles songs.

Songfacts: I think I read somewhere that they used studio musicians for this, that The Bangles with the exception of Susanna, did not actually play on that record.

Billy: I wouldn't be surprised if they used studio musicians to play the keyboards. I was definitely under the impression that the other girls played on it. They may have used some studio musicians, but all The Bangles, to their credit, are fine musicians, and I can't see any reason why they wouldn't have played.

I almost definitely voted "Going Down To Liverpool" in 2012 but today would have gone with "If she knew what she wants." The different variations on the verses eventually turning into a full-on bridge is just masterful song structure.

"Eternal Flame" is cool but it's kinda dentist-office-core at this point.

Yeah, I never liked "Eternal Flame" either. That last album and Hoffs's solo work would have been a horrible end to the Bangles.

At least to me their best cuts towards the end (before the reunion) were primarily covers ("If She Knew What She Wants," "September Gurls," "Hazy Shade of Winter," Prince's "Manic Monday" if that counts, etc.). Even a great original like "In Your Room" sounds like a pastiche of more familiar music, albeit put together really well. I kind of feel like they burned through their best ideas really fast.

"Going Down to Liverpool" is another great, faithful cover. I discovered Katrina & the Waves through that track. (The original Canadian albums were amazing and put the re-recordings on their American debut to shame.)

Hoffs eventually covered "Unconditional Love" on her first album When You're a Boy and uh it is not awesome or even distinctive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYJ8lBYziJg

Not really into "Eternal Flame," not going to begrudge those that think it's great. However, I read Breihan's Number Ones column on it today (he gives it a 10), and found it curious that for as long as I was willing to scroll down not a single commenter (who often have interesting things to add or say) was posting a word about the song or even the Bangles in general.

Yeah. Have nothing to say about that song except meh.

Love the band, revile Eternal Flame.

not a single commenter (who often have interesting things to add or say) was posting a word about the song or even the Bangles in general.

Not true!

Love the band, revile Eternal Flame.

Same here. "In Your Room" is great, but it's the only thing on their third (and for a long while last) album that I'd want to hear. A shame because I saw an interview from that time where they collectively trashed David Kahne for a lot things and how they were allegedly much better without him. In all fairness, I have a slight preference for the stuff they recorded before Kahne came into the picture.

I'd also include include "I'll Set You Free" from 'Everything' as a keeper, but I prefer the single version that appears on the compilation the poll is based on.

xpost Alfred, I skimmed down like 300000 posts. Maybe they were in a different order?

Yeah, looks like newest to oldest, my bad.

Lousy sleeve art.

Anyway, I love Tom's column - his recent deep dives into Debbie Gibson were really informative - but between this song and "The Living Years" he's clearly hearing (or I guess more specifically feeling) things that I'm not. Especially "The Living Years," which to my ears is sentimental pap. Fair enough, I guess, there are definitely days when I, too, am susceptible to the powers of a children's chorus or trite symbols like an eternal flame.

"Eternal Flame" is kinda drecky, but it does have a very nice Susanna Hoffs vocal. (Recorded naked, apparently.)

.

Wait, it's a Billy Steinberg composition?

“eternal flame” isn’t my fav bangles song but it’s an exceedingly well-written power ballad and the hoffs vocal is sublime

re: breihan’s column on “the living years,” agree with josh that the song is nothing special, and think the writer’s assertion that rutherford’s guitar line was inspired by the edge to be off-base. if anything he was inspired by his own performance of “follow you, follow me” a decade earlier

Wait, it's a Billy Steinberg composition?

As is "In Your Room" (both co-written with Hoffs and Tom Kelly).

"The Living Years" entry was the only time I thought I was thru the looking glass.

A shout-out for their cover of Rundgren's "Open My Eyes," which is of course his masterpiece seed ov psych-pop-power-pop-jangle, and they were born to play it---also, Hoffs will be the only one I'll watch CNN's Fourh of July special for, but here's the whole roster, and how to watch if you've cut the cable:
https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2021/06/24/cnns-fourth-in-america-special/

Susanna Hoffs
@SusannaHoffs
Since it's July I figured, why not?
Spin Magazine, July 1987.
#ThrowbackThursday
First Annual Swimsuit Issue

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E5OwwoBUUAINQjO?format=jpg&name=medium

I still think Eternal Flame is a fantastic single. Hoffs' total comitment to the tune, the devotional nature of the lyrics and the dramatic change from the verses to the "say my name / Sunshine through the rain" make for a wonderfully grandiose and intense ballad.

“Under a Cloud” has a musical Supremes quote!

Backing vocals quote too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUu3VsxUMsw

"If She Knew What She Wants" should've been #2 for weeks, not "Manic Monday."