The Bangles and Manic Monday: An Appreciation
by Best Classic Bands Staff
The first four singles by The Bangles – Vicki Peterson, Debbi Peterson, Michael Steele and Susanna Hoffs – had been completely ignored by Top 40 radio. But on January 27, 1986, a Monday, Columbia Records released “Manic Monday,” the first single from a new album, Different Light.
The songwriter is credited as Christopher (no last name). Turns out “Christopher” was really Prince (who, of course, famously didn’t use his own last name – Nelson – in his credits). “Manic Monday” was embraced by radio and it raced up the singles chart and, in a you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up bit of irony, stalled at #2. At #1? Prince and the Revolution’s “Kiss”!
“Manic Monday” was the first of five Top 5 hits that the Bangles enjoyed; their “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Eternal Flame” were both #1 smashes. (“Hazy Shade of Winter” hit #2 and “In Your Room” peaked at #5.) Different Light would go on to sell over three million albums.
Related: The Bangles perform a rare concert, in 2018
Some of you no doubt shared Best Classic Bands‘ schoolboy crush of doe-eyed lead singer Susanna Hoffs, born Jan. 17, 1959.
But The Bangles weren’t just pretty looks; they could rock. Enjoy our Classic Video…
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Want more? Watch them perform the song acoustically, years later
The Bangles will be the subject of an authorized biography. Eternal Flame, from author Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, will be published on February 18, 2025, via Hachette Books. The book, named for one of the all-girl group’s most-beloved singles, is available in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here (where it will arrive on March 13).
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