History Music / TheBangles

* BellyDancer: Most of the band members dress up as Egyptian-style belly dancers in the music video for "Walk Like An Egyptian".

* CoverVersion: "Live" by Emmitt Rhodes, "September Gurls" by Music/BigStar, "Hazy Shade of Winter" by Music/SimonAndGarfunkel, "Open My Eyes" by [[Music/ToddRundgren Nazz]], "If She Knew What She Wants" by Jules Shear, "Outside Chance" by Music/TheTurtles, and "Steppin Out" by Music/PaulRevereAndTheRaiders. "Going Down to Liverpool" doesn't really count since it was written for them by Kimberley Rew from Music/KatrinaAndTheWaves.

* CoverVersion: "Live" by Emmitt Rhodes, "September Gurls" by Music/BigStar, "Hazy Shade of Winter" by Music/SimonAndGarfunkel, "Open My Eyes" by [[Music/ToddRundgren Nazz]], "If She Knew What She Wants" by Jules Shear, "Outside Chance" by The Turtles, and "Steppin Out" by Paul Revere and the Raiders. "Going Down to Liverpool" doesn't really count since it was written for them by Kimberley Rew from Music/KatrinaAndTheWaves.

The Bangles are an all-female band started in the [[TheEighties early 1980s]]. Their genre can be summed up as a combination of rock, pop, PowerPop, NewWaveMusic, and jangle pop, with a pronounced influence from Music/TheByrds and TheSixties rock that lumped them in with the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paisley_Underground Paisley Underground]] movement. The band currently consists of Debbi Peterson (vocals, drums), Vicki Peterson (vocals, guitar) and Susanna Hoffs (vocals, guitar), and Annette Zilinksas (vocals, bass), with former member [[GenderBlenderName Michael Steele]] (vocals, bass). Their first album, the Beatlesque {{Power Pop}}py ''All Over the Place'' earned them some good reviews but most importantly the attention of Music/{{Prince}}, who wrote "Manic Monday" for them. The song and its accompanying album ''Different Light'' departed from the band's sixties rock sound in favour of state-of-the-art [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]] pop and more outside songwriters, to great commercial success and another hit single ("Walk Like an Egyptian"). Then, intra-band tensions worsened, and after releasing one more album, ''Everything'', they split in 1989.

** On ''Different Light'' their cover of "September Gurls," the gender is changed to "he." In more recent performances Michael Steele changed the gender ''back'' to "she" ("That's the time she makes things right/ ooh when she makes love to me...").
** In an interesting twist, while Prince wrote the song "Manic Monday" for The Bangles, Prince himself sung a version of the song, switching a few lines [Bangles/Prince]: "I was kissing Valentino/a by a crystal blue Italian stream" and "He/she tells me with his/her bedroom voice".

* IntercourseWithYou: "In Your Room," the last verse of "Manic Monday". Also on the receiving end of this trope in the The Saw Doctors song "I'd Love to Kiss The Bangles" -- mostly directed at Susanna, but apparently, one member prefers Vicki.

* WhatBeautifulEyes: One of Hoffs' defining features: They're big, they're beautiful, and she has a habit of looking side to side while singing that draws even more attention to them. Doubles as HoistByHisOwnPetard, since people really reacted to them to the point that she got more attention than the rest of the band, accelerating their demise.

* StatuesqueStunner: Debbi.

They re-formed in 1999 to make a song for ''[[Film/AustinPowers Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me]]'' (whose director, Jay Roach, is also Susanna Hoffs' husband), and after that stayed together again. Michael Steele left the group in 2005. Founding bassist Zilinksas later returned to the group in 2018.

'''Vicki:''' John ("the edgy one" or "the smart one")\\

* GenreMashup: The comments section on any Bangles video music video on Youtube is usually a weird mix of people bringing up Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure, Series/StrangerThings, Creator/RobertDowneyJr, Film/IronMan, Film/LessThanZero, Creator/LeonardNimoy, how ridiculously attractive Susanna Hoffs is and her eye porn, and then people just generally there loving the Bangles music.

* IntercourseWithYou: "In Your Room," the last verse of "Manic Monday". Also on the receiving end of this trope in the Music/TheSawDoctors song "I'd Love to Kiss The Bangles" - mostly directed at Susanna, but apparently one member prefers Vicki.

--->''Even if the battle is won//

!! The Bangles are the TropeNamers for:

!Trope Like an Egyptian...
* {{AcCENT UpON The Wrong SylLAble}}: Walk Like an Egyptian has several instances where the pronounciation is strange either to rhyme, or to make them fit with the cadence (including the title phrase - "Walk like an Egyp-[=SHUNNN=]").

-->'''Susanna''': Interestingly, a character sort of developed in the song. We had all just read ''Girls Like Us'', the book about Carly Simon, Carole King and Joni Mitchell, and we were inspired by it. We sort of made up a portrait of a person based around those women -- it's kind of mythical.
* TheCoverChangesTheGender:

-->'''Susanna''': Paul ("the cute one")
-->'''Vicki''': John ("the edgy one" or "the smart one")
-->'''Michael''': George ("[[TheQuietOne the quiet one]]" or "[[EnsembleDarkhorse the dark horse]]")
-->'''Debbi''': Ringo ("the drummer")
-->''see also'' Annette Zilinskas: ThePeteBest
* DonutMessWithACop: "Walk Like an Egyptian"
-->If you want to find all the cops
-->They're hanging out in the donut shop.
-->They sing and dance ''(oh-way-oh)''
-->Spin the clubs cruise down the block.

---> ''Even if the battle is won''
---> ''The war is not over''
---> ''It’s only begun''
---> ''If there’s one still standing''
---> ''One still standing his ground''
---> ''Don’t you lay yourself down''

* WhamLine: "What I Meant To Say" sounds like the singer is setting up a special date to tell a good guy friend that she’s in love with him, and is agonizing over telling him so. Then we get to the final verse.
---> ''It's a simple, honest thing''
---> ''Just to close my eyes and tell you''
---> ''There'll be one less person in your arms tonight...''

[[caption-width-right:300:Micki, Susanna, Vicki, and Debbi.]]

!!"Trope Like An Egyptian":

[[caption-width-right:300:Micki, Susanna, Vicki, and Debbi]]

It's just another manic Monday''
-->--'''"Manic Monday"'''