''Bangles'' is the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous first EP by

The Bangles The Bangles are an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1981. The band recorded several singles that reached the U.S. top 10 during the 1980s, including "Manic Monday" (1986), "Walk Like an Egyptian" (1986), " Hazy Shade ...

. It was released in 1982 by

Faulty Products I.R.S. Records was an American record label founded by Miles Copeland III, Jay Boberg, and Carl Grasso in 1979. I.R.S. produced some of the most popular bands of the 1980s, and was particularly known for issuing records by college rock, new wave ...

and reissued in 1983 by I.R.S. Records when Faulty Products went out of business. The songs remained widely unavailable thereafter, with only occasional rereleases of individual songs. The whole five-song EP was eventually reissued as part of the Bangles' 2014 compilation, '' Ladies and Gentlemen... The Bangles!''. This would be the group's only release to feature original bassist

Annette Zilinskas Annette Celia Genevieve Zilinskas is an American musician. She is a founding member of The Bangles and returned to the band in 2018 after an absence of 35 years. Zilinskas has also been the lead vocalist for Blood on the Saddle, and was a member ...

, who left in early 1983 and was replaced by

Michael Steele Michael Stephen Steele (born October 19, 1958) is an American political commentator, attorney, and Republican Party politician. Steele served as the seventh lieutenant governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007; he was the first African-American ...

, and did not record with them again until the 2018 multigroup album 3 x 4. A three-song CD Mini Single CD3 version of the EP was released on A&M/ I.R.S. Records in 1988.

Background

The Bangles began in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

as a

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

band, popularly associated with similar bands from the area in the

Paisley Underground Paisley Underground is a musical genre that originated in California. It was particularly popular in Los Angeles, reaching a peak in the mid-1980s. Paisley Underground bands incorporated psychedelia, rich vocal harmonies and guitar interplay, owin ...

music scene. After self-releasing a well-received debut single, "

Getting out of Hand "Getting Out of Hand" is the debut single by American female band The Bangles, released in 1981 and produced by the band themselves. The group was named at the time The Bangs, and its line-up consisted of Susanna Hoffs, Debbi Peterson and Vicki ...

" (1981), the group was signed by music industry executive Miles Copeland to his new record label

, an independent U.S.-based subsidiary of I.R.S. Records. The band quickly recorded a five-song mini-album which was released in June 1982.

Composition

The EP includes four original songs penned by bandmembers, as well as "How Is The Air Up There?", a cover of the 1960s single by

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

band

The La De Das The La De Da's were a New Zealand rock band of the 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in New Zealand in 1963 as the Mergers, they had considerable success in both New Zealand and Australia until their split in 1975. In Australia the band is proba ...

Track listing

# "The Real World" (S. Hoffs, V. Peterson) # "I'm in Line" (D. Peterson, V. Peterson, S. Hoffs) # "Want You" (V. Peterson) # "Mary Street" (S. Hoffs, V. Peterson) # "How Is the Air Up There?" (Steve Duboff,

Artie Kornfeld Arthur Lawrence Kornfeld (born 1942) is an American musician, record producer, and music executive. He is best known as the music promoter for the Woodstock Festival held in 1969. Kornfeld is also known for his collaborations with Artie Kaplan. ...

) ;1988 three-song CD Mini Single CD3 Release "Bangles" # "The Real World" (S. Hoffs, V. Peterson) Remixed by

David Kahne David Kahne is an American record producer, musician, composer, and former record company executive. Professional career Kahne started his musical career as a working musician and soon became Director of A&R for America's first punk and new ...

. Previously unreleased. # "Mary Street" (S. Hoffs, V. Peterson) # "I'm in Line" (D. Peterson, V. Peterson, S. Hoffs)

Personnel

The band's full musical credits are listed on the EP's back cover: *

Susanna Hoffs Susanna Lee Hoffs (born January 17, 1959) is an American singer and guitarist, best known as a co-founder of the pop-rock band The Bangles. Hoffs founded The Bangles (originally called the Bangs) in 1981 with Debbi and Vicki Peterson. They re ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

, vocals *

Debbi Peterson Deborah Mary Peterson (born August 22, 1961) is an American musician and the drummer of the band The Bangles. She sang lead vocals on two of the band's released singles, "Going Down to Liverpool" (1984) and " Be with You" (1989). She is the you ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, vocals *

Vicki Peterson Victoria Anne Theresa Peterson Cowsill (born January 11, 1958) is an American rock musician and songwriter. She has been the lead guitarist for the Bangles since their foundation in 1981. After their first disbandment in 1989, she has returned ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, vocals *

–

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

, vocals Vocals are credited to Vicki and Debbie Peterson and Susanna Hoffs on every track. Vicki Peterson sings the lead vocal on "Want You" and "How Is the Air Up There?" while Debbie Peterson sings "I'm In Line"; Susanna Hoffs sings "The Real World", and she and Vicki Peterson share the lead on "Mary Street". Annette Zilinskas provides vocals only once, as one of the backing harmonists on "Want You". Music industry veteran

Craig Leon Craig Leon (born 7 January 1952) is an American-born record producer, composer and arranger currently living in England.International Who’s Who in Classical Music 2005'', Routledge, 2005. Leon was instrumental in launching the careers of many ...

served as the

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

. Leon was already well known in rock and

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

circles for his production work with

the Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

and Blondie. Leon also played

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

on "Mary Street" and "The Real World", and the latter song includes additional piano work by Ethan James. The album

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

was designed by Ewa Wojciak with photography by Bob Seideman. Shortly after the EP's release, Annette Zilinskas left the band and was replaced by former Runaways bassist

Musical style

The Bangles' early years were informed by a 1960s garage rock sensibility, and the 1982 EP maintains a stylistic link between the "Getting out of Hand" debut single and the band's first full-length album, the critically acclaimed '' All Over the Place'' (1984). Music critics often note the irony of their subsequent rise from guitar-based rock devotees to "one of the most successful chart groups of the '80s with their slickly produced synth pop". In his book '' Music: What Happened?'', Scott Miller names "The Real World" as one of the top songs of the 1980s, and remarks of the EP: "Those who know only 'Eternal Flame' might be amazed at how inventive and together they were in their relative infancy". The Bangles themselves consider the early material, lesser-known though it was, to be vital to their own story: as Susanna Hoffs told ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' in 2014, "I think it's as representative of who we really are and as authentic as anything the Bangles have ever done. There's a kind of architecture to those songs – three-part harmonies, guitar-driven, jangly over a kind of garage rock rhythm is who we are now, still, as much as we were back then."

Release

The original EP was released on vinyl in 1982 by Faulty Products (catalog #FEP 1302). The label folded at the end of the year, and Copeland's major label, I.R.S. Records, rereleased it again in 1983 (catalog #SP-70506). In 1988, A&M/ I.R.S. Records released a three-song CD Mini Single CD3 with "Mary Street" and "I'm in Line" from the original vinyl EP release, and a very different mix of "The Real World" remixed and remastered by

prior to his producing the first Bangles album. The full five-song set, however, remained out of print since its initial vinyl release until 2014, when it was included on the album '' Ladies and Gentlemen... The Bangles!''. Featuring numerous early Bangles rarities, this compilation also includes a previously unreleased demo version of "The Real World", shorter and sung in a different

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bangles, The 1982 debut EPs The Bangles albums I.R.S. Records EPs Illegal Records EPs Albums produced by Craig Leon