"Getting Out of Hand" is the debut single by American female band

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 ...

, 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 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. The group was part of 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 ...

movement, a musical scene based around

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' ...

in which groups mixed 1960s-inspired pop with

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 ...

. "Getting Out of Hand", written by Vicki Peterson and sung by Hoffs, was released as The Bangs' debut single on their own label DownKiddie Records, and distributed locally around Los Angeles in 1981. In order to gain more exposure, Hoffs personally handed a copy of the single to radio DJ

Rodney Bingenheimer Rodney Bingenheimer (born December 15, 1946) is an American radio disc jockey who is best known as the host of ''Rodney on the ROQ'', a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ from 1976 to 2017. In the early 1970s, he also ma ...

, pleading for the song to be aired on his radio show ''Rodney on the ROQ''. In December 1981, Bingenheimer started playing the single, resulting in an increase of the audience on the band's live shows. The Bangles would later contribute an instrumental song, "Bitchen Summer", to the ''Rodney On The Roq: Volume 3'' compilation issued in 1982. In early 1982, The Bangs had to rename themselves Bangles after a New Jersey band of the same name threatened to sue the band. Accordingly, the single was reissued (again on the DownKiddie label) with the name change, with the subtitle "formerly The Bang's" on the cover. A group photograph on the back of this reissued single showed Bangles' bass player

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 had joined the band at the time, although she didn't play on the record. The b-side, "Call On Me", was co-written by Hoffs, Vicki Peterson, and

David Roback David Edward Roback (April 4, 1958 – February 24, 2020) was an American guitarist, songwriter and producer, best known as a founding member of the alternative rock band Mazzy Star. Early life Roback was born on April 4, 1958 and raised in Los ...

, a friend of Hoffs' brother and lead singer of fellow

band

Rain Parade The Rain Parade is a band that was originally active in the Paisley Underground scene in Los Angeles in the 1980s, and that reunited and resumed touring in 2012. History Rain Parade in the 1980s (1981–86) Originally called the Sidewalks, the b ...

. In 1982, while the group was still known as The Bangs, "Getting Out of Hand" was rewritten with new lyrics but with the same musical structure, for a short radio commercial for an underground L.A. magazine named ''NO MAG'', announcing a new issue of the magazine. The repurposed song (named "''NO MAG'' Commercial") was later released on the 1983 compilation ''The Radio Tokyo Tapes''. "Getting Out of Hand" was not a success and did not hit the charts, but it did gain the attention of music executive Miles Copeland, who signed the band to his label Faulty Products. The Bangles then released the EP Bangles in 1982, although neither "Getting out of Hand" nor "Call On Me" was included on the record. "Getting Out of Hand" and "Call On Me" were never included on any Bangles album (until they were collected on the 2014 compilation of early material, ''Ladies and Gentlemen...The Bangles!''), and with the band shifting their sound as the '80's progressed, the record fell into relative obscurity. In 2003 however, The Bangles resurrected both songs and released them for the first time on CD in remastered form as b-sides to their new singles, the former as a b-side to their "Something That You Said" single and the latter on the "Tear Off Your Own Head (It's A Doll Revolution)" single. Both were included on the Japanese edition of their ''

Doll Revolution ''Doll Revolution'' is the fourth studio album by American pop rock band The Bangles. It was released in March 2003 in Europe and Japan, and in September of that year in the United States. It is the first album by the group since their 1998 reunio ...

'' album as bonus tracks.

Track listing

# "Getting Out of Hand" – 2:15 # "Call On Me" – 1:31

References

{{authority control 1981 debut singles The Bangles songs 1981 songs