''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 Shad ...

. It was released in 1982 by Faulty Products and reissued in 1983 by

I.R.S. Records 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 ...

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, who left in early 1983 and was replaced by Michael Steele, 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/

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 wor ...

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, owi ...

music scene. After self-releasing a well-received debut single, " Getting out of Hand" (1981), the group was signed by music industry executive Miles Copeland to his new record label Faulty Products, an independent U.S.-based subsidiary of

. 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 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

band The La De Das.

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

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 guita ...

, 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 auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

, vocals * Vicki Peterson –

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 feature ...

, vocals * Annette Zilinskas –

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 s ...

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 in ...

, 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 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 circles for his production work with the Ramones 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 musica ...

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 ...

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 Runaway, Runaways or Run Away may refer to: Engineering * Runaway reaction, a chemical reaction releasing more heat than what can be removed and becoming uncontrollable * Thermal runaway, self-increase of the reaction rate of an exothermic proce ...

bassist Michael Steele.

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 advertis ...

'' 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/

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 David Kahne 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.

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