The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 612

Number 612

Bangles

"Manic Monday"

(1986)

Genre:Pop

Monday, its our least favourite day of the week and apparently to rock stars too. You would think they wouldn't even know what the Monday "blues" even felt like. Everyday must be at least feel like a Friday to the celebs, if not a Saturday .... surely? Still, they write and sing about the dreaded day. Here are some examples.
1. "Manic Monday" by Bangles ~ A huh, so when do rock stars get manic about Mondays?

2. "I don't like Mondays" by The Boomtown Rats ~ Straight to the point, gotcha.

3. Anything by Happy Mondays ~ Obviously this group takes drugs. Happy? how could ya be happy?

4. "Monday" by The Dorks ~ You would think every day with a name like that

5. "Thank God its Monday by NOFX" ~ Christians, obviously looking forward to a day off. Sinning?

6. "Its Monday (& i still love you)" by Jesse Colter ~ See what happens when you hit the juice on Friday?

7. "Monday Monday" by Mamas & The Papas ~ Yanno... its the day before Tuesday Tuesday? right right.

8. "See you on Monday" by Sabrina Christ ~ With a name like that, you would be fraggin' lucky to see her Sunday.

9. "Because It Rhymes" by Kill myself on Monday ~ They only made one album. 2 reasons why. One, they couldn't rhyme & secondly, well, obvious innit?

10. "Its Monday everyday" by Lou Rawls ~ How depressing was everyday to that guy! Poor Lou. RIP brother.

11."Blue Monday" by New Order ~ Told you to take the red pill Neo. He never listens

The Bangles' second album went to number one on the strength of the first single, "Manic Monday," written especially for the band by Prince, and its follow-up, "Walk Like an Egyptian," penned by '80s hitmaking giant Liam Sternberg. Though even more polished than the debut, Different Light is a testament to the mid-'80s sound, replete with synthesizers (Mitchell Froom assisted); even on Jules Shear's magnificent "If She Knew What She Wants" and Alex Chilton's standard "September Gurls," the band's vocal strengths shine through the gloss, and their pop sensibilities are not completely lost. ~ [Denise Sullivan]

For more Bangles see Number 642
For Prince see Number 812
For Lou Rawls see Number 879

What does Rolling Stone think about The Bangles? (again)

The 1984 debut of Los Angeles' Bangles, All Over the Place, was a poprock formalist's wet dream. For thirty minutes and eleven songs, the listener was dizzied by a frighteningly complete compendlum of the greatest bits from the genre's greatest hits – quintessentially scruffy acoustic and electric guitar sounds, Brit-pop chord voicings, Irresistible progressions and turnarounds and cool little riffettes right out of a crackly car radio, circa 1967. The three- and four-part harmonies were the biggest flashback of all, loosely and gleefully quoting everyone from The Beatles to the Mamas and The Papas. Miniskirts and Jean Shrimpton hairdos notwithstanding, The Bangles made a modern statement: they dared imply that men were only a part of their solar system, not its center.

No doubt most of the squawking in the land of 1000 classics (what the???) will be about David Kahne's production, which is more deliberate, sophisticated and airwaves ready than the production on All Over the Place. For the most part, though, squawking is unjustified. "Manic Monday" – authored by Christopher, a.k.a. Prince – yearns a little too baldly for Top Forty fame, but that's partly a byproduct of the smothering of Susanna Hoffs' lead vocal in a busy mix. Otherwise, the oversynthed bridge scoots by too fast to annoy, and seasonings like acoustic piano add too much to the momentum of the track for dismissal as production filigree. The slickest thing about the song, actually, is the song itself – it is not, shall we say, one of Prince's more painstaking efforts.

One of the biggest revelations of Different Light is Michael Steele's debut as a singer and songwriter. Surprisingly, she shows herself to be the band's most interesting lead vocalist. Her alto is full of blue-Monday moodiness; her phrasing is informed by the talk-sing styles of Bob Dylan and Rickie Lee Jones. And Steele's angry, sorrowful ballad "Following" arguably stands as the LP's strongest track. Certainly, it points the band in another direction – toward darker feelings as well as jazz and folk constructions. The nonformalists, bless their history-proof little hearts, won't be buying this LP for anything but that pure pleasure. Maybe after dust has been settling on it for a while, the historians will forgive Different Light for having sounded as if it belonged in the year in which it was released. (RS 469)

For The Beatles see Number 947 & Number 894

For Bob Dylan see Number 929 & Number 841

For Rickie Lee Jones see Number 721

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Man we are depressed now) and the Album ranked at Number (We hate mondays too)

(Have a tissue ~ Sheesh)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 71.7 out of 108 pts

BANGLES - MANIC MONDAY
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