Lately, on the off-chance I don’t have my iPod at the ready, I’ve been flipping through the Central Maine/Southern Maine radio dial in hopes of finding something good. Usually I’m disappointed.
Yesterday (Saturday, 11.9.19), I was in the basement of my parents’ house helping my dad stack some wood for the winter, and had the radio blasting his go-to station, which has been his go-to station for over 40 years.Right now, they play mostly the big hits of the 70s and 80s, and throw in the occasional 60s and 90s songs as well.
The DJ on yesterday was horrible. He talked over every goddamn song (and most likely pre-recorded 4 days ago), and there were hardly any women played. I kept yelling into the radio, “play some women dammit!” to no avail.
We should all start some sort of coalition to get women played on the classic hits stations like this one. And it’s not just here; it’s all over, sadly. I’ve brought this subject up before on the blog, and it’s an alarming fact that almost no women are represented on classic hits radio, and the ones that make appearances on playlists are usually repeated the next time a female artist is represented on the air. Equally breaks my heart and pisses me off.
The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame is another case. They have this weird reluctance of nominating women in. For the class of 2020, only 2.5 women out of 16 were nominated: Pat Benatar, Whitney Houston, and Chaka Khan (Rufus featuring Chaka Khan). It’s disgraceful! Why is the Rock Hall so afraid of nominating women, like Cyndi Lauper?! Cyndi was eligible 11 years ago, and not one single nomination. There’s plenty of great women nominees out there! And I’m sure we could have inducted at least one more woman over the Dave Matthews Band. Christ.
More women dammit, and less Dave Matthews!
I know this won’t make up for the lack of women played on CHR, but I’m devoting my next several blog posts to women — solo women, women in bands, women-led bands. Just feels right.
The Bangles: “We love being played on the radio! Kickass! Now how about some more women dammit!”
One of the few songs featuring women I heard yesterday on the radio was “Manic Monday” by The Bangles. The Prince-penned track was a big hit and totally deserves its place in classic hits radio and beyond. But, why stop there or “Walk Like An Egyptian” or “Eternal Flame?” The Bangles had eight consecutive Top 40 hits between 1986 and 1989, popular hits including “In Your Room,” “Walking Down Your Street” and their brilliant cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Hazy Shade Of Winter” (from LESS THAN ZERO).
Their lesser-known songs are also worthy of being on the radio more. Songs like 1984’s “Going Down To Liverpool” and “James,” or their 2003 comeback single, “Something That You Said,” or the stunning song on 1986’s DIFFERENT LIGHT, written by bassist Michael Steele, “Following.”
It took awhile for DIFFERENT LIGHT to make any sort of noise on the charts or in record stores. The album was released January 2, 1986, and by the end of the year, “Walk Like An Egyptian” was No. 1 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, and the album was riding high on the BILLBOARD album chart.
Mixed in with the four major singles from the 12-song album — “Manic Monday,” “If She Knew What She Wants” (written by Jules Shear), “Walk Like An Egyptian” and “Walking Down Your Street” — are a couple of songs sung by bassist Michael Steele: a cover of Big Star’s “September Gurls” (written by Alex Chilton), and “Following.”
I remember the first time I heard “Following.” It was later in my adult life, and long after The Bangles had broken up in 1989. Having been used to all their big Pop hits, I never knew a song like “Following” ever existed in The Bangles’ catalog. Well, upon my first listen, it didn’t take long (maybe about three minutes and 18 seconds) for it to become my favorite song by them.
I once described “Following” as a “DIFFERENT LIGHT” for The Bangles (a play on the album’s name), because it’s so different from anything on that album, or anything they have put out, before or since.
“Following” is an Alt-Folk-type ballad, sung in the first person, and about Michael’s high school sweetheart, and you can hear the conviction in her voice. Though not released as a single here in America, it was released around Europe and even reached No. 22 in Ireland, and was a minor U.K. hit single. I had kind of hoped at one point, The Bangles would grow out of the Pop sound and embrace more songs like this. But, it was not to be.
In 1999, the four of them — vocalist and rhythm guitarist Susanna Hoffs, sisters Vicki and Debbi Peterson (on lead guitar and drums, respectively) and Michael Steele — got back together and in 2003, released their fourth studio album, DOLL REVOLUTION. The album was well-received, less Pop-oriented, and of the 15 songs on the album, many were written or co-written by each member of the band.
FUN MICHAEL STEELE FACT: as Micki Steele, she was a founding member of The Runaways, but left just before the band’s big major-label debut. And she co-wrote one of the songs on 1977’s QUEENS OF NOISE, the second studio album for The Runaways, “Born To Be Bad,” sung by Joan Jett.
The Runaways, 1975: Micki Steele, Sandy West, Joan Jett.
“Something That You Said” was the lead single from DOLL REVOLUTION (co-written with Charlotte Caffey, guitarist for The Go-Go’s, who had their own reunion album in 2001, GOD BLESS THE GO-GO’s), and reached No. 38 on the U.K. singles chart. The album’s opener (and inspiration for the album title) was “Tear Off Your Own Head (It’s A Doll Revolution),” a cover of an Elvis Costello song released just a year before, on his WHEN I WAS CRUEL album.
The Bangles reunion was short-lived, though. Although she left in 2004 during the middle of The Bangles’ comeback tour, Michael Steele officially left the band in 2005 over artistic disputes involving touring and recording (she didn’t want the band to be a “Dick Clark oldies band” and wanted to focus more on new material; not a bad thing).
I couldn’t find anything recent on Michael Steele, sadly, but I am forever grateful for “Following,” and I will always admire her for wanting to be more than “Walk Like An Egyptian” and “Eternal Flame.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hMGJbESQCs
FOREVER YOUNG 