In Your Room

Song: In Your Room
Artist: The Bangles
Album: Everything




So I went to see Tegan & Sara this Monday here in the city, the girls were great… played to a packed house. But seeing them has made me listen to their music more and just this morning I put them on shuffle on the iPod and randomly their cover of “In Your Room” popped up. (I believe they did it for a Target ad.) Anyhow, I realized I hadn’t heard The Bangles version in ages and dug it out. What a great tune! And actually… The Bangles are pretty overlooked in my opinion. So get hip to them!

Actually, I had convinced myself that this was in fact a cover the girls did. Not of the Beach Boys song… but it just sounded so familiar. I don’t know. Anyhow, it’s not… and was a top five hit for the girls, and their follow up to the breakthrough album “Different Light,” which contained the mega hits “Walk Like and Egyptian” and “Manic Monday.” But their biggest hit came with the follow up to “In Your Room,” the ballad “Eternal Flame” which was, to my surprise, produced by Simon Cowell. Crazy huh?

“Everything” is often seen as a big clue to the band falling apart. Inner turmoil erupted when the band saw lead singer Suzanna Hoffs become the face of the band, as pushed by their record label. Also, their sound was growing with the record, as evident by the various world music elements, whose instruments were played by non-Bangles. It was to be the last record before the band split, and Suzanna went off to make an ultimately unsuccessful solo record. And one disastrous movie.

The girls returned in 2003 with a new album “Doll Revolution,” which didn’t reach the highs of their early material (actually not even close) but it was a welcome return… and I really liked the single “Something That You Said” and album track “Stealing Rosemary.”

The Bangles had a really interesting career and unfortunately one that should have been better. If in fighting hadn’t torn the band apart at its heyday (which is arguably not their fault entirely) we might have seen even bigger things from the girls. Oh well. In the meantime, take a listen how kick ass “In Your Room” is!

Enjoy.

In Your Room


Eternal Flame (Live at Top of the Pops)