{"id":325168,"date":"2026-03-12T02:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T02:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/325168\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T02:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T02:24:13","slug":"normally-people-were-happy-to-take-his-tracks-because-hes-prince-but-we-wanted-to-do-the-song-our-own-way-when-prince-gave-the-bangles-manic-monday-he-assumed-they-would-just-si","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/325168\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cNormally, people were happy to take his tracks, because he\u2019s Prince. But we wanted to do the song our own way”: When Prince gave the Bangles Manic Monday he assumed they would just sing over his demo, but the band had other ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a time, back in the \u201880s, that Prince was writing so many good songs that he could afford to give away surefire hits to other artists.<\/p>\n

Arguably the most famous of these was Manic Monday, a song that Prince originally wrote for Apollonia 6, the girl group that he assembled in 1983 and who appeared in Purple Rain. However, it ended up being gifted to the Bangles, who had a number 2 hit with it in 1985.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Famously, the song that kept it off the top of the Billboard Hot 100 was Prince\u2019s Kiss, confirming that, at the time, he was pretty much competing with himself.<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Now, in an interview with Guitar World<\/a>, Bangles lead guitarist and singer Vicki Peterson has been explaining how the Bangles came to record Manic Monday.<\/p>\n

The Bangles – Manic Monday (Official Video) – YouTube
\n\"The<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been rumoured that Prince offered them the song in a bid to win the affections of guitarist and singer Susanna Hoffs, but Peterson says that he was, first and foremost, a fan of their music.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would come to our shows and sit in,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWe\u2019d get a note from the tour manager \u2013 \u2018Prince is here and would love to play with you.\u2019 It was like, \u2018What? Here, take my guitar, please!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Which led to Prince showing his appreciation for the band in the best way he knew how: by sending them a demo of a song \u2013 Manic Monday, in this case, written under the pseudonym \u2018Christopher\u2019 \u2013 and asking if they\u2019d like it.<\/p>\n

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Being the creative control freak that he had a reputation for being, though, Prince initially suggested that the Bangles might simply want to take his arrangement, minus the scratch vocal, and sing over the top of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very well mapped out,\u201d Peterson remembers. She and her bandmates, however, were keen to put their own stamp on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, people were happy to take his tracks, because he\u2019s Prince. But we wanted to do the song our own way.\u201d<\/p>\n

This sounds like a bit of a risk, but it was one that paid off.<\/p>\n

\u201cLuckily, Prince liked what we did,\u201d says Peterson. \u201cHe came to a rehearsal, listened, gave us the thumbs up and walked out. All in his enigmatic style.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happily, we don\u2019t have to wonder how the Bangles\u2019 version differed from Prince\u2019s \u2013 his demo is included on the posthumous Originals album from 2019, a collection of songs that Prince ended up giving to other artists.<\/p>\n

Prince – Manic Monday (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Prince<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There was a time, back in the \u201880s, that Prince was writing so many good songs that he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-325168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/325169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}