All Over the Place - The Rise of the Bangles from the L.A. Underground

by Eric M.Shade

The Bangles are one of the biggest female pop-rock groups of all time. They are known around the world for their smash hits "Manic Monday", "Walk Like an Egyptian", "In Your Room", "Eternal Flame" and their cover of "Hazy Shade of Winter". However, despite their monumental success in the mid- to late 1980s, there's much more to their story. From their beginnings in the San Fernando Valley, Orange County and Newport Beach, through paying their dues in the clubs and becoming part of the Paisley Underground, there is so much more that hasn't been fully discussed. Now, meticulously researched through dozens of interviews with friends and colleagues, including the words of the Bangles themselves, their entire story is finally brought to light.

Genres: Music

454 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2021

Reviews

[Fred Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Mark Lewisohn's outstanding Beatles biography Tune In, I was very surprised to actually feel like I'd grown up with these guys - I knew them incredibly well, we had lots of "shared"experiences, etc. Part of that may have been that at 1728 pages, most parts of my brain were in a state of Beatles saturation, but most of it was how meticulously detailed the words were, and how Lewisohn's superb writing style somehow turned 4 boys growing up in post-war England into a page-turner.

Well Eric Shade's All Over the Place isn't quite as detailed as that (thankfully), but I had that same feeling after finishing it - Vicki, Debbi, Susanna, and Michael felt like old friends, and I'd been along side them for their entire roller-coaster career.

Don't have much more to say besides that. If you're a fan of the Bangles and want to know what they went through and how they ended up where they are, this is a must-read.

[Nestor Rychtyckyj · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It’s about time” was my reaction when the always indispensable HoZac Books announced this. It’s always been amazing (and extremely annoying) to me that a band as successful and influential as the Bangles has been so overlooked and ignored by the music industry. There have been no books (official or not) published about the band, there are no boxed sets or retrospectives about their music and not a word is uttered about them when the annual nominations are made to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It seems that they never really existed and their vast impact on music in the 1980’s has never been acknowledged. Thankfully, Eric Shade and the awesome people at HoZac have finally started to rectify this situation with this 436-page tome.

As stated on the back cover – this is the “Incredible Unauthorized Biography” of the band and none of the band members participated in the book. Nevertheless, Eric Shade has done a monumental task in gathering all of this information from various sources and presenting it all in a very accessible and readable style. There are none of the flashbacks that are so popular in rock & roll biographies and he straightforwardly introduces us to the Peterson sisters and Susannah Hoffs to that fateful meeting when they first start the Bangles. He does an excellent job of weaving various interviews that the Bangles did over the years to put together a cohesive story of the band to the present day.

The Bangles story is pretty well-known – there are no crazy drug-fueled episodes of craziness, but the band was increasingly pressured to tour and keep delivering the hits. The camaraderie and song-writing episodes of the LA music scene were replaced by heavy-handed production and a management push to make the band secondary to Susannah Hoffs led to an inevitable breakup after only three albums. The reunion of the Bangles and their continued work across the years is covered in great detail. The commercial success of the 1980s is never repeated, but their various musical projects show that there is still a lot of life and promise that may lead to future shows or music.
As hinted in the subtitle, the author does a wonderful job in presenting their rise and role in the “Paisley Underground” and their interaction with the LA music scene in the early 1980s. My favorite “concert that I wish I was at” described in these pages was an afternoon matinee with the Bangles along with Black Flag – now that’s a hell of a bill.

Other critical additions to the book include a 25+ page discography on everything that the Bangs/Bangles or as sole performers did through 2019 followed by another 10 pages of references. This book is the real deal!

“All Over the Place” is an excellent history of the Bangles and will hopefully draw more attention to a band that deserves a lot more credit and appreciation. Thanks so much to Eric Shade and HoZak for bringing this all to fruition.

[Matthew Aston · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the Bangles bible. Eric Shade has to be THE authority on the Bangles. This hefty book is well written, interesting and very comprehensive. The fascinating and detailed story dates from the earliest beginnings to current times. It draws the reader into the history of these ambitious young women who worked themselves into burnout, disbanded, and pursued other avenues of music, then re-united much later, matured and more personally fulfilled, with realistic priorities for their newer collaborations. It's a truly human story of these talented and likeable people, as well as their huge sphere of influences, fellow musicians, families and friends. I love this impressive work and can only imagine the time and effort devoted to the research, a "labour of love", for sure. It's an absolute must for serious fans. I hope the Bangles, themselves, will be able to read it. I also hope that a paperback edition will be released and become more widely available soon. There must be a large potential readership. Eric, congratulations and thanks for this fine achievement.

[Gloria Soto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is packed with so much detail even this longtime hardcore Bangles fanatic learned a lot. I loved going back to the beginning of the Bangles and the whole Paisley Underground community. How all these bands were interwoven and supporters of one another. Brought back so many fun memories of shows I had actually been to. These ladies are truly music fans and wear their inspirations very well. I highly recommend this read to any casual or longtime fan of the Bangles. You will certainly enjoy. Thanks for all the research and deep detail. It was a fun read.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eric has done a fantastic job of covering the story of The Bangles, one of the most underappreciated bands of all time. For a band that has been pretty poorly documented over the years, Eric did some deep research, digging up information that will be new to even the most hardcore fan. But casual fans will enjoy this book as well, as it's a tale of a band rising, falling apart, and getting together again that is universal.

I heartily recommend it! Enjoy!

[Steven Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was eagerly anticipating receiving and reading this book and I was not disappointed. In fact the book far exceeded my expectations. Meticulously researched, it is not only a must read for fans of the Bangles but all those interested in the LA music scene of the late seventies and eighties. There are rarely seen photographs included in the book. The timeline of events is expertly delineated making the story come to life. Five stars and highly recommended.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining and extremely well researched, this book is a must for any Bangles fans. However the book could have used a better editor, it is riddled with typos and at least one glaring factual error - the DC 9:30 club was described as being in the Washington suburbs (original club was at 930 F St.). A simple fact check would have fixed this. Despite all the typos (Derrick Anderson’s name is misspelled as Derick, then spelled correctly in the very next paragraph) I found it an enjoyable read.

[Fred Bianco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Its a book about The Bangles which also touches on the other groups in the scene called the "Paisley Underground". The book is written by a superfan who has followed the band pretty much his entire adult life. My quibble is that there are loads of typos and sentences that seem to be missing words. I'm hoping that a 2nd edition will have a lot of these errors fixed, as the book is chock full of information and pretty enjoyable to read. If you are a fan of The Bangles you will want to read this.

[Annie P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wheter you're already fan, knew their musical accomplishment or just recently dig into their songs, this is book you need to read, also for music enthusiast in general. Well-researched book about a band worldwide known as Bangles, their journey to became one of successful all-women music group in this planet. Rather deep in their stories invidually and also as whole group. Real pleasure to read.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

After its first small-run and hard-to-find edition, now in a revised and updated version from Hozak Books, publishing in early 2024. Just dove into my preordered copy and am immediately hooked. So far it's shaping up to be a comprehensive look at the early years of this famous, and often misunderstood and underappreciated, band. More detailed review later.

[Jacqueline Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sadly this “writer” does not credit the sources of information gained properly and the people he stole from all know this.

[Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book !!! I'm from the Netherlands and I did not know all the things about the Bangles. So Eric, thank you for singning the book and ship to the Netherlands. You deserve 5 stars ;)

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly engaging and well-researched. All Over the Place charts the rise, fall, and sorta rise again of one of the most misunderstood rock groups... ever. It manages to hit the sweet spot of being informative, but not boring, as you can get sucked into the Bangles' journey.