Golden rule to get a hit for Radio and the masses is strong / catchy melody + easy to remember/simple lyrics + sing about stuff most can relate to = HIT!!!. This song has it all, I'd even put it above Kiss!.

Golden rule to get a hit for Radio and the masses is strong / catchy melody + easy to remember/simple lyrics + sing about stuff most can relate to = HIT!!!. This song has it all, I'd even put it above Kiss!.

Have you ever heard the original?(Prince with Appolonia)
It sucks balls.....

The Bangles did it justice.....but I wouldn't rate it above Kiss or The Most Beautiful Girl In The World though.

Both the latter songs had more mass appeal and were more radio friendly. They went to number one and two respectively, the same as Manic Monday(#2).

I wouldnt say prince's version was that bad.
I have only ever heard pretty terrible copies of it.im sure if a
cleaned up version surfaced it would be good.

muirdo said:

Clean it up all you want to.....Appolonia's voice will still remain.
And what a voice it was.....YUCK!

dseann said:

that's just it, apples's "singing" is what makes the demo so horrid, not the sound quality.

dseann said:

that's just it, apples's "singing" is what makes the demo so horrid, not the sound quality.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Exactly! And frankly it's irrelevant to the discussion. No song is so good that a crap singer can't ruin it, but I've heard the Bangles do that song with nothing but acoustic guitars and the magic of the song shines through as clear as, well, as clear as a crystal blue Italian stream.

I would disagree for two reasons:

1. iirc, Manic Monday was displaced from #1 on the charts by Kiss itself, which pretty much nullifies any arguement you could make for it being more radio-friendly than Kiss.

2. A lot of people don't know Manic Monday is a Prince song. Just yesterday I was talking with someone about associates, etc. and said the Bangles Manic Monday was a Prince song. They said, "oh, Prince co-wrote that?" I said, "No co-wrote about it; that's all Prince." They were kinda bummed.

When you think, or at least me, of the Bangles you can't help to think of this song. If there was an 80's collection of music the Bangles made it onto, it would be with that song. Some might argue there would be no Bangles in Pop Culture without that song. Prince and Manic Monday made the Bangles a one hit wonder.

They weren't exactly a one hit wonder.

Manic Monday wasn't even there biggest hit, (think Egyptians walking...). Plus there was in your room, that hazy shade song, eternal flame, if she knew what she wants.. They had more than just the greatness that is Manic Monday.

I love Manic Monday,but I wouldn't dare rank it above Kiss!

sexxydancer said:

Yep agreed ..... would also say Raspberry Beret & Cream were pretty pop radio friendly tunes
[Edited 8/21/06 13:31pm]

I'm thirty five and was lucky or unlucky enough to hear the original back in the day(21 years ago). I knew it was a Prince song before The Bangles covered it. I also remember that it was a well known fact that this was a Prince written song as Casey Kasum(I might have mis-spelled his name) on "American Top 40" made a big deal about Prince having both the #'s 1 & 2 song on the charts at the time.

If I forgot that "Manic Monday" went to #1, please forgive me but of the two songs, which stayed at #1 for a longer peroid?

And why were your friends bummed to find out that Prince wrote it.....Wassupwiddat?

dseann said:

I'm about the same age as you and I, too, remember hearing both songs on the radio when they came out. (I remember precisely where I was the first time I heard Kiss-I had never heard anything like it.) But I had no idea Manic Monday was a Prince song until much much later. (Same with Nothing Compares 2 U.) I guess it depends on where you grow up to some extent...I grew up in a cultural wasteland.

I don't know which song stayed at #1 longer. But if you played Manic Monday and Kiss for people our age today, I'd bet most people would know who *sings* each song, but they wouldn't necessarily know Prince wrote MM.

I guess my friend was bummed to find out Prince wrote it cause he's not really a P fan. (Not a hater, but just not into Prince.) He's into emo music so whateva.



ps. I just realized that you may have thought my first post was directed towards your post (directly above mine)--I actually intended mine to be in response to the thread topic as a whole.
[Edited 8/21/06 13:52pm]

ElCapitan said:

Ah yes you are right. Though, I question the constitution of those songs were they not based on that MM song.

their later hits seemed to be more of an attempt to separate themselves so as not to be seen as just another Prince project.

ElCapitan said:

Yes, I'm sure that was their primary concern in choosing singles after Manic Monday...

Geez, there's no mystery, they were a band before Prince met them, they were never seen as a 'prince project', Prince loaned them a song like he has done so many others, a band of beautiful women? Of course Prince is going to be interested! It happened to be a big hit. Would Walk Like An Egyptian have been the song that broke the Bangles if released instead of Manic Monday? Very probably, it's a great catchy song. I think suggestions that their entire career is owed to Prince is very misleading, they did several great songs of their own and years later Eternal Flame was number 1 for like forever in the UK. If they hadn't succeeded with Manic it would have been something else.

metalorange said:

Jeez, didn't meant to get those Bangles feathers all ruffled. I did say "seems to be". I liked their post-Prince career and wasn't trying to suggest anything like what you wrote. I'm the one who pointed out they were not a one-hit wonder and that MM wasn't their biggest hit.

Anyway, my personal recollection of interviews they did at the time and since is that they were hesitant to talk much about the Prince connection and regularly brushed those questions aside.

Here I'll be more politically correct and restate it. Their sound developed in their later hits in such a manner that they could not be seen as just another Prince project. Is that better?