{"id":26987,"date":"2024-03-24T05:30:12","date_gmt":"2024-03-24T09:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=26987"},"modified":"2024-02-28T12:30:42","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T17:30:42","slug":"take-five-a-susanna-hoffs-deep-dive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/24\/take-five-a-susanna-hoffs-deep-dive\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Five: A Susanna Hoffs Deep Dive"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Eternally youthful singer, songwriter and guitarist Susanna Hoffs celebrated her 65th birthday on January 17. Hoffs came to fame in the early \u201880s with The Bangles; her great voice and undeniable visual appeal helped make Bangles hits like \u201cWalk Like an Egyptian\u201d and \u201cEternal Flame\u201d (The latter of which she co-wrote) huge MTV-era hits. But Hoffs\u2019 work in and beyond The Bangles is filled with gems, many of which may have been overlooked by casual fans. Here\u2019s a deep dive showcasing five songs with key involvement from Susanna Hoffs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Bangs \u2013 \u201cGetting Out of Hand\u201d (single, 1981)<\/strong><br \/>\nBefore they landed a label deal with Miles Copeland\u2019s Faulty Products, the group \u2013 then known as The Bangs \u2013 self-released their debut single. Written by lead guitarist Vicki Petersen and featuring a Susanna Hoffs lead vocal, \u201cGetting Out of Hand\u201d wasn\u2019t a hit, but it did attract the attention of the music industry. (When Faulty Products folded, The Bangles landed on Copeland\u2019s newer, bigger and more successful label, I.R.S. Records.) \u201cGetting Out of Hand\u201d was never released on an album during The Bangles\u2019 initial run, but it was featured on Rhino\u2019s landmark <em>Children of Nuggets<\/em> boxed set in 2005.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1X3S7b6VvBo?si=SfxqEzSVaA3euSKw\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Rainy Day \u2013 \u201cI\u2019ll Keep it With Mine\u201d from <em>Rainy Day<\/em> (1984)<\/strong><br \/>\nA kind of supergroup, Rainy Day was a short-lived collaborative project featuring members of the so-called \u201cPaisley Underground\u201d musical movement in and around Los Angeles in the mid 1980s. Featuring members of The Dream Syndicate, Green on Red, Rain Parade and The Bangles, the collective released a self-titled album in 1984. That record featured knowing covers of classics from rock\u2019s first folk rock and psychedelic era, including songs by Buffalo Springfield, The Velvet Underground and others. With an enchanting Hoffs lead vocal, Rainy Day\u2019s reading of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ll Keep it With Mine\u201d was a highlight of the set.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/G5ZehtWDRUE?si=WaxaJDDmZr9Gufdr\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Hoodoo Gurus \u2013 \u201cGood Times\u201d from <em>Blow Your Cool!<\/em> (1987)<\/strong><br \/>\nHeroes of the 1980s \u201ccollege rock\u201d movement, this Australian group skillfully combined a \u201860s garage rock aesthetic, the appeal of power pop and an indie rock sensibility, scoring massive success at home (and critical \u2013 if not widespread commercial \u2013 success worldwide) with tunes like \u201cMy Girl\u201d and \u201cI Want You Back.\u201d The band\u2019s third album <em>Blow Your Cool!<\/em> (featuring artwork inspired by jazz man Jackie McLean\u2019s 1965 <em>Right Now!<\/em> LP) included backing vocals from The Bangles \u2013 of course including Hoffs \u2013 on two tunes, this one included.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i67zZeF-kXI?si=29587F7BZpH8tvuy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs \u2013 \u201cI See the Rain\u201d from <em>Under the Covers Vol. 1<\/em> (2006)<\/strong><br \/>\nA power pop summit took place when friends Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs embarked upon their Under the Covers project. That creative collaboration would eventually yield three superb albums, each focusing on classics of a specific decade in rock\/pop history. The first entry in the series featured a number of deep cuts, displaying both artists\u2019 appreciation for the countless great songs of the era that somehow didn\u2019t find their way onto American radio playlists. \u201cI See the Rain\u201d was a 1967 single by Scottish group The Marmalade; the band was notable for its strong vocal harmonies and the fact that it has not one but two bassists, giving the music a thunderous bottom-end. On this version, Matthew and Susanna share lead vocal duties.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/4xcmKGwvX98?si=fuCBNX0LFrQgx3_i\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Travis \u2013 \u201cThe Only Thing\u201d from <em>10 Songs<\/em> (2020)<\/strong><br \/>\nA Glasgow band formed in 1990 in Scotland, Travis have scored several awards in their native UK, and eight of their nine studio albums have soared into the Top 10 there. No less than 18 of their singles have made it into the country\u2019s Top 40 chart as well. Oddly, their success stateside has been far more measured, with only two singles edging into the U.S. Alternative singles chart. But the group earned fans among The Bangles and other American groups; on this, the lead single from the band\u2019s most recent studio long player (2020\u2019s well-received <em>10 Songs<\/em>), they\u2019re joined on haunting vocals by Susanna Hoffs.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0OL2zAQMNak?si=ERwODoI-4sxNEozD\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eternally youthful singer, songwriter and guitarist Susanna Hoffs celebrated her 65th birthday on January 17. Hoffs came to fame in the early \u201880s with The Bangles; her great voice and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2100],"class_list":["post-26987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","tag-susanna-hoffs","cat-27-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26989,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26987\/revisions\/26989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}