Another fantastic day in the U.K., this time touring Caerphilly Castle -- a sprawling medieval stronghold famed for its vast moat and leaning tower. Tomorrow we’ll visit another celebrated citadel (in Chepstow) -- I’m married to a kastle kween, whereas I pretended my Fisher-Price fortress was my play village’s local theme restaurant -- before heading to Exeter for the Altered Images concert of my (childhood) dreams.
Fun fact: Following her band’s breakup, singer Clare Grogan attracted what she later called a “crazy bidding war” and signed with London Records.
She then recorded the solo album “Trash Mad” in New York with former Altered Images bandmate (and later husband) Stephen Lironi.
The album was produced by Mark Kamins, best known for producing Madonna’s debut single, “Everybody.” But when its lead single, “Love Bomb” (b/w “I Love the Way You Beg”), failed to chart in 1987, London Records canceled the planned follow-up, “Strawberry,” and shelved the LP. Another album track produced by Kamins, “Reason Is the Slave,” eventually surfaced on London Records’ 1987 various-artists compilation “Giant,” but that was it.
Although Kamins had an impressive résumé -- as an A&R man for Island Records, he signed the wonderful Waitresses and Was (Not Was), and as a remixer put his stamp on records by David Byrne, Bow Wow Wow and KajaGooGoo -- looking back I’m not entirely convinced he was up to the Grogan task.
(She wouldn’t release another album until Altered Images’ “Mascara Streakz” in 2022, which I can’t get enough of.)
The intriguing part is that even Grogan does not currently seem to know where a usable master of “Trash Mad” is. In 2024, she mentioned searching her attic for the album’s digital audio tape (DAT). In a 2025 interview, she said the album definitely exists and that she owns – or once owned – a copy, but thinks it may be at somebody else’s house. She jokingly added: “It couldn’t have been that bad.”
This would have been great fodder for my erstwhile Song of the Day series. (I would add the Go-Go's, who hit No. 2 with "We Got the Beat" as well as four other Top 40 singles.) A corollary would be artists whose No. 1 songs weren't their most-remembered -- let alone their best -- like Duran Duran ("A View to a Kill" and the [gag] "Reflex"), Huey Lewis and the News (what the hell is "Jacob's Ladder"?) and don't get me started about "Maneater" by Hall and Oates! I’d also add Yes (“Owner of a Lonely Heart”), Starship (“Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”), Chicago (“Look Away”), Cheap Trick (“The Flame”) the Beach Boys (“Kokomo”) and Steve Miller's god-awful "Abracadabra."
After a hectic work week left us barely enough energy Friday and Saturday for dinner (not complaining -- Damian is quite the cook!) and a movie at home (watched "Swiped" and "Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery" -- knew little about either and both were terrific), we were finally up for brunch al fresco this afternoon (Nice Matin is heavenly) followed by a stroll through Riverside Park on what was truly a spectacular day in the city. As much as I'll always adore Christmas in New York -- it was my first time here back in 1985, after all -- I must say there's nothing really better than autumn in New York! xo
Today marks the 35th anniversary of Saint Etienne's first single, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart." I remember I was driving through my West L.A. neighborhood in my convertible VW Rabbit when I first heard it on KROQ and being blown away, like I'd never heard anything that sounded like this before. That 4/4 arrangement and piano-bass-drum-section -- a dance cover of an old Neil Young song my brother Bill used to play in basement in Detroit. Who could come up with something so good and so completely unexpected?
I immediately headed over to MobyDisc on Wilshire Boulevard to see if they had it -- and sure enough there was a copy of "Foxbase Alpha" in the used bin, the perfect price for a recent college grad making $23,500 a year as a research assistant at a newspaper. I was immediately taken by the entire album -- albeit confused why the vocalist on "Only Love" was different from the glamorous blonde pictured on the back cover (The booklet said Moira Lambert sings "Only Love").
Fans would later figure out that Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs had envisioned Saint Etienne to be a collective, with guest singers (Donna Savage sang their second single, "Kiss and Make Up"), before hitting off so well with Sarah Cracknell (who sang the group's third single, "Nothing Can Stop Us Now") that they decided to keep her around for good. And thank God they did!
The band would go on to become one of my all-time favorites, whom I've seen in concert more than any other and shelled out more money for re-releases, maxi singles and the lot.
Although Sarah always sings "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" at their shows, the band has never done a proper recording with her at the mic -- which they did do for "Kiss and Make Up" for inclusion on the U.S. release of the album. They've always had plenty of tricks up its sleeve, so here's hoping my idea is a farewell gift to come.
Today marks exactly 35 years since the release of our first single on 28th May 1990. It's so long ago it feels like the days before electricity. I can still remember clear as day working in Ian Catt's bedroom studio after six -- after six! We hardly ever did that again! -- with Harvey Williams playing that ground-shaking bassline and Ian splicing the quarter inch tape. Getting a finished copy felt like we’d built a bridge, then crossed it.
Pete Wiggs:
When the elements of "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" came together it genuinely felt like some kind of magic had taken place, it had been a dream to make a record and this sounded like one.
Note: "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" ranks fifth on my list of covers that are better than the originals. See the other four HERE.
Ironically, the singer Moira Lambert refused to appear in the original video so Lucy Gillie from early '90s pop trio Golden stepped in to mime the vocals!
Celina Nash, one of Gillie's bandmate, was the woman featured on "Foxbase Alpha" cover.
Read why Bob Stanley thinks it's their worst album HERE.
Song of the Day: After 35 years of heavenly pop, Saint Etienne have decided to call it a day. They’re not “breaking up,” per se, as Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Crackness remain great friends but they’re ceasing operations. They’re going out with a bang, one last album, "International," which will be released Sept. 13 via Heavenly. "Glad" is the first single, but something I'm not feeling about the news.
Reading List: While the pandemic was deadly and costly, it did give two gay men time to produce a couple cool things: Michael Hawke's Gay New York 1970s and '80s group on Facebook -- and now Marc Zinaman's "Queer Happened Here," a new book based on his fascinating Instagram account I already adore.
Municipal Art Society + Housing Works will host a book talk on June 25. Details HERE.
"Triangle Troubles": Who remembers the "Three's Company" episode where Jack Tripper (John Ritter) pretended he lived alone when he fell for a woman (Barrie Youngfellow, who later played Jan on every season of "It's a Living") he believed was old-fashioned, but it turned out she also roomed with two people of the opposite sex, neither of whom was a stick-in-the-mud florist!
Variety: I have to say I've been deeply moved by Benito Skinner's "Overcompensating." Although I was nothing like his character, even the most effete boys are largely presumed to be straight by default, so everything he's going through -- being asked about girlfriends, etc. -- still touches a painful nerve I had largely suppressed. (Note: I think how timeless the topic is allows me to look past the fact that the timeline/era doesn't always seem to quite add up.)
Song of the Day: Such a thrill to see (on YouTube) 'Til Tuesday reunite at the Cruel World festival for the first time in about 40 years. (They covered “Drive” by the their new-wave heroes!) "Coming Up Close" was always my favorite song of theirs, so now it's your SOTD!
Sending my love to President Biden and his family during this most difficult time. xo
Song of the Day: I had never heard of one-minor-hit-wonder Cee Farrow (1956-1993) until I saw him featured on the AIDS Memorial Page in a write-up by Jackie Beat. (The loss of life will be forever staggering.) "Should I Love You" (1983) reminds me a bit of Ebn Ozn's "AEIOU and Sometimes Y," which came out the same year. Farrow's little-heard 1991 "comeback" single, "Imagination," might even be better.
Coming soon: New Yorkers, tickets now on sale for a one-week run of "Rebel With a Clause" at the nonprofit New Plaza Cinema on the Upper West Side. Twenty-three screenings from May 22–28, so you can enjoy your grammar day and night. Grammar Lady Ellen Jovin and filmmaker Brandt Johnson will be there for a Q&A after a number of the screenings, as indicated on the ticketing page HERE.
Musicologist Kenny Eisenberger uncovered the original version of "French Kissin' in the USA" yesterday, which was the B-side of singer Carol Chapman's one and only single back in 1985. But the real news is that the A-side -- a Julie Brownish number called "Bad Dreams in Hollywood" -- is a real ear worm, prompting my friend CS to squeal "That key change at the end!"
I believe Debbie Harry, whose version of "French Kissin'" was her only solo Top 10 hit in the U.K., where Blondie had about a dozen including five number ones -- discussed how Chapman confronted her about "stealing" the song from her, which Debbie seemed to have no idea about. (That it was Chapman's B-side -- a song that suited her far less than the actual single -- makes her irritation somewhat confounding.)
I remember hearing Chapman's version of "French Kissin'" in late '80s films like "Can't Buy Me Love" and thinking it was a cover, which given the fact that Debbie's take stalled at No. 57 in the U.S. seemed like an odd choice!
After an acrimonious breakup in 1989, the Femme Fab Four reunited in 1999 -- going on to tour over the next two decades and record two more acclaimed albums.
Mysteriously, however, the Bangles have gone quiet since 2019. What would have been an obvious next move -- reuniting to perform their signature cover of "Hazy Shade of Winter" for the televised Paul Simon tribute in 2022 -- shockingly saw Susanna Hoffs go it alone.
So why an "authorized" book now? Perhaps they have decided it's truly over, and this is their chance to document their history once and for all. (If the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is listening, please refer to my first paragraph.)
But if, as reviewer Bob Ruggiero says, the book can't answer the most confounding question -- why they were all so miserable in their heyday -- might I hazard a guess? It could be the same reason they're not together now. (If Fleetwood Mac has taught us nothing else it's that bandmates can hold grudges for a lifetime!)
What we've been told is that tension over Susanna Hoffs (rhythm guitar/vocals) being singled out as the lead singer is what led to the breakup. Indeed, of their eight hit singles, Hoffs was the primary vocalist on five and co-lead on two others, "Walk Like an Egyptian" and "Hazy Shade," which the label was undoubtedly behind. Still, it's hard to put the notion entirely on outside forces when the Bangles (as the Bangs) self-releasedtheir first single and opted to feature Susanna as the lead on the A and B sides, which suggests to me that even the Petersons saw her as their best bet for success.
But I've long theorized (with scant evidence) that Vicki Peterson (lead guitar/vocals) was relatively sanguine being wildly successful even with the Susanna situation so long as the group's round-robin lead vocals and shared songwriting remained intact -- but that her little sis, Debbi Peterson (drums/vocals), was having none of it, furious that they were being pushed into the background of "their own" band.
This, I surmise, then made Vicki -- peacemaker in chief -- miserable as well, ginning up her own Sue envy (now penning hits with outside songwriters) while at the same time forcing her to constantly run interference, protectively calming and comforting her angry kid sister. (I’d be miffed too!) Add to the disgruntledness the fact that Michael Steele (bass/vocals) -- the "serious Bangle" whom to nobody's surprise did not participate in this new book -- was bound to feel like the odd one out as the sole non-founding member, likely leaving Vicki to reassure Steele that she was a full member and that her songs would eventually be used. (Steele had zero writing credits or lead vocals on the debut album and just one writing credit on the second.)
That the band's two non-Susanna-lead singles both featured Debbi on lead vocals ("Going Down to Liverpool" and "Be With You") rather than Vicki -- arguably the leader of the pack and its best songwriter -- has appeasement written all over it. (They're both great songs; but it definitely raised my eyebrows at the time.)
(Another tea leaf: Vicki wrote the sublime "James" and "He's Got a Secret" and co-wrote "Dover Beach" -- the standout track on their debut "All Over the Place" LP -- yet allowed Susanna to sing lead on all three … what I see as further proof that Vicki just wanted more rocking and less drama.)
Debbi is also known for having had dustups with Gina Schock (of the Go-Go's), producer David Kahne -- not saying she was at fault in either case, but perhaps a pattern? -- and her social media seems to go out its way to avoid photos that feature Susanna. Debbi has also openly mocked what she saw as Sue's "little sex kitten" persona back in the day: "I personally wanted the Bangles to be seen more as musicians and a band and not just little sex poodles up there."
Whatever the case, I'd like nothing more than for the women to reunite once again. That former bassist Annette Zilinskas had been playing live with them in recent years and was on their last recordings makes me even more sad that they've vanished.
Until then, if anyone knows what the truth is, please set me free. I love Debbi and all of them, but love gossip even more!
P.S. I ran my theory by Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, author of "Eternal Flame: The Authorized Biography of the Bangles," and she replied: "Being in a band is difficult. Hope you enjoy the book and thank you for reaching out."
Sounds like someone missed her calling in diplomacy!
The Fans: Debbie [sic] Peterson, Lynn Elkind, Amanda Hills and Vicki Peterson
UPDATE: I hadn't seen the band's "Behind the Music" since it first aired in 2000 so I just re-watched it. It confirmed much of what I wrote -- it undoubtedly informed some of my thoughts even if I'd forgotten -- and made me realize that Susanna had tired of the finger-pointing ("Eternal Flame? More like eternal blame!), so I have a feeling that if any of that began resurfacing she'd have had a much easier time walking away this time around. I'm guessing she and the Peterson sisters as well are at the age where they're thinking: "Who needs this, again?"... but what a loss for us fans.
And while I'm imagining Vicki took the latest split the hardest, it's nice to see that she and hubby John Cowsill have recorded an album together. New single above! Read more HERE.
And if you don't now about John's family history, I highly recommend watching "Family Band: The Cowsills Story." It's a fascinating story -- they were the inspiration for "The Partridge Family" -- although I might warn that it should probably have every trigger warning known to man on it.
You've probably noticed that I'm back from my (perfect) trip across the pond that saw -- and heard -- the music of my youth transpor...
Fake Jan Alert
My blog is featured in Susan Olsen's tell-all about the ill-fated "Brady Bunch Variety Hour"!
Little Kenny
Growing up in Madison Heights, Mich.
Back to the Old House
The Web leads to an unexpected return to a house I grew up in.
Oceans 11
Carlsbad, Calif. (2008)
1983
Go Behind the Music of my high-school band, A La Plage
A Death in the Family
Little Larry left us too soon.
Once I Had a Love
With Debbie Harry
'Jungle' Fever
With Robert Buckley
Roger & Me
With Roger Federer
Step Brother McMullen
With Ed Burns
Headline News
With Thomas Roberts
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