Eternal Flame: The Authorized Biography of the Bangles

Music historian Bickerdike (Being Britney) traces in excruciating detail the rise and fall of the 1980s all-female rock band the Bangles. Sisters Debbi and Vicki Peterson grew up in a music-loving home in 1960s California, where they became obsessed with the Beatles and other rock bands. They linked up with guitar player Susanna Hoffs to form the Bangles in 1980—bass player Annette Zilinskas joined in 1981—and produced their first single independently, shopping it around to record stores until it got local airplay. Chronicling the band’s rise to fame with songs like 1986’s “Walk Like an Egyptian,” Bickerdike highlights the condescension and sexism they faced along the way—roadies unplugged their instruments mid-show, rumors circulated that they hadn’t written their lyrics, and reviewers constantly pitted them against the Go-Gos, another all-female band. At the same time, the outsize media attention attracted by Hoffs—who was widely considered the “petite,” pretty one and asked to pose solo on magazine covers— amplified tensions within the group and helped spur their 1989 breakup (though they went on to reunite in the late 1990s). While making a solid case for the band’s role in paving the way for other female rockers, Bickerdike’s beat-by-beat narration buries any hint of drama beneath dry detail (including anecdotes about the nuns at the Petersons’ Catholic elementary school). Only the most ardent Bangles fans need apply. (Feb.)