There are many ways a man can woo a woman. It may be done with flowers, sweet compliments, lovely gifts, or hit songs that can positively affect her and her band’s entire career. You should take Prince as a guide for the last one.
The late musician was indeed a ladies’ man and romantically acquainted with many women, such as Madonna and Susannah Malvoin. As a charming and talented singer, he swooned women off their feet with his appeal while running from one success to another during his music career, and at some point on this path, he happened to give a push to The Bangles’ early achievements.
The band’s 1986 song, ‘Manic Monday,’ released as the first single from the album, ‘Different Light,’ had a significant place in their history. The Bangles earned wide recognition from the public thanks to this song, and their careers started going up from there. But what was so special about it?
The song was originally written by Prince for Apollonia 6, but the musician later retracted it and kept it on hold until he listened to ‘All Over the Place,’ which Patricia Kotero can take some credit for. She was friends with the band’s frontwoman Susanna Hoffs and presented their song ‘Hero Takes a Fall’ to the late singer, who liked it enough to offer ‘Manic Monday’ to The Bangles, as Rolling Stone reports in a 2019 article.
Kotero explains her part in the process as follows:
“I was friends with Susanna Hoffs, so I gave Prince the tape of the Bangles’ ‘Hero Takes a Fall.’ I said, ‘These girls, they’re amazing. They sound like the Beatles. You’ve got to do something with them.’ He says, ‘What about ‘Manic Monday?” I said, ‘Let them take it. They’re amazing.'”
Was the song the only thing Prince liked when he encountered the band? According to multiple sources, no, it was not. He also took a fancy to Susanna and wanted to do something to earn her affections, which prompted him to give them his song with a pseudonym, ‘Christopher,’ and never intend to take credit for it.
The Bangles frontwoman appreciated the gesture and saw it as an indicator of the late musician’s generosity. She stated her surprise about people not tracing the song back to Prince and her thoughts on this action of his in the same Rolling Stone article as before.
She told the magazine:
“To this day, many people who know the Bangles and that song don’t even connect it to Prince. I’m always struck by that because I thought everyone knew [it was by him]. But he used the name ‘Christopher’ instead of his own. There’s a tremendous generosity in that.“
‘Manic Monday’ was written from the perspective of a person who found themselves in the rush of Monday but wished to stay on Sunday so they could relax more. The almost universal theme of the song was accompanied by a specific tempo, which many critics and the audience at the time liked.
The song entered the charts at number 2 in many places, including the US and the UK, and received mostly positive reviews from critics such as Los Angeles Times’s Robert Hilburn. He defined the song as ‘the best single of the year‘ in a text published in 1986.
Hilburn’s commentary on the song read:
“The Bangles’ ‘Manic Monday’-The bright, bouncy song is one thing that makes this a candidate for best single of the year: a terrific look at the alarm clock blues and at the start of the working week. Sample line: ‘Six o’clock already/ I was just in the middle of a dream/ I was kissin’ Valentino/ By a crystal blue Italian stream.’ Equally inviting are Susanna Hoffs’ perfectly tailored vocal and the Bangles’ Mamas and Papas-inspired harmonies.”
Prince tried to show his affection for Susanna Hoffs and appreciation for The Bangles’ music by gifting them with a legendary song, which received the admiration of millions of fans. Although it is not definite whether the two were romantically involved, this gesture benefited the band and started a nice friendship.