Bananarama

Robert De Niro's Waiting

Venus

I Heard a Rumour reminds me of Olivia Newton John's The Rumour

Ugh, R2

I grew up listening to Shocking Blue’s version of Venus which mesmerized me as a kid.

When Bananarama’s insipid version came out, I puked in my mouth a little.

Thanks, R4. That's definitely better.

Shy Boy

I liked Lananeeneenoonoo better.

Jennifer Saunders says they were voddie lushes. Go to the 2:50 mark.

Their sound was soulless. Never got their appeal.

Siobhan and Dave Stewart

"Love In The First Degree" is my favorite

I still love cruel summer. It just brings me right back. Those were the days...

The nellie cop that does the vaudeville stage shuffle dance at the end of the Cruel Summer music video is a beloved DL icon.

"Cruel Summer" playing prominently in "The Karate Kid" was one of the most perfectly timed instances of a song that was heard everywhere on the radio, probably on the car ride, and then again playing in the movie theatre

Huge Bananarama fan, especially of Siobhan.. so many good songs but this is my fave.

"Love, Truth and Honesty" is another great one.

They were great in their reunion concert in NYC a few years back. All sounded great.

Walk like an Egyptian...

The opening of "Cruel Summer" is insanely good.

R18, you realize they were heavily, shall we say "aided" , in their vocals.

Their vocals may be enhanced, but they look DAMN good in this video!

"Trick of the Night"

How could their singing be aided prior to 1997?

True Confessions had a lot of great tracks. Trick of the Night is one. Here's another...

Another jam from that album...

one more...

The extended version of Hotline to Heaven is amazing.

“I Heard A Rumour” is a complete rip off of Michael Fortunati’s “Give Me Up” from a year earlier. They were hoping no one would notice.

How many bananas make up a bananarama, anyway? Is one bunch sufficient?

"Cruel Summer" is the quintessential '80s movie soundtrack song.

Loved this one from a couple years ago. Sarah & Keren look fantastic.

Thanks for playing, R24. Try not reading only what you want next time.

I’m embarrassed I used to be a fan, but they were campy fun.

All-female groups have key members leave at the height of their success: Bananarama, The Go-Go's, The Bangles, Luscious Jackson

Fun Boy 3 and Bananarama!

I really always thought they were dreadful. Their voices were - so so. They never actually played instruments or wrote songs or anything, right? Just singing? Like an 80s Girls Aloud or something

R32 I don't even dislike them, but that was pretty damn boring.

I wonder why the 3rd banana left? Off to google I go...

Cruel Summer! I lived it.

r37 they co-wrote most of their songs, however they released several cover versions of songs.

They were much different from Girls Aloud, as they were not manufactured and they co-wrote a large portion of their hits, unlike GA who had Xenomania write and produce nearly all of their songs. Bananarama sang in unison a majority of the time, whereas GA would each each sing a few solo lines in every song. Funnily enough, Girls Aloud were managed by Hillary Shaw, who also managed Bananarama in the mid 80s-early 90s.

[quote]How could their singing be aided prior to 1997?

Yo! It’s unpossible!

"both bands had an equal amount of good songs."

Puhleaze. The Go-Go's are legends. Bananarama ... aren't.

r38 Siobhan left in 1988 because she didn't like the direction they were going in musically. Bananarama had begun working with Stock Aitken Waterman and were having a great deal of success with the SAW production team, but Siobhan found it difficult working with them, especially Pete Waterman. SAW had hits with other artists at the time too, like Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan etc. and Siobhan began to feel like Bananarama's songs began to sound too much like those other artists. She had also just married Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics, moved to LA and she wanted to do more serious, credible music. I think there was probably a lot of tension at this time between her and Keren and Sara. Keren and Sara had been best friends since childhood, whereas Sara and Siobhan met in college and then began the group with Keren within a brief period of time. By 1988, they had been a group for 8 years and Siobhan wanted to move on and go solo.

Thanks R43

The Go-Go's and Bananarama are really not at all alike. GG's have a lead singer, Bananarama does not. GG's play instruments, Bananarama sing and do simple choreography. GG's write their own music without other writers, Bananarama co-write their songs with others (Jolley & Swain, SAW etc.). There are five members of the GG's and Bananarama is most known as a trio, though have been a duo since 1991. The only similarities are they are female, both were formed around the same time, and began in the punk rock scene. In my opinion, Bananarama are more comparable to Madonna and the Spice Girls.

The Go-Go's have some classic singles but they really don't have a lot of big songs, compared to Madonna or Prince. Not even enough quality to fill a single disc greatest hits.

I like some of their songs and Shakespeare's sister too. I have seen Banarama live a few times too and they were amazing

r24 r41 Autotune wasn't around in the 80s, but producers had their own tricks and forms of studio magic to make artists sound better. They could record vocals in multiple takes and then piece the best vocals together for the final track. Session singers were brought in to record background vocals and/or lead vocals to fill in the sound and make the main artist sound better. Recording technology really began changing throughout the 80s and pitch altering programs became available around this time.

R48 fun sidebar along those lines: it took Susanne Sulley of The Human League nearly 70 takes to record her verse in "Don't You Want Me". They literally spliced individual words together. Martin Rushent said the master tape was ready to fall apart because of the number of splices.

Do you have a source for that R49? I've never heard that, and just did some searching to no avail.

I read it decades ago, I think it was an interview with Martin Rushent. There's a comment on this page from 2009 that alludes to the same thing.

R51 "I recall reading that it took multiple takes to get her part down, and that the final version was stitched together from the best bits of these."

So you just made up the "nearly 70" part from "multiple?" Weird.

R9 Soulless?

Another for R9 =

Another "soulless hit" for R9 =

What Colour R The Skies Where U Live R9?

R9 =

Why oh god why?

They were just fine, and I think it's unfair to (inevitably) compare to them to the Go-Gos and the Bangles. Those bands at least had a sense of humor. I just felt like they were uncomfortable with any measure of success. I mean, look at the Bob Geldof/Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas", they were clearly uncomfortable, and decidedly out of their element...

Or is this burning an eternal flame...

Bananarama was OK. Never mind blowing but not bad. My favorite song of theirs was "Wild Life." It got a ton of airplay but was never released in the US.

I love Shakespear's Sister, because it also gave us this, the one time I have laughed so hard I legit pissed myself.

r59 they definitely enjoyed their success, they were just not media-trained at all and very unpolished, especially in the beginning. They had this weird attitude, I guess because they came out of the punk scene In London, where they were like "we don't take anything seriously", "we can't be bothered" etc. and it showed.

In regards to "Do They Know It's Christmas", apparently they were invited to do it and they were not really aware of how important the video/song would be. They were drinking the night before and very hungover on the day of the video, according to them. I would agree that they did seem out of their element. Bananarama were the only female artists, besides for Jody Watley, on that song and in the video and also still a pretty new/unestablished act at the time doing a song with a bunch of well-known successful artists. They were probably thinking "wtf are we doing here?"

Susanna Hoffs was always cool.

Does anyone know the part- if any- Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics played in their success? He was married to one of them and I can't imagine he wouldn't have some input into their sound.

I think by the time Siobhan and Dave married she was gone or about to leave Bananarama

They added Where's Waldo glam to "Do They Know It's Christmas?"

Your eye always ends up on them when you watch the video.

r65 Dave played no part in Bananarama's success. Siobhan and Dave were married in August 1987 and by March 1988, Siobhan had quit Bananarama. He did help Siobhan with her solo project-turned duo Shakespears Sister. Dave co-wrote "Stay" along with Siobhan and Marcella Detroit (the other half of SS), which is Shakespears Sister's biggest hit.

I love how catty Boy George is in that video.

Upon hearing George Michael: "Was that Alf (Alison Moyet}? Oh.....sounds a bit camp....(pauses, looks at camera) then again, he is!"

At the very least, one can contend that their songs were at least tolerable.

Maybe we do need the big music producer phenomenon again. Today’s stuff is just cheaply produced and bonafide shit!

I liked their personalities though I always felt a little bad for Siobhan because she was always a bit on the outside because Sarah and the other one were and are so bonded.

I love Sarah’s deep speaking voice too.

"Who's That Girl?" - Eurythmics

The ladies from Bananarama appear in this Eurythmics video. See if you can also spot Kiki Dee and drag performer Marilyn.

Talentless hacks.

They couldn't even harmonize. They were also notorious drunks.

r73 They can harmonize

They famously did coke in a gas station restroom while on a lunch break during the making of the Cruel Summer video.

Not harmonizing was part of their brand. They were a rare girl group that sang in unison, made you feel like you were one of the gang with them.

I'd love to see a supergroup of The Go-Go's, Bananarama and The Bangles where Belinda and Susannah sang lead in place of Siobhan

Belle Stars and Toto Coelo could join in

They are so harmony-free…who said they could sing?

They were the Band Aid Babes and could have had their pick of any dick in that room on a platter

Hey! Ease up on us GURLs awright! We’re just swinging our asses to get more cock! If your faggoty ass likes our music, then GOOD! More fat cock all around!

It's fun when a song pops up on the radio. It's not Queen (my favorite) but it's fun and feel-good.

I wish for an update. 2021/2022. I’m simply saddened by those who are no longer with us. However, we need this more than at any other time.

I heard Robert DeNiro's Waiting before I knew who he was