1984 was an astonishingly prolific year in Prince’s career.
Just months before releasing his watershed soundtrack and film, Purple Rain, Prince was deep into preparations for his massive Purple Rain Tour while also writing and recording nearly a song a day for proteges like Sheila E., The Time, and The Family.
One of those singles, “Manic Monday,” would become a breakout hit for the Bangles. Their version of the song skyrocketed to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1985, just behind Prince’s number 1 hit “Kiss.”
All these years later, the Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs still remembers how entranced she was when she first heard Prince’s original rendition of the song. “I knew it was an incredible gift,” she told the New York Times. “It was like putting on the slipper in a fairy tale.”
For over 30 years, she and her Bangles bandmates were some of the only people in the world to have heard it — until now.
Prince’s rendition of “Manic Monday” is one of the 15 tracks on the new album Originals, a collection of Prince’s versions of the hit songs he gave to other artists. Out now on Warner Records, Originals also includes Prince’s original performances of “Jungle Love,” “The Glamorous Life,” “Sex Shooter,” and more.
Together with archival footage from his vault — which captures Prince rehearsing with his band, The Revolution, for their massive Purple Rain Tour — these recordings provide a rare window into Prince’s creative process in this wildly productive era.
