Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Books, and author Jennifer Otter Bickerdike for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

Eternal Flame was written with the cooperation of three of the four members of the all-female band The Bangles. They were a rock band at a time when the music industry basically didn’t know how to market female acts, especially those who were actually capable musicians. I have read interviews with Deborah Iyall, who was the lead singer of Romeo Void, that despite the obvious talent in that band, the record company didn’t know how to market them since she wasn’t exactly the “sexy lead singer” type. While the women who made up The Bangles didn’t have the same issues Iyall did, they still ran into a brick wall when it came to being judged based on their talent and not their looks.

The Bangles were the last in a string of bands that featured sisters Vicki Peterson and Debbi Peterson. Even before her younger sister had graduated from high school, Vicki had the idea of being in a rock band together. Although it wasn’t her instrument, Debbi was the drummer while Vicki was the guitarist. They often practiced in the Peterson home and gigged in Los Angeles at a time when it had a burgeoning music scene. Other members came and went as life happened to them, with the two sisters making up the core of the band.

Susannah Hoffs joined and was immediately comfortable with the sisters. The Petersons were a middle-class California family, while Hoffs’ parents were well-off. They moved in different worlds, but got along very well in the beginning. Susannah had the same drive that Vicki did and had connections that also helped them out. The focus for them was harmonizing like The Beatles had done, and the idea was that the band was four equal parts. Michael Steele, formerly of the band The Runaways with Joan Jett and Lita Ford, joined them right when they got a record deal with Columbia.

Eternal Flame tells their story quite well. Everything seemed to be a battle for them, especially getting the recognition they deserved as musicians. They were naive in some ways and got pushed around by the record company and their first producer. It’s a story I’ve heard from many of those involved in music in the 1980s, with songs being recorded with an eye towards sales rather than the art itself. The first producer they worked with, David Kahne, was really hard on them and would bring in session musicians rather than work with the women. It wasn’t until they broke away from him that they felt better about the material they were recording, but by then, the damage had been done to the relationship between the four women.

The three who cooperated with author Jennifer Otter Bickerdike are honest in their versions of what happened. They don’t seem to harbor any resentment, except for the producer and those at the record company who seemed to have a different vision than that of the band. There’s a lot of resentment where the band saw themselves as equals and fought against a push to make Susannah the leader of the band. The music press also treated them as if they were vapid, asking silly questions during interviews they never would have asked of an all-male band.

Their stories here are all told, including how Prince gave them the song Manic Monday which was what catapulted them to fame. If you’re in any way acquainted with the music industry in the 1980s, what they went through will come as no big surprise. The story flows quite well without descending into nastiness. Some of what is expressed likely would have gone a long way toward keeping them together. The band broke apart in 1989 and didn’t record again until the early 2000s. If they’d been able to have an open dialogue, as they were all going through the problems with the producer and record company, they might have managed to keep it together. Instead, there was a lot of miscommunication and hurt feelings.

If you were a fan of the band, you’ll like Eternal Flame a lot. Even if you weren’t, there’s a lot of information here on what the music scene was like back then, especially for women. The Bangles were one of the bands that kicked the door open for the Taylor Swifts of today.