MADPOD#169 U.S. Exclusive Interview-Bananarama

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The most successful British girl-group in pop history, Bananarama formed in London in late 1981. Drawing equal inspiration for their name from the childrens television program The Banana Splits and the Roxy Music song Pyjamarama, the trio comprised lifelong friends Keren Woodward and Sarah Dallin along with Siobhan Fahey, whom Dallin befriended at the London College of Fashion. After getting their start singing at friends parties and at nightclubs (where they performed accompanied by backing tapes * none of the women played their own instruments), they came to the attention of ex-Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, who produced Bananaramas first single, a cover of Swahili Black Bloods Aie A Mwana. After the group backed Fun Boy Three on the single It Aint What You Do, Its the Way You Do It, the Three returned the favor for 1982s He Was Really Sayin Somethin, a cover of the 1965 Velvelettes song that was the first of Bananaramas 26 U.K. chart smashes. While their initial hits, including Shy Boy, Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) and Cruel Summer (their first U.S. smash) were roundly dismissed as fluffy pop fare, the success of 1984s rape-themed release Robert DeNiro’s Waiting convinced the group to tackle more serious topics; however, the follow-up single, Rough Justice * a song protesting political tensions in Northern Ireland * bombed, and the trios career stalled. In 1986, Bananaramas fortunes improved considerably when they joined forces with the production team of Stock, Aitken & Waterman, who produced the album Wow!; the groups most successful outing to date, the LPs cover of the Shocking Blues Venus was an international chart-topper, and both Love in the First Degree and I Heard a Rumour were major hits as well.
Courtesy Len Fica – The Lab Records