"Complicated Girl" Michael Steele Live, Iowa, 1989 

It is more than that. In the beginning, The Bangles were called The Bangs but due to copyright problems soon thereafter change to The Bangels. The original bassist was not Michael Steele but Annette Zilinskas. If you search on You Tube you might find a video or two of their first two songs. Soon thereafter Annette left the band and then they found Michael Steele to take her place. Michael because of her talent eventually became a full member of the band but was not an equal for a long time because she was not there from the start. She eventually got to pen a few songs and on the reunion album, a Doll Revolution, she had a couple of songs on her own like she also did before they broke up at the end of the 1980s. However, as part of the reunion she did not want to be "playing the hits" of the 1980s but rather, making new music with her bandmates. They did the new album together, but when it did not do so well the other band members did not want to do another album soon thereafter. She quit, since songwriting was out of the question and never looked back - even when the remaining three original Bangels decided to do another album quite a bit later.

Sam S, I have to correct you on 1 thing, & add info to another of what you've said. First, Micki wrote several songs during the '80s. 4 of which made it onto Bangles albums. She wrote & sang 'Following' ( Different Light), 'Complicated Girl', 'Something To Believe In', & 'Glitter Years' (Everything). Second, she also wanted to do a "full" tour. Instead of the "mini" tours they had been doing. And, I think, in a way, she was a bit angry at the rest of the band, for letting her say on a UK talk show in 2001, that they were planning a "big summer extravaganza" for the summer of 2002. Which the rest of the band later refused to do. That kind of made Micki look as if she wasn't on the same page as the rest of the band. And didn't truely know what was going to be going on with the Bangles.

@@Taz90 I agreed 100%. They ended up screwing her over AGAIN after begging her to come back. If they would have done a full tour and promoted the Doll Revolution album releasing singles and such. It could have been very successful. There are a ton of great songs on that record!

CATMANDU77 well said. Very smart woman. Always felt she was a tick above in intelligence.

@@garysimons1608 Thank you. Well stated. 🙂

Michael looks like a heavy metal musician. She took Dee Snider's style and it fits her very well. 😍