The group's third album, Everything (1988), included the US top ten charting "In Your Room" and number one "Eternal Flame", both written by Hoffs with Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly.

[11][12][13] Hoffs visited Israel for the first time at the age of 12 to see her grandparents, and she celebrated her bat mitzvah at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

[18][19][20][21] With college friends, she attended the final Sex Pistols show at Winterland Ballroom,[22] and a Patti Smith concert that inspired her to pursue a career in music.

[23] In the late 1970s, while a student at UC Berkeley, Hoffs and her then-boyfriend David Roback formed the Psychiatrists, later changing their name to the Unconscious.

[27] They played other venues in Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley, and recorded "Getting Out of Hand" released on their own label Downkiddie in 1981, pressing 1,000 copies.

[30][34] In a 1987 Rolling Stone article, the critic Susan Orlean described the band's early audience as "mostly boys, who appreciated their tough-enough music and playfully flirtatious stage presence".

[35] Author James Dickerson later characterized the group's loyal audience as "made up of horny high-school and college-age males who relished their in-your-face sexuality", and commented that the musicians had gained their success through their own efforts, without intervention from any man.

[35] Paul Evans and Ernesto Lechner of The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004) wrote that Hoffs had "mastered a singing style that combined pep, coy sweetness, and an occasional plaintive resonance".

[58] The Bangles had another US number two single with a cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "A Hazy Shade of Winter" released in late 1987 and reaching its peak position in February 1988.

[59][60] The same album included their second US number one, and second American gold record single, "Eternal Flame", which was also co-written by Hoffs, Steinberg and Kelly.

[44] Hoffs sang the studio recording of "Eternal Flame" naked due to producer Davitt Sigerson pranking her by telling her Olivia Newton-John had done the same thing.

[68] In her account, she recalled that the band members were tired and reluctant to tour, but agreed to do so at the behest of their management and record company, and in response to demand from their fans.

"[69] The reunited Bangles played at a Beatles tribute concert conducted by George Martin,[67] and recorded the single "Get the Girl" for the second Austin Powers film in 1999.

[72] Evans and Lechner felt that the band "achieved gigantically the dubious triumph of sound over significance", and of the "inevitable reunion" that "even nostalgia has its limits".

[73] Hoffs contributed lead vocals to covers of Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It with Mine" and Lou Reed's "I'll Be Your Mirror" on Rainy Day's 1984 self-titled album.

[19][75] Glenn Kenny wrote in Video Review that Hoffs' character was "full of spunk" like her Bangles persona, but less "savvy", concluding that the film was "unextraordinary and inoffensive".

[76] While he felt that Hoff's acting abilities were on a par with her more seasoned colleagues in the cast, Patrick Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times argued that "It's her character we have trouble with", and disparaged the film.

[82][83] It includes the track "Unconditional Love" and ends with a cover of "Boys Keep Swinging", the 1979 song written by David Bowie and Brian Eno.

[86] In The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2006), Colin Larkin gave the album 2 out of 5 stars, and argued that it "failed to maintain the interest of the mainstream fans who had discovered the Bangles in the wake of the smash single 'Eternal Flame', while simultaneously alienating the Paisley Underground loyalists with its AOR [Adult-oriented rock] clichés".

"[88] Jimmy Nicol of Q Magazine gave the album four out of five stars and wrote that Hoffs was extending into "undreamed of territories", adding "She reveals herself to be a highly inventive composer, lyricist – and even humourist".

[89] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised it as an "infectious and engaging set of melodic pop that also happens to be Hoffs' most introspective and personal record to date".

[90] Wook Kim of Entertainment Weekly remarked that Hoffs "performs a small act of bravery"[91] yet Larkin wrote that only one song, "King Of Tragedy", "had the edgy pop fizz of the Bangles' best work".

"[92] Hoffs contributed vocals to "One Voice", the end credits song for the film A Dog Named Gucci (2016), a track also featuring Norah Jones, Aimee Mann, Lydia Loveless, Neko Case, Brian May and Kathryn Calder.

[103] The record was produced by Paul Bryan and features versions of songs by Nick Drake, Michael Nesmith, Richard Thompson, Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger, and other songwriters.

[105] Her fifth solo album, 2023's The Deep End, was produced by Peter Asher;[106] The album includes interpretations of songs by the Rolling Stones, Squeeze, and Lesley Gore and received favorable reviews; Lily Moayeri of Spin Magazine wrote, "Hoffs' voice is immediately recognizable, clear and sweet, hitting all the notes she did some 40 years ago.

"[107] Gary Graff of Ultimate Classic Rock wrote that the album was a "delight, a demonstration of good taste and guts with Hoffs sounding as beguiling as she did lighting 'Eternal Flame' or having a 'Manic Monday' more than 30 years ago".

[114][115][116] It received a favorable review from Beatriz Williams in the New York Times, who called it "the smart, ferocious, rock-chick redemption romance you didn't know you needed".

The record was produced by Hoff and Dan Schwartz and includes, "Life on the Inside" (co-written with Jane Wiedlin and Charlotte Caffey of the Go-Go's).

[15] Influenced by the Byrds and the Beatles, she changed to a Rickenbacker because she liked its "angly, bright sound" and purchased a 1960s model with black and white checked binding.

"[140] Hoffs inspired the Los Angeles–based rock band the Three O'Clock to write the song "The Girl with the Guitar (Says Oh Yeah)" for their 1985 album Arrive Without Travelling.