All-women band
Encyclopedia
An all-female band is a musical group
composed of female musician
s exclusively. A distinction is made here with a girl group
, in which the members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed.
and during the 1930s, "all-girl" bands such as The Blue Bells, Lil-Hardin's All-Girl Band, The Ingenues
, The Harlem Playgirls, Phil Spitalny's Musical Sweethearts and "Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators" were popular. Dozens of early sound films were made of the vaudeville style all-girl groups, especially short subject promotional films for Paramount and Vitaphone. (In 1925, Lee DeForest filmed Lewis and her band in his short-lived Phonofilm
process, in a film now in the Maurice Zouary collection at the Library of Congress
.) Blanche Calloway
, sister of Cab Calloway
, led a male band, Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys, from 1932 to 1939, and Ina Ray Hutton
led an all-girl band, the Melodears, from 1934 to 1939. All-girl bands active in vaudeville, variety and in early sound films during the 1920s to the 1950s are documented by Kristin McGee in Some Liked it Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television. Sally Placksin, Linda Dahl, D. Antoinette Handy and Frank Driggs along with professor Sherrie Tucker, in her book Swing Shift: “All-Girl” Bands of the 1940s, have also documented this era.
. Among the earliest all-female rock bands to be signed to a record label were Goldie & the Gingerbreads
, to Atlantic Records
in 1964, The Pleasure Seekers with Suzi Quatro
to Hideout Records in 1964 and Mercury Records
in 1968, The Moppets to Spirit Records in 1967, The Feminine Complex
to Athena Records in 1968 and Fanny
in 1969 when Mo Ostin
signed them to Warner Bros. Records
. There were also others, such as The Liverbirds
(1962–1967), the Ace of Cups
(1967), The Heart Beats
(1968), Ariel
(1968-1970) which included the three members of The Deadly Nightshade, and the Shaggs
(1968).
, in his audio commentary
for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
(1970
) claims credit for inspiring all-female rock bands with fictional band Carrie Nations
created for the film, stating that such bands were quite rare at the time, but started to spring up in the film's wake.
In 1975, the Canadian duo of sisters, Kate and Anna McGarrigle
, recorded the first of a string of albums. The Runaways
were an early commercially successful, hard-edged, all-female hard rock band, releasing their first album in 1976: band members Joan Jett
, Cherie Currie
and Lita Ford
all went on to solo careers.
In the United Kingdom, the advent of punk in the late 1970s with its "anyone can do it" ethos lead to the formation of such bands as The Slits
, The Raincoats
, Mo-Dettes, and Dolly Mixture, The Innocents
among others, and the formation of other groups where the female members influenced the music and lyrical content (Au Pairs
, Delta 5
) or were the featured artist within the ensemble, notably Siouxsie and the Banshees and X-Ray Spex
. The expansion of punk into Europe gave rise to Switzerland's die Kleenex/LiLiPUT.
The band Girlschool
, from South London, formed in 1978 out of the ashes of Painted Lady, an all female cover band. While somewhat successful in the UK it was not until the early 80s when they became better known due to the success of The Go-Gos whose bass player, Kathy Valentine
, had been a member of the band in the 70s. Among their early recordings was an EP titled "The St. Valentines Day Massacre" which they recorded with Bronze label-mates Motorhead under the name Headgirl
.
Also in the 1970s, a number of feminist folk music
-based performers began fostering a Women's Music
Movement, although it was not long before women with a background in rock music
and jazz
started women's bands to escape from the 'chick singer' trap. This included Jam Today, which started in a Peckham
shed during the spring of 1976.
In 1974, The Deadly Nightshade, a rock/country band (Anne Bowen, rhythm guitar/percussion; Pamela Robin Brandt, electric bass; Helen Hooke, lead guitar/violin) was signed by RCA's custom label Phantom. The contract made RCA/Phantom the first mainstream record label to grant a band the right to reject any advertising offensive to feminist sensibilities. The band released two albums, "The Deadly Nightshade" in 1975 and "F&W (Funky & Western)" in 1976. Reunited in 2009, The Deadly Nightshade is recording a third album and touring.
's I Love Rock 'n' Roll
became the number 3 single on the Billboard Hot 100 year end charts for 1982 along with the Go-Go's
We Got the Beat
at number 25 it sent a strong message out to many industry heads that females who could play could bring in money. While Joan Jett
played "no-frills, glam-rock anthems, sung with her tough-as-nails snarl and sneer", the Go-Go's were seen as playful girls, an image that even Rolling Stone
magazine poked fun at when they put the band on their cover in their underwear along with the caption "Go-Go's Put out!". However musician magazines were starting to show respect to female musicians, putting Bonnie Raitt
and Tina Weymouth
on their covers. While The Go-Go's
and The Bangles
, both from the LA club scene, were the first all-female rock bands to find sustained success, it was individual musicians who helped pave the way for the industry to seek out bands that had female musicians and allow them to be part of the recording process.
While the 1980s helped pave the way for female musicians to get taken more seriously it was still considered a novelty of sorts for several years, and it was very much a male-dominated world. In 1984 when film maker Dave Markey
, along with Jeff and Steve McDonald from Redd Kross
, put together the mocumentary Desperate Teenage Lovedolls
, a comically punky version of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, it also spawned a real band. While the Lovedolls could barely play at first, because of the film, and because they were an "all-female band", they received press and gigs.
Klymaxx
became the first self produced all-female band in the R&B/Pop style of music to all play an instrument; several of their singles charted in both R&B and pop countdowns.
Leading into the 1990s the surge of Heavy Metal
in the 1980s helped to shed another light on the role of females in music. Because of the success of The Go-Go's
and The Bangles
many females were frustrated at not being taken seriously or only thought of as "cute chicks playing music" and either joined rock bands or formed all-female metal bands. One such band that was playing harder music in San Francisco was Rude Girl. Originally signed to CBS records the band splintered before an album would be released and the remaining members released a 12-inch single in 1987 under the name Malibu Barbi. When Cara Crash and Wanda Day left 4 Non Blondes
and joined the band their sound shifted from heavy metal to a sound described as combining a "driving beat with Johnny Rottenesque vocal and post-punk riffs". Around the same time in the Midwest, Madam X was signed to an offshoot of Columbia Records
, Jet Records
. In 1984 the Rick Derringer
-produced album We Reserve The Right was released along with the single "High in High School". The Petrucci sisters were a focal point of the band – Max, the lead guitarist, and Roxy
, the drummer. However, based on management decisions, it was decided that it would be better if only one of the sisters were in the band and Roxy was placed in another band, the all-female, Los Angeles based Vixen
.
With the resurgence of interest in pop-punk bands in the US in the early 1990s, along with the sunset strip 'hair metal' scene becoming extremely crowded, bands who combined a "non-image" with loud raw music started were gigging at clubs like Rajis in Hollywood. Bands such as Hole
, Super Heroines
, The Lovedolls and L7
became popular, while demonstrating on stage, and in interviews, a self-confident "bad girl" attitude at times, always willing to challenge assumptions about how an all-female band should behave. Courtney Love
described the other females in Hole
as using a more "lunar viewpoint" in their roles as musicians. In the 1990s, Riot Grrrl
became the genre associated with bands such as Bratmobile
and Bikini Kill
. Other punk bands, such as Spitboy
, have been less comfortable with the childhood-centered issues of much of the Riot Grrrl aesthetic, but nonetheless also have dealt explicitly with feminist and related issues. All-female Queercore
bands, such as Tribe 8
and Team Dresch
, also write songs dealing with matters specific to women and their position in society. A film put together by a San Diego psychiatrist, Dr. Lisa Rose Apramian, along with the former drummer from The Motels
and The Droogs
, Kyle C. Kyle, the documentary Not Bad For a Girl
explored some of these issues with interviews from many of the female musicians on the Riot Grrrl scene at the time.
Many female musicians from all-female bands in the 1980s and 1990s have gone on to more high profile gigs. The Pandoras
former members include members of The Muffs
; Leather Leone, the singer from Rude Girl and Malibu Barbi, went on to sing for Chastain
; Warbride's founder and lead guitarist, Lori Linstruth
joined Arjen Lucassen; Abby Travis
from the Lovedolls has played with Beck
, Elastica
, and Bangles
; Meredith Brooks
, from The Graces
, went on to solo success and Janet Robin
, from Precious Metal, was the touring guitarist for Meredith as well as Lindsey Buckingham
and Air Supply
. Girlschool
, despite numerous line-up changes, never broke up and recently celebrated their 30th anniversary.
, who play classical crossover, is another example where women play all the instruments (first and second violin
, viola
, and cello
) and sing the occasional vocals that accompany some of their tracks.
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
composed of female musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
s exclusively. A distinction is made here with a girl group
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...
, in which the members are solely vocalists, though this terminology is not universally followed.
1920s-1940s
In the Jazz AgeJazz Age
The Jazz Age was a movement that took place during the 1920s or the Roaring Twenties from which jazz music and dance emerged. The movement came about with the introduction of mainstream radio and the end of the war. This era ended in the 1930s with the beginning of The Great Depression but has...
and during the 1930s, "all-girl" bands such as The Blue Bells, Lil-Hardin's All-Girl Band, The Ingenues
The Ingenues
The Ingenues was a vaudeville style all-girl jazz band active in Chicago and the United States from 1925 to 1937. Managed by William Morris, the group performed frequently for variety theater, vaudeville and picture houses, often billed as the opening stage show before double features...
, The Harlem Playgirls, Phil Spitalny's Musical Sweethearts and "Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators" were popular. Dozens of early sound films were made of the vaudeville style all-girl groups, especially short subject promotional films for Paramount and Vitaphone. (In 1925, Lee DeForest filmed Lewis and her band in his short-lived Phonofilm
Phonofilm
In 1919, Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, filed his first patent on a sound-on-film process, DeForest Phonofilm, which recorded sound directly onto film as parallel lines. These parallel lines photographically recorded electrical waveforms from a microphone, which were translated back...
process, in a film now in the Maurice Zouary collection at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
.) Blanche Calloway
Blanche Calloway
Blanche Calloway was a Jazz singer, bandleader, and composer from Baltimore, Maryland. She is not as well known as her younger brother Cab Calloway, but she may have been the first woman to lead an all male orchestra. Cab Calloway often credited her with being the reason he got into show business...
, sister of Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
, led a male band, Blanche Calloway and Her Joy Boys, from 1932 to 1939, and Ina Ray Hutton
Ina Ray Hutton
Ina Ray Hutton was an American female leader during the Big band era, and sister to June Hutton.Hutton was born as Odessa Cowan in Chicago, Illinois of African American descent. She began dancing and singing in stage revues at the age of eight. Cowan's mother Marvel Ray was a local pianist and...
led an all-girl band, the Melodears, from 1934 to 1939. All-girl bands active in vaudeville, variety and in early sound films during the 1920s to the 1950s are documented by Kristin McGee in Some Liked it Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television. Sally Placksin, Linda Dahl, D. Antoinette Handy and Frank Driggs along with professor Sherrie Tucker, in her book Swing Shift: “All-Girl” Bands of the 1940s, have also documented this era.
1960s
Groups composed solely of women began to emerge with the advent of rock and rollRock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
. Among the earliest all-female rock bands to be signed to a record label were Goldie & the Gingerbreads
Goldie & the Gingerbreads
Goldie & the Gingerbreads was an all-female American rock band from 1962 to 1967 consisting of 3 musicians and a singer. They were the first all-female rock band signed to a major record label....
, to Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
in 1964, The Pleasure Seekers with Suzi Quatro
Suzi Quatro
Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro is an American singer-songwriter, bass player, and actor.She scored a string of hit singles in the 1970s that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, and had a recurring role on the popular American sitcom Happy Days.-Music:Quatro began her...
to Hideout Records in 1964 and Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
in 1968, The Moppets to Spirit Records in 1967, The Feminine Complex
The Feminine Complex
The Feminine Complex were an all-female American garage rock band in the 1960s. The band formed while the girls were attending Maplewood High School in Nashville, Tennessee. They released only one album, Livin' Love, in 1969...
to Athena Records in 1968 and Fanny
Fanny (band)
Fanny was an American girl band, led by June Millington. They were pioneers as one of the first rock bands to feature all women, and the third to sign to a major record label, after Goldie & the Gingerbreads and The Pleasure Seekers...
in 1969 when Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin is a record executive who has worked for several companies, including Verve, Reprise Records, Warner Bros. Records, and DreamWorks. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 by Paul Simon, Neil Young, and Lorne Michaels...
signed them to Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
. There were also others, such as The Liverbirds
The Liverbirds
The Liverbirds were a British all-female beat group, based in Liverpool, active between 1963 and 1968. The hard-rocking quartet was one of the very few female bands on the Merseybeat scene...
(1962–1967), the Ace of Cups
The Ace of Cups
The Ace of Cups was an American rock band formed in San Francisco in 1967. It has been described as one of the first all-female rock bands.The members of the Ace of Cups were Mary Gannon , Marla Hunt , Denise Kaufman , Mary Ellen Simpson , and Diane Vitalich...
(1967), The Heart Beats
The Heart Beats
The Heart Beats were an all-female garage rock band, based in Lubbock, Texas, and founded around 1966. They were led by drummer and lead vocalist Linda Sanders, along with younger sister Debbie Sanders , Debbie McMillan , and Jeannie Foster...
(1968), Ariel
Ariel
Ariel may refer to:-Film:*Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award*Ariel , a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki-People:*Ariel , any of several real or fictional people of that name...
(1968-1970) which included the three members of The Deadly Nightshade, and the Shaggs
The Shaggs
The Shaggs were an American all-female rock group formed in Fremont, New Hampshire in 1968. The band was composed of sisters Dorothy "Dot" Wiggin , Betty Wiggin , Helen Wiggin , and later Rachel Wiggin ....
(1968).
1970s
Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, in his audio commentary
Audio commentary
On disc-based video formats, an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with video...
for Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is a 1970 American schlock melodrama film starring Dolly Read, Cynthia Myers, Marcia McBroom, John LaZar, Michael Blodgett and David Gurian...
(1970
1970 in film
The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....
) claims credit for inspiring all-female rock bands with fictional band Carrie Nations
The Carrie Nations
The Carrie Nations are a fictitious all-girl rock 'n roll trio featured in the 1970 Russ Meyer cult film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. In the film, the band goes to Hollywood in order to try to achieve commercial success, only to get sucked into the seedy underbelly of the entertainment industry...
created for the film, stating that such bands were quite rare at the time, but started to spring up in the film's wake.
In 1975, the Canadian duo of sisters, Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Kate and Anna McGarrigle
Kate and Anna McGarrigle, were a pair of Canadian singer-songwriters from Quebec, who performed as a duo until Kate McGarrigle's death on January 18, 2010.-Profile:...
, recorded the first of a string of albums. The Runaways
The Runaways
The Runaways were an American all-girl rock band that recorded and performed in the second half of the 1970s. The band released four studio albums and one live set during its run. Among its best known songs: "Cherry Bomb", "Queens of Noise", "Neon Angels On the Road to Ruin", "California Paradise"...
were an early commercially successful, hard-edged, all-female hard rock band, releasing their first album in 1976: band members Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
, Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie
Cherie Currie is an American singer, actress and chainsaw artist. Currie was the lead vocalist of The Runaways, a hard rock band from Los Angeles in the mid-to-late 1970s.-Life and career:...
and Lita Ford
Lita Ford
Lita Ford is a British-born, American rock musician and singer who was the lead guitarist for The Runaways and achieved popularity for her solo career between the 1980s and late 2000s.-Early life:...
all went on to solo careers.
In the United Kingdom, the advent of punk in the late 1970s with its "anyone can do it" ethos lead to the formation of such bands as The Slits
The Slits
The Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...
, The Raincoats
The Raincoats
The Raincoats are a British post-punk band. Ana da Silva and Gina Birch formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art, London, England.-Career:...
, Mo-Dettes, and Dolly Mixture, The Innocents
The Innocents (UK punk band)
The Innocents formed in the spring of 1978 and played frequently with The Clash and The Slits. The original lineup was predominantly female with four women and one male....
among others, and the formation of other groups where the female members influenced the music and lyrical content (Au Pairs
Au Pairs (band)
The Au Pairs were a British post-punk band that formed in Birmingham in 1979. Music historian Gillian G. Gaar noted in her history of women in rock that the band mingled male and female musicians in a revolutionary collaborative way, as part of its outspoken explorations of sexual...
, Delta 5
Delta 5
-Career:The original members of Delta 5, Julz Sale , Ros Allen and Bethan Peters , formed the band "on a lark", but soon became a part of the thriving Leeds post-punk scene, and later added Kelvin Knight on drums and Alan Riggs on guitar...
) or were the featured artist within the ensemble, notably Siouxsie and the Banshees and X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...
. The expansion of punk into Europe gave rise to Switzerland's die Kleenex/LiLiPUT.
The band Girlschool
Girlschool
Girlschool are a British heavy metal band originating out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene in 1978 and frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead. They are the longest running all-female rock band, still active after more than 30 years...
, from South London, formed in 1978 out of the ashes of Painted Lady, an all female cover band. While somewhat successful in the UK it was not until the early 80s when they became better known due to the success of The Go-Gos whose bass player, Kathy Valentine
Kathy Valentine
Kathy Valentine is the American bass guitarist for the all-girl rock band, The Go-Go's....
, had been a member of the band in the 70s. Among their early recordings was an EP titled "The St. Valentines Day Massacre" which they recorded with Bronze label-mates Motorhead under the name Headgirl
Headgirl
Headgirl was a collaboration between Motörhead and Girlschool in 1980, the result being the St. Valentine's Day Massacre EP, though the groups were credited as MotörheadGirlschool on the EP....
.
Also in the 1970s, a number of feminist folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
-based performers began fostering a Women's Music
Women's music
Women's music is the music by women, for women, and about women . The genre emerged as a musical expression of the second-wave feminist movement as well as the labor, civil rights, and peace movements...
Movement, although it was not long before women with a background in rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
started women's bands to escape from the 'chick singer' trap. This included Jam Today, which started in a Peckham
Peckham
Peckham is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Southwark. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...
shed during the spring of 1976.
In 1974, The Deadly Nightshade, a rock/country band (Anne Bowen, rhythm guitar/percussion; Pamela Robin Brandt, electric bass; Helen Hooke, lead guitar/violin) was signed by RCA's custom label Phantom. The contract made RCA/Phantom the first mainstream record label to grant a band the right to reject any advertising offensive to feminist sensibilities. The band released two albums, "The Deadly Nightshade" in 1975 and "F&W (Funky & Western)" in 1976. Reunited in 2009, The Deadly Nightshade is recording a third album and touring.
1980s-present
The 1980s, for the first time, saw all-female bands and female-fronted rock bands reach Billboards charts. When Joan JettJoan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
's I Love Rock 'n' Roll
I Love Rock 'n' Roll
"I Love Rock 'n Roll" is a rock song written in 1975 by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of Arrows, who recorded the first released version. The song was later made famous by the hit version recorded by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in 1981....
became the number 3 single on the Billboard Hot 100 year end charts for 1982 along with the Go-Go's
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
We Got the Beat
We Got the Beat
"We Got the Beat" is a song recorded by the American rock band The Go-Go's. Written by the group's lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey, the band recorded the song in 1980 and it was released in May as a single in the UK on Stiff Records. The song's single release brought the Go-Go's underground...
at number 25 it sent a strong message out to many industry heads that females who could play could bring in money. While Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
played "no-frills, glam-rock anthems, sung with her tough-as-nails snarl and sneer", the Go-Go's were seen as playful girls, an image that even Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine poked fun at when they put the band on their cover in their underwear along with the caption "Go-Go's Put out!". However musician magazines were starting to show respect to female musicians, putting Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Raitt
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...
and Tina Weymouth
Tina Weymouth
Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth is an American musician, best known as a founding member and bassist of the New Wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club .-Profile:Weymouth is of French heritage on her mother's side. Weymouth was a cheerleader in high school...
on their covers. While The Go-Go's
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
and The Bangles
The Bangles
The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...
, both from the LA club scene, were the first all-female rock bands to find sustained success, it was individual musicians who helped pave the way for the industry to seek out bands that had female musicians and allow them to be part of the recording process.
While the 1980s helped pave the way for female musicians to get taken more seriously it was still considered a novelty of sorts for several years, and it was very much a male-dominated world. In 1984 when film maker Dave Markey
Dave Markey
Dave Markey is an American film director.As a self-taught filmmaker and musician, Markey directed, produced, edited, and photographed most of his films, the majority of which has been self-funded and distributed. His work documents the punk scene in Southern California throughout the 1980s and 1990s...
, along with Jeff and Steve McDonald from Redd Kross
Redd Kross
Redd Kross, a rock band from Hawthorne, California had their roots in 1978 in a band called The Tourists begun by Jeff and Steve McDonald while the brothers were still in middle school...
, put together the mocumentary Desperate Teenage Lovedolls
Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (film)
Desperate Teenage Lovedolls is a 1984 low budget underground film, shot on super-8 film by David Markey, about a rock band of teenage runaways and their misadventures. The film was released on DVD in 2003...
, a comically punky version of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, it also spawned a real band. While the Lovedolls could barely play at first, because of the film, and because they were an "all-female band", they received press and gigs.
Klymaxx
Klymaxx
Klymaxx is a female Pop/R&B band from Los Angeles, California.-Biography:Klymaxx was conceived and formed by Bernadette Cooper, who also chose the name. The dream of an all girl band became a quest she pursued after leaving college...
became the first self produced all-female band in the R&B/Pop style of music to all play an instrument; several of their singles charted in both R&B and pop countdowns.
Leading into the 1990s the surge of Heavy Metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
in the 1980s helped to shed another light on the role of females in music. Because of the success of The Go-Go's
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
and The Bangles
The Bangles
The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...
many females were frustrated at not being taken seriously or only thought of as "cute chicks playing music" and either joined rock bands or formed all-female metal bands. One such band that was playing harder music in San Francisco was Rude Girl. Originally signed to CBS records the band splintered before an album would be released and the remaining members released a 12-inch single in 1987 under the name Malibu Barbi. When Cara Crash and Wanda Day left 4 Non Blondes
4 Non Blondes
4 Non Blondes was an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1989. The group was formed by bassist Christa Hillhouse, guitarist Shaunna Hall, drummer Wanda Day, and vocalist and guitarist Linda Perry. Prior to the release of their first album, Roger Rocha replaced Hall on...
and joined the band their sound shifted from heavy metal to a sound described as combining a "driving beat with Johnny Rottenesque vocal and post-punk riffs". Around the same time in the Midwest, Madam X was signed to an offshoot of Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, Jet Records
Jet Records
Jet Records was a small British record label set up by Don Arden with artists like Electric Light Orchestra , Roy Wood, Gary Moore, Ozzy Osbourne, Riot and Magnum. The first release on the "Jet Records" label was "No Honestly", a UK top 10 for its singer and writer Lynsey De Paul in November 1974...
. In 1984 the Rick Derringer
Rick Derringer
Rick Derringer is an American guitarist, vocalist, and entertainer.-1960s:When he was seventeen years old, his band The McCoys recorded "Hang on Sloopy" in the summer of 1965, which became the number one song in America before "Yesterday" by The Beatles knocked it out of the top spot. The song was...
-produced album We Reserve The Right was released along with the single "High in High School". The Petrucci sisters were a focal point of the band – Max, the lead guitarist, and Roxy
Roxy Petrucci
Roxy Petrucci is a former drummer for Madam X and Vixen.-Biography:...
, the drummer. However, based on management decisions, it was decided that it would be better if only one of the sisters were in the band and Roxy was placed in another band, the all-female, Los Angeles based Vixen
Vixen (band)
Vixen is an all-female American hard rock band which achieved some commercial success during the late 1980s and early 1990s as part of the Los Angeles, California glam metal scene.-Early years:...
.
With the resurgence of interest in pop-punk bands in the US in the early 1990s, along with the sunset strip 'hair metal' scene becoming extremely crowded, bands who combined a "non-image" with loud raw music started were gigging at clubs like Rajis in Hollywood. Bands such as Hole
Hole (band)
Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson...
, Super Heroines
Super Heroines
The Super Heroines was a Deathrock trio formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1980s. However, unlike other early deathrock bands such as Christian Death and 45 Grave, Sueper Heroines did not carry on a traditional Goth sound, instead a more punk style metal inspired by The Runaways.Its...
, The Lovedolls and L7
L7 (band)
L7 was an American rock band from Los Angeles, that was active from 1985 to 2000. Due to their sound and image, they are often associated with the grunge movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s.-History:...
became popular, while demonstrating on stage, and in interviews, a self-confident "bad girl" attitude at times, always willing to challenge assumptions about how an all-female band should behave. Courtney Love
Courtney Love
Courtney Michelle Love is an American rock musician. Love is the lead vocalist, lyricist, and rhythm guitarist for alternative rock band Hole, which she formed in 1989, and is an actress who has moved from bit parts in Alex Cox films to significant and acclaimed roles in The People vs...
described the other females in Hole
Hole (band)
Hole is an American alternative rock band that originally formed in Los Angeles in 1989. The band is fronted by vocalist/songwriter and rhythm guitarist Courtney Love, who co-founded Hole with former songwriter/lead guitarist Eric Erlandson...
as using a more "lunar viewpoint" in their roles as musicians. In the 1990s, Riot Grrrl
Riot grrrl
Riot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement based in Washington, DC, Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Pacific Northwest which existed in the early to mid-1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism...
became the genre associated with bands such as Bratmobile
Bratmobile
Bratmobile was an American punk band. Bratmobile was a first-generation "riot grrrl" band, which grew from the Pacific Northwest and Washington, DC underground...
and Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill
Bikini Kill was an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington in October 1990. The group consisted of vocalist and songwriter Kathleen Hanna, guitarist Billy Karren, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail. The band is widely considered to be the pioneer of the riot grrrl movement,...
. Other punk bands, such as Spitboy
Spitboy
Spitboy was an American anarcho-punk band founded in San Francisco, California in the early 1990s by four women. Within their music they aggressively criticized patriarchy and gender roles.-History:...
, have been less comfortable with the childhood-centered issues of much of the Riot Grrrl aesthetic, but nonetheless also have dealt explicitly with feminist and related issues. All-female Queercore
Queercore
Queercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. It is distinguished by being discontent with society in general and its rejection of the disapproval of the gay, bisexual, and lesbian communities and their "oppressive agenda"...
bands, such as Tribe 8
Tribe 8
This article is about the San Francisco based lesbian punk band Tribe 8. See Tribe 8 for Dream Pod 9s post-apocalyptic fantasy role-playing game.Tribe 8 was an all-women outspoken dyke punk band from San Francisco...
and Team Dresch
Team Dresch
Team Dresch is an American punk band from Portland, Oregon, originally formed in Olympia, Washington, which was initially active from 1993 until 1998. The band made a significant impression on the do-it-yourself movement queercore, which gave voice through zines and music to the passions and...
, also write songs dealing with matters specific to women and their position in society. A film put together by a San Diego psychiatrist, Dr. Lisa Rose Apramian, along with the former drummer from The Motels
The Motels
The Motels are a New Wave music band from the Los Angeles area best known for "Only the Lonely" and "Suddenly Last Summer", each of which peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1982 and 1983, respectively. Their song "Total Control" reached #4 on the Australian charts in 1980...
and The Droogs
The Droogs
The Droogs was an American rock group from Los Angeles, active between 1972 and 1992, with the majority of releases from the mid-1980s onwards.The band was formed by Ric Albin , Roger Clay , Paul Motter , and Kyle Raven...
, Kyle C. Kyle, the documentary Not Bad For a Girl
Not Bad for a Girl
Not Bad for a Girl is a rockumentary on women musicians of the 90's from the indie rock music genre grunge and Riot Grrrl and celebrates madness, creativity, and gender play. Tina Silvey was the executive producer. Silvey Co...
explored some of these issues with interviews from many of the female musicians on the Riot Grrrl scene at the time.
Many female musicians from all-female bands in the 1980s and 1990s have gone on to more high profile gigs. The Pandoras
The Pandoras
The Pandoras were an all-female rock and roll band from Los Angeles, California from 1983–1991, who found a following in the Hollywood "Paisley Underground" scene and later adapted a more contemporary Sunset Boulevard, hard rock look and sound. The band ended when, on August 10, 1991 band leader...
former members include members of The Muffs
The Muffs
The Muffs are a rock band based in Southern California, formed in 1991 and led by Kim Shattuck.-History:The Muffs' leader is singer-songwriter Kim Shattuck...
; Leather Leone, the singer from Rude Girl and Malibu Barbi, went on to sing for Chastain
Chastain (band)
Chastain is a Power/heavy metal project formed in 1984 by guitarist David T. Chastain.The band was put together in 1984 by Mike Varney, president of Shrapnel Records for a David T. Chastain solo album...
; Warbride's founder and lead guitarist, Lori Linstruth
Lori Linstruth
Lori Linstruth is a guitarist. She currently resides in the Netherlands where she lives with Arjen Lucassen.-Warbride:Linstruth first came to prominence in the late eighties when she was featured in Mike Varney's "Spotlight" column in Guitar Player magazine...
joined Arjen Lucassen; Abby Travis
Abby Travis
Abby Travis is an American musician, songwriter, and performer. She is the daughter of Alice Travis Germond, the current Secretary of the Democratic National Committee and Emmy award winning cameraman Larry Travis.Abby Travis began her performance career in 1986 as the bassist in Los Angeles band...
from the Lovedolls has played with Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
, Elastica
Elastica
Elastica were an English alternative rock band that played punk rock-influenced music. They were best known for their 1995 album Elastica, which produced singles that charted in the US and the UK.-History:...
, and Bangles
The Bangles
The Bangles are an American all-female band that originated in the early 1980s, scoring several hit singles during the decade.-Formation and early years :...
; Meredith Brooks
Meredith Brooks
Meredith Ann Brooks is an American singer/songwriter and guitarist. She is best known for her 1997 hit song "Bitch", for which she was nominated for a Grammy Award.- Early life :...
, from The Graces
The Graces (band)
The Graces were a US band in the late 1980s and early 1990s featuring Charlotte Caffey, Meredith Brooks, and Gia Ciambotti. Formed in 1988, they released their debut album Perfect View on A&M Records in 1989. Their first single "Lay Down Your Arms" hit #56 on the Billboard Hot 100 but the album...
, went on to solo success and Janet Robin
Janet Robin
-Career:Robin began her career as the youngest and only female guitar student of Randy Rhoads. She started performing professionally as a teenager in the mid-80's playing guitar in the all-female hard rock band Precious Metal . After Precious Metal broke up, Robin took studio work as a session...
, from Precious Metal, was the touring guitarist for Meredith as well as Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American guitarist, singer, composer and producer, most notable for being the guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac. Aside from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has also released six solo albums and a live album...
and Air Supply
Air Supply
Air Supply is an Australian soft rock duo, consisting of Graham Russell as guitarist and singer-songwriter and Russell Hitchcock as lead vocalist. They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight Top Ten hits in the United States, in the early 1980s...
. Girlschool
Girlschool
Girlschool are a British heavy metal band originating out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene in 1978 and frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead. They are the longest running all-female rock band, still active after more than 30 years...
, despite numerous line-up changes, never broke up and recently celebrated their 30th anniversary.
Outside pop music
All-female bands are not restricted to the mainstream genres. The successful British/Australian string quartet bondBond (band)
Bond is an Australian/British string quartet that specialises in classical crossover music...
, who play classical crossover, is another example where women play all the instruments (first and second violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, and cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
) and sing the occasional vocals that accompany some of their tracks.
See also
- List of all-female bands
- Gloria ParkerGloria ParkerGlorious Gloria Parker is an American entertainer and female icon during the big band or swing era, as an all girl bandleader. The Gloria Parker Show aired nightly from 1950 to 1957, coast to coast on WABC Radio and Parker entertained her audience playing the marimba, organ and the singing glasses...
- Lauren PassarelliLauren PassarelliLauren "L. Pass." Passarelli is an American musician and educator.She was the first woman to graduate from Berklee College of Music as a guitar performance major in 1982, and she became Berklee's first female guitar instructor in 1984. She was promoted to professor in 2009...
- Riot GrrrlRiot grrrlRiot grrrl was an underground feminist punk movement based in Washington, DC, Olympia, Washington, Portland, Oregon, and the greater Pacific Northwest which existed in the early to mid-1990s, and it is often associated with third-wave feminism...
- QueercoreQueercoreQueercore is a cultural and social movement that began in the mid-1980s as an offshoot of punk. It is distinguished by being discontent with society in general and its rejection of the disapproval of the gay, bisexual, and lesbian communities and their "oppressive agenda"...
- List of female Jazz- and New Improvising musicians in the German Wikipedia
External links
- GirlBand.org
- Metal Maidens fanzine
- Women in Punk Archive maintained by Nicole Emmenegger (aka Jenny Woolworth)
- Helen Lewis and Her All-Girl Jazz Syncopators at Silent Era
- Metaladies.com All-Female Metal Bands