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A tiny pantheon for all-female rock bands
from: tuscaloosanews.com
by Mark Hughes Cobb
The number of popular all-female rock bands could probably be counted on one hand — with a few fingers left over. And most of them had their heyday 20 or more years ago.
Although that probably says as much about the music and radio industry as it does about the musicians — why, when I type the names Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill, will most readers have to Google them? — it’s a fact that women, as bands, haven’t put their stamp on rock the way they have as solo performers or front women.
In the 20th century’s big- band and swing eras, the first all-female bands began to emerge, such as the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Blues and jazz’s relative freedom swung the doors open, not just for female singers, but for female instrumentalists as well.
Montgomery-born Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, best known for growling the original, raucous R&B version of "Hound Dog" was featured on several recordings playing harmonica and drums. She also wrote songs, among them "Ball and Chain," later a hit for Janis Joplin.
The ‘60s saw the rise of pop music "girl groups" such as the Shirelles, the Chiffons, the Ronettes, Martha and the Vandellas and Diana Ross and the Supremes, but few if any of these controlled their songwriting or even their images, and none were known as instrumentalists.
In that pre-British-Invasion time, the earliest all-female rock bands began cutting for small, independent labels. Bands such as Feminine Complex and the charmingly inept sister band the Shaggs re-leased albums that, unearthed decades later, gained some cult fans.
The first all-female rock band signed to a major label was Goldie and the Gingerbreads, formed in 1963 and signed to Atlantic Records in 1964. Although American, the group was huge in England but not so well-known in the U.S., despite fans including Ringo Starr, Keith Richards and Eric Burdon and the Animals, whose keyboard player, Alan Price, produced the 1965 Goldie LP "Can’t You Hear My Heart Beat?" Leader Goldie left shortly after, changing her name to Genya Ravin, and the group broke up in 1968. Drummer Ginger Bianco helped form the all-female funk band Isis, which had some small success.
Fanny, led by sisters June and Jean Millington, signed with Mo Ostin’s Warner Brothers Records in 1969. The Millington sisters, Manila natives, moved to California at the age of 13, having learned guitar and ukulele at a convent. On hearing American rock ‘n’ roll, they switched to electric guitars; June, the older sister, made baby sister Jean switch to bass.
They formed their first all-woman band, the Svelts, in Sacramento, about 1964. Numerous lineup changes later, the Svelts was signed by Richard Perry as Wild Honey, but changed its name to Fanny for the debut album. As if to challenge the idea that women couldn’t play electric guitar, the band covered Eric Clapton and Cream’s "Badge" on the album, though the members mostly wrote their material.
Fanny did a little better than Goldie in the U.S. charts, scoring Top 40 hits with "Charity Ball" in 1971 and "Butter Boy" in 1975. Todd Rundgren produced the band’s 1973 album "Mother’s Pride."
But again, Britain proved more receptive than the U.S., as Fanny opened shows there for Leon Russell, Van Morrison, Chuck Berry, Chicago and Jethro Tull, and the band occasionally played headlining gigs with Isis as opener.
The band began to fragment in 1973 as June, physically and emotionally exhausted, sought to get out. She picked as her replacement Patti Quatro, who’d formed Suzi Soul and the Pleasure Seekers with her sisters Nancy, Arlette and Suzi, who later had a few hits as solo artist. After June left, other members came and went and Fanny split up in 1974.
But an odd thing happened: "Butter Boy," a song Jean had written about her love for David Bowie, became a surprise radio hit. The band reunited for a farewell tour, but afterward the members went off in various directions. June and Jean reunited in 2001 to form the Slammin’ Babes — albeit with the occasional male drummer — and in 2002, Rhino released a four-CD retrospective of Fanny’s work, "First Time in a Long Time."
With Fanny blazing out, the RUNAWAYS, very young girls in tight leather, stepped up. Al-though some dismissed them as svengali producer Kim Fowley’s creation, the band actually formed around drummer Sandy West and a rhythm guitarist who called herself JOAN JETT.
Fowley did help them locate other members, including lead guitarist Lita Ford and bass player Micki Steel, who dropped out and later resurfaced as Michael Steele of the Bangles. Jackie Fox stepped in on bass and Cherie Currie became lead singer, after which the band began scoring songs such as "Queens of Noise" and the 1976 hit "Cherry Bomb."
Still, the RUNAWAYS ran away in 1979, with many still regarding them as manufactured pop/punk, a theory revised only later as Jett’s solo career took off, as did Ford’s, on a smaller scale.
As punk rose in the late ‘70s, the L.A. scene produced all-woman groups such as the Raincoats, the Slits and Lilli-put, but by far the most successful from that era were the Go-Go’s and the Bangles.
Both groups started out as raw, garage rockers but found greater success in MTV-land with a few edges smoothed out for video-readiness.
The Go-Go’s formed in 1978, but hit big in the early ‘80s with debut album "Beauty and the Beat," later scoring five Top 40 hits, and breaking up in 1985. Like the Bangles, various members went on to some solo success, but the group reformed in 1994 for a tour, then got together again in the early 2000s for a new recording and subsequent tours.
The Bangles began in 1981 as the Supersonic Bangs, adapting the new name when another group called the Bangs threatened to sue. The debut major-label album, 1984’s "All Over the Place," caught the ear of Prince, who wrote "Manic Monday" for the band. It went on to become a No. 2 hit for the band, topped on the 1986 Bangles album "Different Light" by the No. 1 hit "Walk Like An Egyptian." v
The Bangles also had hits with "Eternal Flame" and a rocking cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s "Hazy Shade of Winter," but internal pressures blew the girls apart in the late ‘80s. After going through numerous solo and group projects in the ‘90s, many with former Go-Go’s members, the Bangles reunited in 2000 to tour, with the best-known quartet — bass player Steele, rhythm guitarist Susanna Hoffs, lead guitarist Vicki Peterson and drummer Debbi Peterson — all back.
The band recorded a new CD, "Doll Revolution," with a title song written by Elvis Costello, in 2002. Although Steele left in 2005, the other three, with guest bass players, continue to tour and plan to record.
Hoffs and Vicki Peterson of the Bangles are also said to be planning a reality show with the Go-Go’s Charlotte Caffey and Kathy Valentine, showcasing female musicians and forming a new all-female band.
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