The discussions of a lack of women on music mag covers reminds me of what I am sure is not an original observation; the women of punk/ post-punk opened up music the way a bit of ramalama didn’t; The Slits, Siouxie, X-Ray Spex, Rezillos, Penetration, Laura Logic … I can listen to any of these still; I find blokey punk all a bit lumpen. These days I find PJ Harvey, Goldfrapp, and St Vincent more interesting than hip indie sausage fests (and I like sausages). I’ve never been one for positive discrimination and approved quotas; I simply find these acts better.
Women of punk/ new wave/…
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Totally agree. Would also add Pauline Murray’s solo stuff, Crass, and the Au Pairs.
Post punk led into goth too, which had a perfectly respectable gender balance (if not 50:50 then certainly a ton more respectable than M*jo acts).
and Viv Albertine.
Author of one the best rock bios of recent years
Don’t forget Debbie Harry.
(As if…)
All of them are great, but Siouxsie is the Queen, even if she is to blame for Goth
Pauline Black (Selecter) and Chrissie Hynde. 2-Tone was very much tied up with that wave of new music. The Pretenders singer also had a strong, take no shit presence. Patti Smith a pioneer who inspired. Not the least bit decorative and demur.
The do-it-yourself punk ethic enabled this revolution. Plus the strongly left wing political attitude prevalent among acts and labels. Feminist, anti-Tory, anti-nazi/racist. Overly serious, earnestly right-on at times perhaps but no doubt attractive to women who hiterto were put off the blokey, muso world of rock.
X-Ray Spex were horrible, though. And Patti Smith (always a bit too much on the “I’m a proper poet, me” side) has turned into punk’s Chris De Burgh (I regrettably attended her recent gig in Berlin).
And don’t forget Nina Hagen.
I know what you mean, Fatima, but I think you are being a tad unfair. I can’t imagine Chris de Burgh doing a song inspired by Tarkovsky.
Patti has certainly changed from the angry young woman of her early career. Now she’s more of a goofy, hippy granny with the air of a National Rock Treasure. But she still has her wits about her, a lot of charm and a great awareness of what’s going on.
Incidentally, when she played Southern Sweden on her current tour, she had hoped to perform in Ystad in hommage to Henning Mankell.
What was her famous slagging of Debs Harry all about? Put me off a bit, even as a one time big fan.
Well, she was The Woman at CBGBs. Nobody else was allowed to be.
Gotta love those feminists!
I am hugely in awe of Patti Smith, and your character assassination offends me. Not that I think that my take on your remarks should have any bearing on your right to make such slurs, just that I think you are north of 99% WRONG.
In awe of Patti Smith eh? That’s something you have in common with, er, Patti Smith š
Loads of punk bands were horrible, but thrilling too. X Ray Spex were raw, Poly Styrene’s voice certainly wasn’t to everyone’s taste. They did have good songs, Germ Free Adolescence was one of the bast punk albums. Listening to Oh Bondage Up Yours again brings back the excitement of those days.
Hats off to magnificent Fay Fife of the Rezillos! A woman who has suffered the angst of young desire.
“Babs got a boy so how can it be
All the uggs always go for me.”
Fay Fife & Eugene Reynolds still performing, though both not as svelte as in their glory days.
These days Fay has the look of someone’s demented escaped leather-clad auntie. Magnificent.
I saw The Rezillos a while back and the support were a pretty good all-female (and multi-racial) punk trio The Tuts. Slightly shambolic and very energetic.
You have a way with words, Mike! “Demented escaped leather-clad aunties” are my kind of girls!
As are the Tuts. They write a fine pop song. Hope they get to Stockholm one day.
Another vote from me for Pauline Murray. That solo album with the Invisible Girls is superb.
Dolly Mixture – to most they were just Captain Sensible’s backing singers on his solo hits. But they were far more than that, as this example might show.
Lene Lovich – probably written off too quickly as one of the resident Stiff “quirky” acts, but she had some talent to go around – try this, er, deep cut from her ’82 No Man’s Land album…
And when in doubt, go for Mandy Doubt (though this song is from the late 80s and features Morris dancing…)
Also benefits from the fact that she can sing!
Kirsty from her punk days, having been listening to Sweet Jane:
The Drug Addix – Gay Boys In Bondage
Crikey! That is odd. I thought for a moment it was Alberto y lost trio paranoias.
Dare one mention The Fall? From Brix onwards there has nearly always been at least one Female Woman of the Opposite Sex in the many line-ups, and not just because it was ME Smith’s current squeeze/victim (delete as appropriate)
In fact from the very start (Una Baines)
A picture that adorns the wall of my “office”
Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry, Viv Albertine, Siouxsie Sioux, Poly Styrene, Pauline Black
Oh. My. God. Somebody post on that Holy Trinity thread – that’s two there, surely?
Can always make time for a burst of The Slits:
Typical Girls
Found this in a box of assorted rubbish in my garage recently – not quite sure it stands the test of time but remember it as a firm early 80s party favourite. Think I even saw them live – two female bass players and very shouty if memory serves.
I remember Peel playing Delta 5 quite a lot, for a while. I might even have something by them on one of my ancient lo-fi cassettes.
Neither of them post-punk, but from that era:
Cosey Fanni Tutti, who managed to break more than her fair share of boundaries in the boundary-breaking TG.
And Laurie Anderson: when else, except that era, could a song like Oh Superman get to Number 2 in the actual singles chart? Bloody hell.
“When else, except that era, could a song like Oh Superman get to Number 2 in the actual singles chart?” You mean when hyping the charts was a doddle. Do you know anyone who actually likes it and listens to it. Number 2 on admiration alone? I don’t think so.
I like O Superman, I bought it when it came out, and I still enjoy it when it comes up on the random play mode on the āpod. Seem to recall Peel played it a lot.
There was a record shop called GI records in Edinburgh. It only sold albums (new and second hand) but the one single they sold was OS, because it was so good.
O Superman is a fantastic record. Genuinely innovative. I still play it occasionally and always enjoy it when I do.
I was 8 in 1982…. O Superman made absolute sense to me. Wasn’t batting an eyelid to see it riding high in the charts, which were wonderfully unpredictable in them days. Still like it now, not just for “No-stalgia”
I love it, but ration my listening as it usually makes me blub towards the end.
Laurie is very warm for someone who’s generally considered to be a modernist. Reminds me of Bjork in an unexplainable way.
The parent album is great, and not just for Ms Anderson screeching along to some synthesised bagpipes, which is a hoot.
Yup. I own three LPs by Laurie Anderson, bought in the 80s, plus her Anthology on CD. She’s brilliant.
Still love “O Superman”. Indeed, I really like Ms Anderson’s work in general. Favourite album: “Strange Angels”.
It was such a thrill to finally see her live a few years ago, at a theatre in Uppsala.
Love the album. Heard sweaters from it on John Walters. Asked for it tone played over the sound system at the local WH Smiths. As the jazz bagpipes started followed by a vocal drone from Laurie Anderson, the other customers looked up at the speakers wondering what the ‘noise’ was. Bought it then and there.
āWhen hyping the charts was a doddleā – except that if all the record companies were doing it then surely it would cancel out to a large extent? And whether it happened via hyping or not, those huge sales (remember you needed to sell a shed load to get into the Top 10 in those days) didnāt happen if people didnāt like it?
I think chart hyping was quite a lot more difficult then than it had been in the ’60s and the early half of the ’70s. I should think the classy video that went with it was quite a selling point.
I’m with retropath2 up there. I also like O Superman but the number 2 position felt very wrong. I only bought it because it was incredibly cheap – and because there were hundreds of copies left over at our local woolies. You can explain away other novelty hits (usually Terry Wogan was involved) but I feel there was skulduggery with that one.
Lisa Gerrard anyone ??
Yes, gets my vote at least. DCD have gradually gone a bit new age for my taste, but their 1980s albums were wonderful, if only to showcase what a pair of lungs she has on her. But the more I listen to that debut, the more I think I prefer it … and youāve managed to pick what I think is the greatest track on it – real hairs on the back of the neck stuff.
That song irritated the hell out of me when I first heard it. After seeing a South Bank Show about Laurie Anderson the penny dropped and have loved it ever since.
Time for some Swedish punk lasses.
I’ve just learnt that Lyccke Li’s mother was originally a member of the fine Tant Strul.
Pappas Tant (Dad’s new bird)
And now their wonderful Slicka mig ren (Lick me clean)
I had forgotten about Swiss band Kleenex who were on Rough Trade. I think they were forced to change their name by Kleenex. I don’t know if it was this record, but it was certainly one by Kleenex that convinced my best friend at my first job to end his flirtation with punk rock and move on to Jazz Funk.
No. No. No. No.
What are you fools talking about?
I was there for post punk, yeah? And I can tell you there was only one female that mattered.
She was bored. She had ORANGE HAIR. Yeah, that’s right. squares – Deal with it.
But, get this Percy Prejudice, just cos she dyed her hair, it didn’t mean she had no brain up there.
She was ready to tear down your sham of a world by BEING VERY LOUD.
Because, unlike you – stuck in commuter traffic in your Mini Metro – she was going to be free. FREE!
(Plus, I was 14 and she gave me a boner..)
Mrs Fripp
Still doing the live stuff – usually on a “Gawd Bless The 80s” bill with Paul Young, Human League, Go West etc
Seeing her at Butlins in a couple of weeks on at the Alternative Music Festival alongside Anti-Nowhere League, Peter And The Test Tube Babies and The Cockney Rejects.
She is a lady with a wide appeal
(and I got the boner at 14 too)
Bloody hell! Did you see what she did to those paper cups!
It’s a WEVOLUTION!
It would be terrific if women were as good at pop music as men, but, erm, they’re, erm, not.
Love Dusty, but better than The Beatles? I don’t think so.
That said, I am only referencing the Golden Age.
In the land of the Wombles, Bowie and Morrissey they may well be.