The women of early 80's PostPunk!

LiLiPUT -EISIGER WIND (1981)



The spirit of Punk was to try anything without restraint. As soon as it became a recognizable formula -as in Sid- the media rushed to pronounce it dead after two years. But in truth it had already mutated past them. Worldwide, a new attitude virused: challenge everything, try it from another angle, go to next. The word PostPunk is a loose term used to describe the eclectic electric that ensued from 1978 to around 1982. Punk wasn't supplanted, it was the planter of the seeds that grew into most cutting edge music made since. The holy trinity of 'Joy Division/Wire/Gang Of Four', bands from the dawn of the 80's, are the obvious blueprint for modern disciples like Franz Ferdinand, Interpol, She Wants Revenge, Radio 4, The Killers, and Elefant; the bounding deadpan-yet-funky pulse, the polyrhymic crack of drums, the sheets-of-noise guitar, and the wired automaton vocals. But PostPunk was more than that trio. It encompassed world musics and Dub, Punk-Funk, Death Disco, No Wave noise, Mutant Disco, proto-Industrial, Goth, HipHop hybrids, skronky jazz fusion and Harmolodics, and more. And most importantly, there were more women in this revolution than any time before in Rock history.

The following women are the mothers of most rocker grrrls today. All of this music was too intense for the times and ignored, but now is the soundtrack of the current generation. Whether they know it or not. From these pioneers we get The Breeders, Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, Hole, Elastica, Cibo Matto, Garbage, Sleater-Kinney, Ladytron, Chicks On Speed, Lesbians On Ecstasy, Erase Errata, Boyskout, Peaches, Electrocute, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Metric.

The architects: LENE LOVICH (US/UK) and NINA HAGEN (Germany), updating Yma Sumac for the new wave; ARI UP and THE SLITS, exploring the wilds of world dub (UK); LiLiPUT, the best PostPunk band you've never heard of and equal to any (Switzerland); FATAL MICROBES, a teen band featuring two kids of Vi Subversa from the Poison Girls (UK); STINKY TOYS, who played the first all-Punk show ever with the Pistols and newcomer 'Suzie and the Banshees' (France); the minimalist robot synth of FLYING LIZARDS, featuring PATTI PALLADIN of Snatch(NY/UK); TINA WEYMOUTH and the TALKING HEADS, the fountainhead for indie dress, PunkFunk, and more styles than we've caught up with (New York); the collective PULSALLAMA, with Wendy Wild and Ann Magnuson, bringing polyrhthmic fun (NY); THE BLOODS with funky punk; LIZZY MERCIER DESCLOUX making dissonant guitar clang danceable (France/NY); THE MODETTES modeling impossibly catchy pop with reggae bounce (NY); JILL KROESEN with rhythmic skronk and chant (NY); The BUSH TETRAS, a funky punk band whose influence covers Romeo Void to Kim Gordan (NY); the brilliant spartan funk of E.S.G. by the Scroggins sisters (South Bronx); Her Mercurial Majesty of Goth and so much more, SIOUXSIE SIOUX (UK); the stripped edge of Young Marble Giants, whose 'Credit In the Straight World' was covered by Hole (Wales); Y PANTS forecast the bratty casualism of Bratmobile (NY); UT rode tribal drums and fuzzy chords through alien synths (NY); TINA WEYMOUTH and Chris Frantz of TOM TOM CLUB spun the NY scene's punkfunk through hiphop and reggae to conquer the world with 'Genius Of Love' (NY); ...while KIM GORDAN and SONIC YOUTH channeled the scene's No Wave noise into a startling career (US); the punkfunk priests GANG OF FOUR converted bassist SARA LEE to the cause in their second revolution (UK/US); VANESSA BRISCOE emitted the bent transmissions of PYLON (Georgia); Throbbing Gristle had split nicely into the fresh folds of CHRIS & COSEY, with conceptual and sexual artist COSI FANNI TUTTI (UK); The SELECTER sure picked it right with lead singer PAULINE BLACK kicking tough ska (UK); EDITH NYLON made the synth pop and kick (France); ALICE BAG of the Bags now crusaded with the CAMBRIDGE APOSTLES (L.A.); SU TISSUE cut an askew swath through SUBURBAN LAWNS (L.A.); Native American DEBORAH IYALL serenaded in the ROMEO VOID (San Fran); DOMINATRIX predated Lords of Acid and Peaches with sexual dance music (NY); and LAURIE ANDERSON made the avant-garde fun and grooving (NY).

About LiLiPUT: This Swiss punk band started as Kleenex but got sued. As LiLiPUT, their flexible punk now flourished through ever fluid line-ups. At the center always were guitarist Marlene Marder and bassist Klaudia Schiff. Their vocals and restless spirit were the pulse that propelled a winding course; tough punk, kraut rock redux, loping pop, angular beauty. All of the work of both bands has been compiled by the Kill Rock Stars label on the affordable double-CD, "LiLiPUT" (KRS 373; 2001). Expand your world with the sonic peers of The Slits and the Raincoats!

X-RAY SPEX -DAY THE WORLD TURNED DAY-GLO (1978)



Idealism collapsed into anger by the mid-70's. With the wrenching backlash of Punk Rock and the empowerment of feminism, the modern Rock'n'Roll woman was forged and set loose. Every girl now walking with a fierce heart and strong stride is their heir. Let's give it up for the mothers of the revolution.

The accused: The RUNAWAYS, teen maelstorm from California who forecast every Punk and Metal grrrl to come; TINA WEYMOUTH, bassist for the Talking Heads and leader of the Tom Tom Club; her comrades from CBGB's -the New York club where Punk was born- were DEBBY HARRY of Blondie, and PATTI SMITH; Somali/Brit POLY STYRENE piledrived with the X-RAY SPEX; and her sax player, LARA LOGIC, started the postpunk band Essential Logic; Joan Jett was so enamored of Punk that she had to forge a new future beyond the Runaways; her near-twin, bassist GAYE ADVERT, sparked the UK band The Adverts; one of the first groups on the heels of the Sex Pistols was SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES, paving postpunk and goth: from Detroit, NIKKI & THE CORVETTES were the Ramones' sisters in spirit; San Francisco brought the rage with PENELOPE HOUSTON inciting The AVENGERS; the English PENETRATION was spearheaded by PAULINE MURRAY; poet/artist/proactivist LYDIA LUNCH fronted many New York projects, including the wonderfully named No Wave band, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks; her compatriots JUDY NYLON and PATTI PALLADIN grabbed attention with SNATCH; the Los Angeles scene crested with folks like EXENE CERVANKA of X, PAT and ALICE BAG (no relation) of The BAGS, and DIANNE CHAI of the ALLEY CATS; wielding her axe like Lizzy Borden is the eternal POISON IVY of the garage psychobillies, The CRAMPS; political firebrand VI SUBVERSA flicked 'mother wit' like a whip with the POISON GIRLS; HAZEL O'CONNOR broke through scoring and starring in the undersung Punk film, "Breaking Glass" (and inspiring Pris from "Blade Runner"); from the ashes of junkiedom, MARIANNE FAITHFULL made an arresting comeback in ravaged granduer; from Georgia, KATE PIERSON and CINDY WILSON brought the mod past into the eerie future with the B-52's; CHRISSIE HYNDE left Ohio, worked in McClaren's and Westwood's SEX boutique, and formed the PRETENDERS; starting as erratic punks, no one could predict that THE SLITS would shortly flip the script into postpunk; the DELTA 5 did the original "Mind Your Own Business" covered by Chicks On Speed; from San Francisco, domme JENNIFER MIRO leads the perverse band The NUNS to this day; the feminist fist of LESLEY WOOD surged the AU PAIRS to glory with wit and intensity; starting as Kleenex, the German group LiLiPUT cut an astounding swath of postpunk brilliance; ...as did Englands' THE RAINCOATS...; and Germany's MALARIA, whose "Kaltes Clares Wasser" was also covered by Chicks On Speed; the United Expirements of America, or U.X.A., were conducted by DE DE TROIT from San Fran to L.A.; performance artist and sex activist COSI FANNI TUTTI confounded boundaries with the proto-Industrial band, THROBBING GRISTLE, and later Chris & Cosey: PEARL HARBOUR torpedoed stereotypes such as with her twist on "Fujiyama Mama"; and Punk couldn't be more personified than in the hellacious free-for-all that was WENDY O'WILLIAMS of The PLASMATICS.

About X-RAY SPEX: They made one album but it is one of the five best Punk albums of all time. "Germ Free Adolescents" is wall-to-wall perfection, skewering consumer culture with barbed lines and serrated guitar and sax. The eye of this storm was the unlikely Poly Styrene. Small, eccentric, mercurial, brilliant. Seemingly erratic and perhaps hallucinatory, Poly had unerring instincts for making off-kilter things work completely. She unnerved even Johnny Rotten, who later deemed her band "superb". It's often said that the Riot Grrrl movement and Bikini Kill wouldn't have existed without her. And the moment you hear her, you know it's true.

Many Thanks to "Funknroll" (http://www.youtube.com/user/funknroll)