The Bangles

The Bangles are an American pop rock band that were formed in Los Angeles in 1981. They recorded several hit singles during the 1980s, including "Walk Like an Egyptian", "Manic Monday," "A Hazy Shade of Winter," and "Eternal Flame." 

Their classic line-up consisted of Michael Steele on bass and vocals, founding members Susanna Hoffs on vocals and rhythm guitar, Debbi Peterson on drums and vocals, and Vicki Peterson on lead guitar and vocals. The band currently consists of Hoffs, Debbi and Vicki Peterson, and Annette Zilinskas. They first performed as The Colours in 1981.  

Shortly afterward the group renamed themselves The Bangs. The band was part of the Los Angeles Paisley Underground scene, which featured groups that played a mixture of 1960s-influenced rock. In 1981, Hoffs and the Petersons recorded and released a single ("Getting Out of Hand" b/w "Call on Me") on DownKiddie Records (their own label). The Bangs were signed to Faulty Products, a label formed by Miles Copeland.

The band recorded an EP in 1982, and released the single "The Real World". At the last minute they discovered another band had registered the Bangs name and would not let them use it without payment so they become Bangles. Their first EP was retitled Bangles and released. In 1983, Faulty Products issued a 12-inch "remix" single of "The Real World" to radio and media, but another setback came as the label folded. I.R.S. Records picked up distribution and re-issued the EP. After Zilinskas left the band to focus on her own project, Blood on the Saddle, she was replaced by Michael Steele, formerly of the all-female band The Runaways, Toni & The Movers, Slow Children and Elton Duck.  

Bangles' full-length debut album on Columbia Records, All Over the Place (1984), captured their power pop roots, featuring the singles "Hero Takes a Fall" and the Kimberley Rew-penned Beatlesque "Going Down to Liverpool". They received a much wider audience serving as the opening act for Cyndi Lauper on her Fun Tour. Prince gave them "Manic Monday" and went on to become a number-two hit in the US, the UK and Germany.  

The band's second album Different Light (January 1986) was more polished than its predecessor and, with the help of the worldwide number-one hit "Walk Like an Egyptian"  saw the band firmly in the mainstream. Three additional hit singles released from the “Different Light” album were: "Following”, “Walking Down Your Street”  and "If She Knew What She Wants".

The album Everything (1988)  was another multi-platinum hit and included the top five hit "In Your Room", as well as their biggest selling single "Eternal Flame". Co-writer Billy Steinberg came up with the title after Hoffs told him about the band's recent trip to Memphis where they visited Graceland. An eternal flame is maintained at Presley's grave. The single became their biggest worldwide hit and the biggest single by an all-female band ever. By this point, the working relationships had broken down within the band, and the members went their separate ways shortly after. Hoffs began a solo career, and Vicki Peterson toured as a member of the Continental Drifters and as a fill-in member of The Go-Go's. The band re-formed in 1998 and is still active.

Cristina Martinez

Cristina Martinez was the guitarist of Pussy Galore and the singer of Boss Hog. 

Pussy Galore was an American garage rock band that formed in Washington, D.C. in 1985. They had a constantly fluid line-up until their demise in 1990. They took their name from the character in the James Bond film, Goldfinger, and their sound was inspired by the Velvet Underground and the New York Dolls. The band's earliest incarnation consisted of guitarist and vocalist Jon Spencer, guitarist and occasional vocalist Julia Cafritz and drummer John Hammill, though this line-up would be subject to both change and expansion in later years. Following the self-released 7" Feel Good About Your Body, they added guitarist Neil Hagerty. The new lineup recorded the EP Groovy Hate Fuck. This EP, like all of their early releases, would be self-released on their own Shove Records label. After the band moved to New York City they further expanded the line-up by taking on then 16-year-old Cristina Martinez as a guitarist. Martinez was not a musician and had simply taken the photograph for the 7". The band also replaced Hammill with former Sonic Youth drummer Bob Bert. Then on a dare from Sonic Youth, they released a limited-edition cassette and vinyl cover album of the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street. They followed this up in January 1987 with another self-released mini-set Pussy Gold 5000. Shortly after this Martinez left the band and formed Boss Hog with Spencer a few years later. 

Boss Hog is an American punk blues band including the husband and wife duo of Jon Spencer (guitar) and Cristina Martinez (vocals) along with Jens Jurgensen (bass), Hollis Queens (drums) and Mickey Finn (keyboard). The band was formed in 1989, as something of an accidental side project, when Cristina Martinez and Jon Spencer were told of a last minute vacancy on the bill at the influential New York punk club CBGB's. The pair put together a group of musicians from members of The Honeymoon Killers and Unsane, along with Kurt Wolf from Pussy Galore. The gig is reported to have been an underground sensation in New York, not least because Jon performed the whole show naked.

Spencer, Martinez, Wolf, Charlie Ondras, and Jerry Teel recorded the EP Drinkin', Lechin' & Lyin' with Steve Albini for the record label Amphetamine Reptile in 1989. The response was through the roof. The record buying-public loved Boss Hog and their fresh new "pigfuck" sound. 




The first full-length album Cold Hands was recorded with Peter Arsenault and Ed Bair, and Pete Shore of Unsane on bass. Soon after the album's release in 1990 Shore and Teel left the band. Jens Jurgensen joined on bass and the band toured Europe to promote the record. This lineup recorded the BBC Radio session and additional tracks that were released as the "Action Box" double single. Shortly thereafter Wolf left the band and Marcellus Hall of Railroad Jerk joined on guitar for another European tour, and to record the track "Fire Of Love" for a Sub Pop single compilation called Smells Like Smoked Sausages. Soon after, drummer Charlie Ondras died.



Boss Hog took a break for over two years, whilst Spencer concentrated on The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, prior to re-emerging in 1993 with a lean, stable line-up of Spencer, Martinez, Jurgensen and new drummer Hollis Queens. The new Boss Hog recorded the Girl + EP with Martin Bisi which won many awards and lots of high praise.

Their 1995 major-label debut was simply entitled Boss Hog and was recorded with the help of Steve Fisk at NYC's famous Sear Sound studio. The sleaze-glam-punk sound of abrasive buzzsaw guitar and part-sneering, part-shouted vocals continued largely unabated. The band, with the help of keyboard-player Mark Boyce from the Goats, toured to promote this release in Europe, Japan and Australia as well as the US. The Hog made a brief appearance as themselves in the 1996 movie Joe's Apartment. After this, they took another extended break. 




In 2000, Boss Hog re-re-emerged with the Whiteout album and Mark Boyce as part of the permanent lineup. The success of Whiteout was accompanied by a number of singles and gigs and a flurry of publicity, before the band went silent again.



Boss Hog played their first US show in 8 years on December 3, 2008 at Maxwell's in Hoboken, New Jersey and have since played various dates throughout Europe and the US. Mickey Finn took over the keyboards position in 2009. Tour dates and details of the Brood Star EP and Brood X album were officially announced in May 2016. 

The Donnas

The Donnas are an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California in 1993. They consisted of Brett Anderson (lead vocals), Allison Robertson (guitar, backing vocals), Maya Ford (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Amy Cesari (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Cesari replaced Torry Castellano, who left the band in 2009 due to tendonitis. They draw inspiration from Ramones, The Runaways, AC/DC and Kiss.

All the founding band members were born in 1979 and became friends by eighth grade and formed as a band in May 1993[3] to play for their school's "Day on the Green." They are all self-taught musicians and practiced in Castellano's garage nearly every day during their years at Palo Alto High School. They called themselves "Ragady Anne" in their early days and shortly thereafter changed their name to "The Electrocutes". Towards the end of their high school days, while they were still known as The Electrocutes, they decided to create another band (with the same members) that would play softer tunes without distorting the metal queen image of The Electrocutes. To help their fans distinguish between the two bands, they all took matching "Donna" monikers, where all of their names were Donna and their last names were the first initial of their last name (Brett Anderson became Donna A, etc.), which they used only when performing as "The Donnas." 

They worked with producer Darin Raffaelli for their first two albums, the first of which, simply called The Donnas, was released on Raffaelli's Superteem! record label in 1997. (It was later released again on Lookout! Records.) They took a week off their senior year of high school to tour Japan as The Donnas, and were promoted and organized by Pinky Aoki a.k.a. The Phantomgift. Afterwards, they signed with Lookout! Records. In 1998 they released American Teenage Rock'N'Roll Machine. 

In 1999 they released Get Skintight and in 2001 Turn 21. As the band grew, they were urged to sign with a major label company. In 2001, they signed with Atlantic Records. 

In 2002, The Donnas released Spend the Night as their Atlantic debut. The album represented their first attempt at mainstream success. With their single "Take it Off" they were booked for appearances on Total Request Live, Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and the Late Show with David Letterman. In the summer of 2003, they played the main stage at Lollapalooza. In 2004, they released their sixth album Gold Medal. In February 2005, they toured Australia with the Big Day Out music festival, playing from Sydney to Perth. While in Australia they performed "Take It Off" live on national prime-time show "Rove Live" with Rove McManus.

The band independently released their seventh studio album titled Bitchin' on September 18, 2007 Purple Feather Records label. Bitchin' was produced by Jay Ruston and The Donnas and contained the single "Don't Wait Up For Me". 

In July 2009, the band released a retrospective collection entitled Greatest Hits Vol. 16 to celebrate the band's 16th year together. The album contains new songs, re-recorded older songs as well as some unreleased material. The band toured that summer with Pat Benatar and Blondie on the two's joint Call Me Invincible Tour. Drummer Torry Castellano was unable to play on any of these tour dates as she was suffering from tendonitis of the shoulder, which was accredited to the fact that as a self-taught drummer she had held the drumsticks incorrectly (even though it felt right to her) and sustained long term damage over time. Long-time friend Amy Cesari of the band The Demonics has been chosen to fill in for Castellano.

Tina Lucchesi

Tina Lucchesi is a drummer and a front woman, she also runs the Lipstick Records label and used to have a hair salon and vintage clothing store, Down at Lulu's. Here I would like to talk about all the bands she had after the Trashwomen.

Pimm, Zolot and Lucchesi from the Trashwomen along with Rusty Quan released a single under the name the Count Backwards; later, without Zolot, the other three formed The Bobbyteens. They bash out hormone-driven songs about boys, partying, and, well, boys again. The songs barely get past two minutes and the priority was rock & roll energy. With the addition of guitarist Lisa Schenberg, the Bobbyteens were born in 1995. The underground supergroup began to release 7" singles at a drag strip pace on Super Teem and Screaming Apple Records. The sound was and continues to be a bratty mess of classic girl-group wailing. The Runaways comparisons are obvious, but overall, the style and feel of all the Bobbyteens output reaches further back to 1960s groups like the Shangri-La's, albeit drenched in white noise feedback distortion. Like older, wiser, wilder sisters, the Bobbyteens showed fellow Bay-area rockers the Donnas a few tricks. 1998 saw the Bobbyteens' debut platter Fast Livin' & Rock 'N' Roll released by both Lucchesi's Lipstick Records and Seattle garage label Estrus, followed by 2000's Not So Sweet on Screaming Apple/Estrus. Both albums continue to glorify the lifestyle of wild youth. Their last album was Cruisin' for a Bruisin' in 2004 on Estrus.

Another band she fronted was Tina and The Total Babes. The “total babes” backing Lucchesi on lead vocals are Johnny O’Halloran (bass), Jacques Wait (guitar), and Travis Ramin (drums); Wait and Ramin also helped out in the studio as the engineer and producer, respectively. Their only album She’s So Tuff came out in 2001 on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label.  The campy front cover – with Tina Lucchesi wearing a button showing the album name and stretching a long string of bubble gum from her mouth – is perfect to illustrate the fun that is found on the music within. 

Then together with Erin McDermott, Justin Maurer and Larry Jackson she formed Deadly Weapons, releasing two EPs in 2003 and a Lp "Get Right In There" in 2004 on Jonny Cat Records.

She was also in several other bands, including Top Ten, the Glamour Pussies,  AC/DShe, Midnite Snaxxx and Cyclops.

Bikini Kill

Bikini Kill is an American punk rock band formed in Olympia, Washington, in October 1990. The group consists of singer 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, and was known for its radical feminist lyrics and fiery performances. Their music is characteristically abrasive and hardcore-influenced.

 

Hanna, Vail, and Wilcox met while attending The Evergreen State College in Washington. After an independent demo cassette, Revolution Girl Style Now!, Bikini Kill released the Bikini Kill EP on the indie label Kill Rock Stars. Produced by Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi, the album began to establish the band's audience. 

 

The band's debut album, Pussy Whipped, was released in September 1993. Bikini Kill toured in London, England to begin working with Huggy Bear, releasing a split album, Our Troubled Youth / Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, and touring the UK. The tour was the subject of a documentary film by Lucy Thane entitled It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill In The U.K. Upon their return to the United States, the band began working with Joan Jett of The Runaways, whose music Hanna described as an early example of the Riot Grrrl aesthetic. Jett produced the single "New Radio"/"Rebel Girl" for the band, and Hanna co-wrote several songs on Jett's Pure and Simple album.

The band's final album, Reject All American, was released in 1996. After the band's breakup in 1997, a compilation of singles recorded between 1993 and 1995 was released in 1998 under the name The Singles.

In 2017, Kathleen Hanna, Kathi Wilcox and Tobi Vail reunited to play one song at a book-release concert.

On the 15th of January 2019, Bikini Kill announced four U.S. shows, in New York and Los Angeles.The lineup for these show included Hanna, Wilcox, Tobi Vail and new guitarist Erica Dawn Lyle, who replaces Billy Karren in the lineup.The first show was April 25th at the Hollywood Palladium with Alice Bag as opener. In June the band played their only two European dates, in London at Brixton Academy.

 

L7

L7 is an American punk rock/grunge band from Los Angeles, California, first active from 1985 to 2001 and re-formed since 2014. The band was formed by Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner in 1985. A year prior, Gardner had performed backing vocals on the Black Flag song "Slip It In". The punk rock duo were joined by Jennifer Finch on bass guitar and Anne Anderson on drums. After Anderson quit the band, Demetra "Dee" Plakas became the permanent drummer in 1990.

Their eponymous debut studio album was released in 1988 by Epitaph Records. It demonstrates the band's punk rock origins, although there are traces of the heavier grunge sound that dominated their later work. Their second Lp, "Bricks Are Heavy" was released in 1992.

Their 1992 second album Bricks Are Heavy, produced by Butch Vig, was featured in Rolling Stone's May 1999 list of 'Essential recordings of the 1990s', and was their most successful release. Their 1992 single "Pretend We're Dead" spent 13 weeks on the US Alternative Songs chart, reached a high of No. 8 and made No 21 on the UK Singles Chart.

L7's third album, Hungry for Stink, was released in July 1994 and coincided with the Lollapalooza tour. Finch left the band during the recording of their next album. Sparks and Greta Brinkman played bass on the album The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum, after which Gail Greenwood – formerly of the band Belly – became the band's full-time bassist. In 1998, the pseudo-documentary L7: The Beauty Process was released, directed by Krist Novoselic. By 2001 L7 were no longer touring. According to the band's website, "L7 are on an indefinite hiatus. We know that's vague, but that's just the way it is. The future of the band is a bit up in the air at the moment." L7 appeared to be defunct for all practical purposes, but on December 10, 2014, L7 announced, on their official Facebook page, that they would be reuniting, featuring Donita Sparks, Suzi Gardner, Jennifer Finch and Demetra Plakas. The reunited band kicked off a European tour at Rock am Ring in Germany on June 6, 2015, followed by North American 2015 dates at Riot Fest in both Denver  and Chicago, and the Fun, Fun, Fun Festival in Austin, Texas.

The Trashwomen

The Trashwomen were a garage punk and surf punk trio from the San Francisco Bay Area signed to Estrus Records. Formed in 1991 by Tina Lucchesi and Dannielle Pimm, and former Bitch Fight & later, Eight Ball Scratch guitarist, Elka Zolot, the band formed originally to perform a one-off show of Trashmen covers.

The group quickly built a following in the San Francisco garage rock scene. The group's debut 1993 album on Estrus, Spend the Night With the Trashwomen was described by Allmusic as "a straight-up raw release of sleazy rock & roll".

This was followed by a live album the following year and a third album in 1994, Trashwomen Vs. Deep Space, the latter two also released on German label Pin Up Records, which also issued the 1994 EP The Trashwomen Invade Chinatown. The band split up in 1997 after a tour of Japan, feeling that the band had run its course, but reunited in 2007 for a performance, staying together into 2008 and did a reunion show at the Burge Boogaloo 2016. The band described themselves as "the Queens of Tease Rock".

I will make a new entry for Tina Lucchesi because she has been in many great bands.

Bibbe Hansen

Bibbe Hansen (born January 31, 1952) is an American performance artist, musician and actress. Hansen's parents were bohemian poet Audrey Ostlin Hansen and Fluxus artist Al Hansen, a participant in the Andy Warhol Factory. 

Hansen began her professional acting career as a child with the Saranac Lake Summer Theater in upstate New York. As a teenager in the mid-1960s, Hansen appeared in films by avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas. After a chance meeting with Andy Warhol, he invited her to collaborate on a film about her recent incarceration in various youth penal institutions. The result was Warhol's film Prison, co-starring Edie Sedgwick. She also appeared in Warhol's Restaurant, 10 Beautiful Girls, 10 More Beautiful Girls, and shot two of Warhol's Screen Tests.

In 1964, Hansen recorded an album on Laurie Records with Jan Kerouac in a band called The Whippets. The Whippets released a single on the Josie label called "Go Go Go With Ringo," which was a poppy tribute to the Beatles. The flip was called "I Want Talk To With You".

From 1990 through 1995, Hansen operated the Troy Café in Los Angeles with her husband, Sean Carrillo, and performed with singer and performance artist Vaginal Davis. She and Davis went on to form the satirical band Black Fag, named after, and poking fun at, the famous punk band Black Flag.

 

The Dinettes

The Dinettes formed in San Diego as The Cockpits in 1978 who, after a couple of line-up changes, coalesced around Cindy Brisco (drums), Doriot Negrette (vocals), Irene Liberatore-Dolan (drums), Joyce Rooks (guitar, vocals), Lisa Aston Emerson (guitar), and Sue Ferguson (keyboards) as The Dinettes.

The band played at the first Western Front punk festival in San Francisco, organized by Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra. In late 1979, the band released a single recorded at Accusound, “Poison” b/w “T.V.” They also recorded demos at Straighta Head Sound, and a live tape was later circulated from a November 1979 gig at the Deaf Club in San Francisco. 

Rooks split in 1980, and the Dinettes later allowed men to integrate the group, though they ultimately split for good around 1981. Lisa Aston (later Lisa Aston Emerson) continued to play punk with the Injections and Xterminators. Singer/drummer Irene Liberatore joined the Puppies with Dale Conover . Rooks joined Trowsers, a ska/reggae band as well as becoming a latterday member of the Penetrators.

Martha and the Muffins

Martha Johnson (born December 18, 1950) is a Canadian rock singer, keyboardist and songwriter. She is best known as the vocalist of the 1980s rock band Martha and the Muffins. She started her career playing the organ with cover band "Oh Those Pants". She then was part of Toronto band the Doncasters in the early 1970s.

Martha Jane Ladly is a Canadian academic, designer and musician. She is professor of design at OCAD University. Ladly also has had a long career as a musician and achieved international fame as part of rock band Martha and the Muffins. She had a solo career in the mid-1980s and then worked in design and education.

The group's initial line-up came together in Toronto in 1977, when David Millar asked his fellow Ontario College of Art student Mark Gane to help him start a band. Millar recruited Martha Johnson to play keyboards; Johnson brought in a friend from high school, Carl Finkle, to play bass; and Gane's brother Tim signed on as the drummer. With Millar and Mark Gane as guitarists, and Johnson as lead vocalist, this is the line up that debuted at an Ontario College of Art Hallowe'en party in October 1977. They chose the name "Martha and the Muffins" to distance themselves from the aggressive names adopted by many punk bands of the era. According to Mark Gane: "We decided to use it as a temporary name until we could all agree on something better." The name ended up sticking for the next seven years. Saxophone player Andy Haas began performing with the band in early 1978 (initially, as a guest artist). Founding-member Millar left the band shortly thereafter, preferring to work as the band's sound engineer for live shows. He was replaced by Martha Ladly, who had attended high school with the Ganes. She became the group's second keyboardist/vocalist named Martha, although Martha Johnson remained the group's primary lead singer. In 1978, they released their first independent single "Insect Love". This and a demo tape recorded in June 1978 quickly garnered them a recording deal with the Dindisc offshoot of Virgin Records.  

In 1979, the band travelled to England to record their first album Metro Music, which was released in 1980. The album was produced by Mike Howlett and recorded at The Manor Studios in Oxfordshire. This album gave Martha and the Muffins a major international hit single with "Echo Beach". Although the album didn't spawn any further hits, "Paint by Number Heart" did get some airplay on Canadian radio while "Saigon" and a further single "Suburban Dream" were played on BBC Radio 1. In addition, both songs received airplay on the American dance charts.

In October 1980, the band released their second album, Trance and Dance, which was less successful and didn't give the band any hit singles. Ladly left the band after the album was recorded (but before it was released) to pursue an art scholarship. Jean Wilson briefly replaced Ladly on tour in the latter part of 1980, but never recorded with the group. In 1981, bassist Finkle left the band and was replaced by Jocelyne Lanois, the sister of then-unknown record producer Daniel Lanois. After Jocelyne introduced the band to her brother, they figured Daniel was an ideal candidate to produce their next LP. However, in order to utilize his services as a co-producer, the band had to agree to Virgin Records' demand that, if they were going to insist on working with an unknown producer, they would also have to work with a lower recording budget.

Martha and the Muffins' 1981 album This Is the Ice Age, produced by Daniel Lanois and the band, was recorded in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario. More experimental than previous efforts, it also gained significant Canadian radio airplay from the singles "Women Around the World at Work" (a No. 24 hit in Canada, peaking on November 7 of the same year on the RPM national singles chart) and "Swimming". Shortly after the album's release, Tim Gane decided he did not want to tour, and left the band; he was replaced by new drummer Nick Kent. 

1983's Danseparc was produced by Daniel Lanois, Gane, and Johnson. Gane, eager to drop the name "Martha and the Muffins", proposed that the group be now called "M + M". In a compromise, both names were used for a time, and the Danseparc album cover had both "M + M" and "Martha and the Muffins" printed on it.  The album's title track was another top 40 single in Canada and, for the Danseparc tour, the group was augmented by auxiliary players including guitarist Michael Brook. At the end of the tour, Gane and Johnson (now a couple) announced that, although they wanted to continue as a recording act, they also wanted to branch out in new directions by using new collaborators. In essence, Gane and Johnson decided that "M + M" was now Martha + Mark, along with studio musicians and sidemen. 

Both Marthas released solo albums in the 80s and 90s.