Women who Defined Punk Rock

Before Avril Lavigne and the advent of "pop-punk," there existed a storied legacy of female punk icons.  Too much attention is given to Nancy of Sid and Nancy fame, who was not much more than a punk version of Yoko Ono.  Too many have been forgotten in the haze of calamitous punk history.  Here are but a few that should be on the radar for any serious lover of punk rock music and history.  

Brody Dalle: The Distillers/Spinnerette

If I had to survive with only five albums, one of them would have to be The Distillers-Sing Sing Death House. Tracks like, I am Reverent, and City of Angels, still--after hundreds of listens---resonate the true sound of rebellion to me and that feeling of oppression and modern plight.

I've heard countless people compare The Distillers to Hole, of Courtney Love fame, which is a very obtuse observation based on not much introspection. Dalle took her surname from Beatrice Dalle, an actress best known for her work in a film called Betty Blue, a French erotic "psycho-drama" released in 1986. 

 

Although she was born in Australia, she spent the majority of her life in America, and was motivated into music by bands such as the Beatles and Nirvana, and then later she gravitated to the punk-sound of bands like Discharge and Black Flag, to name a few. 

Dalle later moved on to form Spinnerette, a joint project between her and Allain Johannes. 

Once married to Rancid front-man Tim Armstrong, Dalle now is presumably enjoying her life with Queen of the Stone Age rocker Josh Homme and her two children.


  

Poly Styrene/Marianne Joan Elliott-Said: X-Ray Spex
 

Before she was one of the founding members of Punk music, Elliot was a hippy and a runaway. It wasn't until she saw the Sex Pistols in 1976 and thought "anyone can do that!" and forged the X-ray Spex. As Poly Styrene, Elliot was considered as Billboard magazine declared, "One of the least conventional lead singers ever to take stage." This of course was due to Elliot being of mixed-racial background, wearing braces, and several other things the general public was unused to.

 

Early in her career, the X-Ray Spex were derailed when Poly Styrene was misdiagnosed as a schizophrenic and sectioned by her mother (a British term for being sent to the nuthouse). It was later diagnosed that she was bi-polar. She started several projects after the X-Ray Spex, but they never resonated as strongly as did her original band. A strong advocate for woman's rights, Marianne worked on her blog and other musical projects up until her death, which came from a long battle with breast cancer in April of 2011. She will be missed.

Mia Zapata : The Gits
 

Mia Zapata was born in Ohio where she fell in love with music at any early age. By age 9 she had been playing piano and guitar. At age 21 Mia and some friends had formed The Gits, which was in reference to Monty Python's "Sniveling little rat-faced gits" skit. In 1989 The Gits relocated to Seattle Washington, which was the epicenter of the Grunge movement at the time. Always a bit more punk than "grunge," the Gits were often lumped into that sound by less-than-scholarly critics. 

 

The Gits released several albums that did fairly well, and they had a strong following in Seattle and around the world. The reputation was growing by the day until tragedy struck. Sadly, Mia Zapata became famous in the worst way when she was violently murdered on her way home from a bar in Seattle. She was raped, beaten, and died at the hands of an unknown assailant. Sources said that Zapata was wearing her headphones when she left, which suggested she didn't even hear her attacker coming. 

After years of DNA gathering and Trials, a fisherman named Jesus Mezquia, who had a long history of violence towards women, who lived only three blocks from Zapata's home, was tried and convicted of Zapata's murder. He received a scant 36 year sentence for snuffing out such a promising life.

Fay Fife/Sheilagh Hynde : The Revillos
  

The Revillos were formed in 1976 in Edinburgh Scotland. Although they were often considered glam and new-wave pop, many contend that their punki-ness. Around 1980 a rift formed in the band and Fay Fife and Eugene Reynolds left the band and formed The Revillos, due to contractual agreements, and those that stayed behind in the Rezillos changed the band's name to Shake. 

During the bands creation Fife was an Art Student at the prestigious Edinburgh College of Art, where she was watching the punk movement sweep the UK and creep slowly into Scotland. She cleaned ballrooms for work at the time, and saw many of the rising stars perform while she watched on with wide-eyed aspirations. In 2001 the Rezillos reformed and began touring again. They are still actively playing  shows and releasing albums.

Alice Bag/Alicia Armandariz The Bags
 

Alice bag was the lead singer of such legendary bands as The Bags, and Castration Squad. Born in L.A, Alicia was on the front lines of the L.A punk movement that grew to immense proportions in the late 70's. 

When Alicia Armandariz met another aspiring punk musician Patricia Morrison at an audition for Venus and the Razorblades, the two decided that they should form their own band, and thus the Bags was formed. They were originally called The Bags because they wore grocery bags on their heads as a gimmick, but this was short-lived when another soon-to-be-legendary punk rocker Darby Crash, jumped on stage and ripped a bag off of Alice Bag's head. The band along with Alice Bag were featured in the renowned punk film, Decline of Western Civilization. 

  

Today Alice Bag teaches at inner city schools and runs a very interesting blog called Diary of Bad Housewife. She has also written a book called "Violence Girl." which I look forward to getting a copy of.  

Have I left many out? God yes! There a hundreds out there, but I just wanted to put the spotlight on a few less-than well-known punks of in history. Joan Jett, Wendy O, Souxsie and the Banshees are all legends as well.