The pioneering ladies who kicked down the door for women in metal
In the US, UK, and Australia, March is designated as Women’s History Month, which means it’s a good time to talk about the contributions women have made (and continue to make) to heavy metal music.
For years, metal was almost exclusively played by men for a mostly male audience. Thankfully, though women are still underrepresented, that dynamic seems to be changing for the better in recent years. Women now make up a sizable segment of the metal audience. Even more encouraging is the fact that loads of female musicians have been forming and joining bands of their own, creating exciting new music and bringing a much needed feminine energy and aesthetic.
Still, change comes slowly in the metal world, and it hasn’t been easy for women to break into the head-banging boys club. Some metal fans don’t like to admit it, but sexism and objectification have been prevalent in the scene since the genre’s inception. Fortunately, starting in the 70’s and continuing to this day, enough talented and badass women decided to raise their middle fingers to the chauvinists and carve out a space of their own in the metal landscape. Let’s take a look at some of the original Godmothers Of Metal:
THE RUNAWAYS
You cannot have a discussion about women in metal without first acknowledging The Runaways. In the 70’s, rock bands comprised solely of women were still a rarity, and virtually unheard of in the hard rock world. In 1975, producer, songwriter, musician and certified fucking creep Kim Fowley had an idea to put together a band that he said would be “an all-girl answer to Grand Funk.” After a series of auditions, the first lineup of the new band was solidified, featuring Lita Ford on lead guitar, Joan Jett on rhythm guitar and vocals, Jackie Fox on bass, Sandy West on drums, and sixteen year old Cherie Currie on lead vocals (an earlier lineup featured Micki Steele on bass and vocals, who would later go on to greater success as a member of The Bangles). Fowley christened the new group The Runaways, and they released their self-title debut album in 1976. The band released three more studio albums and one live record before imploding in 1979.
The Runaways albums rocked hard, with an attitude and a swagger not unlike 70’s Aerosmith, and the simple, no frills riffing appealed to the punks as well. Their catchy hooks and choruses recalled the harder glam rock of The Sweet and Slade, and songs like “Queens Of Noise,” “Is It Day Or Night” and “Neon Angels On The Road To Ruin” definitely flexed some metal muscles.
Musical differences played a part in the band’s breakup, with Joan Jett wanting to further pursue a punk and glam path, while Lita Ford preferred a more hard rock/metal sound. Both would get their wishes in their respective solo careers, with Jett now regarded as something of a punk icon and a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Famer with a string of hits, and Ford finding success with the hair metal crowd in the 80’s with songs like “Kiss Me Deadly.”
Never a huge success in America, The Runaways nevertheless left a lasting impact with their music, not to mention their very existence as perhaps the first all female hard rock band. And their brash and bratty debut single “Cherry Bomb” is a garage metal classic every bit as important as “Smoke On The Water” for it’s ability to still inspire young women (and men) to pick up their own instruments and make their own racket.
GIRLSCHOOL
Truly embracing heavy metal in a way that the Runaways never really did, British band Girlschool more than held their own against their male contemporaries during the rough and tumble years of what became known as the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal.
Formed as an all-girl cover band called Painted Lady in 1975 by school friends Kim McAuliffe (guitar, vocals) and Enid Williams (bass), they began playing local clubs in South London. Regarding the group’s gender, McAuliffe explained in a 1997 interview: "The reason we were all girls was we couldn’t find any blokes who wanted to play with us! This was the natural thing to do."
After a series of line-up changes (including one that briefly included visiting American and future Go-Go Kathy Valentine), the band broke up. But McAuliffe and Williams weren’t ready to give up on music yet, so they formed a new band, adding Kelly Johnson on lead guitar and vocals and Denise Dufort on drums. They took the name Girlschool from the Paul McCartney & Wings song “Girl’s School,” B-side of the hit “Mull Of Kintyre.”
In 1978, the band recorded and released their first independent single “Take It All Away,” which managed to get a little airplay on British radio. One of the people who heard it was Lemmy Kilmister, legendary bassist and vocalist for Motorhead. He went to see the band perform live and was so impressed, he offered them the opening slot on Motorhead’s upcoming tour. They accepted, the tour was a success, and Girlschool was soon signed to Bronze records.
They released their debut album Demolition in 1980. Ably capturing the band’s raw, energetic street-metal sound, the album was a modest success. Second album Hit And Run, released in 1981, did even better, peaking at number five on the UK album charts. Their headlining UK tours were now regularly selling out mid-sized arenas, and they were invited to play larger venues as guests of bands like Black Sabbath and Rush. The third album Screaming Blue Murder was less successful, but the accompanying tour saw the band play in America for the first time as opening act for Iron Maiden and Scorpions in 1982.
Still, Girlschool had yet to break big in America. 1983’s Play Dirty album was meant to rectify that situation, featuring a much more polished production and a commercial sound on par with Def Leppard’s massively successful Pyromania LP. The change in style did not sit well with longtime fans and, poorly promoted in America by the record company, the album failed to live up to management’s expectations. Numerous line-up changes would follow (including the departure of Kelly Johnson), and a brief pivot to a hair metal sound on the next album landed with a thud. Though they returned to their classic sound for the next two records, the damage was already done, and Girlschool limped into the nineties running on fumes and almost ready to call it quits.
However, numerous CD compilations of their hit singles kept the band in the public consciousness, and constant gigging kept them in demand as a live act. They released a self-produced self-titled album in ‘92, and Kelly Johnson returned to the fold a year later. They toured regularly throughout the 90’s, and high profile appearances at prominent European metal festivals sparked renewed interest in Girlschool. In addition to touring, they wrote new material and entered the studio to record a new album in 1998. Sadly, while Kelly Johnson did play on the record, she would leave the band again in 1999 before the album’s completion after being diagnosed with spinal cancer (she passed away in 2007). Touring commitments and more line-up changes caused further delays, and the album, called 21st Anniversary: Not That Innocent was finally released in 2003.
Five more albums have followed since, and the band remains active today. In fact, over the course of their 40+ year career, Girlschool have never officially broken up, and guitarist Kim McAuliffe and drummer Denise Dufort have been a part of every single line-up and played on every release, making Girlschool the longest running all-female rock band in history. Their latest album WTFortyfive? was released last year, and the band will embark on what they say will be their final tour of America later this month. Legends!
BETSY “BITCH” WEISS
Los Angeles band Bitch was formed in 1980 by guitarist David Carruth and drummer Robby Settles. Carruth was a metal fan who particularly enjoyed NWOBHM bands like Iron Maiden, Saxon and Angel Witch. Settles was a punk fan who loved the Dictators. When the two decided to form a band, they chose the name Bitch, and it was originally intended to be an-all male group. However, Carruth was becoming fascinated with female-fronted punk and new wave bands like the Pretenders, and both musicians were intrigued by the idea of trying something similar, but making it heavier.
At first, they toyed with the idea of having a male singer and adding a female guitarist. But when they placed an ad for a singer in the local musicians’ classifieds, a young lady named Betsy Weiss responded. Betsy already had experience singing and recording with other local bands, and was a fan of Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper and The Runaways, among others. When Carruth and Settles heard and saw Betsy, they decided a female singer was the way to go, and, with the addition of bassist Kevyn Redwine, Bitch was born.
Carruth had befriended Brian Slagel, founder of a new (and soon to be legendary) label called Metal Blade Records. Brian was looking for songs to include on a new compilation album he was hoping to release that would spotlight up-and-coming unsigned metal bands. He offered Bitch a slot on the record if they could record a demo. They did, and Brian chose their song “Live For The Whip” for inclusion on the new comp, which he released in 1982. Called Metal Massacre, it was the first ever release on Metal Blade Records (it’s also famous for containing a song called “Hit The Lights,” the first original song ever recorded by a then tiny little unknown band called Metallica).
Brian signed Bitch to the new label and released their debut EP Damnation Alley later that year, followed by their first full-length album Be My Slave in 1983. These early releases were fast, raw and a little punky in spots, with a buzz-saw guitar sound, minimal production, and Betsy’s raspy voice singing lyrics that often included overt S&M themes.
On tour for the first album, Bitch started to make a name for themselves in the LA scene thanks in large part to their outrageous live shows. Inspired by Alice Cooper, Betsy created a new on-stage persona, adopting the name Betsy Bitch and dressing as a leather-clad dominatrix. Putting a twist on the stereotypical heavy metal tropes of female objectification and sexism, Bitch’s live shows often featured a segment where Betsy would humiliate a male “slave” onstage. Needless to say, this caused a bit of controversy, and the band soon found themselves one of the targets of Tipper Gore’s infamous PMRC record labelling campaign. The Be My Slave album cover was even shown in a televised US senate hearing, with Bitch being cited as one of the bands whose lyrics could “encourage sexual violence.”
Management issues delayed the release of the second album The Bitch Is Back until 1987, four years after the debut. However, the unintentional free publicity provided by the senate hearings and the PMRC actually helped to raise the band’s public profile, and the album became their biggest seller.
Still, large-scale commercial success never happened for Bitch. In an attempt to appeal to a more mainstream audience with a more toned-down approach, they changed their name to Betsy and released one album under that moniker in 1988 featuring a glammed-up Weiss on the front cover. There were musical changes too; gone were the speedy riffs and S&M lyrics, replaced instead by slower, more melodic hard rock songs dressed up in a glossy, echo-laden big 80’s production sheen. Betsy dropped her raspy yowl as well, adopting a melodramatic sort of dollar store Pat Benatar style. It was an obvious attempt to court the hair-metal crowd, and it failed miserably. A hastily assembled EP called A Rose By Any Other Name appeared in 1989, and it remains the final release by the band.
Bitch continued to perform live off and on throughout the 90’s, and the classic line-up played their final show in 2003. David Carruth quit shortly thereafter, and drummer Robby Settles died of leukemia in 2010. Betsy has continued to play live under the Bitch name sporadicly throughout the 2000s with various new line-ups, and there has been some talk of her recording a new Bitch album, but so far, there are no definitive details or any sort of concrete timeline. Meanwhile, Bitch’s music is being re-discovered and re-evaluated by a new generation of metal-heads, punks, garage rock revivalists and fans of L.A. sleaze metal.
Whatever happens next, Betsy’s metal legacy is assured thanks to her unique voice, creativity, and her fearless, one-of-a-kind on-stage persona. A badass Bitch indeed!
ROCK GODDESS
South London sisters Jody and Julie Turner began playing music together when they were just thirteen and nine years old, respectively. Jody sang and played guitar while Julie played drums. They decided to form a band with their older high school friend Tracey Lamb on bass, and the trio rehearsed in a practice space next to their dad’s music shop. Dad also became their manager and helped the girls book their fist gigs. Word soon spread about the schoolgirl rockers, now dubbed Rock Goddess, and they were asked to record and contribute a song (“Make My Night”) to an all-female compilation album called Making Waves. They eventually attracted the attention of A&M records, who signed the band in 1982.
Rock Goddess recorded and released their self-titled debut album in 1983. The record was heavy, but with a bit of pop sensibility in its production (as evidenced by the singalong choruses and occasional handclaps). Critics and fans responded favorably, and the record made it onto the UK album charts. Lead single “Heavy Metal Rock ‘n’ Roll” also made a dent on the UK singles chart. However, Julie Turner was still a minor and attending high school at the time, which limited the amount of live shows she could take part in. Frustrated, Tracey Lamb quit the band (she would briefly join Girlschool in 1987).
Lamb was replaced by Dee O’Malley, and the band recorded and released their second album Hell Hath No Fury in October of ‘83. The album did well, and the video for the single “I Didn’t Know I Loved You (‘Til I Saw You Rock And Roll)” got some airplay on MTV in America. The tour for the album saw Rock Goddess opening for Iron Maiden and Def Leppard in the UK, as well as headlining their own shows. Unfortunately, just before they were about to embark on their first American tour, Dee O’Malley announced that she was pregnant and had to leave the band. They left A&M records before a third album could be completed.
O’Malley was replaced by Julia Longman, and Becky Axton joined on keyboards. Now a quartet, the band entered the studio and recorded the album Young And Free, which was eventually released on the tiny French label JID in 1987. However, the album was only released in France and quickly disappeared. The band broke up a few months later.
In 2013, the original line-up of the Turner sisters and Tracey Lamb announced a reunion, with the intention of recording a new Rock Goddess album. Though a full length album never materialized, they did manage to release a new three song EP called It’s More Than Rock And Roll in 2017. Lamb quit the band for a second time in 2018 (once again re-joining Girlschool). She was replaced by Jenny Lane, and a new full length album called This Time was finally recorded and released in 2019.
Rock Goddess disbanded for good in 2022, but the legacy they left proves that in metal, your age or your gender doesn’t matter…as long as you can rock.
LEE AARON
Ontario native Karen Lynn Greening was born in 1962 and stated singing in school productions at the age of five. At fifteen, she joined a local rock band as a keyboardist, saxophonist and backup singer. The members of the band weren’t sure what to call their group at first, so they threw a bunch of names into a hat and combined two that were randomly chosen because they sounded good together. “Lee Aaron” was the result, and Karen soon became lead vocalist. Like Alice Cooper, she adopted the name Lee Aaron as her stage name.
When she decided to pursue a solo career, Lee worked with some well-known area musicians to put together an album, including members of the band Moxy and Rik Emmett of Triumph, who co-produced and played guitar on one track. The album was released as The Lee Aaron Project in 1982 on the small Canadian label Freedom Records. Its radio friendly melodic hard rock sound got some attention in her home country and in the UK, where she was invited to perform at the Reading Festival later that year.
However, it was the follow-up album in 1984 that introduced Lee to the metal masses, and earned her a five album deal with Attic Records (early home to Triumph and Anvil, among others). Inspired by a sequence from the animated science fiction film Heavy Metal, she wrote a song that was meant to be an anthem of female empowerment. Thinking that the song wasn’t one of the better tracks recorded during the sessions, Lee assumed it would end up as a “deep cut” on the album. However, management and the record label saw a marketing opportunity. The song, “Metal Queen,” became the album’s title track, with Lee clad in a fur loincloth and brandishing a giant sword on the front cover. She wore the same outfit in the video for the song, which got a bit of airplay on MTV in America, and was in heavy rotation on Canada’s MuchMusic video channel. The Metal Queen album had a much harder edge than the debut, and her new label Attic was now aggressively marketing Lee to the heavy metal audience.
Lee toured extensively in Canada and Europe, with occasional appearances in the US and Japan. She released her third album Call Of The Wild in 1985 (executive produced by Bob Ezrin, well known for his work with Alice Cooper, KISS and Pink Floyd), and she was the opening act on Bon Jovi’s European tour later that year. A more commercial sounding self-titled album followed in 1987. Two years later, she released her most successful album Bodyrock, which went platinum in Canada and peaked at number 24 on the Canadian album charts. The single “Watcha’ Do To My Body” also did well, and the video for the song (which upended the typical music video cliches of the time by showing Lee fully clothed but surrounded by buff shirtless men) was nominated for Video Of The Year at the 1990 Juno awards.
Still, despite her success in Canada and Europe, Lee was hampered by her deal with Attic records. The label failed in their attempts to establish an American division, and they were never able to negotiate an American distribution deal. This meant that Lee Aaron albums were never released in the US, condemning her to little more than cult status in one of the world’s largest music markets. Understandably, Lee grew frustrated by the lack of greater international success, and released the half-hearted Some Girls Do album in 1991, her last for Attic records.
Picked up by A&M, she released one more hard rock album in 1994 called Emotional Rain, but she was growing tired of the “Metal Queen” tag that had dogged her for most of her career (she stopped playing the song live in the 90’s), and was growing bored within the constraints of hard rock and metal. She experimented with alternative rock by releasing an album under the name 2precious in 1996. Lee was listed by her given name as Karen Lynn Greening in the album’s credits, and the record started to get some radio airplay. However, by this time 80’s-style heavy metal had largely fallen out of fashion and was seen as deeply un-cool. So when programmers realized the singer was Lee Aaron, radio airplay dried up, despite the album’s alt-rock sound.
Lee abandoned rock altogether on her next album, a jazz and blues record called Slick Chick released in 2000, and another pop-jazz album followed in 2004. She toured for both albums with a set that mostly ignored her early hard rock hits, then decided to take a break from showbiz to start a family.
In 2007, she was invited to perform with Heart at Thunder Bay Rockfest in Canada. She accepted, recruited a new band, and put together a setlist featuring songs from all phases her career. Her set was a triumph, and helped Lee finally make peace with her “Metal Queen” past. In 2016, she released her first all rock album in nearly a decade called Fire And Gasoline. She’s released four more albums since, including her latest called Elevate in 2022. She continues to tour, and regularly makes appearances at metal festivals where, not surprisingly, “Metal Queen” always gets a rousing ovation.
Bow to the queen!
That’s it for now, but we’ll be saluting more Godmothers Of Metal in the coming weeks, so stay tuned. In The meantime, enjoy some tunes: