These days, female-fronted bands are no big deal. But there was a time when an all-girl band (wow, doesn’t it sound dated to say it like that?) was an unusual thing.
An all-female punk band was even weirder. Can you name the first all-female punk band? The answer seems to be the Slits, a group formed in England formed during the era of the Sex Pistols and the Clash. Legend has it that two fourteen year-olds met each other at a London gig by punk godmother Patti Smith in 1976.
They hung out with the usual suspects of the time. In fact, it was Joe Strummer of the Clash that taught them how to play guitar. The Slits released a series of albums and singles before splitting up in 1981. By the way, Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols ended up marrying the mother of Slits lead singer, Ari Up. She’s the heiress to a German publishing fortune.