After last week's bumper edition of bands called Boys, this seemed the obvious next step. Not quite as many as there were for The Boys, but some of them may try your patience (even George!).
As Ernie K. Doe sang, Here Come The Girls...
THE GIRLS #1
LA garage band made up of 4 Sandoval sisters (no relation to Hope, I checked). Lead singer Margaret got a degree in Ethnomusicology and then became a social worker. They released two singles in the mid-60s, with this Mann/Weil composition being the most successful.
THE GIRLS #2
Sly Stone (or Sly Stewart as he was back then) wrote this tune for a group called The Girls, I'm guessing sometime in the mid-60s. No further information was diggable.
THE GIRLS #3
Greek 16 year olds who released only one single in 1966, although it appears to have made something of an impact. I can understand why, it's definitely got something which lifts it above the usual generic beat band sound.
THE GIRLS #4
1969. Ugh. Try to last more than 30 seconds.
THE GIRLS #5
This is much better. A nice, soulful little none hit wonder from 1970...
GIRLS #6
"Japan's first female rock band", say some sources. Big fans of the Runaways, apparently. This is from 1978...
THE GIRLS #7
Well, last week we had a bunch of Boys who were actually girls, so it's only fair that we have a band called The Girls who are actually four blokes who were studying Art History at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1979 when they put out this "Boho art-punk classic" (the youtuber also describes it as "seminal" too, but we won't go there).
THE GIRLS #8
Norway. 1981. Words fail me.
THE GIRLS #9
80s funk trio from Minneapolis led by Doris Ann Rhodes (we need more pop Dorises). Apparently, their "unusually erotic lyrics" might have held them back from mainstream success... I doubt that would be a hindrance these days.
Excuse me while I take a break for a cold shower. Or I could just listen to this...
THE GYRLZ #10
Terrible spelling. This sort of thing was deemed acceptable in 1988.
THE GIRLS #11
Hairy Swedish blokes from the early 90s...
THE GIRLS #12
More lads pretending to be lasses, from 2003. Beyond that, I can tell you very little.
THE GIRLS #13
Ditto the above, one year later.
GIRLS #14
More girls who are actually boys - this time, two grubby indie lads from San Francisco. Girls made quite a name for themselves back around 2009 / 2010, but I always thought it was a dumb band name in the internet age. Google "Girls" or even "Girls band" and you're really going to struggle for search engine optimisation.
GIRLS #15
Brazilian girl group formed in 2013. Not really my thing, but they signed to Sony, so they must be somebody's thing.
THE GIRLS! #16
A band I actually found worthy of the exclamation mark, this a 6-piece power pop band from Columbus Ohio put out one album in 2014. I suspect they might have packed it in soon after, since their website hasn't been updated in the last 7 years.
Good girls or bad girls? Which Girls are more fun?
I have 3 on one of the 'Greek hits of the 60s' compilations I picked up in the days when I visited Athens regularly. There is quite a lot of stuff on those albums inspired by the French ye-ye sound as this one is.
ReplyDeleteApart from 3 I quite liked 5, 11 and 16. I thought you were a bit harsh on 4. It is by no means perfect (geddit?) but compared to some of the later ones it is bearable. In the case of 9 I suspect it might be the lack of any discernible tune or talent that held them back as much as the racy lyrics.
I could listen to most of those if I was stuck in a lift without hitting the panic button, but 4 and 8 would have me screaming for an engineer.
DeleteHere goes, something to listen to whilst I have humus on toast for breakfast
ReplyDeleteI'm on tune #6 and have been unimpressed so far
ReplyDelete#7 is splendidly daft, a keeper. #8, the last time I saw so many redheaded girls was when I was at secondary school in scotland, and by the way that was a godawful cover version, and as I listen to the nonsense that is #10, I am wondering if YOU, Rol, listen to every song all the way through?? I quite like the silliness of #13, #14 is annoyingly twee with an annoying vocal and with a hugely irritating video. #15 might be the best of the Girls........but it's Detroit Cobras-lite #16 for me
ReplyDeleteWell, I certainly didn't listen to 4 or 8 all the way through. I did listen to 7 more than once though.
DeleteEnjoyed the last two
ReplyDeleteNo. 7 - love the feedback at the start and a great vocalist (and aren't the lyrics a little reminiscent of Jolene?) I can imagine it by the Ramones too.
ReplyDelete