New Musical Obsession: Girlschool

A sporadic series celebrating old music that's new to me.

One of the great pleasures in life is discovering an old movie, book, or musical act that had previously escaped your eyes or ears and therefore was new to you. I had this experience recently with UK metal goddesses, Girlschool. I'd heard of Girlschool, but had no idea they've been recording and shredding in concert for over forty years now, or that they absolutely rocked. We're talking pedal to the metal, balls to the wall, hide small children, and turn it up to eleven rock.

Girlschool's Spotify station has been a wonderland of sonic pleasure so far. The girls of Girlschool--and while the roster has changed over the years, the classic lineup is Kim McAullife, Enid Williams, Denise Dufort, and the late, great Kelly Johnson--are kicking my arse and I love it. Thin Lizzy is the closest parallel I can think of to describe their sound. The pummeling yet absurdly melodic riffs are like crack for my cerebral cortex. Johnson's searing guitar solos are making me believe there might actually be a God--and it's definitely a woman. McAullife's jet-black shag-cut and pitch-perfect strong and sexy front-woman style is mesmerizing. Simply put, Girlschool is everything I want or need out of a rock band.

Women in rock have always been inherently more interesting to me, probably because for years the prevailing thought was that women couldn't possibly rock as hard as men. Rock and roll, at its core, is supposed to be subversive--"Stop playing that devil music or you'll go straight to hell," shouted many a conservative Christian parent over the years. Thus, women proving men wrong and rocking the hell out certainly carries its own special sort of subversive appeal to musicians and listeners alike. Gender in music shouldn't matter, but a band like Girlschool makes you firmly believe that women just do it better.

For those about to rock, Girlschool will most assuredly rock you. They have style and panache to spare, and craft powerful, seductive, life-affirming pop-metal-punk aural landscapes. They just show up, plug in, and blow the roof off the dump, as David Letterman used to say. It's intoxicating to marvel at their live performances on YouTube, or take a long walk on a beautiful summer day while blasting "Play Dirty," "Future Flash" "Crazy," "The Hunter," or "Hit and Run," feeling in that moment like everything is right with the world. That's the power of music. That's the power of Girlschool.

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Realweegiemidget ReviewsJuly 10, 2019 at 9:21 AM
Hi there,

Just a wee message to officially congratulate you on this blogging award - look forward to hearing your nominations and answers for these questions,

https://weegiemidget.wordpress.com/more-2/my-blogging-awards/sunshine-blogger-award/

Gill from Realweegiemidget Reviews
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