Superior Reputation cementing
Good Worth exploring Av o i d
Legacy
WACKEN/SPV, 2008
As its title implied, Legacy was an
album loaded with meaning. A
celebration of the band’s 30th
anniversary, it featured guest
stars including Tony Iommi,
Ronnie James Dio and members
of Motörhead past and present.
Most importantly, its title track
was an epitaph for Kelly Johnson.
The girls had a blast with their
famous friends: Lemmy and Kim
singing a raucous duet on Don’t
Talk To Me, ex-Motörhead
guitarist ‘Fast’ Eddie Clarke
blazing away on a version of the
’Head classic Metropolis, Dio and
Iommi adding a little black magic
to I Spy. Even the song for Kelly
was upbeat – written by Jackie
Chambers, but filled with her
bandmates’ warm memories.Guilty As Sin
UDR, 2015
The band’s current line-up has
not been prolific, making only
three original studio albums in 15
years. But in all of those albums,
much ass has been kicked.
Before Legacy there was 2004’s
Believe, its positive energy typified
by We All Love To (Rock ‘N’ Roll),
an anthem worthy of Joan Jett.
And most recently there was
Guilty As Sin, in which the longest
running female rock band of all
time proved there was still plenty
of gas in the tank.
The album’s best track, Take It
Like A Band, was reassuringly
familiar, another hard and fast
homage to Motörhead. The only
weak spot was a heavy-handed
cover of the Bee Gees’ disco
floor-filler Stayin’ Alive.Running Wild
MERCURY, 1985
Girlschool made only one album
as a five-piece, and it was, as Kim
McAuliffe later admitted,
“rubbish”. After Kelly Johnson
quit, McAuliffe recruited lead
guitarist Cris Bonacci and singer
Jackie Bodimead. But the
remodeled Girlschool, with
a glammed-up image and
Americanised sound, failed
miserably. Aimed squarely at the
US market, Running Wild was
equal parts empty-headed hair
metal and soft-focus AOR. Its
cliché-ridden songs reeked of
desperation, as did a lousy cover
of Kiss’s Do You Love Me?
The album stiffed in the US and
wasn’t even released in the UK. It
would take years of graft for their
credibility to be restored.Play Dirty
BRONZE, 1983
It was a bold move that didn’t pay
off; a slick-sounding album that
alienated many fans and derailed
the band’s career. But for Denise
Dufort, Play Dirty is their best
record. And its title track is their
greatest anthem. The girls’ love of
70s glam rock was writ large on
an album produced by Jim Lea
and Noddy Holder of Slade, and
featuring covers of two minor
Slade songs plus a noisy rendition
of the T.Rex classic 20th Century
Boy. But the production was very
80s, and while that worked
brilliantly on the Def Leppard-
inspired Going Under and that
super-sized title track, the album
still tanked. Worst of all, it led to
Kelly Johnson’s departure.Screaming Blue
Murder
BRONZE, 1982
On the third album there was
a new face in the band, with Gil
Weston replacing Enid Williams
on bass, and a change of
producer from Vic Maile to Nigel
Gray. But if Gray seemed an odd
choice for Girlschool – his
previous clients included The
Police – Screaming Blue Murder hit
as hard as the two albums the
band made with Maile. The title
track had an urgent momentum
and killer lead guitar from Kelly.
There was much piss and vinegar
in Take It From Me, reminiscent of
Aerosmith’s Draw The Line;
cockiness in a cover of the
Stones’ Live With Me; and a touch
of pop genius in Don’t Call It Love.
Girlschool
COMMUNIQUÉ, 1992
According to Cris Bonacci, the
guitarist who replaced Kelly
Johnson in Girlschool in 1984,
this eighth album had a working
title combining feminism and
rock’n’roll attitude in two words:
‘No Bollocks’. Instead, the music
became a statement in itself. In
1992, as grunge gave rise to
a new generation of women in
rock, Girlschool delivered one of
their heaviest albums.
There was nothing ‘alternative’
about it – just rock, as the girls
ripped it up on My Ambition and
attempted to out-Motörhead
Motörhead on the cataclysmic
Can’t Do That. It was Bonacci’s
last album with the band, and she
went out on a high.Essential
PlaylistDemolition Boys
DemolitionRace With The
Devil
DemolitionEmergency
DemolitionPlease Don’t
Touch
St. Valentine’s Day
Massacre E.P.Hit And Run
Hit And RunC’mon Let’s Go
Hit And RunYe a h R ig ht
Hit And RunScreaming Blue
Murder
Screaming Blue MurderTake It From Me
Screaming Blue MurderDon’t Call It
Love
Screaming Blue MurderPlay Dirty
Play DirtyGoing Under
Play DirtyAll Day, All
Night
Nightmare At Maple
CrossBack For More
Nightmare At Maple
CrossKnife
21st Anniversary: Not
That InnocentA Love Too Far
21st Anniversary: Not
That InnocentWe All Love To
(Rock ‘N’ Roll)
Believe21st Anniversary:
Not That
Innocent
COMMUNIQUÉ, 2002
Due to lengthy delays, this album
was actually released on the 22nd
anniversary of the band’s debut.
Even so, it has great significance
and poignancy, as Kelly Johnson’s
swansong. Johnson retired from
the band during the making of
the album, as did Tracey Lamb,
who served stints as bassist in
the 80s and 90s. While recording
was eventually completed with
Enid Williams returning on bass
and Jackie Chambers on lead
guitar, the standout tracks are
those Johnson left behind: Mad
Mad Sister and Knife, two
powerful modern rock songs, and
A Love Too Far, a beautiful ballad.Nightmare At
Maple Cross
GWR, 1986
After two albums of polished
mainstream rock, Play Dirty and
Running Wild, Girlschool got back
to basics with Nightmare At
Maple Cross. McAuliffe handled
all lead vocals following the exit
of Jackie Bodimead, singer on
Running Wild, and Vic Maile
returned as producer for an
album as raw as their first.
This no-frills approach yielded
wonderfully loud and snotty
tunes like All Day, All Night and
Back For More. And while another
glam rock cover, of Mud’s Tiger
Feet, was lame, it was less
regrettable than the one chosen
for the US release – a duet with
Gary Glitter on his signature song
I’m The Leader Of The Gang (I Am).
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