F.L.O.M. (Forgotten Ladies of Metal)
The Deciblog’s salute to the unsung women who allow us to say “hey, it’s not a total sausage party” and technically not be lying.
Lee Aaron
I’ve never heard a Lee Aaron song in my life. I don’t think I even know anyone who’s ever heard a Lee Aaron song. Yet somehow her name is inextricably linked to ‘80s metal magazines in my mind, so someone must have heard her. Or maybe not. If I had to guess (which I don’t, because I could go to Wikipedia and YouTube and know everything I need to know in 10 seconds, but I’m still going to), I’d guess that she was some kinda MOR “rock” that just barely nudged at “hard rock.” My theory is that she was accepted into the metal pantheon just because she was female, so that when magazines had to list the best or sexiest female metal musicians, there was somebody besides Lita Ford and Doro Pesch. She was probably Canadian, and maybe looked a little like a “metal chick.” Let’s find out if I’m right.
Lee Aaron (born as Karen Lynn Greening on July 21, 1962 in Belleville, Ontario) is a Canadian rock and jazz singer known as “The Queen of Metal in Canada”. She had several hits with titles such as “Metal Queen”, “Whatcha Do to my Body”, and “Sex with Love”. Aaron is now entirely devoted to jazz singing.
Did I fucking call it or what? Now, let’s break the shameful cycle of nobody ever actually hearing a Lee Aaron song. Together. Shit, it’s called “Metal Queen,” it might not be as MOR as I thought.
Betsey Bitch
When you’re 12 years old, the cover of Bitch’s Be My Slave will give you pause every time you’re flipping through a rack of metal LPs. But let’s compare the cover of the Damnation Alley EP from ’82 with that of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ first EP. LAWSUIT!
Cycle Sluts From Hell
Finally, someone whose music I’ve actually heard a little, if only the “Wish You Were a Beer” video on Beavis & Butthead. The Cycle Sluts were more notable for appearing on talk-show blowhard Morton Downey Jr.’s show on metal, alongside Joey Ramone, Ace Frehley, Scott Ian and others, and for being the female equivalent of Circus of Power. Or maybe Zodiac Mindwarp, I don’t know anymore.
Mythic
Now we’re talking! Death/doom from Pittsurgh, maybe not so forgotten since Relapse reissued their Mourning in the Winter Solstice 7″ as part of Single Series Vol. 5. Rumor is that one of the ladies of Mythic was involved in serious white power bands and activities post-Mythic (they were from Pittsburgh, after all), but you can hear the three tracks from Mourning on the unofficial Mythic Myspace.
13
FUCK. YES. I had never actually heard 13 until I learned (just now) that they too have an unofficial Myspace, offering up selections from their splits with Grief and Eyehategod and from compilations Step on a Crack Vol. 2 and the series that gave J. Bennett’s Decibel column its name. I was mostly familiar with 13’s vocalist Alicia Morgan as an editor of Metal Maniacs when it was really fucking cool, but the stuff on Myspace is great. So’s this live video of “Wither” from ‘93.
For a much more comprehensive view of women in metal, Blood Sisters: Women in Heavy Music is as authoritative as it gets. Confidential to T.G.K. in Long Island: Please don’t kill me, thanks.
August 29th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Can I make an addendum and note that Liz Buckingham, later of Electric Wizard, was in 13? They rule.
Also, dude, what the fuck is up with that Pittsburgh comment? You seem to be confusing it with West Virginia or something. There is NO White Power scene in Pittsburgh. Not then, not now, never. Unless listening to Whitesnake and White Lion counts.
August 29th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
Shit, I had something in there about Sourvein/E-Wiz. Did I forget to include it? FUCK.
Honestly, I’ve heard Pittsburgh referred to as having a lot of white power activity by several people over the years.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
OK, the initial shock of having my hometown slagged off has passed. I guess Pittsburgh has a somewhat strong redneck-Klan presence. I’m sort of in denial. I actually remember seeing Klan graffiti on a swing set when I was growing up and saw a few crosses burning on hillsides. Still, for the sake of fair and balanced reporting, I would like to point out that the ‘burgh’s African-American population has an insanely rich history: most August Wilson plays are set here; The Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Greys are two of the greatest Negro League baseball teams ever; the Pittsburgh Pirates were the first MLB team to ever field an all non-white starting line-up; the Pittsburgh Courier was one of the fist African-American newspapers ever, and so on.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Does anyone else remember Nuclear Death? Something about period blood or something or another.
August 29th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Also, much love, AB. This was an awesome post. You didn’t even have to talk about Vixen!
August 29th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Liz B and I grew up together. She was one of my best friends in high school. i take all credit for turning her on the slayer and discharge when all she wanted to listen to was faster pussycat and cinderella. (don’t tell anyone though. i don’t want to damage her doom cred.)
August 30th, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Great post, AB!
Talking about the F.L.O.M. brings Karyn Crisis to mind. Not only did she front the germinal art metal band Crisis in the 90s, she provided the female voice on Six Feet Under’s “Sick and Twisted” (01′), a track, considered by some, to be the first male/female Death Metal duet. Runhilde from Thorr’s Hammer and Sabine from Holy Moses also come to mind. And, if you like the gals from the “Sound of Hollywood Girls” comp, you can’t forget Anne Boleyn from Hellion.
Lori Bravo, from Nuclear Death, is still doing her thing and talking about some of the more creative uses for menstrual blood on the Internet. You can check out one of her blogs on her LiveJournal page, loribravoraped6.livejournal.com/profile
August 30th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Oh shit, Annie? HEY!
I swear that I had Lori Bravo written down to include in this, but then I forgot and by the time I was done it was already getting kinda long. Nuclear Death will just have to get their own post down the line.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
Great post, 13 are fantastic, they need to re-release their shit on cd.