(Translated from
my original Italian text by Emma Schertz)
The all-female British group the Slits
(Viv Albertine, guitar; Ari Upp Forster, vocals; Tessa Pollitt, bass; Palmolive,
drums), formed in the 1976 punk rock era, was something of an ancestor to “riot
grrrl” and foxcore movements, which would explode in America ten years later.
In contrast with the female groups that had preceded them, from the Runaways to
the Go-Gos, the Slits took themselves seriously and were taken seriously.
Instead of parodying male groups, their early singles
Number One Enemy , Man Next Door and In The Beginning
coined a ferocious punk-rock inspired by problems that women face.
It was therefore a shock to hear Cut
(Antilles, 1979), a much more musical album thanks to drummer Budgie of Siouxsie
Sioux, who followed the Clash’s lead in rediscovering Jamaican music, and
transformed punk rage into quasi New Age spirituality (Love And Romance,
Typical Girls, Newtown, Ping Pong Affair).
Return Of The Giant Slits
(CBS, 1981) would prove even worse, attempting to turn the Slits into a
commercial world-music group.
Ari Upp Forster and Tessa Pollitt
reformed the group to record the EP Revenge of the Killer Slits (2007)
and the album Trapped Animal (2009) that sounded like collections of
leftovers.
Slits (Y, 1980) contains home recordings of the early days.
Ari Upp Forster and Tessa Pollitt reformed the group to record the EP
Revenge of the Killer Slits (2007) and the album
Trapped Animal (2009) that sounded like collections of leftovers.
Slits (Y, 1980) contains home recordings of the early days.
