L7 (band)

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L7 is a rock music all-women band. The band was formed in 1985 by Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner, who were later joined by Jennifer Finch and Dee Plakas. They signed to Epitaph Records for their first album and to Sub Pop in 1989. The name is taken from a slang phrase from the 1950s which means "square," but is often mistaken for a reference to a sex position, also called "69".

In 1991 the band formed Rock For Choice, a Pro-Choice women's rights group which was supported by other bands of that era, including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage Against The Machine. Rock for Choice still exists and organizes concerts today. [link]

Their 1992 album Bricks Are Heavy, produced by Butch Vig, featured in Rolling Stone's May 1999 list of 'Essential recordings of the 1990s', and is widely considered their classic.Rivadavia, Ed. "[Bricks Are Heavy: Review]". All Music Guide. Retrieved July 11, 2005. [link]

The band gained a certain amount of notoriety for their performance at the 1992 Reading Festival, when Donita Sparks removed her tampon on-stage and threw it into the crowd in protest against the missiles being thrown by the crowd. In the UK, the band are most famous/notorious for an appearance on the popular late-night entertainment programme The Word, in which Sparks pulled her pants down to reveal her pubic area. During a live show in London in 2000, the band offered a one night stand with Dee Plakas as a raffle prize, the winner claimed his prize of sex with her on the tour bus.

The band's most recent album Slap Happy, was released in 1999, and did not chart on either side of the Atlantic ocean. According to the band's website, "L7 are on an indefinite hiatus. We know that's vague, but that's just the way it is. The future of the band is a bit up in the air at the moment." Finch announced she was no longer a member of the band at the time, and both she and Sparks have moved on to other musical projects, so the band appears to be defunct for all practical purposes.

The band made an appearance in the 1994 John Waters film Serial Mom under the name "Camel Lips", a reference to the visual imprint of a woman's vulva in the crotch of too-tight jeans. The song Shitlist appears on the soundtracks of the films Natural Born Killers & Pet Semetary II and Pretend We're Dead appears on the soundtrack.

Current Members:

• Donita Sparks - guitars/vocals (founding member)
• Suzi Gardner - guitars/vocals (founding member)
• Janis Tanaka - bass (2000 -)
• Demetra Plakas - drums (1988 -)

• Jennifer Finch - bass/vocals (1987 - 1996)
• Gail Greenwood - bass (1996 - 1999)
• Roy Koutsky - drums (1987 - 1988)

Discography

• L7 (1988)
• Smell The Magic (1990)
• Bricks Are Heavy (1992) (Their best selling and most critically acclaimed album)
• Hungry For Stink (1994)
• (1997)
• ((Off The Wagon/Guera)) (1997) (Slash/Reprise)
• (1998)
• Slap-Happy (1999)
• The Slash Years (2000)[Greatest hits album]

References