Girlschool are a British heavy metal band originating out of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal scene in 1978 and frequently associated with contemporaries Motörhead. They are the longest running all-female rock band, still active after more than 35 years. Formed from a school band called Painted Lady, Girlschool enjoyed strong media exposure and commercial success in the UK in the early 1980s with three albums of punk-tinged metal and a few singles, but rapidly lost their momentum in the following years. In the 1990s and 2000s, they concentrated their efforts on live shows and tours, reducing considerably the production of studio albums. During their long career, Girlschool travelled all over the world, playing in many rock and metal festivals and co-headlining with or supporting some of the most important hard rock and heavy metal bands. They maintain a worldwide cult following and are considered an inspiration for many succeeding female rock musicians. Despite frequent changes of line-up, original members Kim McAuliffe, Enid Williams and Denise Dufort are still in the band to this day. The only original member no longer in the band, lead guitarist and singer Kelly Johnson, died of cancer in 2007.
Links To Peel []
In an interview with Full In Bloom Music, Kim McAuliffe of the band described how they met John Peel in 1978: [1]
"A friend of ours started up his own record company City Records and asked if we wanted to do a single. Of course we said yes and there we were one afternoon in Soho in a dingy basement that smelled damp recording our first single! I remember it was a really sunny day and as we came up out of the dark cellar blinking in the sunlight there was John Peel, the great DJ, standing there chatting to someone from the studio who then introduced us to him! He then went on to play our single on his radio 1 show!"
However, after the fad of New Wave of British Heavy Metal, Peel stopped playing many of the bands from that genre including Def Leppard and Iron Maiden.
Other Shows Played[]
Girlschool - Emergency (1981) Bronze Rocks
(The following list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further details if known.)
- 1979
- 13 February 1979: Take It All Away (7") City NIK 6
- 20 February 1979: Take It All Away (7") City NIK 6
- 1980
- 31 January 1980: Emergency (single) Bronze
- 07 February 1980: Emergency (7") Bronze
- 22 May 1980: Nothing To Lose (7") Bronze BRO 95
- 28 May 1980: Nothing To Lose (7") Bronze BRO 95
- 31 May 1980 (BFBS): Nothing To Lose (7") Bronze BRO 95
- 10 June 1980: Nothing To Lose (7") Bronze BRO 95
- 01 July 1980: Midnight Ride (LP - Demolition) Bronze
- 07 July 1980: Race With The Devil (7") Bronze
- 08 July 1980: Emergency (LP - Demolition) Bronze
- 21 July 1980: Deadline
- 1981
- 05 February 1981 (with Motorhead): Please Don't Touch (7" EP - St. Valentine's Day Massacre) Bronze BRO 116
- 10 February 1981 (with Motorhead): Please Don't Touch (7" EP - St. Valentine's Day Massacre) Bronze BRO 116
- 15 April 1981: Kick It Down (album - Hit And Run) Bronze BRO 2045 (JP - if you've got to have heavy metal, let it be like this)
- 23 April 1981: The Hunter (album - Hit And Run) Bronze BRON 534