L7 weren't from Seattle.
Let's get that out of the way first.
Los Angeles.
Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner started the band down there in ’85, years before anybody figured out they could sell flannel shirts for sixty bucks.
By the time Jennifer Finch and Dee Plakas were in the lineup, L7 already sounded like L7.
Loud guitars. Punk. Metal. Cheap jokes. Bad attitudes.
Whatever.
They didn't need Seattle to teach them any of that.
I first really got into them through Smell the Magic.
That was the Sub Pop connection.
Somebody at the store back in Queens had a copy, and the first thing that got me was “Shove.”
That guitar sound.
Jesus.
“Fast and Frightening” was even better.
Then I noticed where some of the record had been recorded.
Reciprocal.
Seattle.
Jack Endino.
Of course.
I'm starting to think that guy was legally required to appear somewhere on every record I bought around 1991.
Then Bricks Are Heavy came out in ’92.
That was different.
Butch Vig producing. Slash Records. Videos on MTV.
And “Pretend We're Dead” was suddenly everywhere.
I bought the record before I moved out here and played the hell out of it.
“Wargasm.”
“Everglade.”
“Slide.”
“Shitlist.”
Especially “Shitlist.”
That's still one of the great songs to put on when somebody has pissed you off and you don't feel like pretending you're above it.
By the time I got to Seattle later that year, L7 made perfect sense around here even though they weren't from here.
That's something people get backwards now.
L7 didn't sound like Seattle because they were following Seattle.
They'd already been doing their own version of this stuff for years.
Seattle just happened to be one of the places that understood it.
They'd released Smell the Magic through Sub Pop. They knew people up here. They played with the same bands. And when the whole Northwest thing exploded, suddenly everybody wanted to put L7 in the same box.
Fine.
It's a big box.
One of the things I respected most about them had nothing to do with records anyway.
In ’91 L7 helped start Rock for Choice with the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Benefit shows for abortion rights.
Nirvana played.
Pearl Jam played.
Joan Jett played.
A whole pile of bands got involved over the years.
L7 didn't just complain about something and write a song about it.
They actually organized.
That's worth remembering.
And here's another thing.
People spent a ridiculous amount of time talking about L7 being women.
All-female band.
Women in rock.
Women playing heavy music.
Like somebody had discovered a dog driving a car.
Listen to the fucking records.
Hungry for Stink came out in ’94 and I loved that one too.
Dirtier than Bricks.
“Andres.”
“Can I Run.”
“Fuel My Fire.”
“Questioning My Sanity.”
They also turned up in John Waters' Serial Mom that year playing a fake band called Camel Lips.
Because of course they did.
They play “Gas Chamber” in the movie.
L7 appearing in a John Waters movie makes so much sense I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.
Jennifer left in ’96.
That changed things.
Gail Greenwood from Belly eventually came in on bass, and The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum showed up in ’97.
That's a weird record.
I mean that as a compliment.
“Drama.” “Off the Wagon.” “The Masses Are Asses.”
Not Bricks Are Heavy Part II.
Good.
Krist Novoselic even made a little documentary about them around that period called The Beauty Process.
Family tree again.
They put out a live record in ’98, then Slap-Happy in ’99 on Bong Load.
By then hardly anybody seemed to be paying attention.
Which is funny.
Five or six years earlier everybody wanted bands like L7.
Then the radio moved on and suddenly people acted like the bands had disappeared.
They hadn't.
You just stopped looking.
Last year L7 finally went on what they're calling an indefinite hiatus.
Fifteen years is a pretty good run.
Maybe they'll play again someday.
Maybe they won't.
As of right now, that's it.
I still play Smell the Magic and Bricks Are Heavy the most.
Probably always will.
But going back through all their records now, what gets me is how little they actually changed for whatever was fashionable at the time.
Too punk for some metal people.
Too metal for some punks.
Too funny for people who wanted everything serious.
Too serious for people who thought they were just fucking around.
And apparently being four women with loud guitars was confusing enough for everybody else.
Their problem.
Turn it up.
