L7 (band)

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L7

Background information
Origin Los Angeles, California, USA
Genre(s) Grunge
Punk rock
Alternative metal
Years active 1985 – 2000
Label(s) Slash Records
Website http://www.smelll7.com/
Members
Donita Sparks
Suzi Gardner
Janis Tanaka
Demetra Plakas
Former members
Jennifer Finch
Gail Greenwood
Roy Koutsky

L7 was an all-female grunge band that was active between 1985 and 2000. The band was formed by Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner, who were later joined by Jennifer Finch and Demetra Plakas. The band's name is taken from a 1950s slang phrase meaning "square", but is often mistaken as a reference to a sex position, also called "69". (The slang phrase "L7" can be heard in the classic Sam the Sham & the Pharoahs song "Wooly Bully": "Don't you be L7, come and learn to dance, Wooly Bully, Wooly Bully, Wooly Bully!")

Contents

[edit] History

In 1991, the band formed Rock For Choice, a Pro-Choice women's rights group which was supported by other prominent 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. [1]

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.[1] [2]

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.

Finch left the band after the third album, Hungry for Stink, which was released in the summer of 1994 while they were on the Lollapalooza tour. Sparks and Greta Brinkman played bass on The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum, after which Gail Greenwood became the bassist. The band's most recent album Slap-Happy, was released in 1999, and did not chart on either side of the Atlantic ocean. Greenwood then left and was replaced by Janis Tanaka. By 2001 the band was no longer touring. 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." Donita Sparks is currently pursuing her own solo career (see www.donitasparks.com), along with drummer Dee Plakas and two other guitarists, so L7 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 Sematary II and "Pretend We're Dead" appears on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas soundtrack.

Current Members:

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

Past Members:

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] Singles

Bricks Are Heavy

  • "Pretend We're Dead" (Modern Tracks #8)
  • "Everglade"
  • "Monster"

Hungry for Stink

  • "Andres " (Modern Rock Tracks #20)

The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum

  • "Off The Wagon"

Slap-Happy

  • "Freeway"
  • "Mantra Down"

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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