L7

L7 is an American all girl alternative metal band that was formed back in 1985 by singer/guitarist Donita Sparks and Suzi Gardner. In the beginning they had a male drummer but he was replaced by Dee Plakas. Various bass players joined and left the group but Janis Tanaka was in the final line-up when the group disbanded in 2000. Janis went on to be the bassist for Pink.

It is L7's heavy riff orientated sound that makes them stand out from the crowd.

Their music has formed part of the soundtracks of such movies as 'Natural Born Killers', 'Pet Sematary 2', 'Foxfire' and 'Tank Girl'. Their single 'Pretend We're Dead' features on the video game 'Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' and 'Rock Band 2'.

As a group they made an appearance in the Bridget Fonda film 'Point Of No Return' and as Camellips in 'Serial Mom'.

Their debut album, simply titled 'L7', came out in 1988 and was labelled as part of the emerging grunge scene.

They made only 6 albums:

L7 - 1988

Smell The Magic - 1990

Bricks Are Heavy - 1992

Hungry For Stink - 1994

The Beauty Process: Triple Platinum - 1997

Slap Happy - 1999

also

Live: Omaha to Osaka - live performances released in 1998

The Slash Years - a compilation disc of music from 1992 -1997 issued in 2000.

My first encounter with L7 came with 'Pretend We're Dead' and I got hooked on their driving sound. Both this song and 'Wargasm' can be found on You Tube.

Not to everybody's taste and some lyrics should be labelled 'Parental Guidence'.

Although the group disbanded Donita Sparks and Dee Plakas have formed a group called Donita Sparks and The Stellar Moment.