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Poison Girls

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A British punk unit whose thoughtful explorations of issues of sexuality and gender conflicts presaged the riot grrrl movement of the 1990s, the Poison Girls were actually a male backing band formed around a singer and guitar player calling herself Vi Subversa. Released in 1979, the Girls’ debut, Hex, was produced by Crass drummer Penny Rimbaud, as was the following year’s Chappaquiddick Bridge. While the guitar-based music on both records was fairly subtle, Subversa’s lyrics were anything but, tackling issues of politics, normalcy, romance, and feminism with fury and intelligence.

After releasing Total Exposure, a stopgap live album recorded in Scotland in mid-1981, the Poison Girls returned in 1982 with a newly skilled and sophisticated sound on Where’s the Pleasure, which found Subversa streamlining her material to focus solely on the subject of sex. By the 1983 EP I’m Not a Real Woman, the band had virtually abandoned its punk roots in favor of Celtic folk singing and cabaret-styled pop; 1985’s Songs of Praise even found elements of funk creeping into the mix.

In the late ’80s, the Poison Girls called it quits. A four-CD retrospective, Statement: The Complete Recordings 1977-1989, was issued in 1996.

Tagged as:

anarcho-punk, punk, peace punk, post-punk, anarcho punk
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Top Albums

Their Finest Moments
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Real Woman
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Statement
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Poisonous
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Top Tracks

1	The Offending Article full track	19
2	Underbitch full track	16
3	Promenade Immortelle full track	14
4	Done It All Before full track	11
5	Real Woman full track	10
6	State Control	8
6	Persons Unknown	8
8	Bully Boys	7
8	Bremen Song	7
8	Old Tart	7
11	Cats Eye	6
11	Under The Doctor	6
11	Statement full track	6
11	Alienation full track	6
11	Cupid full track	6

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Culicidae wrote:
November 2008

Just discovered this band. Wow, they're good!

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stupidstuff wrote:
October 2008

"Criminally underappreciated"

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aladinvein wrote:
September 2008

"Criminally underappreciated. Such a fantastic band. " I couldn't agree more... on of the most original bands ever

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foxman147 wrote:
August 2008

francis (vi) was fantastic, followeed heese guys all round the country (inc henge '84) and worked the door for them and omega tribe

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cannibalroses wrote:
June 2008

The singer sounds ALOT like Marianne Faithfull.

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elegiak wrote:
May 2008

Excellent ! I didn't know them, they're great <3

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krigluder wrote:
April 2008

some? All of their songs are great!

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PMSingGremlin wrote:
March 2008

Criminally underappreciated. Such a fantastic band.

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elroyguess wrote:
March 2008

Some nice songs..

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Recent Activity

mirddin tagged Poison Girls with ‘boy punk girl punk’. Tuesday afternoon
Whollyhouse, deeewig and smashlost added Poison Girls to their libraries. Tuesday morning
El-Coco-Loco tagged Poison Girls with punk and anarcho-punk. last week
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Pidsch tagged Poison Girls with ‘anarcho-punk’. 12 days ago
retardopunko, Weird_World, ginamike and 15 other people added Poison Girls to their libraries. 14 days ago
DrunkenDan tagged Poison Girls with ‘punk’. December 2008
ThoughtXRiot tagged Poison Girls with ‘punk rock’. December 2008