The Slits

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Amazingly The Slits had no recorded output till late 1979. However you look at it The Slits should have had a record out earlier. Instead the only document of the time is the John Peel radio sessions of which the pick is the first where it all just comes together and is the only recording of them as an all girl group. 'Vindictive' is the pick achieving greatness in the maelstrom.

"It was everyone hitting anything as loudly as possible; vaguely in time, there was a sort of rhythm there, and this maniac shrieking on top...it just sounded painful...The tuning of the guitars was all over the place...so myself and the other engineer...had to go out and tune them ourselves...they didn't have a clue how to." Nick Gomm (Engineer) 'In Session Tonight' by Ken Garner

"That was the first time we'd ever been in a studio. Lots of people thought the result better than the album. It was absolutely raw, more raw than any boys' band . I almost can't believe we had that much energy." Viv Albertine

First session 27/9/77
Second session 22/5/78
Click to hear clip of 'Vindictive'

From interviews its not clear that record company's weren't interested or whether the band didn't want to have stuff released. In Zigzag April 1979 Viv reveals "...we made up our minds two years ago that we wanted Island...We never really changed our minds...They were interested at the start, but we didn't think we were ready. Now we're ready...as you'll see by the album." Palmolive always wanted to sign to a small independent label which of course she did with The Raincoats.

They were given a one album and single deal by Island and produced the album 'Cut'. here are two commentaries on the album.

The Slits - feminist icons of the punk era., 17 November, 2000
Reviewer: from somewhere in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. USA
The Slits, contemporaries of The Clash and Public Image, fused reggae, dub, and punk into their own highly original sound. "Cut", their long out-of-print debut album, paved the way for the Afro-Pop of Talking Heads, the reggae/new wave hybrids of Grace Jones and Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound System, and the trip hop of the nineties (imagine Bjork fronting Massive Attack). Along with their pals, The Raincoats, The Slits were one of the few all-female bands to garner critical acclaim, a cult following, and avoid being marketed as sex objects by their record company.

No punk era CD collection is complete without "Cut", one of rock's lost classics. Buy it while you can!

And this commentary from 'The Secret History Of Rock' by Roni Sarig "The group transcended punk and shaped an adventurous post-punk sound that celebrated femininity in more abstract and complicated ways. Cut...By then, the group had fully come into its own as a strong -and distinctly female- post-punk voice. The provocative album featured the young women posed against the backdrop of a pleasant English garden, but topless and covered in mud. The photo confounded notions of sexuality and civility and positioned the group as modern primitive feminist rebels - girls not afraid to be natural, sexual and formidable. Even more powerful...was the music, which re-invented punk rock as a forum for young women. In opposition to the driving aggression of male orientated punk rock...Cut.. celebrated the liberation of girl delinquency and confronted consumer Cultures manipulation of female self esteem."

Slits with Chris Blackwell owner of Island Records


	It all gets a little self righteous here and one can't help but think people are creating their own agenda. The claim that they were one of the first all female bands to avoid being 'marketed as sex objects' seems a little strange with the 'Cut' cover. Precisely how do you market a cover like that ? Island must have been rubbing their hands with glee when they saw the artwork. Ok girls do your thing. To suggest they are 'modern primitive feminist rebels' is also misleading. They had their tits out. For instance I was 16 when this album came out and primarily my eyes were drawn to the cover. What has this been marketed to appeal to ? I and many others didn't see it as anything but three nudes on a cover ! What's the difference between 'Cut 'and the picture of Wendy on the left a modern day Boadecia .

The album sank without a trace really and I can remember no publicity push and no interviews. The Slits were the last of the class of 77 to get a deal. Compare Siouxsie's debut and compare Public Image's debut to 'Cut'. Look at Joy Divisions debut. All had power but deployed in innovative and imaginative ways. The Slits sound was scratchy just before the dreaded post punk jangly guitars came in. After punk record companies were looking for the next big thing or fad and The Slits just weren't it . Basically the music world just said goodbye as did Island after the release of the single.

And here's the single. A reworking of 'Typical Girls' but coupled with one of the greatest cover versions I have ever heard. The Slits version of 'I Heard It Though The Grapevine' was always a dance floor filler at clubs and will always be one of my favorites. Its a classic and it should be in everyone's record collection. Unfortunately its not their own song !!

And that was it. They were a proper band with all the problems with being one. After all the rhetoric and image it comes down to sales figures. The record didn't sell and their next port of call was ironically the independent Rough Trade. They lost Budgie to the Banshees and with no Clash or tight knit punk community to offer support or coherence they were just another band . As Viv says in Jon Savage's 'England's Dreaming "It all fell apart when everyone became a working band." It also didn't help that member (s) of the band were starting to be affected by drugs either.

The Slits struggled on till 1982 even doing another John Peel session with a certain Neneh Cherry helping out on vocals and releasing more records but by then their moment had long gone.