Dickless was a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

-based

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

band signed to Sub Pop records in 1990. Dickless is notable for their unique raspy/screamy vocal style. During their first few years, their loud and abrasive sound was new and unusual for an all-female music group. Simultaneously, their short discography included song titles and a song cover, " I'm a Man" by

Bo Diddley Ellas McDaniel (born Ellas Otha Bates; December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, incl ...

, that were blatantly ironic given their abrasive sound and female members. The band name itself is meant to be satire. The group's period of activity coincided with the emerging "

Riot grrrl Riot grrrl is an underground feminist punk movement that began during the early 1990s within the United States in Olympia, Washington and the greater Pacific Northwest and has expanded to at least 26 other countries. Riot grrrl is a subcultur ...

" music culture.

History

The original lineup consisted of Lisa Buckner (drums), Kelly Canary (vocals),

Jana McCall Jana McCall is an art therapist and American singer-songwriter and visual artist from the Pacific Northwest. She played bass guitar in the short lived all-female band Dickless. After Dickless, she worked briefly with Mark Pickerel (formerly ...

(bass), Kerry Green (guitar). Lisa Buckner was soon replaced by Lisa Smith from Atomic 61 on drums. After a few years, Kelly Canary quit to form the

Teen Angels Teen Angels was an Argentine pop band formed from the series Casi Ángeles. Its original members were Lali Espósito, Peter Lanzani, Nicolás Riera, Gastón Dalmau and China Suarez, who would be replaced in 2011 by Rochi Igarzábal. Teen Ang ...

. Lisa Smith would also join Teen Angels later. Sub Pop employee Megan Jasper became the new vocalist after Kelly Canary's last show. Jennie Trower eventually replaced Jana McCall on bass.

Discography

The group had a relatively short discography during their sporadic nine-year existence. Their entire discography was seven short songs (most songs were between 1:00 to 2:00 minutes) spread across seven different releases (not counting the planned, but never released ''Anthology'' album). Their release as ''Thee Dickless All Stars'' included

Mark Arm Mark Arm (born Mark Thomas McLaughlin; February 21, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the vocalist for the grunge band Mudhoney. His former group, Green River, was one of the first grunge bands, along with Malfunkshun, So ...

Mudhoney Mudhoney is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1988, following the demise of Green River. Its members are singer and rhythm guitarist Mark Arm, lead guitarist Steve Turner, bassist Guy Maddison and drummer Dan Peters. Orig ...

on vocals and Duane Bodenheimer of Derelicts on guitar. Their song ''Lumber Jack'' again included

on vocals.

Singles

* ''Saddle Tramp / I'm A Man'' 7" record from

Sub Pop Records Sub is a common abbreviation of words beginning with the prefix "sub-". Sub or SUB may also refer to Places * Juanda International Airport, Surabaya, Indonesia, IATA code SUB Computing and technology * , an HTML tag for subscript * SUB designate ...

, ''SP59'' (1990) * ''Saddle Tramp / I'm A Man / Miniskirt Mob'' Maxi record from Tupelo Recording Company (1990) * ''Sex God Tad'' 7" record (listed as artist ''Thee Dickless All-Stars'') from

, ''SP100'' (1991) * ''Lumber Jack / C-Word'' 7" record from

, ''SP441'' (1998)

Compilation appearances

* ''Saddle Tramp'' (live version) from

Compilation

The Grunge Years ''The Grunge Years'' is a compilation album of songs by notable grunge bands released by Sub Pop in 1991. As indicated by the cover of the album, it was limited to a pressing of 500,000 copies. Track listing # "Dive" - Nirvana # "Shove" - ...

, ''SP112'' (1991) * ''Sweet Teeth'' from

C/Z Records C/Z Records was a Seattle-based punk rock record label that was established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale. It started with the release of '' Deep Six'' which collected the earliest recordings of what later came to be known as ...

Compilation album ''Teriyaki Asthma, Vols. I-V'' (1991) * ''C-Word'' from

Up Records Up Records was a Seattle based independent record label founded in 1994 by Chris Takino and Rich Jensen. Some of the label's best known artists were 764-Hero, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, Quasi and Tad. Chris Takino died of leukemia in 2000 ...

Compilation album ''Up Next'', ''UP60'' (1998)

Compilation albums

* ''Dickless Anthology'' from

(1998) (not released)

References

{{Authority control All-female punk bands Musical groups from Seattle American grunge groups Sub Pop artists Musical groups established in 1989 Musical groups disestablished in 1998 Riot grrrl bands Musical quartets