Pussy Galore was an American

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...

band that formed in

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in 1985. They had a constantly fluid line-up until their demise in 1990. They took their name from the

character Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

in the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film '' Goldfinger'', and their sound was inspired by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

and

Einstürzende Neubauten (, 'Collapsing New Buildings') is a German experimental music group, formed in West Berlin in 1980. The group is currently composed of founding members Blixa Bargeld (lead vocals; guitar; keyboard) and N.U. Unruh (custom-made instruments; perc ...

History

The band's earliest incarnation consisted of guitarist and vocalist

Jon Spencer Jon Spencer (born February 5, 1965) is an American singer, composer and guitarist. He has been involved in multiple musical acts, such as Pussy Galore, Boss Hog, Heavy Trash and The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. History Jon Spencer was born ...

, guitarist and occasional vocalist

Julia Cafritz Julia Cafritz (born May 5, 1965) is an American musician and guitarist who was a member of Pussy Galore and Free Kitten. She is regarded as a cult figure from the New York City noise music scene of the 1990s. Early life Cafritz was born in W ...

and drummer John Hammill, though this line-up both changed and expanded in later years. Following the self-released 7" '' Feel Good About Your Body'', they added guitarist

Neil Hagerty Neil Michael Hagerty (born 1965) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. He is best known for his work in Royal Trux which he formed with his partner Jennifer Herrema, who he lived with in Washington, Virginia. Hagerty released sev ...

. The new line-up recorded the EP '' Groovy Hate Fuck''. This EP, like all of their early releases, would be self-released on their own Shove Records label. After the band moved to New York City they further expanded the line-up by taking on then 16-year-old Cristina Martinez as a guitarist. Martinez was not a musician and had simply taken the photograph for the 7". The band also replaced Hammill with former

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore (guitar, vocals), Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar) and Lee Ranaldo (guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of the b ...

drummer

Bob Bert Robert Bertelli, better known as Bob Bert, is an American rock drummer. Biography Based in Hoboken, New Jersey, Bert initially came to prominence as drummer for the experimental rock band Sonic Youth during the early to mid-1980s. Bert pla ...

. Then, on a dare from Sonic Youth, they released a limited-edition

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

cover album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

' ''

Exile on Main Street ''Exile on Main St.'' is the 10th British and 12th American studio album by the English rock music, rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records. Recording began in 1969 in England during sessions for ''Sticky ...

''. They followed this up in January 1987 with another self-released mini-set, ''

Pussy Gold 5000 ''Pussy Gold 5000'' is an EP by American noise rock band Pussy Galore, released in January 1987 by Shove Records. Track listing Personnel Adapted from the ''Pussy Gold 5000'' liner notes. ;Pussy Galore * Bob Bert – drums, percussion ...

''. Shortly after this, Martinez left the band and formed Boss Hog with Spencer a few years later. In September 1987, Pussy Galore recorded their debut album and their first recording for another label, '' Right Now!'', on

Caroline Records Caroline Records is a record label originally founded in 1973. Initially founded in the United Kingdom to showcase British progressive rock groups, the label ceased releasing titles in 1976, and then re-emerged in the United States in 1986. ...

. Shortly following the release of ''Right Now!'', Hagerty left the band and was replaced by Kurt Wolf, but he was to return to the Pussy Galore line-up following the release of the ''

Sugarshit Sharp ''Sugarshit Sharp'' is the fourth EP by the American noise rock band Pussy Galore, released in October 31, 1988 by Caroline Records. Track listing Accolades Personnel Adapted from the ''Sugarshit Sharp'' liner notes. ;Pussy Galore * Bob ...

'' EP with Wolf leaving to join Loudspeaker. ''Sugarshit Sharp'' is probably best known for the garage rock interpretation of

's industrial/dance classic from the mid-1980s "Yu-Gung". Pussy Galore used sampling in their music, drawing short samples from both the original track and the

Public Enemy "Public enemy" is a term which was first widely used in the United States in the 1930s to describe individuals whose activities were seen as criminal and extremely damaging to society, though the phrase had been used for centuries to describe p ...

rap classic "Don't Believe The Hype".

F.M. Einheit Frank-Martin Strauß, better known as F.M. Einheit and also known as Mufti, (born 18 December 1958, in Dortmund) is an industrial and electronic musician and actor from Germany. While primarily known for his percussion work with the influential ...

, a member of Neubauten, was said to have been quite impressed with the cover version.''F.M. Einheit'' Interview on CBC Radio's Brave New Waves (circa 1990) The EP also introduced Pussy Galore's new logo, which consisted of Neubauten's "Yu-Gung Man" emblem with a grainy, almost indecipherable photocopy of the Rolling Stones' trademark lips-and-tongue image superimposed over its head. Their second full-length set, '' Dial 'M' for Motherfucker'', was released in 1989 and continued their formula of

nihilistic Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning of life, meaning. The term was pop ...

guitar noise and punk rock provocation, with additional studio trickery filling out the material. Originally intended to be titled ''Make Them All Eat Shit Slowly'', the name of the album was ultimately vetoed by Caroline Records. The album is sometimes wrongly referred to as ''New Album By Pussy Galore''. This is largely due to the fact that the cover of the album has no text except for a sticker that appeared on the plastic shrink wrapping that bears those words. ''Dial M'' represents a move away from a simple noise formula to something more experimental. It is, for example, difficult to determine where some songs begin and end. Many sequences on the album appear to run in reverse, sometimes mid-song, seemingly for no apparent reason. Cafritz appears on some of this album but not the entirety. ''Dial M'' marks a point at which Cafritz and the band began fighting, ultimately leading to her leaving the band. They released a split single in 1989, a cover of Black Flag's "Damaged II" with Tad covering "Damaged I" on the other side, for

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 ...

and another split single with Black Snakes for the Japanese indie Supernatural Records. By now, Cafritz had quit the line-up. The trio of Spencer, Hagerty and Bert released one final album in 1990 called '' Historia de la Musica Rock'' for Caroline Records before calling it a day the same year. The album cover of ''Historia'' was a parody of a music compilation vinyl series from Spain called ''Historia de la Música Rock''. Spencer co-founded Boss Hog with former Pussy Galore guitarist Cristina Martinez in the late 1980s just prior to the dissolution of Pussy Galore itself. Spencer and Martinez had married in 1989 (and are still married today). He also went on to form the Blues Explosion. Neil Hagerty continued his 'noise-terrorist' career with his girlfriend, Jennifer Herrema, in blues-rock duo

Royal Trux Royal Trux was an American alternative rock band active from 1987 to 2001, reuniting in 2015 but disbanded once again in 2019. It was founded by Neil Hagerty (vocals, guitar) and Jennifer Herrema (vocals). History While still a teenager, Hagerty ...

, which the pair had formed in

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during 1987. Cafritz and Bert joined forces briefly in the early 1990s to release a self-titled album under the name Action Swingers. Two years after the breakup, their CD compilation '' Corpse Love: The First Year'' was released. It included four tracks from the ''Exile On Main Street'' cassette, as well as some previously released early material, including short interviews.

Discography

Cassettes

* ''

Exile on Main St ''Exile on Main St.'' is the 10th British and 12th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records. Recording began in 1969 in England during sessions for ''Sticky Fingers'' an ...

'' Cassette (1986, Shove) (limited edition of 550 copies; four tracks from this appear on the ''Corpse Love'' CD) http://www.xtrmntr.com/pg/exile/

Albums

* '' Right Now!'' LP (1987, Caroline; reissued 1998

Matador Records Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of mainly indie rock, but also punk rock, experimental rock, alternative rock, and electronic acts. History Matador was created in 1989 by Chris Lombardi in his New York City apart ...

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

) * '' Dial M for Motherfucker'' (a.k.a. ''Make Them All Eat Shit Slowly'', a.k.a. ''New Album By Pussy Galore'') LP (1989, Caroline; CD version contained five of the six tracks from ''Sugarshit Sharp'', with a cover of Devo's "Penetration In the Centerfold" replacing "Yu-Gung"; reissued 1998 Matador Records/Mute Records with original vinyl contents only) * '' Historia de la Musica Rock'' LP (1990, Caroline)

EPs

* '' Feel Good About Your Body'' 7", 1985 * '' Groovy Hate Fuck'' EP (1986, Shove) * ''

'' EP (1986, Shove) * ''

'' EP (1988, Caroline; reissued 1998 Matador Records/Mute Records with bonus track "Penetration In the Centerfold")

Compilations & live albums

* '' 1 Yr Live'' CS (1986, Shove) * ''Groovy Hate Fuck (Feel Good About Your Body)'' LP (1987, Vinyl Drip) (UK collection of early releases) * '' Corpse Love: The First Year'' CD (1992, Caroline) * '' Live: In the Red'' LP last live show, recorded at CBGBs (1998, In the Red)

Videos

* ''

Maximum Penetration ''Maximum Penetration'' is a concert video by American noise rock band Pussy Galore Pussy Galore is a fictional character in the 1959 Ian Fleming James Bond novel '' Goldfinger'' and the 1964 film of the same name. In the film, she is pla ...

'' VHS (1987, Atavistic Video)

References

External links

Pussy Galore discography: Pop-Catastrophe.co.uk

Pussy Galore fan MySpace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pussy Galore Punk rock groups from Washington, D.C. Garage punk groups Musical groups established in 1985 Musical groups disestablished in 1990 Caroline Records artists Rough Trade Records artists Matador Records artists Mute Records artists American garage rock groups In the Red artists 1985 establishments in Washington, D.C.