Girlschool is legendary. Previously Painted Lady, Girlschool became official with their 1980 release of Demolition with Denise Dufort on drums, Enid Williams as lead vocalist and bassist, Kelly Johnson on lead guitar and lead vocals, and Kim McAuliffe as lead vocalist and rhythm guitar. They are iconic amongst British New Wave of Heavy Metal in the late 70’s and 80’s and stood alongside Motorhead and Black Sabbath. Their albums were often produced by the same people, such as Vic Maile (producer to The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Kinks and Jimi Hendrix), thereby communally, these bands, and many others, shaped the sound that defined their genre.
This all girl band maintained a consistent line-up with the exception of Kelly Johnson who passed away in 2007. Denise Dufort has continued drumming with Girlschool to this day and they still play shows, most recently they toured with Anvil in Europe. They are the longest running, all girl band, and one of the best bands to come out of British New Wave Heavy Metal, period. Listen to “C’mon Let’s Go,” it was the first song I heard by them (thanks to Paul Kerin) and now I can’t stop listening.