The Slits

Punk legends The Slits started as a frenetic, anarchic all-female answer to the burgeoning punk scene in the late 1970s. They became notorious – punk was the establishment’s enemy and the popular press picked up on the most striking examples of how damaging the movement was going to be on our nation’s youth.

“After a few gigs they were invited by the Clash to support them on the 'White Riot' tour. The band quickly acquired a violent, chaotic image, attacking bands like Sore Throat and Throbbing Gristle on stage, and chosen by Derek Jarman to trash cars in his 1977 film 'Jubilee'. Their music fitted the image - shambolic and loud, with abrasive guitar, shouted choruses, and crazy Ari's screeched vocals over Palmolive's hammered, stuttering drums.”

Musically, they soon outgrew the violence and chaos of their early gigs and became a band challenging the narrow, restrictive punk format. The classic debut album, ‘Cut’, is a riot of punk, dub and reggae that still remains vital – “this album is terribly, terribly important in the history of the rock music”, Pitchfork – and they honed their spaced-out, ‘earthbeat’ sound further on their final album, ‘Return Of The Giant Slits’. Tensions split the band soon after, and it wasn’t until 2005 that Ari Up reconvened some of the original band. 2006’s stunning EP ‘Revenge Of The Killer Slits’ showed where they could have gone, and just how influential they were in post-punk music. A new album will be forthcoming, and the band are showing what we’ve been missing all these years.

Listen to their classic album "Cut" here.